Media Matters weekly newsletter, Friday, September 4, 2026

Media Matters weekly newsletter, September 4

WRITTEN BY JASON CAMPBELL

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM JOHN WHITEHOUSE

PUBLISHED 09/04/26 11:17 AM EDT

UPDATED 09/04/26 12:29 PM EDT

Welcome back to Media Matters’ weekly newsletter. This week: 

• Fox reportedly has fired Maria Bartiromo — and the reported reason why raises questions about the network.
• Tucker Carlson helped make JD Vance vice president — now Vance refuses to condemn Carlson’s antisemitism. 
• Pete Hegseth has not appeared on Fox News in 11 months. 
• Right-wing content creators are trying to trick poll workers in order to undermine confidence in elections.

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• A quick word on Maria Bartiromo, Fox, and the Trump White House

  

  Fox announced on Thursday that Maria Bartiromo has left the network. During her time as a host and anchor at Fox News and Fox Business, Bartiromo helped spread conspiracy theories about election integrity and the 2020 presidential election. More recently, she was forced to apologize after airing a guest's baseless accusations that opponents of a Utah data center project were being secretly “funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party."

  You may have known all of that. Certainly it's not shocking to long-time readers. But still that left the question: Why exactly did Bartiromo leave Fox?

  The reason became more clear as Thursday went on. Oliver Darcy reported for Status that Fox fired Bartiromo over a leak to the Trump White House. Readers of the newsletter will be familiar with the background:

  When President Trump gave a prime time election denial address in mid-July, Media Matters noted that Fox News stars, including Bartiromo, were ignoring it.

  Darcy's reporting now fills in some of the blanks about what seems to have happened behind the scenes — and what led to her termination. Darcy writes that “After Trump delivered his unhinged prime time speech in which he pushed more conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, this time making a number of allegations against China, I am told that Fox News issued guidance to senior employees instructing them to steer clear of giving credence to Trump’s delusional claims. I'm told that the guidance was issued in writing.” According to Darcy, “The text message in which Fox News brass offered their guidance was shared by Bartiromo with the White House. In doing so, Bartiromo not only effectively betrayed her employer, but also disclosed confidential company information, violating the terms of her employment agreement.”

  Further reporting from Puck News claims that “Bartiromo wanted to do a story regarding conspiracies tied to China and 2020 election voting, but was told by a Fox Business executive that the story couldn’t air.” Again, readers of this newsletter are probably familiar with efforts by John Solomon (a right-wing media personality currently working in the White House), Steve Bannon, and others to use declassified intelligence documents to accuse China of election interference as a means to give Trump a national security “predicate” to intervene in the midterms.

  It's worth noting at this point that Steve Bannon has long been a fan of Bartiromo, and the two were even caught plotting together a few years ago trying to get her elected to the Senate.

  But ultimately, this entire sordid episode raises more questions about Fox News than about Maria Bartiromo. If they know that one of the president's signature initiatives is so unfit for air that their employees cannot mention it, why are they hiding that assessment from their viewers?

  Update (12:30 pm ET): Bartiromo's attorney denies that she was fired.

• This week’s infighting

  • Donald Trump has lashed out at so-called “fake polls” at least 39 times since the start of his second administration. He has denounced Fox News, his loyal propaganda network, more than any other media outlet. 
  • Tim Pool complained, “Diesel is insane. It means prices everywhere are going up,” adding, “People feel it, and they're pissed. And the Republicans are offering nothing.” 

• Tucker Carlson helped make JD Vance. The VP refuses to condemn his antisemitism.

  

  Citation

  Andrea Austria / Media Matters

  At a meeting of Jewish Republicans this week, Vice President JD Vance put his relationship with Tucker Carlson back in the spotlight when he was asked about the right-wing podcaster’s history of promoting antisemites. Vance refused to condemn his longtime political ally. 

  Carlson has spent the last decade diving deeper and deeper into the far-right fever swamp, drawing plaudits from white nationalists for bringing their bigoted talking points and conspiracy theories like the “great replacement” to his then-platform at Fox News. He also became a GOP kingmaker, helping shape the party’s platform and pick its candidates, and reviewed a plum speaking slot to endorse Donald Trump at the 2024 Republican National Committee.

  But Carlson’s star has dimmed somewhat since Trump’s reelection while his rhetoric has become even more bizarre and bigoted. This raises the natural question as to why Vance — yet again — refused to condemn Carlson. And the answer to this may be that the vice president owes the former Fox host for his political success.

  Vance went on Carlson’s show in 2017 to begin the process of rebranding himself from an elite favorite to a populist culture warrior. Carlson, in turn, lavished Vance with praise, and privately lobbied Trump to endorse Vance’s campaign for the U.S. Senate and, two years later, pick him as his running mate. Though it’s unclear, at this point, how close Vance and Carlson remain, it’s telling that Vance refuses to condemn the former Fox host.

• Excuse me?

  • As Trump’s war against Iran stagnated into a stalemate and strategic defeat, hawkish Fox News personalities who urged the president’s attack in the first place have repeatedly used a football metaphor to emphasize how close the U.S. was to some nebulous victory. 
  • Roger Stone said a national emergency declaration for elections is a “brilliant” and “revolutionary idea.” The proposal for Trump to declare a national emergency over elections is gaining steam among right-wing media personalities, some of whom are reportedly involved in a scheme to make it happen. 
  • As Fox continues to push a controversial pro-data center agenda, Brian Kilmeade suggested Americans are “uneducated” in their disapproval of data centers.
  • A Real America’s Voice Noticias guest said: “The biggest mistake the United States of America ever made was giving women the right to vote.”
  • MAGA “prophet” Julie Green said she heard God’s “prophetic word” that Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Iran are planning a terror attack in New York City.

• Pete Hegseth hasn’t been on Fox News in 11 months

  

  Citation

  Andrea Austria / Media Matters

  Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth last appeared on Fox News on October 5, 2025. Over the 11 months since that interview, Trump and Hegseth embroiled the U.S. military in an open-ended war with Iran; the U.S. military continued to carry out their policy of illegally bombing purported drug cartel boats at sea and oversaw a regime change in Venezuela; and the defense secretary repeatedly came under fire for purging the top ranks of the armed forces. All of this happened without Hegseth appearing on the network he used to work for before Trump picked the co-host of Fox & Friends' weekend edition to serve as the Pentagon’s leader.

  Hegseth’s disappearance from Fox is notable because he initially remained a fixture on the network's airwave, engaging in at least 24 interviews between January 25, 2025, when he was sworn in, and October 5, 2025. And while Hegseth maintains an antagonistic relationship with the press, he has not abandoned media appearances since his disappearance from Fox, sitting down with CBS News for interviews in January and June 2026.

  It’s unclear why Hegseth has not appeared on Fox in 11 months, but the timing is conspicuous. Just days after his last interview on the network. Fox became one of numerous outlets to condemn the defense secretary’s stringent new restrictions on Pentagon reporters.

• James O’Keefe and right-wing content creators are using disguises and fake identities to trick poll workers and undermine confidence in elections

  

  Former Project Veritas CEO James O’Keefe and several other right-wing content creators have recently released videos targeting election processes across the country, including Minnesota’s voter voucher system, Michigan’s recent primary election, and Alaska’s questioned ballot option. 

  Using stereotypical disguises and footage captured on hidden cameras, the videos depict manufactured situations designed to trick election workers into providing ballots under false pretenses and fearmongering about election processes like provisional ballot mechanisms while obscuring safeguards in place to prevent fraud. These safeguards may include requiring additional identifiers such as Social Security or drivers license numbers and additional review by a bipartisan board. 

  O’Keefe and his collaborators are yet against pulling pages from his more than decade-old playbook to produce content that attempts to support both right-wing media’s claims of widespread election fraud and the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine election integrity.

 https://www.mediamatters.org/media-matters-weekly-newsletter/media-matters-weekly-newsletter-september-4