Following closely on its report that Tucker Carlson used profane language during interviews on a shock-jock radio show more than 10 years ago, Media Matters is scheduling organized protests outside the Fox News building in New York City.
The protests are planned for Wednesday, and they’re receiving support from prominent alumni of the Obama Administration.
Media Matters is timing the protest to coincide with a meeting Fox News execs have scheduled with advertisers. CNN, which has mentioned the Tucker Carlson comments 82 times since Sunday, explains the strategy:
Fox has a financial motivation for adjusting the way it is perceived in the advertising marketplace. All three of its prime time talk shows, which is largely driven by opinion and punditry, have been targeted by liberal ad boycott efforts in the past year. Carlson and fellow conservative commentators Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham have all spoken out against the efforts.
So Fox is touting its newscasts instead, reminding advertisers that it has plenty of other spots to place ads. "Shepard Smith Reporting" and "Special Report" are Fox News' daytime and evening news programs, respectively. …
Wednesday's event at Fox HQ is also part of the campaign. Media Matters evidently wants attendees to walk by a sea of protesters. So it is organizing Wednesday's protest and partnering with other progressive groups to get the word out.
On the podcast Pod Save America, Obama vets Tommy Vietor, Jon Lovett, and Jon Favreau, used their show to encourage people to join the protest.
“They’re having a protest outside of Fox News headquarters on Wednesday at 11 a.m. in New York because Fox is having on an emergency meeting with their advertisers,” Tommy Vietor said. “So if you want to send a message, and you want people to actually care there, let the advertisers know because that’s the only reason the Bill O’Reillys and the other people actually get punished.”
“It’s the only thing that’s worked,” chimed in his co-host, Jon Lovett.
“Tucker Carlson is their most popular host in their most popular timeslot,” added Obama’s former chief speechwriter, Jon Favreau. “That is — that is Fox News.”
While CNN and other major networks have derided the Trump Administration for being hostile to the free press, attempting to bankrupt media outlets remains a strategy popular only among progressives. We can only presume the former president agrees with this approach, as he called Fox News “harmful to the country.”
Watch the anti-FNC pitch below: