Fox News: The Midterm Elections' Biggest Winner

by Antonio Ramirez · 2010-10-31 06:00:00 UTC
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Whatever the election results, Fox News is gonna win big on Tuesday. And that's bad news for all of us, especially people of color.

ColorLines' Rinku Sen penned an article this week called "The Most Racist Campaign in Decades" highlighting racially inflammatory tactics promoted by Fox and used against Muslims, South Asians and immigrants this campaign season.

And whether it's launching the fever dream that Glenn Beck calls a television show the day after Obama was inaugurated, demonizing immigrants and people of color, or uncritically endorsing the Tea Party and its ultra right-wing candidates, Fox has proven it's a political force that can spread lies and half-truths with little accountability — and all to benefit Republicans and the country's richest citizens.

Often, this support for the right-wing extends beyond the newsroom. News Corporation, Fox's parent company, donated $1.25 million to the Republican Governors' Association this year. Glenn Beck recently said that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a lobbying organization that represents the interests of the richest Americans, is "our grandparents, our parents — they are us." That may not make much sense, but Beck's followers got the message. That day, they donated $300,000 to the country's richest Americans ... enough to crash the organization's computer server.

This bizarre event is only the latest story in Fox's sordid, and successful, recent history. Press watchdog Media Matters released a short history of the channel's race-baiting, lies and fundraising for Republican candidates and causes.

The midterm elections come in a divisive, economically uncertain time in our nation's history. We need real solutions and real debate, not Fox News. We need, as even Noam Chomsky has admitted, to better understand what's at the heart of Tea Partiers anger, not Fox News's calls for support of the nation's wealthiest. We need real information on issues that matter to the country, like immigration, not Fox News's subtly bigoted coverage. We need real news, not Fox News.

And if Fox News wins big this election season, it's clear that the rest of us are gonna lose.

Photo Credit: Ari

Antonio Ramirez directs outreach and leadership development at a transnational workers’ rights law center in Mexico.
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