Fox News helps RFK Jr. spin the CDC purge, how right-wing media are trying to spin soaring electricity prices, and the usual suspects weigh in on Taylor Swift's engagement. This week's Media Matters newsletter: www.mediamatters.org/media-matter...
Media Matters for America is the nation’s premier media watchdog. Cited as a trusted source of information by Fox News’ “Brain Room.”
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Fox News helps RFK Jr. spin the CDC purge, how right-wing media are trying to spin soaring electricity prices, and the usual suspects weigh in on Taylor Swift's engagement. This week's Media Matters newsletter: www.mediamatters.org/media-matter...
I often talk about the fact that MAGA does not access the same news as the left wing. I present to you Exhibit A. Dr. Daskalakis’ resignation letter excoriated RFK Jr. and shared that RFK Jr. was lying to the public, manipulating data, and ordering unethical actions. This what Fox News served.
Legal challenges to gay marriage never went away, but they’re getting bolder again.
ICE and CBP are largely arresting and detaining noncriminals. In a two-month span, only 14% of Fox News’ coverage of immigration enforcement mentioned noncriminal migrants being detained.
Plenty of reporters surely wanted to speak to RFK Jr. after he pushed out the CDC director then watched other agency leaders leave. But it was the co-hosts of Fox & Friends that got the opportunity, and it’s obvious why. www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox...
This week marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in Louisiana. For two decades, Fox News has weaponized disasters caused by supercharged storms to attack political opponents, push right-wing narratives, and deny climate change.
Right-wing media are pushing for a more exclusionary America, calling for targeted deportations of noncriminal migrants and elected officials they deem “not American.”
Right-wing media are celebrating the lawfare they clamored for in the lead up to the 2024 election.
🥪 Trump’s decision to appoint a Fox commentator to oversee D.C.’s prosecutorial system has subpar results: www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fai...
Pirro’s strategy played better in a Fox News greenroom than in a D.C. courtroom. www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fai...
The ONLY thing that could've been worse www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/jes...
idk how many swifties are on here but the usual suspects are already being incredibly weird about the news
When even Jesse Watters can tell that Trump is deploying a pretext to try to illegally fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over her policy views, no one else in the media should be pretending otherwise.
On Saturday, election denial activist Jenny Beth Martin told Steve Bannon she's pushing to get the SAVE Act - which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote - attached to must-pass legislation in September. MAGA's effort to suppress the 2026 vote is in full swing @mmfa.bsky.social
Fox News is busy with the important stuff, like a meaningless restaurant logo redesign and Snoop Dogg's granddaughter finally watching a movie that came out three years ago.
Media moguls can get off Trump's shit list -- all they have to do is bend the knee and assure the admin they won't cause trouble. www.mediamatters.org/cbs/trump-ca...
Right-wing media personalities are now targeting naturalized and native-born citizens in an assault on American identity.
Kirk: “Mr. Johnson, Mr. Pritzker, you are next, and you are woefully unprepared for what is coming”
Recent polling shows that 8 in 10 DC residents oppose the Trump administration’s actions.
Fox News contributor: Bolton's attorneys will note that Trump said he would be the retribution president and all indications are that that's exactly what's happening
Fox News panel expresses concern over FBI's Bolton raid: “There is a great concern about whether this is retaliation against a political opponent”
👀 Candace Owens: “He's just handed over the reins to the deep state”
Oops: Just after Fox pushed Trump’s lie that foreign countries pay for tariffs, a host acknowledged that Americans are paying higher prices www.mediamatters.org/tariffs-trad...
I wrote about MAGA media's open plan to subvert the midterms by having ICE agents stalk polling places in liberal-run cities, conduct an unconstitutional mid-decade census that excludes undocumented people, and ban mail-in voting. Bannon laid out the playbook twice this week. Me at @mmfa.bsky.social
This week's Smartmatic filings provide new evidence in the tale of Fox’s cowardice and corruption.
Fox host Ainsley Earhardt on Trump's federal takeover of police: “I would love for this to happen in New York City. I hope our city is next”
Steve Bannon: “We don't need a central bank, and I think it's only proven to destroy the value of the currency and it's crushed working class people.”
Pro-Trump streamer Adin Ross attacked New Jersey-born streamer Hasan Piker: “Leave the country. … Go back to wherever the fuck you're from since you hate America.” (New from @mmfa.bsky.social) www.mediamatters.org/manosphere/p...
Reporting shows that Trump’s tariffs have backfired, as even some conservatives warned they would, and are hurting American manufacturing and efforts to move manufacturing out of China.
2 hours after hannity asks about the 2020 election being rigged these court documents come out on his co-worker
"It's not a racial thing." uh huh www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk...
“This is everything Alex Jones always talked about."
Watters: "Democrats had this power to fight crime, weren't using it, so Trump grabbed their power and used it to fight crime. Americans like power grabs like that."
After months of degrading transgender athletes under the guise of protecting women’s sports, right-wing media weirdos are suggesting the WNBA “embrace” the sexualization of its players.
ICYMI: www.mediamatters.org/justice-civi...
In a victory for free speech, Media Matters won a preliminary injunction against the retaliatory FTC investigation. Below are a statement from @goangelo.bsky.social and some key excerpts from the ruling.
Ruling: cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8Fil...
More here: More here: www.mediamatters.org/justice-civi...
In a victory for free speech, Media Matters won a preliminary injunction against the retaliatory FTC investigation. Below are a statement from @goangelo.bsky.social and some key excerpts from the ruling.
A simple solution! www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump...
Conservative outlets played key roles in the junk science echo chamber of fossil fuel-funded efforts to quash the “holy grail” of climate policy: www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/tru...
Trump is deploying the National Guard to DC by using a classic fascist propaganda tactic: attacking homeless people
Ainsley Earhardt, host of Donald Trump's favorite morning show Fox & Friends, this morning: "If they had National Guard troops in Times Square, it would make me feel safer." www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/...
Right-wing media figures claim that D.C. should be a “test case” and argue that “we need full military occupation” of other “problematic cities” like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Fox Business: The spike in the producer price level of inflation is "troubling"
Fox news guest says the solution to juvenile crime is letting teachers hit children again "They took the paddle out of the school and everything collapsed. We have to get the paddle back"
Right-wing media have justified the conditions at immigration detention centers by claiming that people being sent there are “the worst of the worst” and that “you got to break a couple eggs in order to make an omelet.”
Frequent right-wing media guest and Project 2025 contributor E.J. Antoni — Trump's pick to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics after he fired its previous commissioner — has on multiple occasions called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.”
Rep. Troy Downing on Trump's takeover of DC: "Hopefully this is a harbinger in what we see in these liberally run cities across the country ... we need to send in the troops, which is exactly what we're doing."
NEW: The same right-wing weirdos feigning outrage about "protecting women's sports" are encouraging dildo-throwing at WNBA games, with one commentator suggesting the WNBA “embrace” the sexual harassment of its players www.mediamatters.org/outkick/anti... @mmfa.bsky.social
Not sure if you’re actually supposed to say that part out loud!
Coffee prices have increased drastically in recent months, even before 50% tariffs on Brazilian coffee took effect a week ago.
My latest: Fox asks, “Where’s the tariff inflation?” It’s in the coffee Americans are drinking. www.mediamatters.org/tariffs-trad... Prices have increased drastically in recent months, even before 50% tariffs on Brazilian coffee took effect a week ago
Kirk: “Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco. We got a big military. We should be willing to use it.”
“Simple fix. You steal a car, 25 years in prison. I don't care if you're a teenager," Charlie Kirk raged while demanding a "full military occupation" of Democratic cities "once we liberate DC." www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
😬
Under Kennedy’s leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services itself has become a grave threat to public health. That is the regrettable but inevitable consequence of Fox News’ cynical exploitation of its viewers.
After weeks of Epstein controversy, failed foreign policy promises, and economic uncertainty, two of MAGA’s most prominent propagandists are lashing out at their fellow Republicans for criticizing Trump.
The president is watching television. Left, Fox & Friends, 6:42 a.m. Right, Trump, 7:11 a.m.
Fox News cheered RFK Jr. for years. Then came his latest vaccine announcement. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb... via @mattgertz.bsky.social
Jesse Watters: "I believe we should just gerrymander the bejesus out of these maps and just destroy Democrat representation where we can..."
As the president’s crises continue to mount, two of MAGA’s biggest propagandists are lashing out at the Republicans who dare to criticize Trump.
A recent Fox appearance by a Homeland Security spokesperson perfectly illustrates how the network pushes bad “worst of the worst” data to justify crackdowns on immigrant communities.
Fox News' Katie Pavlich on Zohran Mamdani: "(New York City is) on the verge of electing an open communist who believes in blowing up buses and cafes..."
Read more:
Alligator Alcatraz is an extrajudicial concentration camp designed to disappear and punish immigrants largely outside formal legal processes. If Tom Homan and his MAGA media allies have their way, it won’t be the last. (6/7)
A closer look at this bogus talking point helps show how the right-wing media ecosystem is trying to boost support for Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda by misleading their audiences on who exactly is being arrested and deported. (5/7)
Homan uses right-wing media to spread the false talking point that 70% of ICE arrestees are criminals, the rest are “national security threats.” None of the shows he used this “statistic” on offered even mild pushback. (4/7)
Harris Faulkner: “God bless you, Tom Homan, for keeping us safe.” (3/7)
The day before officials at Alligator Alcatraz began concentrating people, Homan appeared on Charlie Kirk’s podcast. Kirk: “Tom, you’re doing a wonderful job and honestly, we need to continue to salute our incredible ICE agents.” (2/7)
As public support for Trump’s mass deportation agenda weans, conservative outlets worked overtime to help “border czar” Tom Homan do damage control. This meant downplaying human rights concerns at “Alligator Alcatraz and creating false narratives about migrant crime - all with no pushback. 🧵(1/7)
By devoting over 7 times more coverage to Sydney Sweeney than the Epstein scandal, Fox continues to lean into cultural rage bait to avoid covering stories detrimental to the Trump administration. Read more: www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox...
Come meet us at Netroots!
A small group of right-wing figures (some with ties to white nationalist or alt-right politics) have acknowledged the famine in Gaza. Some of these personalities also have strong antisemitic beliefs, making their coverage markedly more complex. READ MORE: www.mediamatters.org/middle-east/...
Others, like Fox News personalities Katie Pavlich and Mark Levin, have blamed the UN and Hamas for starvation in Gaza, claiming they’re “obstructing aid from entering” and “purposely starving the population as a PR strategy against Israel.”
Figures like right-wing podcaster Laura Loomer flat-out claimed there’s “no starvation in Gaza,” and TPUSA's Charlie Kirk called images of malnourished children “propaganda,” and “emotional, visual, optical warfare.”
As experts warn of a famine unfolding in Gaza, right-wing media figures’ reactions are falling into three broad buckets: Denying the famine's existence, pinning the blame on Hamas and the UN, or — in a few rare cases — acknowledging the reality on the ground.
“Bring in the Marines. Call in the Insurrection Act. Make the crime go to zero. Use it as an example” www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk...
Gabbard’s Fox News interview demonstrates how painfully little she’s actually found — and how far over their skis the MAGAverse and Trump administration have gotten in response to her absurd charges.
Hannity: “They think they're more MAGA than anybody else out there. And it cracks me up, because they don't even interpret Donald Trump's actions and words accurately”
JSYK: The Constitution guarantees due process rights for everyone in the United States, regardless of citizenship status.
Right-wing podcaster Tim Dillon: "The Trump administration has basically been an auction... And everybody is submitting a bid on our country."
Fox News is running an Anything But Epstein strategy which means Sydney Sweeney Discourse is on Day 7 on its airwaves.
Charlie Kirk accuses Rep. Jasmine Crockett of being part of an “attempt to eliminate the white population in this country” www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk...
Fox News scoffed that Andry Hernandez was “just a gay barber” when Trump sent him to a torture prison. Now, Fox ignores reporting that he was sexually assaulted there.
During its "news" program America’s Newsroom this morning, Fox News spent twice as much time discussing Sydney Sweeney (6 minutes) as it did Trump firing the BLS head (3 minutes)
Figures have suggested Clinton should be “behind bars,” argued the debunked scandal will “make Watergate look like a jaywalking ticket,” and likened it to a “soft coup attempt” and “treason”
"Politicizing stuff to this level ... creates a level of distrust which I don't think is very healthy long term”
today's news brought to you by the five:
New: After Steve Bannon called for “a MAGA Republican” to run the BLS, Trump fired its commissioner www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon... Trump took this action following a weak jobs report with major downward revisions. Economists say this move will create mistrust about economic data.
Am I wrong or is the discourse around this entirely manufactured? I keep seeing claims that "the left is melting down" and the evidence is two people on tiktok. It's like they need wokeness so bad they have to invent it
the right wing media ecosystem is so efficiently set up to take random posts from non public figures and turn them into pseudoevents. to the point where the entire social media system rn really just favors their viral propaganda machine.
“’Right-wing voices have just added their own racist, sexist, transphobic thoughts to the conversation” w/ @emmamae.bsky.social:
Some social media users and an MSNBC op-ed criticized the ad for demonstrating “a unbridled cultural shift toward whiteness” and for being a “eugenicist dog whistle. Fox News went all in, assigning the backlash to “the left,” “liberals,” and “Democrats.” www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox...
Since Monday, Fox News has spent an hour and 25 minutes covering an American Eagle commercial in which Sydney Sweeney talks about her “good jeans,” and just 3 minutes of coverage to developments in the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein saga.
What an endorsement www.mediamatters.org/greg-kelly/n...
Fox's coverage of Gabbard's revisionist history comes as Trump tries to redirect Americans' attentions away from his handling of the Epstein files. Some of Trump's most ardent supporters have called Gabbard’s report a “distraction” meant to make Trump supporters “stop paying attention to Epstein”:
Fox described Gabbard's claims — which quickly fell apart under scrutiny — as a "bombshell." Their coverage peaked on July 23rd, and weekend programs hosted by Mark Levin and Maria Bartiromo devoted their entire timeslots to the unsubstantiated story. www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox...
