‘They’ve Hurt Our Democracy’: Schumer Demands Apology From Major News Network For 2020 Election Coverage
Harold Hutchison on March 2, 2023
Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York said Thursday that Democrats had “a right” and “an obligation” to tell Fox News what to do during a CNN appearance.
Schumer, the Senate majority leader, and Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House minority leader, sent Fox News Chairman Rupert Murdoch and other executives at the network a letter Wednesday, demanding they direct Fox News hosts, including Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson, to issue on-air apologies for content surrounding the 2020 presidential election.
“We need him to take the next step and the next step is to tell the Carlsons, the Ingrahams and all these other commentators to stop spreading the big lie, to admit what they said was wrong, help restore some of the faith that we have lost,” Schumer told CNN’s John Berman, who guest-hosted “The Lead.” (RELATED: Past Its Primetime: CNN To Air Interviews And Town Halls In Lieu Of 9 PM Host)
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Fox News has dominated CNN, MSNBC and NewsNation in the ratings, posting more viewers across the day than the other three cable news networks combined from 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesday, Mediate reported. CNN saw a significant drop in its ratings over the first 24 days of February, with some shows dropping about 40% of their audiences in the 25-to-54 age range, according to Fox News.
“This is not simply telling them what to do. This is telling them, showing them that they have hurt our democracy probably when no other actor with the exception of Donald Trump who used them has done, and so when it’s that vital, I think that we not only have a right to tell Rupert Murdoch and Fox what to do, but an obligation,” Schumer also said during the appearance.
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Democratic representatives sitting on the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote DirecTV and other providers in February 2021 urging the company to drop Newsmax, Fox News and One America News Network (OAN). DirecTV dropped OAN in April 2022 “following a routine internal review,” and stopped carrying Newsmax in January.
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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