‘Fox News is helping kill Americans,’ says The Lincoln Project in new attack ad

Conservative PAC The Lincoln Project is out today with a new ad (below) titled “Fox is Killing Us” that attacks Fox News for its frequent anti-vax stance during the COVID pandemic. The 60-second spot starts with a shot of Rupert Murdoch—the Australian-born media mogul who controls Fox News—along with stock footage of a hospitalized woman and a man getting vaccinated. “Is Rupert Murdoch trying to kill Americans? His network is the leading voice against COVID vaccination,” an announcer declares. Cue a clip of Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson asking, “How many Americans have died after taking the COVID vaccine?” followed by soundbites of other Fox News personalities slamming the Biden Administration’s vaccination campaign. “The Americans who are dying from COVID,” the announcer continues, “are almost all not vaccinated. Rupert Murdoch was vaccinated. Does anyone really think Tucker Carlson isn’t vaccinated? But Murdoch’s Fox News continues to put Americans at risk by pushing anti-vax hysteria. It’s dangerous. Immoral. Fox News is helping kill Americans. Call your local television provider”—the logos of AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast, Dish and Verizon flash on-screen—“and tell them to drop Fox News. It’s not about politics; it’s about life and death.” As Michael M. Grynbaum, Tiffany Hsu and Zolan Kanno-Youngs of The New York Times reported on Tuesday, “Fox News has faced heavy criticism in recent days over its vaccine coverage, including a denunciation on the Senate floor and accusations of hypocrisy after a memo revealed that its own employees would be allowed to go maskless in the office if vaccinated.” As the Times and other outlets have noted, some Fox News personalities have lately been endorsing COVID vaccination while others continue to express skepticism. The pandemic aside, The Lincoln Project previously slammed Murdoch and his news network for having “brainwashed millions with un-American propaganda”; see “Watch: The Lincoln Project declares war on Rupert Murdoch and Fox News in new attack ad,” from Ad Age on March 30. The Lincoln Project launched in December 2019 with an op-ed in The New York Times headlined “We Are Republicans, and We Want Trump Defeated” (subhead: “The president and his enablers have replaced conservatism with an empty faith led by a bogus prophet”). Over time, TLP expanded its mission to attack GOP politicians and other Republican power players—including Rupert Murdoch—that it feels have betrayed the party’s core principles. In December, Rick Wilson, a veteran Republican political strategist and co-founder of the group, spoke at length with Ad Age; see “The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson on the ads that actually worked.”

‘Fox News is helping kill Americans,’ says The Lincoln Project in new attack ad

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