Chelsea Clinton says her famed political family was “the reason” why Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News was created.
The daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton was just 12 when she moved into the White House after her father’s 1992 election victory, and soon became the target of mockery by comedians and right-wing pundits.
The billionaire Australian-American businessman’s cable news channel was launched on 7 October 1996 and the Clintons have remained a favorite quarry ever since.
“We were the reason that Fox News was created. Because Rupert Murdoch recognised a great market opportunity,” Ms Clinton, 42, told Variety.
Ms Clinton told Variety that the network was a dangerous force when it came to Covid and climate change.
“The right proved to themselves, ‘We can hit people with relentless misinformation and every night pipe into their homes to disbelieve scientists — what else could be possible?’ Today, with COVID, it’s the same playbook,” she said.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, added that the power wielded by the news network remained “quite frustrating because they get away with it”.
“The so-called mainstream media, even the so-called progressive media, is just not as relentless in rebutting, refuting, and making clear that this is nothing but a play for profits at the cost of truth,” she said.
“It might have mattered if one of the other networks for 10 days said, ‘Do you know one of the very first people to get vaccinated in the UK in December of 2020 was Rupert Murdoch? Did you know that Fox News requires all of their employees to be vaccinated?’” she elaborated.
Hillary went on to say that people in positions of influence haven’t done enough to point out hypocrisy.
“Tech companies, the rest of journalism, ordinary people with platforms, we haven’t done enough to point out the dangers, point out the falsehoods, point out the hypocrisy.”
