THE DAILY NEWSLETTER – FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 2022
MEDIA WINNER: Brian Kilmeade
“Good for Brian Kilmeade.”
That’s how Mediaite’s Colby Hall began this column about the Fox & Friends host’s comments Friday morning imploring the nation to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, and your friendly neighborhood Mediaite newsletter correspondent agrees wholeheartedly with that sentiment.
With last year’s attack on the Capitol being perpetrated by supporters of former President Donald Trump who bought into his baseless claims of election fraud (along with a long list of elected officials and election workers around the country who have been subjected to harassment and threats), it’s clear the “Big Lie” is not some harmless frivolity, but a conspiracy that has sparked real — and deadly — harm.
However, as Hall notes, for the 14 months since the 2020 election, Fox News has mostly shied away from clearly stating that Trump lost fair and square. Kilmeade bucked that trend Friday, telling his audience that American needed to “get past questioning election results”
For Trump to continue to claim that he didn’t lose the election, “that doesn’t help the country,” Kilmeade declared.
Well said, and — most importantly — said to the exact audience who most needs to hear it.
Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.
MEDIA LOSER: Fox News
Five people died during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Hundreds of police officers were wounded, some grievously, and many traumatized by the experience of being viciously assaulted by their fellow Americans. Several committed suicide in the days following the insurrection. Vice President Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and many other of our nation’s top elected officials came within moments of encountering an angry mob that had already shown it was willing to spill blood.
But for multiple on-air personalities at Fox News, Jan. 6 was a day not for remembrance, but for ridicule and disdain.
Pete Hegseth derided the Democrats’ candlelight vigil by mockingly asking if they were praying
Anchor Dana Perino complained that President Joe Biden’s speech was “political” and “divisive,” because it accurately pointed at Trump as the inspiration for the rioters’ actions.
Tucker Carlson questioned why the day was being covered at all, saying it “barely rates as a footnote.”
It’s all the more egregious when compared to reporting by one of their very own journalists, Chad Pergram, who was at the Capitol that day and called it “frankly upsetting and traumatic” when people downplay the violence of Jan. 6
Links We Like:
Listen to Your Own Advice
– Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic
To catch an insurrectionist
– Sara Morrison, Vox
Airport Security Measures Are Popular, But Pointless
– J.D. Tuccille, Reason
Ron DeSantis: I Let a Million Unused COVID Tests Expire in State Stockpile
– Blake Montgomery, The Daily Beast
Wordle Is a Love Story
– Daniel Victor, The New York Times
Read the full Mediaite Green Room Newsletter here, including a recap of the media coverage and events commemorating the Jan. 6 anniversary — plus a bizarrely epic meltdown by Sen. Ted Cruz. Sign up for your free subscription here.