Liberal group Media Matters and 43 other progressive organizations called on companies to not advertise with Fox News because of its opinion programming in an open letter posted Tuesday.
“In this case, advertisers don’t even need to put their money where their mouth is. All they need to do is refrain from partnering with and funding an engine of violence and extremism like Fox News,” the groups said in the letter.
The letter comes a week after Fox presented to ad buyers and clients about its programming at an annual event where broadcast, cable and digital video companies promote their content.
“Our ask to you as media buyers and advertisers is simple: Stop funding lies and hate; don’t buy ads on Fox News,” the group’s letter added.
A Fox News spokesperson said the campaign is partisan and ineffectual, and comes from a familiar, partisan critic in Media Matters.
“FOX News is about to close out its fourth consecutive year delivering new records in advertising revenue,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “So clearly Media Matters’ predictable ongoing partisan attacks have zero impact outside of their irrelevant echo chamber on social media.”
Fox has come under repeated criticism from Media Matters and other liberal critics over its coverage, with host Tucker Carlson coming under recent scrutiny for remarks on the coronavirus pandemic and over remarks about Democratic immigration policies being designed to dilute the voting power of Americans.
The latter remarks were not made on Carlson’s prime-time program, but on “Fox News Primetime.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called for Carlson to be fired, and later called for a boycott of the program over the comments referencing “replacement” theory.
Fox Corp. CEO and Executive Chairman Lachlan Murdoch defended Carlson, writing to the ADL and pointing out that Carlson’s disclaimer during the segment said he was addressing voting rights issues, not the racial makeup of U.S. society.
Other groups signing the Media Matters letter included the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Friends of the Earth, GLAAD and MoveOn.