Fox's pro-war drumbeat is deafening — and Trump is listening

I never thought I’d miss the presence of Tucker Carlson on Fox News, and in fact, I don’t.

But it’s possible that if he were still the face of the right-wing network, there would be significantly less chance right now of a world war.

If President Trump decides to strike Iran, it may be in no small part due to his favorite media source — Fox News.

The network has been in drumbeat mode for many days, and with Trump’s statement Thursday that he would wait a couple of weeks to decide whether the U.S. should attack Iran, it’s likely to keep going.

“Trump’s favorite TV network has staked out the pro-war position,” wrote CNN’s Brian Stelter, who has written two books about Fox’s internal operations and vast influence.

“Guest after guest on Fox has played to Trump’s ego — simultaneously praising the president and pushing for US intervention through his television screen.” (Carlson, fired from the network in 2023, is against such a move.)

Sean Hannity, one of the big names on Fox these days, and known as the Trump whisperer, is all in.

Iran “is the biggest existential threat to the entire western world,” Hannity said the other day on air, and he just can’t comprehend why everyone doesn’t agree with him. Right-wing radio host Mark Levin is getting all kinds of airtime on Fox to spew his pro-war and anti-Iran rhetoric.

For background: As Israel pounds Iran, Trump is considering having American aircraft refuel Israeli jets as well as using huge bombs to destroy Iran’s underground nuclear site at Fordo.

Examining the several reasons that Trump changed his mind so dramatically from just a couple of months ago, a four-byline story in the New York Times reported that Levin — again, a radio host and consistent presence on Fox — met with Trump at the White House earlier this month to make the case for aggressive action against Iran. It seems like Trump was listening.

This is hardly the first time the news media has banged the drum for war. Infamously, Big Journalism — including the New York Times — was certainly a factor in mustering support in advance of George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. The widespread and credulous reporting about Saddam Hussein’s supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction was very far from the press’s finest hour. Rather, it was an embarrassment and a dereliction.

Generally speaking, the media — addicted to drama and conflict — seldom meets a war they can’t get behind.

What Fox is doing now is more than troubling, especially given Trump’s own impetuosity and love for chaos. It’s a dangerous combination.

Separately, it was stunning to hear NBC News’s Kristen Walker on Meet the Press last Sunday describe the huge “No Kings” protests as involving “tens of thousands” of participants nationwide. Crowd estimates are tricky, of course, but that is a vast understatement. (Hear it yourself at the 3:10 mark in this streaming version of Meet the Press.)

The protest organizers put the crowds at five million — and report that there were tens of thousands in New York and Los Angeles alone. The data journalist G. Elliott Morris who runs a Substack site called “Strength in Numbers” calculated the turnout between four and six million. That would be the largest protest in recent history, making it the first or second largest protest after the 3.3 to 5.6 million who showed up at the 2017 Women’s March.

Morris has no dog in this fight, and his methodology seems sound. It’s described in this Guardian story.

Why would Welker, an influential media figure as the host of Meet the Press since 2023, lowball the numbers like that? First off, I doubt it was her decision alone, much more likely a broad agreement within NBC’s news department to play it safe — and conservative.

Still … why? My theory is it’s at least partly about not wanting to antagonize Trump, whose military parade and birthday bash — the same day — was a flop. Too many in the mainstream news media are tiptoeing around Trump, sometimes at the cost of accuracy. Which is supposed to be their highest priority, after all.

Readers, please tell me how you are feeling about Trump’s threats to Iran, and the media coverage you are seeing. What are your most dependable sources of news on this? And, if you took part in “No Kings” events, what was your experience like? I’d love to hear.

Finally, some recommended reading. “Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream,” just published by journalist Megan Greenwell, is an extremely well reported book about how private-equity companies — run opaquely and with regard for nothing except shareholder profits — are destroying American institutions from local newspapers to community hospitals. Her first sentence grabbed me: “Until it cost me my dream job, I had never given private equity much thought.”

Thanks very much for being here. Below the subscriber message is a description of who I am and what I’m trying to do here on American Crisis. I’ll probably include it on my posts from now on, as there are many newcomers. (The newsletter is edging closer to 50,000 subscribers.) Welcome!

 

 

My background: I am a Lackawanna, NY native who started my career as a summer intern at the Buffalo News, my hometown daily. After years as a reporter and editor, I was named the paper’s first woman editor in chief in 1999, and ran the 200-person newsroom for almost 13 years. Starting in 2012, I served as the first woman “public editor” of the New York Times — an internal media critic and reader representative — and later was the media columnist for the Washington Post. These days, I write here on Substack, as well as for the Guardian US, and teach an ethics course at Columbia Journalism School. I’ve also written two books and won a few awards, including three for defending First Amendment principles.

The purpose of ‘American Crisis’: My aim is to use this newsletter (it started as a podcast in 2023) to push for the kind of journalism we need for our democracy to function — journalism that is accurate, fair, mission-driven and public-spirited. That means that I point out the media’s flaws and failures when necessary.

What I ask of you: Last November, I removed the paywall so that everyone could read and comment. I thought it was important in this crucial moment and might be helpful. If you are able to subscribe at $50 a year or $8 a month, or upgrade your unpaid subscription, that will help to support this venture — and keep it going for all. Thank you!

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