Fox News Reporters ‘Want To Quit’ Over ‘Embarrassing’ Coverage Of Mueller Indictments
Fox News, the bastion of conservative media in the United States as well as the country’s highest-rated TV network, has faced stiff criticism for its coverage of the indictments of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates, as well as the revelation that former National Security adviser George Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty and has been cooperating actively with Robert Mueller’s team of prosecutors. While all major news networks, including traditionally conservative media outlets like the Wall Street Journal, reported Monday’s developments with the sincerity it required, Fox News has been blasted for not only inaccurately reporting the facts, but also because its torchbearers like Sean Hannity attempted to create an alternative reality where Donald Trump and his campaign were being victimized at the behest of Hillary Clinton.
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post wrote in his stinging piece about how Trump media aides like Corey Lewandowski and Hannity have been blindsided by Mueller’s aggressive investigation, and as a result have vehemently pushed back by questioning the credibility of Mueller himself, a tactic that has served the President and his coterie so well in the past.
“Hannity dismissed the news of major allegations against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the cooperation of adviser George Papadopoulos as big nothingburgers. He also hit all the high points of the new Trump/media campaign, points that Trump himself and the White House have made repeatedly in public statements. Those include reviving the made-up scandal that Hillary Clinton approved a deal for a Russian nuclear agency to gain access to U.S. uranium extraction rights in exchange for kickbacks, and the absurdly exaggerated claim that the Clinton campaign, having paid through various intermediaries for research that ultimately led to the ‘Steele Dossier,’ actually colluded with Russia to interfere in the election. These have been extensively fact checked and debunked.”
Corey Lewandowski, apparently on Planet B: "What we should be focusing on is the continued lies of the Clinton administration" pic.twitter.com/FfuwfeVMCq
— David Mack (@davidmackau) October 28, 2017
And now it appears even some Fox News employees have had enough. In astonishing admittance to rivals CNN, anonymous sources working at Fox News told the news network that they were not at all pleased with how their channel has decided to opine and misinform its viewers.
“I’m watching now and screaming,” said one Fox News personality. “I want to quit.”
'I want to quit': Fox News employees say their network's Russia coverage was 'an embarrassment' https://t.co/wQZ8jzBaRM via @CNNMoney
— Lock them up and throw away the key (@GOP_DeathCult21) November 1, 2017
“It is another blow to journalists at Fox who come in every day wanting to cover the news in a fair and objective way. Fox feels like an extension of the Trump White House,” said a reporter disgruntled with how Fox was being heavy-handed in the ways it intended the indictment news to be broadcast.
“That segment on Outnumbered [questioning Mueller’s credibility] was absurd and deserves all the scorn it can get,” another Fox News reporter said, adding that it was “laughable seeing Hannity and [Laura] Ingraham tripping over themselves saying [Mueller’s team has] found nothing thus far.”
“It’s an embarrassment. Frankly, there are shows on our network that are backing the President at all costs, and it’s that short-term strategy that undermines the good work being done by others,” said another dejected Fox News employee.
[Featured Image by Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images]
