If Occupy Wall Street Is So “Fringe,” Why Can't Fox News Stop Covering It?
Written by Eric Boehlert
Published
Fox News' message about the Occupy Wall Street protests has been relentlessly consistent for weeks now: Activists camped out in Manhattan's Financial District are not important people and their rallies should not be taken seriously.
Fox talkers have condemned Occupy Wall Street as the "fringe of the fringe." It's the "dumbest revolution" of the last 100 years. Participants are "unintentional dupes" who "have no [political] base." Worse, they're just "spoiled" kids; "sludge" who have "absolutely no purpose" in life.
But all of that brickbat rhetoric raises this question: If Occupy Wall Street isn't a legitimate event and hasn't mushroomed into a true political phenomena, than why can't Fox News can't stop talking about it? For a “fringe” movement filled with “spoiled” misguided “dupes,” Occupy Wall Street is getting an awful lot of airtime on Fox News these days. More airtime than on CNN, in fact.
The phrase “occupy Wall Street” has been mentioned nearly 200 times on Fox News since Sunday and 140 times on Fox Business, according to tveyes.com. That, compared to the 150 mentions on CNN. (The phrase has aired approximately 250 times on MSNBC this week.)
So the Fox family thinks Occupy Wall Street is a monumentally unserious event, yet takes time to mention it nearly 350 times this week? That seems odd.
And a note to Brent Bozell and other right-wing media foes who are complaining about how much time and attention the press is devoting to the liberal Wall Street protests, you might want to take up your cause with Roger Ailes, because Fox News seems obsessed with the story.