Democrats have long had a difficult relationship with Fox News, though party leaders have generally been reluctant to engage in public fights with the network and its personalities. Lately, however, that reluctance has disappeared.
For example, the party’s top two lawmakers — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — sent a joint letter to Rupert Murdoch last week, delivering an unsubtle message to News Corp. Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch, demanding that Fox News abandon Donald Trump’s “Big Lie.” This week, prominent Democratic voices have pummeled the network in the wake of Tucker Carlson’s deceptive coverage of Jan. 6 security camera footage.
Politico reported, meanwhile, that a growing number of Democrats are pushing for the party to “sever all ties” with Fox, including a possible decision to stop spending advertising on the network.
But it’s the White House’s approach that really stands out.
President Joe Biden sent a subtle shot across Fox’s bow a few weeks ago, telling ABC News, “We’re finding out now that one of the outlets has decided that they even put things on [the air] they know to be false in order to increase their ratings. So, I think things are a little out of whack.” The Democrat was obviously referencing the revelations from the Dominion Voting Systems litigation, though he did not mention Fox by name.
Last week, Team Biden was more direct: As Semafor noted, in response to a Fox News attack piece against the president, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates emailed the network a statement for the article suggesting Fox’s audience “carefully consider whether they trust your article.”
Today, as Politico reported, the president’s team broke new ground.
The White House joined in widespread condemnation of Fox News star Tucker Carlson on Wednesday, singling out the prime-time ratings king for his misleading portrayal of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. In comments shared first with POLITICO, the White House joined Republican Senate leaders and Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger, who a day earlier assailed Carlson’s broadcasts of selected assault footage as being “filled with offensive and misleading conclusions.”
“We agree with the chief of the Capitol Police and the wide range of bipartisan lawmakers who have condemned this false depiction of the unprecedented, violent attack on our Constitution and the rule of law — which cost police officers their lives,” Bates said.
The presidential spokesperson added, “We also agree with what Fox News’s own attorneys and executives have now repeatedly stressed in multiple courts of law: that Tucker Carlson is not credible.” At face value, this might not seem especially provocative. A Democratic White House taking rhetorical shots at outlet aligned with Republican politics is probably in line with many observers’ expectations. But these developments aren’t normal at all: The Biden White House does not generally engage in these fights, and Democratic leaders on the Hill do not routinely slam outlets or specific television personalities. As Fox News deals with cascading controversies, the Democratic Party’s entire approach to the network is changing quickly — on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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