WashPost Columnist Max Boot: Blacklist Fox News ‘as We Do with Foreign Terrorist Groups’

In a Monday op-ed, the Washington Post called on heavyweight telecommunications corporations to shut down conservative cable news outlets including Fox News, One America News, and Newsmax TV, comparing the need to do so with that of shutting down foreign terrorist influencers.

The essay, penned by prominent Trump critic Max Boot, a Post columnist and CNN global affairs analyst, begins by explaining how merely holding the president accountable for “his role in inciting this violent insurrection” is “insufficient.” 

“There is a whole infrastructure of incitement that will remain intact even after Trump leaves office,” Boot writes. “Just as we do with foreign terrorist groups, so with domestic terrorists: We need to shut down the influencers who radicalize people and set them on the path toward violence and sedition.”

The essay then heaps praise on the recent purging of conservative voices on social media platforms by tech giants, hoping that broadcast media will follow suit.

“Anyone who cherishes our democracy should be grateful to the management of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites for their newfound sense of social responsibility,” the op-ed reads. “We should expect at least the same level of responsibility from broadcast media — and in particular from Fox News, which has the largest reach on the right.”
The essay then criticizes Fox News for not issuing an edict to stop “spreading false claims” regarding election fraud.

“Cumulus Media, one of America’s largest talk-radio companies, has ordered its hosts — who include some Fox News personalities — to stop spreading false claims of election fraud,” Boot writes. “But Fox News itself has issued no such edict.”

The author then suggests that if key members of the Murdoch family, which owns News Corp and its sister company Fox Corp., won’t comply, then large cable carriers should have Fox News shut down.