[Vision2020] Don't let Megyn Kelly leverage her NBC platform to promote right-wing hate

Ted Moffett starbliss at gmail.com
Fri May 12 19:14:54 PDT 2017


https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Kelly_NBC?t=1&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE
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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

[image: CREDO action]
*Don't let Megyn Kelly leverage her NBC platform to promote right-wing hate
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Kelly_NBC?t=1&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>*

*The petition to NBC executives reads: *
*“Ensure NBC employees like Megyn Kelly are not using the network’s
platform to promote right-wing hate.”*

Add your name:
[image: Sign the petition ►]
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Kelly_NBC?t=2&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>

Dear Ted,
[image: Don't promote right-wing hate]
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Kelly_NBC?t=3&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>

Anti-LGBTQ hate. Racist white nationalism. Anti-Muslim bigotry. *This is
the extremism that right-wing cable television personality Megyn Kelly
regularly invited on to her primetime Fox News show, "The Kelly File."*

Kelly is a conservative ideologue who spent years at Fox News passing
dangerous right-wing extremism off as “fair and balanced” news. *Now she is
headed to NBC*, where she will host two shows and contribute to NBC’s
breaking and political news programming.1

*NBC had troubling ties to Trump during the presidential campaign.* It
offered the racist, fascist sexual predator high profile national platforms
that put the network’s integrity into question.2 Now, even though the
massive resistance to Trump is fueling record ratings for MSNBC’s
prime-time shows, network executives have been steering the direction of
its programming to the hard right.3 We need to speak out now to let NBC’s
executives know that they must not enable Kelly to use her new position to
promote the same right-wing extremism she brought to Fox.

*Tell NBC executives: Ensure NBC’s employees are not using the network’s
platform to promote right-wing hate. Click here to sign the petition.*
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Kelly_NBC?t=4&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>

Fox News’ bigoted, xenophobic and misogynistic reporting helped lay the
groundwork for Donald Trump’s rise to power, and *Kelly was one of its
flagship personalities.* Because she had moments where she seemed to stray
from the Fox party line – Trump launched a sexist attack on her after she
asked him a question about his misogyny during a presidential debate –
media coverage sometimes painted her as a moderate. But it is important to
remember that *her reporting mainstreamed racism, xenophobia and anti-LGBTQ
bigotry for years.*

A look at the guests she brought on to her show speaks volumes about the
extremism she amplified on her platform. They included:


   - Anti-LGBTQ extremist Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, a
   group designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC);
   - Virulent xenophobe and racist Ann Coulter, whom the SPLC has referred
   to as “a white nationalist in the mainstream;” and
   - Brigitte Gabriel, founder of Act for America, a group that spreads
   ”hate speech demonizing Muslims,” according to the SPLC.4

*Kelly’s own on-air views were similarly hateful.* She minimized the impact
of racism on communities of color, challenged the notion that police
brutality disproportionately impacts communities of color, defended Trump’s
anti-immigrant rhetoric, promoted anti-transgender bigotry, and amplified
and legitimized the recent right-wing smear attack against Planned
Parenthood.5,6 NBC cannot let her spread the same kind of hate.”

*Tell NBC executives: Ensure NBC’s employees are not using the network’s
platform to promote right-wing hate. Click here to sign the petition.*
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Kelly_NBC?t=5&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>

*Comcast/NBCUniversal is already under intense scrutiny for its ties to
Trump.* Through "Celebrity Apprentice," it has a contractual arrangement
with Trump, which creates a conflict of interest that undermines the
credibility of NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC. A little over a year ago, NBC came
under criticism for inviting Trump to host "Saturday Night Live," a
decision that not only legitimized Trump’s hate, but provided him with a
free national platform to bolster and sanitize his image. NBC News failed
to report first on the Access Hollywood tapes that showed Trump bragging
about grabbing women’s genitals though they were in the network’s
possession for four days before The Washington Post broke the story.7

*Now more than ever, we need media outlets to challenge Trump and the
right-wing hate he promotes, but it seems that NBC is moving in the
opposite direction.* In addition to the presence of Kelly in the NBC
lineup, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack is trying to move MSNBC away from its
left-leaning roots.8 He has brought in George Will and Greta Van Susteren
from Fox and Nicolle Wallace, who was a spokesperson for President George
W. Bush and John McCain’s presidential campaign. Lack is also in talks with
Trump supporter and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.9,10,11

NBC celebrated Kelly’s hire with a press release that completely
white-washed her right-wing career at Fox.12 *Before Kelly’s shows start in
June, we have to demand that NBC’s leaders do better and refuse to let her
use her show to promote hate. Click the link below to sign the petition:*

*https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Kelly_NBC?t=7&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE*
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Kelly_NBC?t=6&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>

Thanks for everything you do.

Heidi Hess, Senior Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
<http://act.credoaction.com/go/109?t=8&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>

Add your name:
[image: Sign the petition ►]
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Kelly_NBC?t=9&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>

*References:*

   1. Lisa Marie Segarra, "Megyn Kelly had her first day at NBC
   <http://act.credoaction.com/go/13910?t=10&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>,"
   Fortune, May 1, 2017.
   2. Katie Sullivan, "NBC News is struggling to report on its own Trump
   problem
   <http://act.credoaction.com/go/12939?t=11&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>,"
   Media Matters, Dec. 12, 2016.
   3. Ryan Grim, "With Trump in the White House, MSNBC is resisting the
   resistance
   <http://act.credoaction.com/go/13911?t=12&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>,"
   The Huffington Post, May 1, 2017.
   4. Zachary Pleat & Cristina López G., "Will Megyn Kelly bring the hate
   group leaders And extremists who frequented her Fox show to NBC?
   <https://act.credoaction.com/go/13912?t=13&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>,"
   Media Matters for America, Jan. 6, 2017.
   5. Jessica Torres, "GOP debate moderator Megyn Kelly has long history of
   offensive, out-of-touch comments about minorities
   <https://act.credoaction.com/go/13913?t=14&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>,"
   Media Matters for America, Aug. 4, 2015.
   6. Rachel Larris, "Megyn Kelly defends anti-Planned Parenthood smear
   videos with blatant falsehoods
   <https://act.credoaction.com/go/13914?t=15&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>,"
   Media Matters for America, Dec. 1, 2015.
   7. Bill Carter, "NBC caught in dilemma over its own Donald Trump, Billy
   Bush tape
   <http://act.credoaction.com/go/12938?t=16&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>,"
   CNN Money, Oct. 10, 2016.
   8. Grim, "With Trump in the White House, MSNBC is resisting the
   resistance
   <http://act.credoaction.com/go/13911?t=17&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>."
   9. Hadas Gold, “George Will joins MSNBC
   <http://act.credoaction.com/go/13915?t=18&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>, “
   POLITICO, May 8, 2017.
   10. John Whitehouse, "NBC is building a Trump normalization machine
   <https://act.credoaction.com/go/13916?t=19&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>,"
   Media Matters for America, Jan. 4, 2017.
   11. Yashar Ali, "Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in talks for MSNBC
   show, sources say
   <http://act.credoaction.com/go/13917?t=20&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>,"
   New York Magazine, April 28, 2017.
   12. NBC News, "Megyn Kelly Joins NBC News
   <http://act.credoaction.com/go/13918?t=21&akid=23030.4637676.VbRcGE>,"
   Jan. 3, 2017

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