“The key thing Judge Napolitano did was to say ‘Fox News is reporting that…,’ and he can’t say that,” this insider told me. “That breaks the trust, and you saw what it cost him,” the insider told me. “He is not a reporter and knows he’s not a reporter.” This person noted bluntly that the judge’s comments, and Trump’s parroting of them, have created an internal headache: “It’s a disaster. It’s a nightmare.”
Despite the headaches for the journalists at Fox News, the main risk to the Murdochs (other than credibility) is the effect the backlash could have on their proposed deal to purchase outright Sky News, which was scuttled once before in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal. It could also call unwanted attention to a number of deeper cultural problems that lie beneath the network’s thriving ratings.
Believe me, Rupert Murdoch does not want a real accounting of how his news network behaves. Just last night they were running a chyron saying that "Trump's Wiretapping Claims Proven Correct".
Um no, that's not true at all. It should matter that it's not true. (Redstate.com, a conservative website, explains the many reasons it isn't true. Is that fake news too?)
Seeding discontent when your party is out of power is one thing. It's irresponsible, contemptible, and horrible, but it doesn't have the potential of destroying the world.
When you have a president who actually believes the partisan hackery that is often passed off as news on Fox, it can reverberate around the globe. Go back and watch the German reporters asking Trump questions at the press conference last week. They couldn't believe that Trump really believed the nonsense he was spewing. They objectively see Fox News for what it is, and they were completely shocked when he quoted Fox News to them as a legitimate source.
It just isn't. In the past all Republicans in office at least recognized that. They used Fox News to help them, but they knew it wasn't really a news source. It was a friendly propoganda wing, and was always treated as such.
But right now your temple-throbbing crazy uncle is the president. And he believes every word.
For the sake of the country and the world, let's hope those three or four actual journalists at Fox News prevail upon their colleagues to proceed with caution. Or, let's hope that Rupert Murdoch's insatiable greed will make him temporarily order his people to at least take a seat on the reality bus.
I'm starting to believe that could actually happen.
