The White House is disgusted with Fox News — even more so than usual.
Over the last 24 hours, the right-wing talk network has targeted President Joe Biden and his administration with unseemly lines of attack, bashing the Democratic White House with smears that represent even lows for a channel that is home to dangerous and incendiary rhetoric.
First, Fox News outrageously labeled Biden a "wannabe dictator" in an on-screen banner Tuesday night and declared that he had ordered his "political rival arrested." The banner matched hours of reckless commentary from the network's top hosts and personalities in the wake of disgraced former President Donald Trump's arraignment.
Then, on Wednesday, the outlet published an absurd story that cited "critics" to suggest that the White House had flown a "controversial new transgender flag that promotes grooming and pedophilia." It alleged "a mysterious and divisive new symbol of pride had a coming-out party" at the White House, with "some even saying" it "appears to reference a cult of pedophilia." The preposterous story failed to mention that Fox Corporation's own logo had been wrapped in the very same pride flag last year.
Americans might have grown desensitized in recent years to ugly political attacks, but the shocking claims Fox made are not trivial — particularly when they are leveled against the President of the United States and his White House. They are grave allegations. And yet, Fox News is tossing them around in a blasé manner, as if such dark rhetoric carries with it no consequences.
Which is why, perhaps, the White House felt the need to formally respond, even though, typically, the Biden administration opts not to get in the mud with the network.
Asked about the "dictator" charge on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied, "There are probably about 787 million things that I can say about this. That was wrong what we saw last night, but I don't think I'm going to get into it." Jean-Pierre's reference to 787 million was a not-so-subtle reference to the historic sum of money Fox paid Dominion Voting Systems to settle a defamation case.
Meanwhile, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates went nuclear on the outlet for its story about the pride flag. In a Twitter thread, Bates said that Fox was "characteristically lying through their teeth," and posted a copy of the request for comment from a Fox News reporter that had been sent to the White House. The email made no mention of grooming or pedophilia, and Bates added, "Fox never even communicated the malicious and discredited foundation of this article to the White House."
For its part, Fox News released a weak nine-word statement on Wednesday about the "dictator" chyron. An unnamed network spokesperson said, "The chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed." There were no further details provided about how the matter was "addressed." Notably, there was also no apology to the President.
No such statement was released about the story Fox News published about the supposed "controversial new transgender flag" the White House flew over the weekend for Pride Month. The outlet deleted its tweet and updated its story without apology or explanation.
But taken together, Fox's moves smack of desperation as it sees its ratings dwindle and it continues to hunt for a permanent prime time replacement for right-wing extremist Tucker Carlson (or a "popular nightside host" as The NYT feebly calls him) in hopes of keeping its audience tuned in. As the cache of messages released in the Dominion case showed, network executives were extremely concerned about its audience flipping the channel, airing bogus claims to keep viewers hooked. The events of this week suggest that same playbook is still in use.
"Fox paid the biggest settlement in media history because they platformed dangerous lies, and the lesson they took from that experience is to repeat the same behavior, including spreading baseless QAnon filth?" a Biden administration source told me Wednesday. "Fox is actively disrespecting their viewers, abusing people's trust for profit."
