Being manipulated by the news media continues to be a growing threat to the United States. Audiences are fully complicit in their willingness to go along with being blindly manipulated, too.
Support for my assertion that the news media, in particular the cable news networks, continue to mount. And yet, the warnings are being ignored by the masses that are the hapless victims of manipulation.
Last Friday, Fox News co-host John Roberts of their afternoon show “America Reports” claimed that the Biden administration is going after your meat - your red meat. Roberts said “say goodbye to your burgers if you want to sign up to the Biden climate agenda.” Using a graphic to emphasize his point, Roberts explained to the audience that President Biden’s climate plan calls for cutting consumption of red meat by 90% - to a maximum of 4lbs per year per person, which translates into 1 burger per month.
The graphic from Fox News and the narrative about the Biden administration's attempt to stop Americans from eating red meat went viral, and it was flamed by tweets from Donald Trump, Jr., Texas Governor Gregory Abbott, and others. The story originated from a news set at Fox News and came from one of the more credible reporters, John Roberts, who has a reputation for delivering the news without injecting strong opinions. The audience was set up.
Roberts and Fox News took information from a study at the University of Michigan on how the consumption of red meat contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and added that this is “part of Biden’s plan for dealing with climate change.”
Here’s the problem: the study is not connected in any way to Biden’s actual policies, but that didn’t stop host John Roberts and Fox News from presenting the false narrative that this liberal in the White House not only wants to take away your guns, but he also wants to take away your red meat.
Following an onslaught of fact-checking criticism from CNN and other news outlets, John Roberts was forced to admit that what he said “is not the case.” Roberts has now admitted that the graphic and the script from his show on Friday “incorrectly implied” that the academic research on the relationship between eating red meat and greenhouse gas emissions was false.
I respect Roberts and Fox News for admitting that they were pushing a fake news narrative, but the bigger takeaway is why were they pushing it in the first place?
What John Roberts and Fox News did is a classic example - (forgive me but I can’t let this opportunity pass) - of Fox News feeding red meat to its audience.
The idea that the Biden administration is trying to take away the all-American tradition of BBQing burgers and steaks on the Fourth of July - the celebration of America’s birthday - perfectly fit the kind of news the Fox News Channel’s audience desires. Remember, many tune into Fox News or conservative media not to be enlightened with the truth - but to have their wildest biased beliefs confirmed.
President Donald Trump constantly ranted against the “fake news” from outlets like CNN, but the truth was that The Fox News Channel and many of its hosts were creating “fake news” for the sole purpose of rallying their audience and giving them what they want as opposed to the truth. CNN and MSNBC provide their angles that feed the bias of their audiences, too, but Fox News viewers are under this ludicrous belief that only Fox News tells the truth.
In fact, of the 3 primary cable news networks, Fox News works hardest at creating false assumptions. To this day, Fox News will jump on any opportunity to subtly continue the “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen. Fox News knows that there was never evidence to support the claim that Trump won, but that’s not what their audience wants to believe.
There is no intellectual or common sense argument that Fox News is better than any of the cable news networks when it comes to truth and honestly. Fox News anchor/correspondent John Roberts telling their audience that the Biden administration wants to take away their red meat proves that Fox News is inspired by a desire to give the audience what they want to hear - meaning what entertains them - over any strong bond with the truth.
