After spending weeks avoiding interviews with Iowa newspaper editorial boards who threatened to ask substantive policy questions, Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst took refuge on Fox News, where hosts lavished her with uncritical praise.

Ernst has recently come under fire after cancelling or declining meetings with the editorial boards of major Iowa newspapers. Staff at key Iowa papers told Media Matters that Ernst's recent avoidance of them is nearly unprecedented and pointed to the importance of local papers as forum for candidates “to explain one's positions” to voters in her state.

But Ernst isn't avoiding the media entirely.

On October 24, Ernst sat down for a softball interview with the hosts of Fox & Friends. Fox ran two of Ernst's campaign ads -- her infamous pig castration spot and a recent sequel -- while co-host Peter Johnson, Jr. commented that Ernst had “captured the imagination of voters.” Co-host Brian Kilmeade called her “one of the more exciting new candidates.”

After co-host Anna Kooiman suggested that Ernst had set herself apart by not deciding to go negative, Fox aired a campaign ad on economic issues from her Democratic competitor, Rep. Bruce Braley, with an on-air graphic hyping “Democratic Attacks.” The hosts gave Ernst the chance to criticize Braley but failed to press her for details about a platform many see as extreme:

Fox & Friends' praise of Ernst and string of softball questions is in line with the network's previous treatment of Ernst, which has previously conspicuously avoided mention of her controversial platform. Ernst is a climate change denier and has promoted a Glenn Beck conspiracy theory about the “United Nations' superseding U.S. laws, states nullifying federal laws and impeaching Obama.” She has claimed that Obama has “become a dictator” and should maybe be impeached. The Washington Post has criticized Ernst for trying to “cover her tracks” on her previous support for a 'personhood' amendment that would ban abortion and some forms of contraception.