Fox News KINDA Advocated for Gun Reform while Gleefully Cheering on a War and Admiring a Mass Shooter
A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 10/29/23
Fox News took a break from its nonstop bloodthirsty coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas to focus nearly every broadcast minute to the manhunt surrounding a well-trained mass shooter in Maine.
The network is selective about mass shooters. In some notable cases Fox has ignored or downplayed mass shooting events.
While PBS decided to focus on the victims in the case Fox News trotted out experts in law enforcement who almost seemed impressed with the shooter’s abilities to hit two targets before seemingly disappearing without a trace.
By Friday the network bounced back and forth between the war and hunt for the mass shooter. The most unexpected take was how Fox hosts and guests started to unwittingly advocate for gun control as they wondered how a man with a known history of mental illness and violence could so easily garner powerful firearms.
In terms of the war the contrast between PBS and Fox News coverage was stark. On PBS Palestinian fathers held dead children wrapped in body bags as mothers cried over tiny bodies crushed in rubble. On Fox the viewer saw the destruction in Gaza from the air as entire buildings collapsed silently into pillows of dust.
Fox News would show these images on one half or one third of the screen as talking heads discussed the Israel airstrikes and strategy. There were very few visual reminders of the human cost of the war in Gaza on the Murdoch owned media empire.
Palestinians simply aren’t shown often on screen unless they are members of Hamas.
Meanwhile they ignored major stories about congressional districts in two states, the extreme politics of the new Speaker of the House and former President Trump’s ever mounting legal problems.
Shows I covered last week
Fox & Friends
The Five
The Ingraham Angle.
Let’s Start a War with Brian Kilmeade!
On Wednesday on “Fox & Friends,” Brian Kilmade brought up recent attacks on U.S. soldiers in the Middle East. Kilmeade’s response was extremely hawkish.
“Also, what's happening in the region is we're being targeted. I mean, and then they go at first they tell us, well, we've been targeted and everything's great. Don't worry about it. One guy had a heart attack in Syria, but no big deal. Then they said, by the way, the attacks have caused 14 casualties, two dozen American servicemen members injured in attacks in Iraq and over in Syria bases a drone attack at a garrison in Syria injured 20 Americans.
That's October 18th. You're not being candid with us. According to a spokesperson all affected service members returned to duty. Still, doesn’t it matter. Ryder says the the press secretary for the Air Force or for the Pentagon says what we're seeing is the prospect for more significant escalation against U.S. forces. Blinken has a weak response, saying, well, we have an option to defend ourselves while not trying to escalate the war, going out of his way to say we don't want a war with Iran, just like he says, we don't want a war with China.
The bottom line is they're antagonizing us in that region. The only thing they understand is strength. Donald Trump showed you that. Ronald Reagan showed you that this is the way to invite more attacks. And if I'm a family member of a man or woman serving in Syria, Iraq, on a on a battleship, on a destroyer in Yemen, I am furious that I will let my kids defend themselves how they've been trained in a region that only understands strength, a lack of response only invites more attack,” said Kilmeade.
Brian Kilmeade Blames BLM for Promoting Anti-Israel Protests
What Kilmdeade does here is incredibly deceptive and misleading. He takes a quote that’s basically an opinion of someone else and hold up as proof.
Now actual evidence could be found if there really is some sort of coordinated link between BLM and pro-Palestinian protesters. An opinion is evidence of nothing.
“And we appear to we are talking about it, which happened to UK, was the actual massacre itself, October 7th. This totally flips me out. I cannot believe it. Cornell. I cannot believe at NYU. I cannot believe at Columbia, at Princeton and around the country. They all feel this angry and willing to attack people and against our government and against our country's second or top friend. They're looking to turn. They have an opportunity. Ambassador Friedman said today he believes it's the Black Lives Matter people fueling this and he thinks it's organized,” said Kilmeade.
I assume Kilmeade was referring to David M. Friedman the former U.S. Ambassador to Israel. Friedman worked as a bankruptcy attorney representing Trump and the Trump Organization as far back as 1994. He was also part of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump appointed Friedman as the Ambassador to Israel once he took office despite Friedman’s lack of diplomatic experience.
He was criticized for his radical views including advocating for more Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Longstanding U.S. policy has been to oppose Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, which the U.N. and international community also views as unlawful.
Friedman was also harshly critical of liberal Jews in the United States whom he referred to as “kapos,” who assisted Nazis in the ghettos. He also called President Obama antisemitic and said that Israel should just annex the entire West Bank.
How PBS and Fox News Covered the Mass Shooting in Maine
Fox News and PBS covered the story about a mass shooter at large in entirely different ways. A shooter entered a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston, Maine where he ended up killing 18 people while injuring 13 more.
I do not name individuals who commit heinous acts like these as many of them seek publicity and fame. I will refer to this man as the Lewiston shooter.
Even though police arrived on the scene almost immediately after the shooting the man managed to get away and evade capture for a couple of days.
The network revealed that the main suspect was a white male 40-year-old U.S. Army reservist who had weapons training, a history of domestic violence and had been taken by police for an mental health evaluation after military officials became concerned that he was acting erratically in mid-July.
The Lewiston shooter’s relatives told law enforcement that he had been hearing voices and had made threats about attacking the military base.
Residents in the immediate area were told to shelter in place as the whereabouts of the killer were unknown.
Fox News dedicated most of its airtime to the story even reducing the number of commercial breaks. The network kept adding segments live from Maine that didn’t offer the viewer much information but did add a sense of panic.
Over the course of two days Fox News invited several former law enforcement agents to give their expert opinion on where he might be hiding and how law enforcement could capture him.
One of the experts was Tom Homan, formerly the director of ICE during the Trump administration and one of the architects of the family separation policy at the southern border. Homan almost seemed to admire the man.
“Well, it's got to be tough to find this guy to sit in my hotel last night with another career law enforcement officer, Mark Morgan, who, you know, we both serve the Trump administration. We're both for career law enforcement officers. As soon as the first picture came up of who this guy was. Me and Mark crooked each other. Say this guy is trained.
He was holding the weapon the way we were trained to hold the weapon. His chin placement, his shoulder placement the get ready position. As soon as we saw the first picture, we said this guy's trained and knows what he’s doing which makes him more dangerous. He's going to do a lot more damage being trained with that weapon than an amateur.
We also both believe that this is a planned operation. He didn't do the spur of the moment. He had a plan. What shot up two places. He had a plan to get away. So it's probably difficult to find him. Look, he's in a residential area. He could have gone to a residential home, maybe took hostages and no one knows he's there. He could be in the woods. Did he have access to another car?” said Homan.
PBS had a completely different approach to the story.
The network used footage from Lewiston as they described the crime. Laura Barrón-López narrated the segment.
“Nearly 24 hours after a man opened fire with an AR-15 style rifle at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston, Maine. The sprawling manhunt is growing for the shooter. Police say 40-year-old Robert Card is a person of interest and remains armed and dangerous. Investigators are still trying to piece together what happened and many questions remain,” said Barrón-López.
The camera then cut to a press conference as Col. William Ross of the Maine State Police spoke at a lectern.
“Several of the deceased have been identified and their families next of kin have been notified. Approximately eight people at this point have been identified. Ten people, ten of these victims still need to be identified at this time,” said Ross.
“Maine's governor, Janet Mills, said it was a dark day for her state,” said Barrón-López
Mills was speaking at the same press conference.
“This city did not deserve this terrible assault on its citizens, on its peace of mind, on its sense of security,” said Mills.
Locations from the shooting were shown on the screen as Barrón-López continued with her the description of the crime.
“Just before 7 p.m. last night, that assault began inside the just in time bowling center, sending people scrambling for safety. Nine-year-old Zoe Levesque was also there with her mother and was grazed by a bullet.”
The camera then cut to a scene from a suburban kitchen as Zoe Levesque sat next to her mother and explained what happened to her.
“It is just like shocking. It’s just something that you think would never happen. I never thought I'd grow up and get a bullet in my leg. Why? Like, why do people do that?” said Levesque.
Fox News put most of its focus on the shooter. PBS made the community and the victims the center of its story. In the full segment on the NewsHour Barrón-López gave more details about other victims and spoke to witnesses of the attack.
Fox News couldn’t even stick to an accurate victim count. In some segments the body count Fox News reported was 18 in others it was 22.
Fox News Hosts Make a Bunch of Dumb Comments about Guns
On Tuesday during a discussion about the Israel Hamas war Jesse Watters revealed that he just purchased a gun after Judge Jeanine Pirro mentioned American Jews were arming themselves.
“A growing number of American Jews are taking courses on firearm safety, going to shooting ranges around the country as they fear for their safety,” said Pirro.
“I think every American should do that. Hispanic, Black, Jewish, whoever, go get trained up. Yes, I certainly have been,” said Waters.
On Thursday on the same program guest host Piers Morgan asked his co-hosts why guns weren’t regulated like a popular European candy was during a discussion about the Lewiston shooter.
“You're a country of many freedoms and many regulations. How about regulating guns in the way that you do Kinder Surprise Chocolate Eggs?” asked Morgan.
Jesse Watters answered.
“With respect, with respect. Do forks make people fat? Okay. No. Guns don't kill people. People kill people. Forks don't make you fat Piers. Forks don't make you fat.”
Later in the same segment Watters defended the shooter’s choice of weapon.
“You need a weapon. And maybe you need an AR-15 because you have to have something semiautomatic and you have to have something accurate,” said Watters.
Fox News Host Unwittingly Endorse Federal Gun Control Laws
On”Fox & Friends,” during the same segment I compared to the PBS NewsHour, Tom Homan advocated for some type of federal gun control.
“This country has mental health problem. We know that there's no plan to deal with it. 45 CFR 45 The corporal body regulations talked about when a medical professional can communicate with law enforcement, that guy may be a danger. The problem is every state heads your own laws. Some states have red m flag laws. Some have a yellow flag laws. Maine I think is a yellow flag law State. So, every state handles this differently. There is no clear, precise, nationwide plan on how to deal with a with a mental case that has access to weapons and maybe dangerous to the public and may do something very, very violent,” said Homan.
Later the same night on “The Five,” Judge Jeanine Pirro also seemed to call for some type of change in the laws that might prevent a person with mental illness from getting a weapon.
“What America has to do is we have to start making sure that people who get guns are not mentally unfit to have them,” said Pirro.
Her co-host Jesse Watters echoed her sentiment.
“I don't like the fact if someone someone's involuntarily committed to a mental institution and no one initiates the process to take away his firearms. That is insane to me. And whoever didn't initiate that process to take this guy's firearms away has blood on their hands. And we don't know a lot about what's going on right now. But that right there is your patriotic duty. If you're sending someone to a mental institution for two weeks, because they're saying they're hearing voices and because they're going to shoot up an Army base, they have to make that known to the right authorities. So they strip this guy of his weapons so everybody can be safe,” said Watters.
Fox News hosts would never admit openly that they were promoting any restrictions on firearms. It was somewhat amazing that I found three excellent examples of them seemingly unwittingly demanding some type of restriction on the second amendment.
Jesse Watters is No Wilderness Expert
During the same segment Jesse Watters tried to pretend he was a wilderness survival expert.
“Yeah, he either swallowed a bullet or he's hiding in a cabin or is in Canada. He's very well-trained, is a professional killer. You can tell by his posture and his, this guy is probably going to be, I'd say, maybe a month in the woods. Remember Rudolph? Remember, he just basically disappeared and then he got greedy and was dumpster diving.
This guy is going to probably run out of bullets because you can only kill so many deer. You can only fish so many fish. And it's just going to be a waiting game. But he knows the terrain. He knows all the contours. We talked to people. He knows where to hunt and he probably goes north or west, because if you go south, east, east, you go into the ocean south, you're basically going deep into Massachusetts.
So, he's probably west. And I think this guy might be in a small cabin somewhere, maybe in a sniper position, has the place booby trapped. He moves around at night, but the guys have all the toys out. They have the heat seeking sensory technology from the helicopters. So, it's just going to be a waiting game. And there's a lot of variables.
The guy's got a motorcycle, he's got a jet ski, he's got a property here. He's got he's got a house there. I don't I don't want to say anything about the main law enforcement situation, but these guys only have 17 men in that district. And so, they're bringing in the heavy artillery from the south, the guys from the south and the FBI.
They don't know the terrain either. So, this guy could be out there for long. These are still on the trees. This is really thick wilderness.”
Jesse Watters is originally from suburban Philadelphia and currently lives somewhere in suburban New Jersey. He had to have back surgery last year and complains often about chronic back pain.
Watters had absolutely no idea what he was talking about in that brief monologue. The police gave him a fairly strong clue when they told people in the area that they no longer had to shelter in place. A couple of hours later law enforcement confirmed that the shooter was dead.
How “The Five” Covered Michael Cohen’s Testimony at Trump’s Fraud Trial
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testified against him in the civil fraud trial he faces in New York State. On Tuesday the cast of “The Five,” decided it was better to talk about the sketch artist than the merits of the case or Cohen’s role in the trial.
Dana Perino started the short segment.
“Apparently, Cohen said that President Trump would arbitrarily set net worth numbers. Is that a crime, though?” Perino.
Judge Jeanine Pirro jumped in.
“Well, it is part of the fraud allegation that they committed fraud by increasing the amount of the value of their properties. Look, this is Michael Cohen, right now is completing his contract with the feds. Okay. His contract with the feds was he got X amount of time for being convicted serial liar. And nobody can deny that. And so, he has to cooperate in accordance with that deal. So, he's going to go in there and say whatever he has to because he knows if he doesn't comply with whatever the plea deal was that he got, that they can charge him again,” said Pirro.
“Piers, what do you think?” Perino asked Piers Morgan who was guest hosting last week.
“I did have to laugh when I heard Trump saying it's disgusting. He's a terrible liar. It must be awful for Donald to come up against a terrible liar. I also think that Trump might be losing it. I hate to say this, but in the last three weeks, he's called Biden a Obama. Yesterday, he said that Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, was leader of Turkey. He now said today that Cohen is looking for a better plea deal. Cohen's done time. He's done,” said Morgan.
Judge Pirro interrupted.
“No, no, no, no, no. But there's some there is truth to that, because it is he is completing his contract with the with the feds,” said Pirro.
Jesse Watters jumped in as images from the court sketches were shown on the screen.
“I get Obama and Biden confuse all the time. I mean, just look around. Piers I'm convinced the sketch artist has the hots for Trump. Every time you see him, he looks like a statue. And look at Cohen. It's like he got beaten with a hammer,” said Watters.
Perino responded.
“Although his chin looks decent. But I see what you mean. The Trump one is pretty good. Yeah. I mean, don't draw me in a bad way please,” said Perino.
Greg Gutfeld came up with a fart joke about the images.
“Yeah. Can you put up. Put up Cohen again. I'm trying to figure out who he looks like in that sketch. Either looks like Ash from ‘Evil Dead 2’ after he becomes possessed by a demon or Boris Karloff's Frankenstein after a fart?” said Gutfeld.
“Yeah. look at that one. It looks like Cousin Ed,” said Watters
“Hard hitting analysis,” said Gutfeld.
Laura Ingraham Inserts Border Hysteria in a Case That Has Nothing to do with it
At the end of a segment about two American teenagers who allegedly stole a car and then intentionally hit and killed a cyclist Laura Ingram brought up unaccompanied minors at the southern border.
Randy Sutton, a retired Las Vegas Police lieutenant made a comment about the two young suspects who are being tried as adults.
“We need to guard ourselves against. I just pray that they are never unleashed on humankind again, because once they have displayed this behavior, they're not going back.”
Laura Ingraham pivoted to the border crisis.
“Well, Randy, I hate to say it, we have a lot of young people coming across our border with no parents, no guidance, no father figures. I think we have a powder keg in this country right now. And this this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare the hours I’ve analyzed of Fox News with five hours of the PBS NewsHour. The following is a list of stories PBS covered that Fox News did not.
Ukrainians protested against their own government asking for an 18-month cap on mandatory military service.
Chinese ships blocked and collided with two Filipino vessels off a contested area in the South China Sea. The United States renewed a warning that it would defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack under a 1951 treaty.
Argentina’s economy minister and an anti-establishment right-wing populist will face off in a presidential runoff next month.
China removed Defense Minister Li Shangfu after a two-month disappearance. There was no official explanation why he was removed from office.
PBS produced a segment about how some universities are ending the practice of legacy admissions. The policy gave the children of alumni preferential treatment in the admissions process. The movement to end legacy admissions picked up steam after the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action programs in higher education.
Forty-one U.S. states along with the District of Columbia have sued Meta alleging that the tech giant harms children by building addictive features into Instagram and Facebook.
Women in Iceland, including the female Prime Minister, staged a 24-hour strike over gender inequality.
The judge in the civil fraud trial of former President Donald J. Trump fined Trump $10,000 for violating a gag order over comments Trump made outside the courtroom.
The judge in the civil fraud trial of former President Donald J. Trump also ruled that Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump must testify in the case against her father’s company along with her brothers Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. The judge also set a date of November 6th when Donald J. Trump is set to testify.
The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, has unanimously voted to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Parliament leaders said they were just keeping parity with the U.S. as the U.S. signed the treaty but never ratified it.
PBS produced a segment as part of its series ‘American at a Crossroads’ that focused on historian Heather Cox Richardson’s analysis about the historical context of today’s political divisions.
Richard Roundtree, a Black actor best known for his role in the 1971 film “Shaft,” died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 81. He also had a 150 movie and TV credits, ranging from Roots to Desperate Housewives to Being Mary Jane.
Since Oct. 22, about 360 St. Lawrence Seaway workers have been on strike in Canada. The strike has shut down a shipping route between Lake Erie and Montreal that connects the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes.
Pakistan has set up deportation centers which are part of the country’s efforts to expel foreigners without registration or documents. Most of the undocumented immigrants, about 1.7 million people have fled from Afghanistan.
Last week the Chinese foreign minister met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and later with President Biden at the White House.
The U.S. economy grew at a robust rate of 4.9% in the third quarter. Economists were expecting a 4.2% rate. The growth largely came from consumer spending despite high inflation and interest rates.
A federal judge tossed out the latest congressional map in Georgia and ordered the state to redraw districts for the 2024 election. The judge ruled that the current Republican-backed plan illegally diluted Black votes in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
Legislators in North Carolina redrew its Congressional districts in a way that heavily favors Republicans. Most experts anticipate legal challenges to the new gerrymandered districts.
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) pleaded not guilty to criminal charges contained in an indictment that accused him of stealing people's identities, making charges on his donors' credit cards without their authorization and lying to federal election officials
The new Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he wouldn’t abandon funding for Ukraine but wanted to send aid to Israel first.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) announced he would challenge President Biden in the Democratic primary for the 2024 presidential election. Phillips has only been in the House since 2019.