The Washington Post’s media columnist Margaret Sullivan accused Fox News of being “a hazard to our democracy” and called for its advertisers to drop out in an op-ed published Sunday.
“How to get the Fox News monster under control?” Sullivan wrote. “I do not believe the government should have any role in regulating what can and can’t be said on the air, although I often hear that proposed. That would be a cure worse than the disease. But let’s not count on the hope that the Fox-controlling Murdochs will develop a conscience.”
“No, the only answer is to speak the language that the bigwigs at Fox will understand: Ratings. Advertising dollars. Profit,” she continued. “Corporations that advertise on Fox New should walk away, and citizens who care about the truth should demand that they do so (in addition to trying to steer their friends and relatives away from the network).”
Sullivan linked to Fox News‘ advertisers in both her op-ed and on Twitter after suggesting that this is the way to “fight” the network. She also linked to a comment on Twitter that noted individuals are able to call up their cable satellite provider and “DEMAND @comcast @Xfinity” delete Fox News.
Sullivan began her piece by noting that Fox News was the first to call Arizona for President Joe Biden on election night, a move that angered former President Donald Trump and some of his supporters. Despite calls to rescind the vote, the network stood by its decision desk and ultimately “turned out to be correct,” Sullivan wrote.
Since then, according to Sullivan, two members of that decision desk at Fox News have left – one retired and a second was laid off amid what was described as a restructuring plan. (RELATED: WaPo Columnist Calls Out ‘Embarrassingly Complimentary’ Pro-Biden TV Coverage, Warns About Media Getting ‘Seduced’ By New Admin)
“Apparently, at a network that specializes in spreading lies, there was a price to pay for getting it right,” she wrote before accusing the network of taking “a more extreme approach as it confronts a post-Trump ratings dip.”
Couple other things. Here’s a list of Fox’s biggest advertisers https://t.co/2FxawEimtp
— ☀️ Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) January 24, 2021
Here is @MaxBoot on that important aspect: https://t.co/P5LX6tud49 https://t.co/aD6zatQf1D
— ☀️ Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) January 24, 2021
Sullivan furthered accused the network of playing a role in the COVID-19 global pandemic as well as the incident on Jan. 6, which saw Trump supporters riot and storm the U.S. Capitol.
“When you think about Fox News’s role in the 400,000 U.S. lives lost to the pandemic and in the disastrous attack of Jan. 6, it’s even fair to call it deadly,” Sullivan declared. “So if reality-based America wants to communicate clearly with Fox News leadership, they’ll have to do it in a language they understand. The language of money.”
The Post’s media columnist isn’t the only one to recently demand Fox News either be cancelled or censored. Writer Eric Boehlert argued shortly after Biden became president that the network’s White House press credentials should be revoked. Sullivan noted this in her op-ed piece on Sunday.
“Instead, facing new competition from the extreme far-right, the network eagerly sinks deeper into partisan, conspiratorial propaganda,” Boehlert wrote. “And that’s why the network doesn’t deserve to have White House credentials for the new Democratic administration.”