CNN’s Oliver Darcy is very angry at Fox News for not covering an evening press conference on the horrific shooting in Boulder, Colorado:
CNN and MSNBC are both taking the briefing from Boulder police right now.
Fox, which also purports to be a news network, is not.
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 23, 2021
We get it, Oliver:
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 23, 2021
And he was mad that Fox didn’t cover the second press conference, too:
Boulder police are now holding a second press conference in which they have just announced 10 dead, including a police officer. CNN and MSNBC are both carrying it. Fox is not. pic.twitter.com/XGwfFtpGoE
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 23, 2021
And then he wrote it all up for the Reliable Sources newsletter:
Fox shows its true colors
I said the national news media was covering the mass shooting. That didn’t include Fox, which largely turned a blind eye to the horrific violence Monday night. The channel demonstrated clearly — for everyone to see once and for all — that it is primarily a right-wing talk channel, not a cable news network.
While CNN and MSNBC aired the press conferences from Boulder police, which any TV news professional with half-decent editorial judgement would do, Fox opted to stick with regular programming from its propagandists. During the first press conference, the network aired Sean Hannity showing footage of Biden stumbling on the stairs of Air Force One last week. And as Boulder police announced that 10 people had lost their lives, Laura Ingraham chatted with Dr. Scott Atlas about “THE SOCIAL DISTANCING FARCE.”
This is not the behavior of a news organization. It’s the behavior of a right-wing talk channel. And it’s really time for other media outlets to recognize this and stop pretending the channel’s primary aim is to deliver the news. Failure to call the network for what it is not only does a disservice to readers, it is simply inaccurate.
But was CNN and MSNBC’s coverage even necessary? New York Magazine’s Josef Adalian says it wasn’t:
I’ve no doubt politics is part of this decision, and yet: I actually don’t think MSNBC needs to carry such pressers during primetime. Viewers don’t need to see every aspect of news gathering in real time; that’s what reporters are for. https://t.co/vchaZLCCC0
— TVMoJoe (@TVMoJoe) March 23, 2021
And can Darcy please answer this question for us?
Oliver – 15 people were shot at a party in Chicago 8 days ago and I don’t think CNN took their police briefing live — why is that? In fact there are a lot of shootings like this. How does CNN decide which shootings to amplify? https://t.co/7QgjaYtYTw
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) March 23, 2021
We ask because this is a recurring pattern where only some gun crimes merit national attention for some reason:
Your network is covering the Colorado shooting because you’re all hoping the shooter is a Trump supporting redneck. How many Chicago shootings have you guys covered this year? https://t.co/9VmfXrJevq
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) March 23, 2021
***
Join the conversation as a VIP Member