Reprinted from Media Matters
Fox News has rediscovered its love of law and order.
In the wake of protests across the country by Black Lives Matter activists following the deaths of two African-American men at the hands of police, Fox has spent days loudly denouncing the group for its allegedly violent ways. Under the headline, "Time to end Black Lives Matter lawlessness," Fox's Todd Starnes recently insisted "the rules of law matters, folks. Without it, we've got anarchy."
Starnes was angry that Black Lives Matter activists weren't arrested when they marched on a bridge in Memphis and shut down traffic there over the weekend.
Fox hosts and guests have all been piling on Black Lives Matter, continuing the network's long-running campaign to demonize the group. Bill O'Reilly announced that an NAACP director and African-Americans in general need to "distance themselves from Black Lives Matter" in order to create "good racial relations," while a panel of Fox News talkers last week insisted Black Lives Matter has its "roots in violence." And Sean Hannity recently claimed that Black Lives Matter's "advancing narrative is killing cops."
In other words, just rancid stuff, as Fox whips up racial tension under the guise of defending law and order. (Rudy Giuliani on Fox: Black Lives Matter "puts a target on the back of police.")
Fox News' hate rhetoric isn't just dangerous, it also reeks of hypocrisy when you recall that back in 2014, the same Fox News flaunted its disdain for law enforcement in order to champion Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. For two decades, Bundy refused to pay federal grazing fees on the public land his cattle used. According to Fox and the conservative media then, there was no more important battle than Bundy's symbolic showdown with the federal government.
The rancher's battle was supported by heavily armed militiamen and women. Insurrectionism was the ugly theme of the day. Law enforcement was the enemy. And for Bundy, Fox News acted as his publicist/public defender, rallying conservatives across the country to support a rancher who didn't want to pay his taxes.