The revelation of previously unseen film from Capitol surveillance cameras on January 6 by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson has provoked an outrage on the left. The Biden administration is attempting to deflect attention from the fact that the Jan. 6 Committee did not examine or even view the in-your-face film by calling it “lies” and attacking Fox News for seeing it.
As reported by Republic Brief, a lawsuit has already been filed against the Biden Department of Justice for failing to include the tape in its initial investigation and in the legal trials of individuals charged with violence that day.
In spite of this, at least one representative for the Biden administration has suggested that government control of news programs be explored, bringing up previously stated reasons such as the distinction between network and cable news and the commentary of cable news hosts. In a recent interview with left-leaning Mediaite presenter Dean Obeidallah, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre astonishingly complained about Fox News’ neutrality and proposed that the government should oversee cable television.
“Look, the FCC the way the law is right now, it does not cover cable news,” Obeidallah stated. “We all know that. Broadcast news, though. It does. It, it’s called distortion. And it has to be you have to show that they said something false on purpose they knew was false and they could be sanctioned. They can lose their license on a network. It doesn’t apply to cable.”
“Do you think there’s any chance to explore the idea of expanding that, it would take an act of Congress, to expand the FCC’s mandate to include, just apply that, what that already applies to CBS and ABC and FOX on network to cable equally,” he added. “It would apply to everyone, if (inaudible) did same thing that we know Fox did. Because if not, why would Fox not just keep lying to the American public without any consequence? I don’t know why they would stop this.”
“So, look, I have to be careful. FCC is an independent agency, so we need to be careful here. But I get your point,”” she stated.
“You know, look, I think everybody has a responsibility, if you call yourself a news organization, to tell the truth, you know, and I mean, that’s probably as far as I can go,” she continued. “I think when you ask me about Fox, and I think that’s I think the question that I got on MSNBC with Alex was close enough to that.”
“But to the question that you did, you just you just asked me,” she went on. “And in the best way that I can answer it is even Fox News leadership, in their depositions say, as we as I was being asked about the Tucker Carlson show, that it’s not news or truthful. And I think that tells you everything that you need to know. I mean, when the when the leadership is saying that, I think that tells you everything that you need to know and I’ll just leave it there.”
This issue has been raised previously, although in reverse. Tucker Carlson’s commentary on his show is identical to what a judge nominated by Obama in 2021 stated about MSNBC journalist Rachel Maddow. Glenn Greenwald, a journalist, stated that the judge decided that “Maddow’s show is distinct from a conventional news segment in which anchors provide viewers with daily news updates.” This is his characterization:
Maddow does not keep her political views a secret, and therefore, audiences could expect her to use subjective language that comports with her political opinions. Thus, Maddow’s show is different than a typical news segment where anchors inform viewers about the daily news. The point of Maddow’s show is for her to provide the news but also to offer her opinions as to that news. CONTINUE READING…