A Fox News Reporter Is Driving the White House Crazy by Exposing the Truth About the Border, Biden Insiders Say
When it comes to the Joe Biden White House, journalism hurts.
With the illegal immigration invasion topping 2 million this fiscal year and the issue becoming hotter as the midterm elections get closer, the White House has apparently turned to a whispering campaign to attack one of the few correspondents bringing the story to the American people on a regular basis.
And it’s using a mainstay of the mainstream Washington media to do it.
According to a report Tuesday in Politico’s West Wing Playbook column, anonymous “current and former White House and administration officials” have been expressing their “increasing frustration” with Fox News’ Bill Melugin and his relentless coverage of the illegal immigration crisis Biden’s criminally reckless policies have created on the nation’s southern border.
Fortunately, Melugin doesn’t appear cowed by the attention at all, posting the Politico report on his Twitter account Tuesday night …
.@politico reports that the White House has become “irritated” with me & our @FoxNews team’s reporting at the border. https://t.co/SuJvqzgbey pic.twitter.com/fZiRK46ZRp
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 20, 2022
And getting plenty of support in the process …
You’ve just been reporting the chaos that is our southern border right now. The sheer volume of people crossing has to be a tremendous burden for everyone down there.
— Gary Taylor (@gtaylor83) September 21, 2022
If they are noticing, then you are being effective. Time to double down!
— REDACTED (@quiettactician) September 20, 2022
Sounds like you’re doing something right but seems like you’re in a hit list now 💀😂
— BobTeeBuilder 💩 (@bobteebuilder) September 20, 2022
Tellingly enough, the Politico report is headlined “A Doocy at the border,” drawing an implicit connection between Melugin and Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy, one of the few reporters who cover the administration — and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre — with anything like the skeptical professionalism the job demands.
(The fact that a single reporter stands out enough to be used by name in a headline for simply covering the White House aggressively — without the high school histrionics of a Jim Acosta, say — is itself a damning indictment of the media in the Biden era.)
While never raising questions about the accuracy of Melugin’s reporting, the report carries the administration message that “there is an alarmist quality to it, designed to feed political narratives rather than illuminate the actual issues feeding the migrant flow.”
An “alarmist quality” in the mainstream media? And this is published in the same city where the giants of American journalism — The Washington Post, The New York Times, all the major non-Fox networks – spent five years breathlessly reporting, and winning Pulitzer Prizes, on the “Russia-collusion” hoax?
If you were in the Biden White House, presiding over a disastrous illegal immigration crisis without any solution in sight, you might find this kind of report “alarmist” too.
NEW:
– We embedded w/ @TxDPS in Uvalde as troopers pursued a human smuggler & arrested 11 Honduran men hiding in a ranch, some dressed in camouflage.
– El Paso illegal crossings surging.
– Nearly 100 illegal immigrants found stash house.
– Child rapist caught crossing in AZ. pic.twitter.com/fYz0v6ggt6— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 15, 2022
What’s actually alarming is the language of the Politico report, which relies on vague, disturbing words to convey the idea that the White House has a legitimate complaint.
For example: “One administration official who used to work on immigration issues told West Wing Playbook that the Biden team has complained about the lack of nuance in the network’s coverage of the topic, which focuses more on the number of migrants rather than explaining the root causes of the situation.”
Imagine a journalist focusing on facts – such as the number of migrants – rather than politically driven speculation. (And when that number is an incredible 2.1 million illegal immigrants arrested so far in fiscal 2022, the fact is the story, not the speculation.)
Shame on you for shining the light of truth on the darkness brought about by this administration.
— It Was a Dark Stormy Knight (@detective27) September 21, 2022
Besides, wasn’t Vice President Kamala Harris supposed to be investigating that whole “root causes” business? Or was that maybe just a political stunt to make try to fool the American people?
Politico reported that Melugin broke the story of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ flying two planeloads of illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard last week, a move that gained the illegal immigration issue more media attention than American communities overrun by crime or illegals drowning in the waters of the Rio Grande. (The mainstream media has its priorities.)
Politico then noted that Melugin “followed up that story with appearances on Fox News opinion primetime — which some of Fox’s straight news reporters notably avoid — and a series of exclusives on DeSantis’ escalating fight with the Biden White House over migrants.”
Put aside the snide remark about the Fox News primetime lineup — there’s a reason Fox ratings dominate cable news networks in this country, and it’s not because Greg Gutfeld is pretty funny.
The fact that Melugin followed up his scoop with more coverage of DeSantis’ fight with the Biden White House was presented as though it’s a reason for the White House to be in a snit, rather than the natural development of a national story.
they hate actual journalism now…
— Peaky Loomis (@PeakyLoomis) September 21, 2022
What might be the most disturbing part of the report is that it includes no defense, from Melugin or any other journalist, to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the whole point of reporting is to convey facts, not the officially approved message from the country’s political rulers.
Had this report been about one leading liberal “journalist” being targeted by the White House — say, the Acosta primadonna act of the Trump years — it almost certainly would have been replete with quotes defending the practitioners of the craft, ringing tributes to the First Amendment and assorted hypocrisy from the bootlicking Beltway media.
But it’s about a Fox News reporter who isn’t carrying water for a Democratic administration, which is as good as saying the knives are out among the mainstream media for journalists who actually do their job.
It’s also a pretty good bet that the knives are out in the federal government itself.
Mark your calendar pic.twitter.com/FobQeaHTky
— Jon (@Patriotic_Jon) September 20, 2022
The Biden administration has long since proved it’s willing to abuse the powers of the federal government to target its opponents (see: Mar-a-Lago, raid on.)
It has no compunction about attacking anyone who hurts it.
And as that Politico report shows, Melugin’s journalism hurts.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
