Mar 22, 2019

Former Murdoch exec resigned over Fox’s approach to covering Muslims

Photo: Kevin Hagen/Getty Images

The former senior vice president of Rubert Murdoch’s News Corp., Joseph Azam, revealed to NPR on Thursday why he felt compelled to exit the company in 2017, saying he left due to the method by which Fox News covered Muslims, immigration, and race.

The big picture: Fox News has been facing a barrage of criticism in recent days over its handling of Muslim issues in particular. A news producer said she quit Sky News Australia — a cousin company of Fox News — last weekend because of its coverage of Muslims following the fatal shooting at 2 Christchurch, New Zealand mosques. New Zealand also pulled Sky News Australia from the air over its coverage of the massacre as well. This comes days after Fox News had to rebuke one of its star anchors, Jeanine Pirro, for her suggestion that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-N.Y.) followed Sharia law just because she wore a hijab.

Azam told NPR:

"Scaring people. Demonizing immigrants. Creating, like, a fervor — or an anxiety about what was happening in our country... It fundamentally bothered me on a lot of days and I think I probably wasn't the only one."

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Orion Rummler

Mass shooting in Milwaukee: What we know

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in 2012. Photo: John Gress/Corbis via Getty Images

Six people died in a shooting at the Molson Coors Brewing Company in Milwaukee on Wednesday, including the gunman, Mayor Tom Barrett told reporters at a Wednesday evening press conference with local police.

Details: All of the victims worked at the brewery complex, as did the shooter who died of "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound," police confirmed in a statement late Wednesday.

Go deeperUpdated 4 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Axios

Coronavirus updates: South Korea case count tops 2,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens.

33 people in California have tested positive for the coronavirus, and health officials are monitoring 8,400 people who have recently returned from "points of concern," Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday.

The big picture: COVID-19 has killed more than 2,850 people and infected over 83,000 others in some 50 countries and territories. The novel coronavirus is now affecting every continent but Antarctica, and the WHO said Wednesday the number of new cases reported outside China has exceeded those inside the country for the first time.

Go deeperUpdated 4 hours ago - Health

Dave Lawler

Syria's darkest chapter

Family room without a family, in Idlib. Photo: Muhammed Said/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The worst humanitarian crisis of Syria’s brutal civil war is colliding today with what could be the war’s most dangerous geopolitical showdown, after at least 29 Turkish troops were killed in an airstrike.

The big picture: The fighting is taking place in Idlib in northwest Syria, where a ferocious Syrian and Russian offensive has displaced 1 million civilians and infuriated Turkey, which borders the region.

Go deeper6 hours ago - World