Rupert Murdoch’s racist media empire has been outed yet again for spreading lies that serve right-wing political interests.
The Murdoch-owned Fox News and the New York Post helped conjure the anti-immigrant “caravan” hysteria in 2018, which in many cases implied liberals were willfully allowing a dangerous migrant-led invasion of the United States. The fearmongering aligned with white nationalist ideology such as the “replacement theory,” which alleges liberals are deliberately trying to replace white Americans with nonwhite immigrants. And this adherence to xenophobia appears to be how Fox News, the Post and several other conservative outlets became media partners to yet another anti-immigrant hoax.
Over several days, conservative outlets pushed flimsy allegations that homeless veterans were being kicked out of their temporary housing in a hotel to make room for migrants.
As The Daily Beast notes:
After right-wing tabloid The New York Post published the sensational report last Friday, Fox News and Newsmax ran wild with it, devoting dozens of segments (and countless online articles) to the indignation of “people who served our country and need a little boost” getting displaced by “illegals,” all while “these hotels are selling their soul for a check.”
In the Post article published May 12, Sharon Toney-Finch, who runs the nonprofit Yerik Israel Toney Foundation, offered a sob story of sorts: “Our veterans have been placed in another hotel due to what’s going on with the immigrants.”
Republican New York state Assemblyman Brian Maher helped spread the claim in an appearance on Fox News and introduced legislation that would prohibit the displacement of homeless veterans. The intent seems to have been pretty obvious here: Use sympathy for veterans as a rhetorical cudgel to bash migrants and those who support the humane treatment of migrants.
The problem with Maher parroting the story is that it’s apparently totally false. Now, the New York…
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