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Matthew Gertz Profile picture
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16 Oct, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Prior iterations of Fox News were effective at converting independents to GOP partisans; the current version mainly radicalizes the base.
Of course that makes it particularly dangerous when the president is part of that base and shapes federal policy around the network's programming. mediamatters.org/coronavirus-co…
And Fox's role as a GOP power center won't end if Trump loses -- too many party politicians have figured out how to game the network's coverage to bootstrap their careers. mediamatters.org/fox-news/its-n…
Fox always takes on the spirit of the ascendant wing of the conservative movement. In 2017, they pivoted to become Breitbart TV, a stew of anti-diversity invective, pro-Trump fanaticism, and vindictive opposition to cultural elites. mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/f…

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More from @MattGertz

Matthew Gertz Profile picture
15 Oct
Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch is reportedly “disgusted” by President Donald Trump’s failed handling of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. He and his son Lachlan Murdoch are also partly responsible for it. mediamatters.org/coronavirus-co…
Murdoch has complained to confidants that Trump “is not listening to advice about how best to handle the pandemic," which is “creating a never-ending crisis for his administration,” the Daily Beast reports.

Not quite.
Trump is ignoring experts, that's true. But he is taking advice -- from Murdoch employees at Fox. The network's hosts have a direct line to the president, and his coronavirus response has been shaped by their shows and private counsel.
Read 6 tweets
Matthew Gertz Profile picture
15 Oct
"More Americans are going to die from the novel coronavirus COVID-19 because President Donald Trump is watching Fox News and listening when the network’s hosts minimize the risks posed by the deadly epidemic." -- Me on March 6. mediamatters.org/coronavirus-co…
This was extremely predictable and I know that because I fucking predicted it! All it took was the basic understanding that the president of the United States believes the shit Rupert Murdoch's employees tell him and would act accordingly. mediamatters.org/coronavirus-co…
There had been around 500 recorded COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and a handful of deaths when I wrote that the Fox-Trump feedback loop was about to get a lot of people killed.

We're now approaching 8 million cases and have cleared 217,000 deaths, with no end in sight.
Read 4 tweets
Matthew Gertz Profile picture
13 Oct
Great thread here from Parker. One point I'll add -- Fox News has an unrivaled hold on the Republican Party, from agenda-setting to candidate selection. That moves the GOP away from a majoritarian message -- but sometimes it wins anyway.
Donald Trump spent much of the 2016 campaign in a similar Fox feedback loop. And his message did not command the support of a majority of voters. But he got enough to win in the Electoral College despite getting three million fewer votes.
Once he was in office, Fox had more power over his administration than any media outlet has had in recent history. Here are 15 examples from the last two years, they influenced everything from personnel to a government shutdown. mediamatters.org/donald-trump/1…
Read 7 tweets
Matthew Gertz Profile picture
12 Oct
The press is getting worked by Republicans on court expansion
mediamatters.org/2020-supreme-c…
All four of the agenda-setting broadcast Sunday morning political talk shows discussed GOP complaints about potential court expansion.

Only one referenced Pence dodging Roe Q, which set it off.

None mentioned him dodging Q on peaceful transfer of power.
At the very moment that Republicans are violating political norms to cement conservative control of the court, they are demanding journalists focus on whether Biden might engage in his own norm violations to counter it in the future.
Read 4 tweets
Matthew Gertz Profile picture
9 Oct
NEW STUDY: Two years of Trump's Fox live-tweeting obsession, by the numbers

Trump live-tweeted Fox 1,146 times from September 2018 through August 2020 -- 7.5% of his total tweets

mediamatters.org/donald-trump/s…
This is the culmination of quite a lot of toil dating back to when I started chronicling Trump’s live-tweets in October 2017, so I hope you’ll indulge my long thread; if not, feel free to mute this.
First, why Trump’s Fox obsession matters: It dictates policy outcomes.

Here are 15 ways that happened over the two years of the study, from military strikes to impeachment to the coronavirus to racial justice protests to pardons to personnel and more. mediamatters.org/donald-trump/1…
Read 14 tweets
Matthew Gertz Profile picture
7 Oct
Trump, Barr, and Fox News are working in concert to undermine confidence in the election

The playbook here is obvious -- throw together some sketchy investigations and use them to throw doubt on the election results.
mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson…
Literally within minutes.
Looks like there's no evidence that this had anything to do with the election -- the ballots were among "roughly 1,875 pieces of mail" recovered from dumpsters -- but the Barr/Fox machine is flogging that anyway to undermine confidence in the election. nbcnewyork.com/news/local/usp…
Read 5 tweets

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