MSNBC’s Joy Reid compared Fox News’ plan to skip live coverage of the Jan. 6 committee hearings to decisions made by the hierarchy of the medieval Church.
In Reid’s examination of Fox News’ broadcasting decision, the host compared the platform’s tactics to that of the Church’s use of stained-glass windows in medieval Europe.
“Just leave the reading and interpreting to the Church hierarchy,” Reid said in a “The ReidOut” segment on Tuesday. “That is basically what Fox News is doing.
“They are saying leave it to Rupert’s folks, you don’t need to watch it for yourself,” Reid added, referring to Rupert Murdoch, the founder of Fox News parent company News Corp.
Reid began her segment by detailing how the Church used stained glasses to spread the message of God.
“Those windows were the primary way for churches to spread their message about God to the poor,” Reid said. “It was the only way they could communicate the vision to a large swath of a largely illiterate mass.”
In Reid’s assessment, the host referenced a Washington Post article, which examined how Fox News viewers react to other news outlets’ broadcasts. “The Center of Open Science recently published a study showing how Fox News viewers are influenced by their coverage and when they are forced to watch a different network they walk away with a broader sense of knowledge and one that makes them less likely to agree with what Fox is saying,” Reid summarized.
Reid then drew the comparison by outlining the measures the Church would take in order to preach its messages. “The Church went further in enforcing their preferred narrative — they banned translated versions of the Bible,” said Reid, who pointed out nearly every major TV news outlet will be airing the Jan. 6 committee hearings starting Thursday — except Fox News.
Watch “The ReidOut” segment in full here or below.
