Chris Hayes: “Fox News is essentially an arm of the 24-hour public relations channel for Republican Senate candidates”
Hayes: “Fox elevates these candidates, runs cover for them, works overtime to get them elected ... It doesn't matter how extreme”
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From the October 5, 2022, edition of MSNBC's All In
CHRIS HAYES (HOST): Now, to be clear, there's nothing wrong with talking about politics, interviewing candidates for office -- we've covered the midterms quite a bit on the show. But, I just want to be clear about something. Fox's coverage differs both in tone and just the sheer amount of it. At this point, Fox News is essentially an arm of the 24-hour public relations channel for Republican Senate candidates, interrupted periodically by ads from Mike Pillow. Really, no other way to put it.
According to a new report from Media Matters for America, in the four weeks since Labor Day, Fox News' prime-time opinion shows have covered the midterm races twice as often as this network and CNN combined. "Fox functions as the communications arm of GOP and its biggest stars are working to ensure the Republicans take over the Senate and have an opportunity to implement a hard-right agenda. The network's powerful right-wing propagandists are bombarding their audiences with a steady stream of attacks on the Democratic nominees while lavishing positive airtime on the Republican ones."
You can see this all over Fox's coverage, in case you don't trust me. Hyperbolic graphics depicting Democratic Senate candidates as losers, dangerous radicals hell-bent on destroying this country.
And I've got to say, tip your hat where appropriate. The undisputed king of this stuff is Fox anchor Sean Hannity.
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Fox elevates these candidates, runs cover for them, works overtime to get them elected, along with the rest of the institutional Republican Party from Rick Scott to Mitch McConnell. They're all rolling in the same direction. It doesn't matter how extreme. It doesn't matter how unfit.