No-News News

We have talked about this a lot here but it’s worth repeating. Fox News is NOT news.

Every news outlet gets it wrong from time to time, but they’re not lying. When someone claims an outlet such as CNN or The New York Times lies, they’re never specific. It’s an “I know you are but what am I?”. When CNN and The Times gets something wrong, they issue corrections.

But Fox News doesn’t just get shit wrong and push right-wing talking points. They don’t just overhype fake scandals. They don’t just manufacture outrage to raise their viewers’ blood pressure with their ratings. They don’t just push racism and provide a platform for goons like Kash Patel and Rudy Giuliani to mouth crap all over their airwaves. They don’t just market their platform to sell advertising for shitty pillows. Fox News knowingly lies to its viewers.

And now, further proof they’re not a legitimate news outlet comes with the news that the head of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch himself, gave Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, a preview of ads from the Joe Biden campaign before they were public. If an employee from a legitimate network had given a preview of campaign ads to a rival candidate, that person would be fired.

The Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit has revealed text messages and emails from Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, as well as between executives, including Murdoch that reveal they all knew Trump’s claims of the 2020 election being stolen were not just false, but totally absurd lies being spread by lunatics. They knew the claims were false but continued to give the lies a platform. I discussed this last week.

Naturally, Fox News has not reported this. Why not? Because they’re not a real news outlet. This also comes at the same time that Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given thousands of hours of footage from the Jan. 6 white nationalist MAGA attack on the Capitol to Tucker Carlson. Did McCarthy not hear that Tucker knowingly lies? Maybe McCarthy doesn’t know this because he only watches Fox News.

A few years ago, Tucker kept spreading conspiracy theories about the murder of Democratic Party campaign worker Seth Rich. When the network was threatened with lawsuits, they told Tucker to stop. Tucker stopped but he never issued a correction or apology. Tucker is NOT a journalist. Fox News did issue a retraction but never apologized. They reached a seven-figure settlement with the Rich family. Tucker just kept on being lying Tucker and went on to help get Fox News into another lawsuit, this time one for $1.6 billion.

Take all this into account with Republican arguments and efforts to make it easier to sue media outlets for lying. Donald Trump once tweeted that news outlets shouldn’t be allowed to publish whatever they want. Usually, the main issue they have with the press isn’t that the press lies, but that the press tells the truth.

Now, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to kill laws that protect free speech and the freedom of the press. He said, “The idea that they would create narratives that are contrary to discovering facts, I don’t know that was the standard. Now it seems you pursue the narrative, you’re trying to advance the narrative and trying to get the clicks, and the fact-checking and contrary facts have just fallen by the wayside.” Ron DeSantis described Fox News in that statement, which is the only network he allows to interview him. This is where Tucker works, who called for the firing of one of that network’s fact-checkers.

But it’s the right who are always lying. Let’s use a right-wing MAGA cartoonist as an example of lies and hypocrisies.

Look at these two cartoons from Eric Allie. Today, Eric claims the press lied about the lab-leak theory, Jim Crow 2.0, Hunter’s laptop, Russian collusion, Don’t say gay, the Steele Dossier, and natural immunity. Except the media didn’t lie about any of those. But in a cartoon from last December, Eric claims the Democrats and the media “colluded” with big tech to suppress the free press. This is not true. It’s a lie.

The right claims they’re against lies when they’re liars. What they complain about are not lies. There was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Voter suppression is a real thing and it’s being enacted by Republicans who are changing voting laws based on lies there was massive voter fraud in the 2020 election. “Don’t say gay” is a nickname, but it’s pretty much what the Florida bill is about. The Steele Dossier was never presented as fact, very little of it has been debunked, and the press never presented it as fact since it was produced by political campaigns. I don’t recall the press lying about natural immunity. The lab leak theory has low confidence. And there’s nothing incriminating about anyone or anything on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Republicans have difficulty with comprehension and they should not be the ones deciding what’s true and what are lies. But to make it easy for you, if a Republican says it, it’s a lie.

The last wall between democracy and fascism is a free press which is why fascist goons like Ron DeSantis and all other Republicans are trying to destroy it. And in trying to destroy the free press, they’re trying to destroy the Constitution, which Donald Trump has already called for terminating.

The next time someone in the media is interviewing a Republican about suing media outlets for making stuff up, they should ask if those lawsuits should apply to Fox News. The only problem with this is, Republicans only allow themselves to be interviewed by Fox News.

Update on my current Facebook suspension: As you’re probably aware, I earned ANOTHER 30-day suspension on Facebook yesterday. It was for the cartoon of Dilbert in a KKK hood. My friend Lalo Alcaraz did something similar in support of me and called his “Klanbert.” I love that. Anyways, I got banned for hitting racists again, Facebook upheld the ban and denied my appeal, and then around 1 a.m., my page came back up.

My page was disabled and I couldn’t even log into Facebook. Each time I went to it, I just got a message that I was suspended. I couldn’t even use Messenger which was new because I was able to use it during my two previous 30-day bans. So when I went to Facebook and it came up, I thought it was another case of its inconsistency until a window popped up telling me I was back. They didn’t admit they got it wrong, just that they were “concerned.”

Anyway, subscribe here so you don’t have to wonder for 30 days where I am next time I get another suspension. OK? Subscribing is free. It’s on the right of the page. Look. See it? That’s it. Now click it. It won’t hurt. Thank you.

Music note: I listened to Edwyn Collins and Drivin’ and Cryin’.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

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