Fox News Won’t Tell Their Viewers That A Republican Was Behind IRS Targeting

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Fox News is playing editing clips of Rep. Elijah Cummings, and refusing to tell their viewers that a Republican was behind the IRS targeting of tea party groups.

Video via Media Matters:

On America’s Newsroom, Bill Hemmer played the last part of Rep. Cummings interview on CNN where he expresses his opinion that the case is solved without showing their viewers why he feels that way. Earlier in the interview, Rep. Cummings said, “Listen up now. He was a 21-year veteran of the IRS. And he was — he described himself in the interviews in response to a Republican attorney’s question as a conservative Republican. Very significant. He is a conservative Republican working for the IRS. I think this interview and these statements go a long way to what’s showing that the White House was not involved in this. We knew that — and this is the guy by the way, this conservative 21-year veteran of IRS is the same one who sent the initial case, the Tea Party case, up to the Washington technical office.”

Hemmer brought in Stephen Hayes from the Weekly Standard, so that they could engage in three minutes of IRS scandal mongering. Hayes tried to invalidate the evidence that a Republican started the review of conservative groups. Hayes said, “This one person that Congressman Cummings suggests as somebody who tells a little bit of a different story. Now, that person’s story is interesting too. I mean it’s worth hearing all of these things, but to take that one account that suggests that this is not that big of a deal, and declare the entire episode over is somebody who’s looking first to solve the political problems, and not interested in the substantive questions…What Cummings is doing is trying to take one answer from one individual, and declare the whole thing over.”

Hayes then predicted that Rep. Cummings’ remarks will look like a pathetic attempt to deflect political concerns.

What is really pathetic is the obvious spin that Fox News is trying to put on this. Fox News has played the edited Cummings clip repeatedly, but they won’t tell their audience that the person who made this statements that Rep. Cummings is referring to is a Republican. That little piece of information is critical to the story. Since it was a Republican who first raised the red flag and started the targeting process, the right wing claim that this was a partisan operation run from the White House is completely discredited.

If this is just “one person’s account,” why won’t Fox News give their viewers the specifics of the conservative IRS employee’s claims?

Fox is refusing to their viewers the truth. This is why Fox News isn’t news, and it is certainly not journalism. It is a propaganda network that is intentionally leaving out facts.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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