Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) exclaimed this past weekend that it was entirely the fault of Fox News for inciting violence and it was the role of Congress to step in and go after the media outlet with extreme forms of regulation.
AOC issued these statements while taking part in an interview with Jen Psaki on MSNBC Sunday while speaking about Fox News’ recent $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.
"We have very real issues with what is permissible on air, and we saw that with January 6th and we saw that in the lead up to January 6th, and how we navigate questions, not just a freedom of speech but also accountability for incitement of violence," Stated AOC. "This is the role we have to really explore through law as well."
"I believe that when it comes to broadcast television, like FOX News, these are subject to federal law and regulation in terms of what’s allowed on air and what isn’t," she exclaimed. "And when you look at what Tucker Carlson and some of these other folks on Fox do, it is very, very clearly incitement of violence. Very clearly."
WATCH:
In an interview with Psaki, AOC talks about regulations and claims that "when you look at what Tucker Carlson and some of these other folks on Fox do, it is very very clearly incitement of violence." pic.twitter.com/eFVGn5FBVS
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 23, 2023
TRANSCRIPT:
JEN PSAKI, MSNBC: This week, FOX News settled their defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million, a lot of money, it is one of the largest media defamation lawsuits in history. Do you think Dominion’s lawyers made mistake in not requiring FOX to acknowledge on air that they lied to their viewers?
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Well, this was a corporation suing another corporation for material damages. Their job is to go in and get the most money that they can, and I think that they did that. They are not lawyers for the American public and I think what is best for the country, what would have been best for the country, would have been to demand that, and not settle until we got that.
But that is not their role, and so for us, I think this raises much larger questions. Very often, I believe that we leave it to the courts to solve issues that politics is really supposed to solve, that legislating is supposed to solve.
We have very real issues with what is permissible on air, and we saw that with January 6th and we saw that in the lead up to January 6th, and how we navigate questions, not just a freedom of speech but also accountability for incitement of violence. This is the role we have to really explore through law as well.
PSAKI: Do you think media organizations of social media platforms should be accountable for being platforms for incitement?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: I believe that when it comes to broadcast television, like FOX News, these are subject to federal law and regulation in terms of what’s allowed on air and what isn’t. And when you look at what Tucker Carlson and some of these other folks on Fox do, it is very, very clearly incitement of violence. Very clearly. And that is the line that I think we have to be willing to contend with.