Fox News Executive Tries To Rein In Stars As They Cheer On Anti-Lockdown Rallies

[Celerity]

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/22/840751725/fox-news-executive-tries-to-rein-in-stars-as-they-cheer-on-anti-lockdown-rallies



Fox News personalities have been cheerleading protesters across the U.S. gathering in defiance of state lockdown orders. This week, the situation became so extreme that a top executive at the network tried to rein in his stars. Fox News President Jay Wallace sent a directive Monday urging Fox anchors to take time on the air to remind protesters to practice social distancing, according to a senior executive at Fox. The executive said Wallace issued it at the behest of Fox CEO Suzanne Scott. Wallace and Scott declined to be interviewed for this story.

Public health officials say the coronavirus can spread easily when people are packed in tight quarters — including at these protests. Fox hosts have hailed the protesters for standing up for liberty and fundamental American rights, yet have rarely noted the risks involved in those very demonstrations. The hosts have, for the most part, been anchoring their shows from the safety of their own home studios.

Shortly after Wallace's guidance went out Monday, Fox host Harris Faulkner interrupted a guest who said the protesters were not opposing safety measures. Faulkner noted that the footage on the air at that very moment reflected demonstrators clustered closely together, sharing phones and cameras and failing to wear masks.

Few major media outlets have been so resolutely devoted to President Trump's fortunes as Fox News Channel. The crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has proved a test of that loyalty. And with few exceptions, Fox has passed with flying colors — in the sense that its most prominent figures have bolstered the president, even when he has taken a lurching, and at times seemingly self-defeating, approach to the crisis.

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