Media Matters: Oh No! Fox News Is Actually Covering The Midterm Elections!
This is a travesty.
I regret to inform you that Fox News is covering the midterm elections, focusing on the critical swing states that will actually determine control of the Senate.
If that concerns you, then have faith! Media Matters For America is on the case, and they want to let the world know this is a Very Bad Thing.
You know, the flip side of this tweet is that CNN and MSNBC are suddenly suppressing their coverage of one of the most vital swing states in the country. I, for one, would love an answer as to why those two networks aren't focusing more on the race between John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz.
Look, I've been extremely pessimistic about Oz's chances, and I know there were a lot of conservatives who wondered why a guy who declared himself a conservative Republican 47 seconds ago would suddenly be the top choice among guys like Sean Hannity and Donald Trump. But, as Republican voters have become more bullish on the celebrity doctor and the center-right vote has consolidated around him, Oz has closed a major portion of the gap in the polling.
There are multiple factors at play here. For one thing, Republicans are coming home. For another, Fetterman is plagued by health and cognitive issues, and his stances on issues like crime leave a lot to be desired.
As the race tightens, it becomes even stranger that two major news networks would stop covering the race. The seat is currently Republican, but it's an open race, and the current Republican in the race is losing. News and analysis is required to figure out what's happening. Instead, they're keeping their distance.
What's more, it isn't just Pennsylvania. It's every key race. Fox News is covering the races far more than the other networks, and we're a month away from the elections!
In the four weeks following Labor Day, Fox’s weekday prime-time broadcasts mentioned the Democratic nominees in seven competitive Senate races more than twice as many times as CNN and MSNBC's broadcasts didcombined, according to a Media Matters review. The network’s prime-time block also mentioned the Republican candidates in those races more frequently than did those of the other two networks combined.
I'm sorry, but what? It's a bad thing that Fox News is covering these races?
Fox mentioned the Senate nominees at least 336 times in prime time – 212 times for the Democrats and 124 times for the Republicans. CNN and MSNBC combined mentioned the nominees only 179 times, 76 for the Democrats and 103 for the Republicans.
How is this an attack on Fox? This reads like an indictment of CNN and MSNBC! Those two networks are letting Fox News dominate the coverage! Why aren't you doing more to stop this?
The sub-head of this piece is "Fox’s propagandists are determined to help the GOP take over the Senate." But this isn't about Fox News propaganda. This is about the fact that CNN and MSNBC aren't really covering the midterm races, and we should try to figure out why.
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Here's a theory: The more you focus on these races, the more you realize that the issues plaguing Democrats are due to their inability to speak on the issues voters really care about. CNN and MSNBC have focused so much on the social agenda, like abortion, and seem to have largely ignored or tried to gloss over the economic woes of the country. They downplay the crime problem unless there is some right-wing domestic terrorist - a phenomenon they play up while ignoring left-wing violence happening.
It's those issues that are driving voters toward the GOP. It's Fetterman's health issues that are worrying independents. It's the over-emphasis on extreme abortion positions that are making people pause. It's an absolutely wide open border that is actually forcing demographic shifts along the border toward the GOP.
But, when you bring those issues up - when you talk about crime, education, and economy - that puts a pretty stark contrast between the two parties, and the general consensus in almost all the polls is that these are issues the GOP is winning on. So if you cover swing races and you report on the key issues among voters, you are reminding voters which party is in power and doing nothing and who the alternative is.
This isn't about Fox News propaganda. This is about covering the races and the issues that matter to voters. This is about the failure of other mainstream outlets to adequately cover these things.