Fox News radicalized the nation, building the foundation for U.S. Capitol siege

The Washington Post

"'Fair and balanced' was the original Fox News lie, one of the rotten planks that built the foundation for Wednesday’s democratic disaster," says Margaret Sullivan. "Over decades, with that false promise accepted as gospel by millions of devotees, Fox News radicalized a nation and spawned more extreme successors such as Newsmax and One America News. Day after day, hour after hour, Fox gave its viewers something that looked like news or commentary but far too often lacked sufficient adherence to a necessary ingredient: truth. Birtherism. The caravan invasion. Covid denialism. Rampant election fraud. All of these found a comfortable home at Fox. In the Trump era, the network — now out of favor for not being quite as shameless as the president demands — was his best friend and promoter. So to put it bluntly: The mob that stormed and desecrated the Capitol on Wednesday could not have existed in a country that hadn’t been radicalized by the likes of Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, and swayed by biased news coverage. Since this is an especially good day for calling out the names of those to blame, here are a few more from the leadership of Fox News: Rupert Murdoch. Lachlan Murdoch. Suzanne Scott...Is Fox the only culprit? Of course not. Social media — the president’s corrosive Twitter feed and the conspiracy-coddling hotbed of Parler — have played their necessary role. Facebook and YouTube, too...But nobody has done it as destructively as Fox."

ALSO:

• Tucker Carlson showed a double standard in U.S. Capitol Takeover vs. Black Lives Matter movement: "Tucker Carlson showed a human touch in discussing the death of a Trump supporter who was fatally shot in a Capitol hallway amid the Wednesday riots," says Erik Wemple, adding: "Wouldn’t it be nice if Carlson lamented all deaths at the hands of law enforcement as he did on Wednesday night? Tucker Carlson Tonight, though, cannot boast such evenhandedness."
• Republican former U.S. Rep Trey Gowdy points out on Fox News that it has too much power without accountability: "Most of the voices in the conservative movement have never held political office before," he says, adding: "Fox has much more influence over Republican primary voters than anyone who's elected."
• CNN's Chris Cuomo calls out Fox News and Pete Hegseth for defending the U.S. Capitol takeover mob.