by ROBERT STACY MCCAIN
When will Chris Wallace apologize to Katie Pavlich? More than once, Wallace has insulted his Fox News colleague on the network, as in a January segment about the impeachment of President Trump, when Wallace barked at Pavlich, “Get your facts straight!” As it turned out in that case, Pavlich was right and Wallace was wrong — and not accidentally so. The question at issue was Democrats’ demand that the Senate trial over what was called “Ukrainegate” include testimony from additional witnesses. Pavlich said this was unprecedented, and contended it was not the Senate’s fault that “the House did not come with a complete case.” Wallace began barking about “facts” in an attempt to rescue Democrats from the consequences of their failure.
Wallace’s dismal performance as moderator in Tuesday’s presidential debate reminded many viewers of such previous instances in which the Fox News Sunday host has shown his prejudice against Trump. And this matters, not only because of how that ugly televised carnival might affect the election, but because of what it tells us about the sad state of journalism in America. If Wallace is, Dov Fischer says, “the fairest moderator we can hope for in today’s Left-dominated media,” there is no hope for fairness. But what about those “facts” that Wallace presumed to lecture Katie Pavlich about? Even if we must resign ourselves to partisan prejudice from the media, must we tolerate journalists trafficking in outright lies?
That’s what Wallace did in Tuesday’s debate. Consider this question he aimed at President Trump: “You have repeatedly criticized the vice president for not specifically calling out Antifa and other left-wing extremist groups, but are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities, as we saw in Kenosha and as we’ve seen in Portland?”
Where is the evidence that “white supremacists and militia groups” were to blame for violence in Kenosha or Portland, Oregon? Wallace’s question was not only tendentious, but counterfactual. As regards Portland, Wallace seemed to be echoing Oregon’s woefully misguided Democratic governor. After a man who described himself as “100% Antifa” murdered a Trump supporter on the streets of Portland Aug.29, Gov. Kate Brown issued this rather bizarre statement:
As elected officials and community leaders, we are coming together to condemn the acts of violence in Portland that have occurred as thousands of Oregonians have been peacefully protesting for racial justice and police accountability. The violence must stop. There is no place for white supremacy or vigilantism in Oregon. All who perpetrate violent crimes must be held equally accountable. Together, we are committing ourselves to do the hard work that will bring meaningful change for racial justice and police reform.
What did the murder of Trump supporter Aaron “Jay” Danielson have to do with “racial justice”? Danielson was white, but so was the Antifa radical who shot him to death, Michael Reinoehl. As for holding those “who perpetrate violent crimes … equally accountable,” why did Gov. Brown let Antifa wreak havoc in Portland for more than three months before deciding that violence is bad? Where is the evidence that “white supremacy” played any role in Portland’s anti-police riots?
More importantly, however, why did Chris Wallace use his position as moderator of a presidential debate to parrot Gov. Brown’s rhetoric by claiming that “white supremacists and militia groups” were somehow to blame for the Portland riots? Such a claim is not journalism but political propaganda, and that goes doubly so for what happened in Kenosha. In case you’ve been hiding in a cave for the past five weeks, riots erupted in this Wisconsin city on Aug. 23 after a police officer shot a black man, Jacob Blake, who had violated a restraining order and had a warrant against him on sexual assault charges. On the first night of what the national media insisted on calling “mostly peaceful protests” the BLM mob “hurled debris, smashed windows,” and set fire to the Kenosha County Courthouse and several vehicles.
The next morning, the Biden campaign issued a statement that declared, “We must dismantle systemic racism. It is the urgent task before us.” The BLM mob apparently took Biden’s words as a command to “dismantle” Kenosha. On the second night of riots in the city, the arsonists torched a car dealership, a furniture store, and a state Department of Corrections office, among other targets. Perhaps Chris Wallace can explain how “white supremacists and militia groups” were responsible for this violence, but probably what he had in mind were the events of the third night of the Kenosha riots. That was when a convicted child rapist named Joseph Don “JoJo” Rosenbaum attacked 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse.
By the way, has Chris Wallace ever mentioned Rosenbaum’s criminal record on Fox News? He considers himself authorized to lecture others about how important to “get your facts straight,” why wouldn’t he want to share with Fox News viewers the fact that Rosenbaum was convicted of raping five pre-teen boys in Tucson? The story of what happened in Kenosha on the night of Aug. 25 doesn’t make sense if you don’t know that the man who attacked Rittenhouse was a very dangerous criminal who had served more than a decade in Arizona prisons.
Rosenbaum was captured on video that night taunting a group of armed men who were guarding a Kenosha business against the angry mob: “Shoot me n****!” When Rosenbaum later set a fire, Rittenhouse ran with a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze. Video shows Rosenbaum chasing the teenager across a parking lot where he cornered him, and Rittenhouse fired in self-defense, fatally wounding his attacker. As I explained last month (“The Media Lynching of Kyle Rittenhouse,” Sept. 3), Rosenbaum’s attack set off the chain of events in which two other rioters were shot, after the angry mob chased Rittenhouse. An 11-minute video produced by attorneys for Rittenhouse clearly shows that the teenager acted in self-defense.
You gripe a McCain is that out of the wide range of media Americans have to choose from most Americans don’t choose to consume the media YOU approve of watching
During the prime time news hour Fox News only gets about 10% of tv watchers
Yet that debate is likely as fair as Trump can expect to be treated. Again, Trump should call the media together every day and make them stand there and hear him denounce white supremacy and racism. Every day. They seem to think continuously asking him the same question cultivates the belief he must be racist.
Chris Wallace displayed for everyone to see his leftist bias and lack of impartiality. The reason the debate became chaotic was the lack of control on the part of Wallace. biden started the interruptions. Wallace allowed biden to be unchecked while constantly interrupting President Trump.
Debate #2 has a never Trumper as moderator if in fact there will be a debate. The CPD has failed at providing an environment where both candidates can make their political points and challenge their opponents points.
There should be two moderators, one representing the left asking President Trump questions and one from the right asking sleepy joe questions.
@John:
Most Americans prefer to view what McCain calls leftist
If American voluntarily make that choice, where is the problem?
The fact is neither Fox News nor breitbart attract That many viewers
@Deplorable Me:
Lol
He can’t do that ! Didn’t you hear ?? He is in quarantine got 2 weeks
He caught Covid from his gf Hope Hicks
He should have followed those guidelines about wearing masks during sex
@John:
Yeah, Fox just has almost twice as many viewers as the other liberal propaganda outlets COMBINED. You respond to YOURSELF? Voices in the head, perhaps?
People who WORK HARD are at risk of catching the virus. People who hide in their basement are pretty safe. I guess you are envious of those who have sex with those of the opposite sex. Nice of you to insult a lady you know nothing about, but that’s ignorant, hateful liberals for you.
During the prime time news hour Fox gets about 10% of viewers
Most Americans don’t watch cable news
Most watch. NBC CBS ABC
Cable news is like the jv
Fox News has the most viewers of any CABLE NEWS
@John: https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/aug-2020-fox-news-ratings-fnc-earns-its-most-watched-august-in-network-history/454261/
@Deplorable Me: cable news is the most watched
By the total viewers of the “left wing “ media vastly outnumber it
That is why it gets only about 10% of the total amount of viewers watching news in tv during the prime time news hour
Lol
What are you thinking ? That Fix gets more than all of the left wing media COMBINED ?
Even you must see the implausibility of that
@John: I provided you the information.
@Deplorable Me: yes you did
Fox has the largest news audience of any CABLe news station
However the total viewership of the all the “left wing mainstream news media if far more than the single. Right wing news station
Most Americans choose not to watch Fox News
Most Americans choose the mainstream media
If they didn’t IT WOUKD NOT BE CALLED MAINSTREAM NEDIA
Media in the USA is controlled by those who pay for it, the advertisers
That is the way it works under capitalism
Is that a problem for you ? Would you rather have corporate controlled media or government controlled media?
Or lol media controlled by YOU?
@John:
That’s not an objective or verifiable statement.
80% of the mainstream media is biased to the Left, more like the propaganda wing for the Democrat Party. CNN for one is played by default by airports and other places, but the question is how much “choice” there is in watching it.
If the viewership is one restaurant owner playing CNN over the bar, and they tally all the patrons for the week as “viewers”, well….you can see how this silly myth of every one being Leftist is just another failing tactic by a dying political party.
Right now, CNN et al is both. Corporations run by partisan CEOs, and fed disinformation by the Democrat Party, which is part of our government.
Any by the way, FOX is VERY MUCH mainstream media.
@Nathan Blue: if most people watched Fox News THAT would be our mainstream media
Most Americans choose to consume center left media not center right media like Fox News
If most people did in fact watch Fox News than you would be happy with that, but you aren’t happy because you feel too many people watch the “mainstream left of center media”
Your gripe isn’t that there is left of center media, your gripe is that too many people choose that over Fox
@John: Well at least you acknowledge our so called “mainstream” media is biased left or liberal. For years surveys have shown media types around the Washington,DC area vote Democrat by about 90 percent. I recall when Obama was elected a pretty good amount of news reporters, journalists and the like left their positions to go work for the Obama administration. They were keeping their same biases just getting a different paymaster.
None of this serves us well. Bias is what the media cover, how they cover and what they choose to ignore.
Right now we have a president with 3 Nobel peace prize nominations. Yet our media yawn. Obama got one and the media were much more impressed. Even though no one seems to know for what.
@John: Have you ever heard of Operation Mockingbird? When an “investigative journalist” breaks a story with reliable sources as the basis eventually those sources or the sources proof must be revealed, or its just another bit of misinformation to sway public opinion. Seems Now the media uses another media for verification a merry circle of disinformation coming from one unverified unproven disinformation source. Thats pretty much what the Cable opinion shows are every last one of them left right or center.
Wallace allowed Biden to refuse to answer a question, Wallace asked the same exact question he asked in a 2016 debate. In 2016 The President answered this same exact question.
Wallace did not correct Biden, or let Biden lie about the 3.5 million dollar amount his Son got from Moscows former mayors wife, the treasury dept has the documents to prove Hunter got the money.
This is based on Treasury Department reports received by committee Chairman Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican.
The Senate narrative is not specific, but the types of transaction records match the description of confidential suspicious activity reports that the Treasury issues when it suspects illegal activity.
The fact checkers only say that the transfer did not come from the Mayor himself. That was never the claim.
You know full well if these reports were about one of DJT kids the media would already have a rope and gallows ready, Russia invaded Crimea in Ukraine the month Ms. Baturina sent the money.
@John: You didn’t read the articles. One stated clearly that Fox out-drew even the network stations. You might can sell your weak bullshit on the NYT site, but some here have bumped into facts before and actually know what they are.
@John:
Not at all. Your premise that the media is 80% Leftwing disinformation because people “choose” it is fallacious.
Think Pravda during the Soviet Union. Did the people “choose” it? No. The government owned it, so they ran stories they wanted, suppressed ones they didn’t, and frame things to mean what they wanted the masses to believe.
The same is for the left-leaning media. It’s been “chosen” for us.
Fox is Mainstream because it’s ubiquitous and has an large audience, like CNN.
The myth that Leftwing news is just “the truth” and not a politically distorted set of propaganda is rapidly evaporating.
By the way, I’m a Liberal. Liberals do not support fascism, racial segregation, Marxism, or monopolies. All of these things are now supported by the Democrat Party:
Antifa – Fascists.
Segregation – CRT and selective enforcement of the law based on race.
Green New Deal/Socialism – Marxism.
Tech companies censoring political opponents, but allowing party loyalists to organize revolt and call for the death of political enemies – Monopolies.
Liberal ideology does not remotely support the current “Left” or Democrat Party.
FOX helps the Left much more than anyone else. It’s a convenient foil for truth-deniers like you not examine the preposterous ideologies and policies the new Leftwing is acting on and promoting, instead just saying you are responding to FOX while FOX was a response to you.
No
I don’t think that too many people listen to Fox
Most people listen to “mainstream media”
That in fact is the definition of mainstream
If there were more people who wanted center right media that might mean that it would be financially possible for a 2nd network of center right media to exist
Instead mainstream media (center left) has the big 3 ABC CBS NBC as well as 3 cable networks
The total viewership of all those networks during the prime time news hour is about 9 times that of Fox
Corporate advertisers spend their money where the audience is. And that is center left
@Nathan Blue: yes it out drew any INDIVIDUAL station
But what I am saying is that the sum total of all the center left stations out drew the sum total of all the center right stations which is really only ONE station
Therefore most people choose to watch center left mainstream stations not the center right station(s)
So
Do more people watch mainstream media or center right media ??
@Mully: and why is it center left ? Because that is where the corporate sponsors want it to be
If advertisers didn’t want it so the networks would do whatever it took to get the most people to watch and thus increase those revenues
That is the way capitalism works
@John:
Why are you trolling?
@John: I think you missed my point.
Your case is the usual “most people are Left-leaning/Democrats/Liberals” and you’re using TV ratings as proof.
Some fallacious assumptions you’ve made:
1. People are “choosing” to watch this and it’s not just something in the background.
2. People who watch online videos are captured in this metric.
3. What people “watch” is proof of how they will vote.
The left-wing disinformation techniques are failing. Left-leaning people are not the majority..far from it.
@Nathan Blue: well if course there is also the results of the last 2 elections where most votes went to the Dems
But of course that is different from the viewing habits of Americans
Showbizcheatsheet.com
How many people actually watch Fox News
Jan 8, 2019
Which gives the Nielsen ratings for the prime time news hour
If the link doesn’t work use google
During the prime time news hour Fox News THE only center right news outlet gets about 10% of the total TV viewers
Most Americans don’t want to watch Fox News
@John: If your theory is correct then there should also be competition dominance of national leaning left radio programs. Can you cite those?
Bueller….Bueller?
Radio??
Lol
No I can’t
Isn’t that sort of archaic ?
I don’t think that TV viewership and radio listenership are at all comparable and judging from the advertising rates charged most would agree
Isn’t radio just something like background
noise ?
What do you think the percentage of people is that watch Fox News during the prime time news hour?
Nielsen says 10%
I see no correlation between the people who listen to talk radio during the day and those who watch news on TV
NPR has a weekly audience of 57 million
My guess is that many of those do not get their news from TV
I know I don’t
@John:
“Most” Americans don’t want to watch one news source, that’s correct.
Are you lumping all the leftwing news outlets together to pretend they are one “source” and somehow preferred by Americans?
I’m not sure what the point of your argument is.
These are the following news outlets that are easily found and in many cases “what’s on”:
ABC
NBC
CBS
CNN
MSNBC
FOX
Of those six sources, 3 of them lean hard left, and 2 of them are de facto propaganda outlets for the Democrat Party (CNN, MSNBC).
Only one is “Center-Right”.
As for NPR, they are more infotainment and also provide propaganda for the Democrat Party, rather than a rich source of unbiased and un-agenda-ed news.
The truth is that America has an infestation of Left-wing disinformation that is finally crumbling.