Back in March, Media Matters for America fellow Matt Gertz wrote a column for MSNBC discussing the odd phenomenon of Fox News' mixed feelings about former President Donald Trump. On one hand, some of the network's executives and top talent despise Trump and want him to vanish from politics; on the other hand, they know he's absolutely essential for ratings. The result has been coverage that, while broadly pro-Trump, sometimes zigs and zags between showering Trump with praise and burying him.
But these occasional bouts of sobriety are fast disappearing. The recent cascade of indictments against the former president is pushing Fox once again in the direction of uniform Trump propaganda. That's because the logic of Fox News' coverage demands that anything that could cost the right politically is dismissed as morally bankrupt — including pesky little things like laws prohibiting people from trying to overturn election results. This return to pro-Trump dogma, regardless of how NewsCorp CEO Rupert Murdoch might feel about it privately, will further reduce the odds that Trump faces any substantial competition for the Republican nomination, despite Murdoch's hopes.
This is a preview of Zeeshan Aleem's latest article. Read the full column here. |
