Friday Afternoon, August 18, 2023

SENIOR MILITARY COMMANDER TO MRFF:

“THE DoD MUST STOP THE ALL-PERVASIVE 

INFLUENCE OF FOX NEWS ON VIRTUALLY ALL 

U.S. MILITARY INSTALLATIONS’ TV SCREENS”

"I want to make it clear that the Department of Defense must find a way to stop the all-pervasive influence of FOX News on virtually all U.S. military installations’ television screens. Even as a very senior combat commander I have faced incredible resistance when I’ve tried to implement this ban. FOX News is a cancer to good order, discipline, morale and unit cohesion of our war fighters in so many ways. However, so many in the senior U.S. military command structure still support and promote the lies of FOX News and quietly prevent others from eliminating its universal TV screen time on armed forces installations literally everywhere 24 hours a day."

— Very Senior U.S. Military Commander

MRFF OP-ED

ON DAILY KOS

Trending story on Daily Kos

Senior military commander:

DoD must stop “the all-pervasive

influence of FOX News” on military's TVs

By: MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda

Friday, August 18, 2023

The White House’s “U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism,” issued in May of this year, orders the Department of Defense (DoD), by November, to “evaluate its policies to counter discrimination, discriminatory harassment, and extremist activity” and “estimate antisemitic and Islamophobic activity in the military workplace to identify gaps to be addressed in future policies, programs, and procedures to prevent and respond to antisemitism and Islamophobia in the military.”

One place the DoD might want to start, as a very senior U.S. military commander recently wrote to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), is to “find a way to stop the all-pervasive influence of FOX News on virtually all U.S. military installations’ television screens.”

As MRFF has heard countless times over the years from our men and women in uniform, Fox News, with its extremism-promoting programming (that’s “programming” in both senses of the word), is ubiquitous in the military, playing 24/7 on the TVs in workplaces, shopping facilities, waiting rooms, gyms, and other common areas at virtually every U.S. military installation.

Fox News is also given more airtime than the other cable news networks on the DoD’s American Forces Network (AFN), the TV service for military members serving overseas, with Fox being given 8 hours of AFN’s daily news channel line-up compared to CNN getting 5 hours and MSNBC only 4.5 hours. With the Fox News International streaming service, however, which was launched in 2020 and is now available in over 40 countries, overseas U.S. military installations are also playing Fox News non-stop on their TVs.

Whether it’s Greg Gutfield’s recent comment on “The Five,” one of the Fox programs in the AFN line-up, that Jews "had to be useful" in order to survive the Holocaust or Jesse Waters, whose show is also carried by AFN, defending Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Jewish conspiracy theory about COVID, Fox News can be counted on to serve up a healthy dose of pure antisemitism along with its other white Christian nationalist and extremism-fueling rhetoric.

So, why hasn’t the DoD, which is tasked with rooting out extremism and antisemitism in the military, done anything to curtail the omnipresent influence of Fox News on our troops via the TVs playing here, there, and everywhere on military installations? Well, maybe because so many at the Pentagon are themselves Fox News adherents.

One former Marine quoted in a 2022 article from Common Dreams titled “It's Time the Pentagon Pulled the Plug on Fox News,” with the subtitle “Extremist propaganda should not be piped into military bases at taxpayer expense,” told the article’s authors:

“Right-wing society has captured the military … If you walk the Pentagon halls there will be not one TV tuned to anything but Fox.” 

Yes, at the Pentagon, that place where policies for the military are formulated, all the TVs are tuned to Fox. What could possibly go wrong?

The following email from a very senior U.S. military commander, although largely about Christian nationalist GOP Rep. Mike Turner’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amendment to shut MRFF down, goes on to describe Fox News, and the U.S. military command structure’s promotion of Fox News, as a “cancer,” and based on what MRFF has heard from many service members about the continual, and often inescapable, exposure to this extremism-stoking propaganda source on their own installations, that description is far from hyperbole.

From: (Active Duty Senior Officer’s e-mail address withheld)

Subject: Senior Military Commander Speaks about MRFF

Date: August 16, 2023 at 8:57:34 AM MDT

To: Information Weinstein <mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org>

Hi, Mikey and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).

I am a very senior U.S. military commander who has relied on the MRFF’s intervention for a number of years now in my career as I have been promoted and assumed increasing combat command responsibilities over time.

So anyone who reads this knows, I was born and raised a Christian and continue to practice my Protestant faith with my spouse and children.

The MRFF has significantly aided my military command responsibilities in myriad ways regarding the prevention of Christian religious extremism for over 12 years now in so many circumstances that it would be too long to recount in this brief e-mail.

That said, I am sickened by the overtly unconstitutional attempt by Republican Christian fanatics in the U.S. Congress’ House of Representatives to actually criminalize communications under the UCMJ between American armed forces members and the MRFF. I would be the very first service member to defy such a law if and when it might ever tragically come into existence.

Lastly, I want to make it clear that the Department of Defense must find a way to stop the all-pervasive influence of FOX News on virtually all U.S. military installations’ television screens. Even as a very senior combat commander I have faced incredible resistance when I’ve tried to implement this ban. FOX News is a cancer to good order, discipline, morale and unit cohesion of our war fighters in so many ways. However, so many in the senior U.S. military command structure still support and promote the lies of FOX News and quietly prevent others from eliminating its universal TV screen time on armed forces installations literally everywhere 24 hours a day.

I have been wanting to write this short e-mail of gratitude to Mikey and the MRFF for a very long time.

I hope it will be impactful for all who read it.

Please do not reveal any of my personal identification information other than what I’ve provided in the text of this communication.

(name withheld)

A couple of Mikey Weinstein's memorable appearances on Fox News

"Thanks for the work"

From: (U.S. Air Force Officer’s e-mail address withheld)

Subject: Thanks for the work

Date: August 18, 2023 at 8:48:06 AM MDT

To: Mikey Weinstein <mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org>

MRFF,

I just wanted to write a quick thank you note for all the work you do. I’m an officer in the USAF and when I had questions regarding military and religious freedom in the Department of Defense you all did not hesitate to research the situation, get answers and most importantly results. Keep up the great work and if anyone ever thinks they should reach out to you trust your instincts and do it.

Respectfully   

 (U.S. Air Force Officer’s name, rank, AFSC, unit and installation all withheld)

Christian nationalist Rep. Mike Turner's amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to SHUT MRFF DOWN by making it ILLEGAL for members of the military to even communicate with MRFF is now part of the GOP-led House's version of the NDAA, WHICH HAS BEEN PASSED BY THE WHOLE HOUSE WITH TURNER’S DESPICABLE, VINDICTIVE, AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT STILL IN IT!!!

Last week, the Senate passed its version of the NDAA,

which does not contain any language regarding MRFF. When Congress returns from its August recess, a conference committee made up of both House and Senate members will meet to reconcile the two bills. THIS IS WHERE TURNER'S AMENDMENT TO SHUT MRFF DOWN MUST BE REMOVED!!!

If Turner's amendment is allowed to remain in the final, bicameral version of the NDAA, it will obliterate MRFF's ability to protect and advocate on behalf of our service members facing religious discrimination, harassment, and aggressive proselytizing!

If you haven't already, please take a minute to submit our petition letter opposing Turner's amendment to your representative and senators.

This form submits a letter to Congress on your behalf, which

will be sent to your U.S. Representative in the House and your

U.S. Senators urging removal of Christian Nationalist Rep. Turner's

blatantly unconstitutional NDAA amendment and, additionally,

sends a copy to the entire Senate Armed Services Committee.

Previous MRFF coverage of

Christian nationalist Rep. Turner's amendment

A handful of MRFF's numerous run-ins with

Christian nationalist GOP Congress members

and Senators over the years