Fox Attacks Facebook Jobs Initiative After Tea Party Started Pressuring Businesses Not To Hire

by Solange Uwimana/Media Matters

Two days ago, as Right-Wing Watch reported, leading tea party group Tea Party Nation sent a message to its members calling "for a strike of American small businesses against the movement for global socialism." Activist Melissa Brookstone wrote:

I, an American small business owner, part of the class that produces the vast majority of real, wealth producing jobs in this country, hereby resolve that I will not hire a single person until this war against business and my country is stopped.

I hereby declare that my job creation potential is now ceased.

"I'm on strike!"

On the heels of this initiative to pressure companies not to hire employees, Fox is complaining about a company trying to help unemployed Americans find jobs:

Fox linked to a report by The Hill that referred to a partnership Facebook has struck with the Obama administration to offer employment resources to Americans:

[Labor Secretary Hilda] Solis said the goal of the partnership is to connect employers with people looking for employment. The initiative will allow the Labor Department to provide information and resources to the millions of users on Facebook, Solis said.

[...]

As part of the partnership, Facebook created a "Social Jobs Partnership" page to provide job information and resources to users. "Think of this as a free online job fair that can be accessed seven days a week, day or night," said Marne Levine, Facebook's vice president of global public policy.

The page will offer Labor Department resources, including job listings and job search services, along with resources from partnering nonprofits.

Facebook will target public announcements to users in the 10 states with the highest unemployment rates and Puerto Rico. The announcements will include information about job resources available in the users' area.

Levine also said Facebook plans to invest in developing new social technologies to help people find jobs.

Fox later changed its headline to read: "Facebook and Obama Join Forces Again."

As we've noted, and as Fox News' own Bob Beckel pointed out yesterday, Fox News relentlessly promoted the tea party movement in 2009.

Fox Nation attacks Obama over ‘hip-hop BBQ’

By David Edwards/Raw Story

U.S. job growth accelerated more than expected in July, but the top story at Fox News' Fox Nation blog Friday seemed to imply that the economy would have created even more jobs if President Barack Obama didn't have so many black friends.

"Obama's Hip-Hop BBQ Didn't Create Jobs" was the screaming headline on a post about Obama's 50th birthday party.

Along with the story was photo montage of Obama, Charles Barkley, Chris Rock and Jay-Z, all of whom are African-American men. Other celebrities attending the event included Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, but Fox Nation did not include them in the photo.

On Twitter, many were using the hashtag #HipHopBBQacts to mock Fox Nation's framing of the event, with names like The Notorious P.I.G., House of Propane, Wyclef Dijon, Sheila E coli, Coolio Whip and Limp Brisket.

"The economy added some jobs last month and the unemployment rate is down," Crooks and Liar's Tina Dupuy noted. "But not the stock market. So therefore on Fox Nation - LOOK OVER HERE POTUS IS BLACK WITH BLACK FRIENDS!"

Motor City Liberal comment: Hey Fox Nation did Bush create jobs when he was cleaning brush at his Crawford ranch or when he hung out with crappy country music stars?

Fox Nation asks if Obama — not CEO Tony Hayward — should resign for BP’s negligence.

By Alex Seitz-Wald Last week, Bloomberg reported that BP experienced serious problems with its Deepwater Horizon operation in early February — two months before the fatal explosion that sunk the rig in April — when it struggled to seal cracks found in the well. It informed the Minerals Management Service on February 13th that the cracks were causing uncontrollable bursts of natural gas. Gas surges “are common in oil drilling,” and companies sometimes abandon wells if they determine the risks are too high, but BP chose

to press on anyway. Today, under the headline “Should Pres. Obama Resign Over Feb. 13?,” right-wing radio host and Fox Forum contributor Kevin McCullough picked up the story for Fox Nation and jumped to the remarkable conclusion that President Obama is somehow responsible and should probably resign for BP’s negligence:

While defending his own policies President Obama has routinely been rude and sarcastic to his predecessor, George W. Bush. Yet Obama appears to be making the resident of the previous White House look like a genius compared to his own serious missteps in office. [...]

It seems incomprehensible that the president and other members of the administration still have jobs when it is now being reported that the federal government was apprised by BP on February 13 that the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was leaking oil and natural gas into the ocean floor.

What’s “incomprehensible” is that McCullough would skip straight to calling for Obama’s resignation, without even pausing to consider that perhaps someone from BP — say, the actual person in charge of the well, BP CEO Tony Hayward — should resign first for ignoring this obvious warning sign, along with many others. McCullough offers no criticism of BP, and instead paints them as a helpless victim, begging for the administration to bail them out. After praising newly-crowned “genius” Bush some more, McCullough sagely advises Obama to “change your tactics” and “appear to care” — “Otherwise resign.”