NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck returned to the Fox News Channel and Fox News @ Night late Friday/early Saturday for another installment of liberal media highlights and lowlights from the past week. With plenty of options, Houck chose to train his fire on the liberal media rushing to the defense of far-left megadonor George Soros and the transgender community as the real victims of last week’s Nashville Christian school shooting.
Filling in for host Trace Gallagher, Kevin Corke tossed to Houck for his highlight by saying he “was chomping at the bit to see what you had to say” since he was curious “as a consumer and as a participant of media” for his picks.
Houck picked the fact-checking of the supposedly esteemed fact-checkers who’ve set out to defend Soros by insisting he didn’t bankroll Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s campaign promising to hammer away at former President Trump.
Houck cited NewsBusters, Twitter Community Notes, and Washington Free Beacon as examples of outlets that pushed back on the insane notion “that George Soros has nothing to do with the Alvin Bragg campaign.” In reality, the Color of Change PAC was connected to Soros as, after having promised they’d give $1 million to Bragg, Soros then gave that same amount.
Corke replied it was “fascinating” and “really instructive” of how the media work.
Turning to his low of the liberal media seeking to almost lionize the transgender shooter, he quoted a deranged story from The Washington Post:
[F]or the low, you say The Washington Post: “The right exploits Nashville shooting to escalate anti-trans rhetoric.” This was really something, and I just have to read this. It just kind of boggles the mind: “The attempts on the right to connect violence to transgender people come even through transgender people are” — though, I should say — it says, “though transgender people are rarely the perpetrators of mass shootings, which are overwhelmingly carried out by cisgender men, according to criminal justice experts. And trans people are more likely to be victims of violence than cisgender people, multiple studies have shown.”
Asked to unpack it, Houck first pointed out it took Corke a few attempts to mangle his way through that mumbo jumbo before saying he wanted to spotlight how “disheartening” it’s been “to see the narrative shift away from the possible motives of this gunman” and their manifesto to “how the right is going after the transgender community.”
But despite the media malpractice, Houck reminded Christians of how we’re on the verge of Holy Week and what it means for Christians, including the Covenant community:
[A]s we move into Holy Week, you know, you would try to — a lot of Christians might be disheartened right now, but I just want to say as somebody who is part of the same denomination as Covenant Church — you know, Presbyterian, you know, we should take hope and remember that the scripture tells us in Mark 13 that we will be persecuted and we will be tested as well. But, you know, we should remember at the end of the day, the reason I guess for the season to borrow from Christmas about what Christ did for us.
To see the relevant transcript from April 1, click “expand.”
FNC’s Fox News @ Night
April 1, 2023
12:28 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Highlights & Lowlights; Grading How the Media Covered the Week’s Top Stories]
KEVIN CORKE: And now it’s time to shine our Friday night media spotlight on the highs and lows of media coverage this week, and boy there was a whole bunch of it. We are pleased to be joined by NewsBusters Managing Editor, Curtis Houck. You know there was a lot to get to in and out I’ll just jump right in there and tell you as a consumer and as a participant of media, I was chomping at the bit to see what you had to say. So, let’s jump right into it. Give me your high for the week.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Donation Doubts; Media Outlets Publish Fact-Checks on Soros and Bragg]
CURTIS HOUCK: Yeah, my high for the week, Kevin, is the fact-checking of the media for claiming that George Soros has nothing to do with the Alvin Bragg campaign. You had Ben Collins, you had all sorts of folks, Hallie Jackson on NBC’s Today, trying to point this out that he really has no connection to any of this. But we at NewsBusters and the Free Beacon, among others, and Community Notes on Twitter have pointed out that Color of Change PAC, which is connected to George Soros, has given a million dollars to Bragg’s campaign. And you know, they coincidentally said after they were going to support him, Soros gave a million dollars. Well, guess how much it ended up then going to Alvin Bragg.
CORKE: About a million dollars. You know, and that was fascinating. And I thought that was really instructive. Now, for the low, you say The Washington Post: “The right exploits Nashville shooting to escalate anti-trans rhetoric.” This was really something, and I just have to read this. It just kind of boggles the mind: “The attempts on the right to connect violence to transgender people come even through transgender people are” — though, I should say — it says, “though transgender people are rarely the perpetrators of mass shootings, which are overwhelmingly carried out by cisgender men, according to criminal justice experts. And trans people are more likely to be victims of violence than cisgender people, multiple studies have shown.” All right, I need you to unpack some of that because while if you’re in D.C., in New York, you may understand all the terminology. Tell me why that was your low for the week and what it all means?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Nashville Shooting; Houck: Media Claims Transgender Community Is the Victim]
HOUCK: Well, A, for the fact that, yeah, it took multiple reads for really anybody to get through that saying, what does this mean? And you’d have to diagram it like you would diagram that basic grammar of a sentence. But you know, overall, the reason I picked this as my lowest because it’s so disheartening to see the narrative shift away from the possible motives of this gunman, you know, kind of as you discussed in a previous segment and the manifesto — where’s the manifesto — and instead focus on you know, how the right is going after the transgender community. KJP says the trans community is under attack and you know, as we move into Holy Week, you know, you would try to — a lot of Christians might be disheartened right now, but I just want to say as somebody who is part of the same denomination as Covenant Church — you know, Presbyterian, you know, we should take hope and remember that the scripture tells us in Mark 13 that we will be persecuted and we will be tested as well. But, you know, we should remember at the end of the day, the reason I guess for the season to borrow from Christmas about what Christ did for us.
CORKE: It has been quite a week, and not just a historic week, Curtis. One can only imagine what the week ahead will portend, especially given what may happen on Tuesday. Curtis Houck, thank you so much for your time tonight. We appreciate it. Have a great weekend.
HOUCK: Thanks, Kevin.