Media Research Center President Brent Bozell made his latest Fox Business Network (FBN) appearance on Thursday afternoon’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast and held little back as he called out liberal panelist Richard Fowler for his “preposterous” argument that the need to hype vocal protesters inside the Democratic National Convention (DNC) was much ado about nothing.
Heat Street reporter Jillian Melchior started the panel segment by relaying what it was like as Black Lives Matter protesters violently broke through a police barricade and despite what’s being portrayed in the media, “what I'm hearing from protesters, what I'm hearing on the streets is that they are fed up with the Democratic Party” and feel as though the DNC “paid them lip service but hasn’t done anything for their communities and they are angry.”
Turning to the media coverage, fill-in host Charles Payne remarked to Bozell:
[W]e’re getting that part of the narrative – and granted, maybe earlier this week the segregation of reporters based on race was interesting and upsetting to a lot of people – but the violence, how come we’re not – this kind of violent act that we show on the screen right now, this seems like the kind of thing every media outlet would responsibly have to report.
Bozell applaud Melchior’s point and rightfully opined that “[i]t would be breaking news, breaking news on every single network” if protesters had broken and charged barricades at the Republican National Convention (RNC) but they showed no interest of reporting on this at the DNC due to the collusion between the media and the DNC that the Wikileaks scandal has exposed.
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“Notice that last night you also had hecklers trying to shout down the Secretary of Defense, former Secretary of Defense, that never made it on the news last night,” Bozell added.
A frequent lefty disruptor on FNC’s The Kelly File, liberal commentator Richard Fowler chimed in to spin the ridiculous lie that “the hecklers were not trying to disrupt” former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta late Wednesday but instead were expressing displeasure at security closing off the convention floor due to its capacity.
Payne was not buying any of that and after duking it out with Fowler as Melchior and Bozell watched, Bozell blated Fowler for his “preposterous” spin:
No, you know, and it is a very serious situation and it does need to be reported. And I think – and by the way, what your last guest said was just preposterous. Everybody heard it, and by the way, the President himself was heckled last night, too. I guess he's going to deny that one too.
The transcript of the segment from FBN’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast on July 28 can be found below.
FBN’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast
July 28, 2016
1:00 p.m. EasternUNIDENTIFIED MAN [REPORTER]: Guys, there are people that are busting the fences open. They’ve just broken in. They’ve just broken in. Guys, you gotta come to us.
CHARLES PAYNE: That was a real scary scene caught right here on Fox Business last night. Protesters outside the Democratic National Convention busting through police barriers. If you didn't hear anything from this from the mainstream media, well, there could be a reason for it. This is Cavuto: Coast to Coast and I'm Charles Payne, filling for Neil Cavuto.
Bernie or bust. Well, those protesters turned violent last night, joined by anarchists, and well, they just ran a mock of the place. Police scrambling to bring order. And then this, far left Sanders supporters so angry with the DNC and that e-mail controversy they light another American flag on fire. They're calling this the death of democracy. And of course, the mainstream media barely talking about it at all. In fact, Jeff Flock reporting protestors are thanking FBN for being the only network to cover them.
The Heat Street political reporter Jillian Melchior, media watcher Brent Bozell, and Democratic strategist Richard Fowler on why the media has ignored these protests. Jillian, you cover these kind of things on college campuses and other places and you're down there, what's going on and why hasn't the rest of the world heard about this?
JILLIAN MELCHIOR: Yeah, so I was actually down the other day covering a Black Lives Matter protest and the tone was very hostile, very aggressive. They were yelling “F the police,” trying to segregate journalists by race. So I think it was a bit of a taste of what's going on now. I think the Democratic National Convention is trying to create a unified front, put forth the message that there is unity and satisfaction, but what I'm hearing from protesters, what I'm hearing on the streets is that they are fed up with the Democratic Party. They feel like it’s paid them lip service but hasn’t done anything for their communities and they are angry.
PAYNE: You know, Brent, we’re getting that part of the narrative – and granted, maybe earlier this week the segregation of reporters based on race was interesting and upsetting to a lot of people – but the violence, how come we’re not – this kind of violent act that we show on the screen right now, this seems like the kind of thing every media outlet would responsibly have to report.
MELCHIOR: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s a shame that it hasn’t been reported more.
PAYNE: Brent.BRENT BOZELL: I think Rachel is onto something here. Look, ask yourself this simple question, if you had those protesters break through the barricades charging the RNC convention because of Donald Trump, do you think it would be national news? It would be breaking news, breaking news on every single network. The reason they're not doing this is because the DNC – look, part of the Wikileaks story is the collusion between the media and the DNC that’s going on. The DNC is projecting the same unity. Notice that last night you also had hecklers trying to shout down the Secretary of Defense, former Secretary of Defense, that never made it on the news last night.
PAYNE: You know, Richard Fowler, to that point, you know, we get a rosy picture from the media inside and outside. Inside it's easier to manipulate. They’re just completely ignoring the violent scenes you’re watching on the screen right now.
RICHARD FOWLER: Well, one, let me correct the facts. I was on the floor when there was the hecklers, and the hecklers were not trying to disrupt the Secretary of Defense, what they were trying to – they had shut the floor down because there were too many people on the floor and the protesters were saying let our delegates let back in because of the floor was shut down.
PAYNE: So they weren’t saying “No more war! No more war! No more war!”
FOWLER: No, first they were – no, no, the chant was...
PAYNE: Hold on, I tell you what – Richard –
FOWLER: “Let us in! Let us in! Let us in! Let her in!” I was there.
PAYNE: Well, listen, let the audience listen to it and then we’ll come back to you, okay? Let's take a quick listen.
LEON PANETTA: Donald Trump asked our troops to commit war crimes, endorses torture, spurns our allies from Europe to Asia, suggests that countries have nuclear weapons and he praises dictators from Saddam Hussein to Vladimir Putin.
PROTESTERS: No more war! No more war! No more war!
PAYNE: Alright, Richard, it sounded like “No more war!” But go ahead, tell me what you heard.
FOWLER: Well, yeah, and there – I remember that particular disagreement as well and that was a small subset of the Oregon delegation. We were reporting it from the floor, we had our cameras on – I was on the floor. I mean, Brent wasn't on the floor. I was on the floor, I saw it with my own two eyes.
PAYNE: But I guess the question is, do you feel like the mainstream media is doing it’s usual sort of defense of the Democratic Party here, not showing the anarchy outside or the disarray and disunity on the inside?
FOWLER: Well, I mean, if you look at the reporting that we saw yesterday, right? The first hour and a half the convention when it gaveled in, from about 4:30 to almost about 6:00, the main – everybody was talking about – they were covering the Donald Trump rally. Every news outlet had a correspondent there, they took that correspondent live and talked about Donald Trump and the fact that the Russians should hack Hillary Clinton's e-mails, which I would argue is treason, and everybody was talking about it. Every single media outlet was talking about it when it happened.
PAYNE: Brent, we’re gonna stay on topic here because tonight is the wind up, if you will, and it’s gotten more rambunctious every single night. And I, by the way, applaud, salute the Philadelphia police force for the restraint that they showed last night. You wonder, though, if they can do that if it gets any worse.
BOZELL: No, you know, and it is a very serious situation and it does need to be reported. And I think – and by the way, what your last guest said was just preposterous. Everybody heard it, and by the way, the President himself was heckled last night, too. I guess he's going to deny that one too.
FOWLER: I was on the floor and the President was not heckled. Actually, the President was praised quite gratefully. When Hillary Clinton walked out, this – the arena just a couple feet from here erupted, you could hear the shaking. We were in the media tunnel when it actually happened and you could literally hear the shaking from the crowd in the media.
BOZELL: So every – so every network –
PAYNE: Hold it one second.
[INAUDIBLE]
PAYNE: Can’t have all three of you guys. Jillian, last word to you.
MELCHIOR: Yeah, I think part of the issue has been that the protesters haven't been very strategic in some of their protesting. Just the other night, during the Bill Clinton speech, we had Bernie Sanders supporters deciding to leave the auditorium. So that makes it more difficult to cover it. But there is certainly a lot of discontent. I mean, if you look at the Bernie supporters, they're furious, they feel like this was a rigged system, they feel like it was stolen. And they’re very frustrated that they’re not getting a voice.
PAYNE: Well, I’ll just tell those who are in Philly tonight to be safe, that’s all I can tell you because it looks a little bit more dangerous. Hey, thank you all very much.
FOWLER: I don’t think so, Charles. It’ll be safe.
PAYNE: Alright, thanks, Richard.
FOWLER: Thank you.
