Is Melugin a Doocy on the Border? Blog

Max Tani and Alex Thompson wrote an article in Politico’s WestWing Playbook entitled “A Doocy on the border.” The article covered FOX News reporter Bill Melugin, who has been covering news at the southern border.  They describe him as tall, in his mid-30s with slicked back hair and an air of combative indignation. 

Both current and past White House and Biden administration officials expressed to WestWing Playbook their increasing “frustration” with Melugin’s on-air coverage saying that there is an alarmist quality to it, designed to feed political narratives rather than illuminate the actual issues feeding the migrant flow. The story adds that “he is part of a more technologically savvy generation of Fox reporters and producers whose work leans more heavily on on-the-ground reporting augmented by soaring aerial drone footage of migrants crossing the border.” They claim the technique gives the story a dramatic visual scale that Fox pundits use to bolster their arguments about the enormity of the problem.

Another source of irritation as reported by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was that the story of immigrants being sent to Martha’s Vineyard was leaked to FOX News.

On the other side of the coin, Guy Benson of FOX News on his podcast called the story a hit piece. He said that Melugin had been doing a “helluva” job covering the border for over two years by shining a light on a very serious crisis. Benson claims that Democrats in the White House “planted” a story to go after Melugin who is covering a huge national story that Washington is ignoring.

Benson’s stance is that an Emmy award winning journalist covering a story of national interest on the ground is a legitimate news story. The reporter’s effective use of social media to convey the problem caught by FOX cameras or drones, which are the tools at hand, is TV News101. He countered the claim that the complaint of using technology causing alarmism with “the truth is alarming.”

Another point Benson brought out is that the arbiters of truth and newsworthiness are closing their eyes to this nationally important story for political reasons leaving Melugin out there on his own.

Benson also reminds us that the White House criticizing a reporter would have in times past been an attempt to suppress freedom of the press and would not stand because the press has had the role of keeping the political actors in check.

Benson reported that WestWing Playbook issued an addition to their story a day later. According to a Democratic source they “left out the best part”: Melugin’s past part-time job at an Abercrombie & Fitch store, which was known for hiring men with a particular physique. Benson suggested that because Melugin is good looking and worked as a model over ten years ago, it was an attempt to further discredit him as a serious journalist.

Benson concludes by saying that having this information laundered through the media means the White House does not want what is really happening at the border to be told because they are responsible.

 

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2022/09/20/a-doocy-on-the-border-00057847

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqY6S_QjDrU