Flag-waving journalism

Maybe our journalists need a good dose of patriotic fervour to inspire their viewers:

If Mark Suppelsa, Robin Robinson and the rest of the folks who covered Tuesday’s primary on [Chicago’s] WFLD-Channel 32 looked a bit more colorful than usual last night, that was no accident.

Believe it or not, the news anchors and reporters at the Fox-owned station were ordered by their boss to wear flashy clothes — preferably “red white and blue.”

In an internal memo obtained by this column, Andrew Finlayson, the recently installed vice president of news at Channel 32, told on-air staffers to think of their election night coverage as a “party” and to dress accordingly.

“Dull clothes are out,” Finlayson declared. “Red white and blue is in . . . I know it sounds obvious . . . but sometimes people forget and show up in just shades of gray. We want to be comfortable, professional and ready to rock.”

Fox “News” loves war – and in this, they are not alone – so if their reporters can convince viewers that only they represent true, honest jouralism, why not just wrap themselves in the US flag? Or even better still, replay the infamous shot of a US soldier draping a US flag over Saddam’s statue at the moment of Iraqi “liberation?” America, Fuck Yeah!

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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