White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had the audacity to complain about Fox News’ objectivity in a recent interview with leftwing Mediaite host Dean Obeidallah.
“Look, the FCC the way the law is right now, it does not cover cable news,” Obeidallah said. “We all know that. Broadcast news, though. It does. It, it’s called distortion. And it has to be you have to show that they said something false on purpose they knew was false and they could be sanctioned. They can lose their license on a network. It doesn’t apply to cable.”
“Do you think there’s any chance to explore the idea of expanding that, it would take an act of Congress, to expand the FCC’s mandate to include, just apply that, what that already applies to CBS and ABC and FOX on network to cable equally,” he continued. “It would apply to everyone, if (inaudible) did same thing that we know Fox did. Because if not, why would Fox not just keep lying to the American public without any consequence? I don’t know why they would stop this.”
“So, look, I have to be careful. FCC is an independent agency, so we need to be careful here. But I get your point,” she said.
“You know, look, I think everybody has a responsibility, if you call yourself a news organization, to tell the truth, you know, and I mean, that’s probably as far as I can go,” she continued. “I think when you ask me about Fox, and I think that’s I think the question that I got on MSNBC with Alex was close enough to that.”
“But to the question that you did, you just you just asked me,” she went on. “And in the best way that I can answer it is even Fox News leadership, in their depositions say, as we as I was being asked about the Tucker Carlson show, that it’s not news or truthful. And I think that tells you everything that you need to know. I mean, when the when the leadership is saying that, I think that tells you everything that you need to know and I’ll just leave it there.”
That’s not what Fox News’ leadership said, viz., that Tucker Carlson is not “truthful.” Rupert Murdoch in his deposition said “maybe Sean and Laura went too far” in hearing out potential voter fraud evidence.
While Fox News’ detractors are crowing about Tucker Carlson’s editorializing on his show, it is no different than what an Obama-appointed judge said about MSNBC host Rachel Maddow in court in 2021.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald said that the judge ruled that “Maddow’s show is different than a typical news segment where anchors inform viewers about the daily news.” Here is his description:
Maddow does not keep her political views a secret, and therefore, audiences could expect her to use subjective language that comports with her political opinions.
Thus, Maddow’s show is different than a typical news segment where anchors inform viewers about the daily news. The point of Maddow’s show is for her to provide the news but also to offer her opinions as to that news.
In other words, no different in concept than Tucker Carlson Tonight, where the Fox News host challenges the prevailing wisdom and news reportage on current events.
In a response to the lawsuit, Fox said the filings showed Dominion “using more distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to smear Fox News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press.”
Speaking of distortions and misinformation, Karine Jean-Pierre may be the only person in history who could challenge the “Queen of Misinformation” Jen Psaki for the most dishonest press secretary in American history. KJP has lied about Biden visiting the border, denied the FBI has arrested pro-life Americans, and covered up for Biden’s obvious flubs. Those lies are just for starters, as Bongino.com points out:
- KJP claiming that nobody is “just walking in” across the southern border
- KJP claiming there was 0% inflation in July
- KJP’s denial that she publicly stated the 2016 election was stolen
- KJP blaming inflation on Vladimir Putin, or claiming that it would be transitory
- KJP denying that Biden’s stimulus bill fueled rising inflation
- KJP falsely claiming that Biden had condemned the attempted assasination of Brett Kavanaugh
- KJP’s denial about critical race theory being taught in schools
The “fact checkers” may ignore KJP’s numerous lies, even as she slams Fox News for its supposed lack of “truthfulness.” But she will get no such pass here.
Follow Kyle Becker on Twitter @kylenabecker.