Fox Buries Story Of Romney Dismissing Nearly Half Of American Voters

Written by Emily Arrowood

Published

When video of Mitt Romney dismissing 47 percent of American voters surfaced this afternoon, many media outlets found the surprising video newsworthy. Fox News, however, buried the remarks until forced to cover Romney's follow-up press conference late in the evening.

Today at 4 pm EDT, Mother Jones released secretly-taped footage of the Republican presidential candidate speaking at a private fundraiser, where Romney declared to donors that his job is “not to worry about” the 47 percent of Americans who pay no income taxes, since they will “vote for the president no matter what.” He described these voters as people who “believe they are victims” and believe they are entitled to “housing” and “food,” among other things.

ROMNEY: There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what.

And I mean the president starts off with 48, 49 -- he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. So he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean, that's what they sell every four years.

And so, my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.

CNN found this newsworthy, as did MSNBC. Fox News, however, ignored the story from 4 pm, when the video was released, until after 10 pm, when Romney addressed the video in a press conference.

Even then, in a segment during On the Record, Fox declined to show the actual footage of Romney at the fundraiser, or even quote from his statements. Instead, only Romney's press conference defending his remarks was aired.

This omission is in keeping with the network's apparent efforts to help elect Romney.