O'Reilly And Rivera Continue Fox Tradition Of Demonizing The Poor

OLIVIA MARSHALL/Media Matters For America:

Fox hosts Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera cited a U.S. census study which found that many poor Americans own appliances to paint entitlement recipients as lazy or unwilling to work. This analysis ignores the fact that 9 out of 10 Americans receiving entitlements are elderly, disabled, or were members of working households.

On the September 12 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly and Rivera claimed that government benefits are creating a disincentive for work. Rivera concluded that "it's one thing to be poor in India or even Mexico, it's another thing to be poor, according to these statistics, in the United States":

O'Reilly's attempt to demonize poor Americans as lazy, comfortable, or unwilling to work mischaracterizes the vast majority of Americans who receive benefits. According to a 2012 report from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), 9 out of 10 Americans receiving entitlement benefits were either elderly, seriously disabled, or members of a working household in 2010:

91 percent of the benefit dollars from entitlement and other mandatory programs went to the elderly (people 65 and over), the seriously disabled, and members of working households.  People who are neither elderly nor disabled -- and do not live in a working household -- received only 9 percent of the benefits. 

Moreover, the vast bulk of that 9 percent goes for medical care, unemployment insurance benefits (which individuals must have a significant work history to receive), Social Security survivor benefits for the children and spouses of deceased workers, and Social Security benefits for retirees between ages 62 and 64.  Seven out of the 9 percentage points go for one of these four purposes. 

O'Reilly's segment on poverty in American also dismissed a September 3 report which found that income inequality is wider than it has been in almost a century. Rivera acknowledged the report but downplayed its findings, reasoning that government entitlements create a disincentive for the poor to work and "bootstrap themselves." 

Contrary to O'Reilly and Rivera's claims, the CBPP also notes that the safety net has become more work-based, as the United States has significantly reduced assistance to the jobless poor and increased assistance to low-income working families. Programs like SNAP, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and Medicaid have done much more to promote work over the last 30 years.  For example, the EITC has boosted employment among single mothers and has produced large declines in the number of single mothers receiving welfare.

This dishonest depiction of entitlement recipients is the latest example of Fox's longstanding tradition of maligning the poor. 

Geraldo Rivera Says All Six Jurors Would Have Also Killed Trayvon Martin

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

On Friday morning, as George Zimmerman’s defense team prepared to deliver its closing statement in the 3-week trial, Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera told Fox & Friends that the all-female jury would have also killed Trayvon Martin if they had encountered him on that fateful night:

RIVERA: I see those six ladies in the jury putting themselves on that rainy night, in that housing complex that has just been burglarized by three or four different groups of black youngsters from the adjacent community. So it’s a dark night, a 6-foot-2-inch hoodie-wearing stranger is in the immediate housing complex. How would the ladies of that jury have reacted? I submit that if they were armed, they would have shot and killed Trayvon Martin a lot sooner than George Zimmerman did. This is self-defense.

Watch it:

In March of last year, Rivera proclaimed that “I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman (his killer)” and later gloated about the remarks.

His original comment was met with widespread disgust, even from his own son. Public figures, including Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) and the Miami Heat basketball players responded by wearing hoodies in solidarity with the slain teenager.

Fox’s Geraldo Rivera Blames Hoodie For Trayvon Martin’s Death

By Alex Seitz-Wald/Think Progress

As ThinkProgress noted, Fox News ignored the controversy over the killing of Trayvon Martin at first, even after every other network was covering it, but maybe they were better off not covering the issue than what they’re doing now.

This morning on Fox and Frends, Fox contributor Geraldo Rivera remarked, “I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman (his killer).” While he agreed that Zimmerman “should be prosecuted,” Rivera also blamed Trayvon’s parents for letting him go outside wearing a hooded sweatshirt. Media Matters flagged the exchange:

BRIAN KILMEADE KILMEADE (co-host): Let’s talk about the Trayvon Martin case and what’s going on in Florida right now.

GERALDO RIVERA: I believe that George Zimmerman, the overzealous neighborhood watch captain should be investigated to the fullest extent of the law and if he is criminally liable, he should be prosecuted. But I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.

JULIET HUDDY (guest-host): What do you mean?

RIVERA: When you, when you see a kid walking — Juliet — when you see a kid walking down the street, particularly a dark skinned kid like my son Cruz, who I constantly yelled at when he was going out wearing a damn hoodie or those pants around his ankles. Take that hood off, people look at you and they — what do they think? What’s the instant identification, what’s the instant association?

STEVE DOOCY (co-host): Uh-oh.

RIVERA: It’s those crime scene surveillance tapes. Every time you see someone sticking up a 7-11, the kid is wearing a hoodie. [...] When you see a black or Latino youngster, particularly on the street, you walk to the other side of the street. You try to avoid that confrontation.

Watch it:

Rivera’s comments suggesting that Martin’s attire was responsible for his death are offensive and repugnant. One of the reasons Martin may have been wearing a hood is that it was rainingon the day he was shot. As Rivera himself has experienced, a hood can be helpful in a rainstorm (photo credit: Flickr user Extreme WX Photographer).

Activists have organized around Martin’s hoodie, holding a “Million hoodie march” in New York City and other events.

UPDATE

On Twitter, Rivera responded, “My own son just wrote to say he’s ashamed of my position re hoodies-still I feel parents must do whatever they can to keep their kids safe.”

Geraldo flees ‘Occupy Wall St.’ as protesters chant, ‘Fox News lies!’

By Andrew Jones/Raw Story

Unless it’s a tea party rally, Fox News and American protests don’t seem to mix well.

Host Geraldo Rivera decided to go down to the Occupy Wall Street protests Sunday afternoon and ended up having an unpleasant experience.

Protesters immediately surrounded Rivera and his network’s cameras and began shouting “Fox News Lies!” After a few minutes, Rivera decided to leave. His departure was cheered by protesters, who sang “Hey, hey, hey, goodbye!”

This isn’t the first time in 2011 that the network has been greeted by the public with chants of “Fox News lies!” During the Wisconsin union protests in February, reporter Jeff Flockwas barraged by one man yelling the now famous chant.

In addition, this latest episode of Occupy Wall Street giving embarrassment to Fox News comes more than a week after protester Jesse LaGreca called out producer Griff Jenkins in a viral Youtube clip that the network chose not to air.

WATCH: Video from Youtube, which appeared on October 9, 2011.