Fox News claims anti-fees protests were “rebellion against big government”
Share148TOP1K138retweetThose who are familiar with Rupert Murdoch’s US news channel Fox News will notice that the conservative-leaning television channel often provides a right-wing outlook on current events. Whilst operating under the claim to be ‘fair and balanced’, accusations of Barack and Michelle Obama’s ‘terrorist fist bump’ and apocalyptic assessments of the President’s first 100 days in office seemed more like a propaganda movement than serious news. This approach has continued to the present day.
Whilst Americans have come to expect Fox’s style of news reporting, Friday’s edition of Fox News’s “Special Report” was particularly concerning. That was because this time they were talking about Britain.
In a segment described as ‘Yankee Rebellion Resonates in Ye Olde England’, Fox reported that Great Britain is following the lead of the United States in embracing the ‘Tea Party’ ideology.
Within the report at around the 23-second mark, the Fox voiceover explains that:
“…a new rebellion against big Government and high taxes is resonating in Ye Olde England…”
There followed a series of soundbites from Matthew Sinclair, representing the TaxPayers’ Alliance. Whilst arguing the point that in fact the British people are increasingly for smaller government and cuts they use footage of a protest march to illustrate their point.
It is only used for a matter of seconds, however if one examines the video the protesters are in fact marching against education cuts and increased tuition fees which arguably are a direct contrast to what Fox reported.
The video handed the misrepresentation legitimacy, meaning the 99 per cent of viewers who would not have noticed what the banners and placards of the protesters actually said would have believed they were Tea Party activists.
As well as addressing UKIP and the EDL – the latter described as a ‘nationalistic group upset about immigration’ – Fox issues a glowing report on the comparisons between the TaxPayers’ Alliance and its American counterparts.
Watch it in full:
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/11/fox-news-claims-anti-fees-protests-were-rebellion-against-big-government/