Stop Applauding Fox News When They Sometimes Come Close to Telling the Truth

On Friday, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace made news by merely stating the obvious while giving his take on an interview with Attorney General Bill Barr that aired on the same network.

The part that stood out to most was when Wallace said, “What really comes across to me most of all is that for two years Donald Trump sat there and said ‘I don’t have an attorney general. I don’t have somebody out there looking for and protecting my interests.’ He clearly has that now with Bill Barr.”

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What followed were tweets, takes and headlines that said Wallace was being straight on a network that is widely acknowledged by most as going full state TV in the Trump era.

But the caveat that was largely ignored was Wallace’s follow-up to his faux straight-shooter take on the interview: “Not saying that Barr isn’t right in everything he says,” Wallace said. “But he clearly is protecting this president and advocating his point of view on a lot of these issues.”

By adding, “not saying that Barr isn’t right in everything he says,” Wallace attempts to appease the core Fox News audience while at the same time trying to come across as even-handed. It’s disingenuous. Sure, Wallace took some heat from a few Trump sycophants who go ballistic when someone on friendly turf states an obvious fact that doesn’t include praise of Trump, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the media or political pundits should hand out platitudes.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/stop-applauding-fox-news-837209/