On the heels of revelations that Fox News executives shared Democratic ads and debate strategy with Republicans in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, Democratic strategists are urging the party's leadership to cut the network off at the knees.
According to a report from Politico's Christopher Cadelago, the brief submitted by Dominion Voting Systems as part of their $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit not only showed that on-air personalities spewed election lies when they knew better, but "... a related deposition of the media empire’s chair, Rupert Murdoch, revealed that he shared private intel about Joe Biden’s campaign TV ads and provided debate strategy with top Trump advisers."
With that in their minds, Democratic strategists say there is no reason for any Democrats to ever run ads on Fox or make guest appearances -- and they are also questioning whether Fox reporters should be given White House press credentials.
According to Democratic adviser Doug Gordon, "There is nothing in those documents to show they operate like a real news organization. If you are running a campaign in 2024, how do you in good faith hand your ads to Fox when you know they handed them over to Republicans? If there are any general election debates, how do you let Fox be a moderator?”
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Strategist Simon Rosenberg went even further, saying that the network should be sanctioned over the revelations, suggesting to Cadelago that, "the Associated Press include in its stylebook that Fox News is not a news organization."
Rosenberg added, "There needs to be a serious conversation now about whether Fox can continue to be a member of the White House Correspondents Association. Keeping them there seems not to be OK.”
The report adds, "Intermittent lashings of Fox News from the left are not a new occurrence. Democratic politicians from the White House to statehouses have long weighed whether trying to reach the network’s coveted audience is worth the cost of appearing to legitimize the network. Those who advocate for engagement say it’s folly to imagine the channel will have less impact if the party ignores it. Those who call for a boycott argue it makes no sense to push the party’s agenda on daytime airwaves only to find it demonized at night. And increasingly, they think that whatever editorial line existed between its dayside hosts and its bombastic prime time names has become blurrier and blurrier."
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