Eeek! Teachers!
Fox News has finally found a kind of election spending it finds worthy of comment. We're talking, naturally, about spending by teachers unions. "The teachers unions are on track to spend a record amount this cycle," Fox's Martha McCallum informed viewers, "with one union shelling out more in contributions than they have"—and here she began strenuously gesturing with a pointed finger—"ever spent before." McCallum then turned to correspondent Mike Emanuel for an answer to that very Foxy question "North Carolina is a key race that could decide the balance of power. What are the teachers unions doing there?"
The answer: "The National Education Association super PAC has spent about $3 million on ads blaming Republican Tillis for making class sizes bigger and for reduced art and sports programs." Oooh. How dare they?
The segment's tone of alarm and novelty—the eyebrows raised at the notion of unions spending millions of dollars on elections—does not extend to Fox News coverage of Republican spending, of course:
With its focus on teachers unions, Fox conveniently left out the spending from outside groups that totals nearly three times more. For example, the North Carolina chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group backed by the Koch brothers has poured in at least $8.3 million in ad money. At least $6 million has come from groups linked to conservative Karl Rove, a Fox News contributor.
I guess if you never report on and even
actively downplay the money Republican groups are spending, your viewers will be amazed to hear how much unions are spending. Typical Fox News, in other words.
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Here's hoping these unions are putting as much or more effort into mobilizing teachers to vote—and getting teachers to mobilize their friends and neighbors to vote—as they are money into advertising.