Debate: Fox TV Soft on Russia?
US Opinions on Media Coverage about Russia
By Mohammad Ali Salih — Washington
A Man in Front of Fox News Channel
Last week, Republican Senator Rand Paul blocked a Democrat sponsored bill to send 40 billion dollars to Ukraine, for humanitarian and military needs.
It was also last month that the Democrats, with a majority in the House of Representatives, pushed a resolution that calls for NATO to be more than a military alliance, to be “a force for countries’ sovereignty, integrity and democracy.”
But many Republicans voted against the resolution, arguing that NATO should confine itself to military issues.
It is not that the Republicans have not been supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but they have become suspicious of the Democrats’ attempts, led by President Joe Biden, to spread their liberal opinions in Ukraine, in Europe and in other parts of the world.
No one has demonstrated this Republican softness towards Russia more than conservative Fox TV, and no one on Fox TV has more eloquently expressed the point than big stars Tucker Carlson and Jay Carafano.
In March, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, praised Fox News for its coverage of the war, without mentioning the names of Carlson and Carafano.
He said, “We know the manners and the tricks that are being used by the Western countries to manipulate the media. We understood, long ago, that there is no such thing as an independent Western media … Whenever something is happening by the way of mass protest, mass demonstrations — which they don’t like — they immediately call it domestic terrorism. I call what they are doing information terrorism”.
But, he added, “If you take the United States, only Fox News is trying to present some alternative point of view”.
On the other side, Democrats, and non-Democrats, have been accusing Fox TV of being soft on Russia — in the steps of former President Donald Trump.
Below are two opposing opinions, excerpts from each person’s tweets, websites and statements to the media:
On one side, James Carafano, a commentator on Fox TV, and a director at the Washington-based conservative Heritage Foundation, while not supporting Russia, argued that 40 billion dollars aid to Ukraine is too much.
On the other side, Cheryl Teh, a journalist with “Inside Inc,” an American media company, argued that Carafano, Tucker and the rest of Fox TV were just echoing Putin.
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James Carafano: “Too Much”:
“This proposal of giving Ukraine 40 billion dollars is too large, too bloated, and completely lacking in strategy.
By proposing such a package, Biden, and his fellow Democrats, are forcing Americans to choose between advancing our interests abroad and governing responsibly here at home …
Talk about a false dilemma.
The 40 billion dollars proposal is fiscally irresponsible and is the epitome of everything that is wrong with how Washington works today.
Let’s start with some basics:
First, continued support for Ukraine’s self-defense against Russia is in U.S. interests.
Second, Russia’s use of military force to redraw sovereign borders in modern Europe has global consequences.
Third, President Biden’s self-inflicted economic crisis is becoming worse …
Let’s, also, talk about Russia and China:
First, Putin’s dangerous designs do not stop with Ukraine.
Second, Russia and China, both, want Europe divided, weakened, and distracted, leaving America alone, isolated, and vulnerable on the world stage…
Thwarting this ambition by supporting Ukraine makes sense.
However, it is just as true that the 40 billion dollars proposal is fiscally irresponsible …
We want the U.S. government to support the people of Ukraine, help them repel Russians, and project American power in a way that sends a signal of strength and resolve to Moscow, Beijing, and our other global adversaries.
But, it is hard to do so when our leaders in Washington put forward proposals that spend billions of dollars that we don’t have…
So, what are the problems with this proposal? A quick look at both process and policy reveals some troubling answers.
First, the Democratic Party’s leadership in the House of Representatives gave members only a few hours to review the proposal before voting.
Second, even as inflation surges to record highs and Americans are suffering from higher prices on just about everything, Washington cannot seem to curb its addition to reckless spending that isn’t offset.
Third, while the bill contains important spending that will bolster Ukraine’s defenses, it also authorizes nearly a billion dollars in unlawful immigration benefits, and roughly $9 billion for things like funding Ukrainian government officials’ salaries and pensions…
If we truly want to help Ukraine achieve victory in its immediate crisis — and we should — our response should be focused squarely on that effort, not helping pay foreign bureaucrats’ retirement bills…”
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Cheryl Teh: “Fox is Putin’s Echo”:
“Fox TV, again, echoed Putin’s talking points and falsely claimed that the US involvement in the Ukraine war is ‘payback for the 2016 election”. It suggested that the US was helping Ukraine because it wanted to depose Putin …
Fox TV has done this before without any evidence. And by doing that it is picking-up an international audience on the Russian government’s media which has been forced to echo the propaganda supporting the war.
No wonder that Fox TV’s Tucker Carlson has received widespread rebuke from US military, and disinformation experts calling him a ‘cancer’…
This is his strange argument: ‘We don’t arm Ukraine so we can help the Ukrainians. They are merely unfortunate pawns in all of this. So, we arm Ukraine so that we can punish Russia. Why? For stealing Hillary Clinton’s coronation.’
Using ‘Russiagate,’ Fox TV is referencing the language former President Donald Trump, and many of his Republican allies, used to question a Justice Department investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
That probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller found that the Russian government had indeed interfered in the 2016 election in an elaborate attempt to ruin presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning …
The US began arming the Ukrainians with lethal aid, namely Javelin anti-tank weapons, when then-President Donald Trump approved it in late 2017 as a measure to deter the Russians from the launching the kind of wider invasion that Putin ordered in February.
Carlson’s brand of conservative commentating has made him one of the most popular US media figures among adults between the ages of 25 to 54. And he is well loved by Russian television, which occasionally picks up his remarks, and other Fox TV’s friendly news …”
