No Matter What Murdoch Says, Fox Is Still Pulling For The Tea Party

Tea Party Tax Day

On Tax Day, Fox hosts provided a platform for six Tea Party members, disproving Ruport Murdoch's claim that the network doesn't promote the Tea Party.

During a March 2014 interview with Fortune, Rupert Murdoch called “bullshit” on the assertion that Fox News has gone to bat for the Tea Party, saying, “we don't promote the Tea Party. That's bullshit. We recognize their existence.” But just as Fox can be credited with a staggering amount of early Tea Party promotion in 2009, Fox hosts celebrated Tax Day 2014 by hosting a number of Tea Partiers to discuss the movement.

On the April 15 edition of On The Record, host Greta Van Susteren questioned why the Tea Party hadn't planned any large scale events in honor of Tax Day and hosted three Tea Party members to promote the movement's new political plan. Van Susteren painted the Tea Party as victims, claiming that the movement has been “unfairly demonized by some members of politics.” Van Susteren even gave the floor to the Tea Partiers to promote their favorite hopefuls for the 2016 presidential election:

Your World host Neil Cavuto likewise commemorated the five year anniversary of the Tea Party's first Tax Day protests by featuring three additional prominent Tea Party members. Cavuto implied the Tea Party has been unfairly attacked as “villains” and “cooks”  and complained that the mainstream media was not interested in covering Tea Party protests, which they regarded as “not cool” compared to the Occupy movement:

Murdoch's claim that Fox News merely recognizes the Tea Party flies in the face of the network's longstanding history of bolstering the movement, a trend that began with heavy reporting on the party's first events in 2009. Fox was so excited about their early coverage of the first Tax Day Tea Party event that they ran over 107 advertisements and hosted a virtual tea party.