November 9, 2017

Let’s Watch Fox News Evolve on the Roy Moore Story

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As long as we’re mocking Fox News today, let’s see how their response to the Roy Moore news is evolving through the day. Here it was shortly after the allegations were first published:

The “Clinton Cult” stuff is still top and center. Moore is covered below that, and the headline is “Baseless Attack.” A few hours later it morphed into this:

With even most Republicans starting to realize that groping a 14-year-old is something to take seriously, Moore is now at the top of the page and the headline is “Roy Moore Under Fire.” The subhead puts Moore’s denial first, but at least includes the fact that “GOP lawmakers” are “signalling” outrage.

I will update this later once Fox News finally figures out that they probably should at least pretend that the charges are serious and really disturbing. I imagine they’ll still figure out some way to blame liberals and the media for it, though.

UPDATE: Uh oh. They’re backsliding:

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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