The Trump administration’s appointment of Fox News Channel personality Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., has sparked another round of outrage from left-of-center circles.
President Trump has plucked over 20 former Fox News Channel employees for work in his administration. That includes three members of the Trump Cabinet: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Most of the rest are lesser known names in less important positions, but that hasn’t stopped the hand-wringing over whether Fox has an oversized influence on the White House.
The appointment of Pirro shouldn’t be that surprising, given that Trump has known her in New York City’s social circles for many years, well before he could hand out political appointments. Besides the star power of her hosting duties at Fox News, Pirro brings her loyalty to Trump — an essential ingredient for administration appointees.
Whether these Fox imports are up to the task is yet to be fully determined. It is worth noting, however, that virtually all of them had significant resumes before assuming their roles on cable television.
Both Gabbard and Duffy were members of Congress, for example, and Gabbard has served as a high-ranking officer in the Army. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino was a New York City police officer and former member of the Secret Service. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary was on the faculty of Johns Hopkins medical school before his appointment. Being on television may have boosted the prospects of these appointees, but that alone didn’t qualify them.
That these media stars basically auditioned for Trump White House jobs through a TV screen is quite likely, given that the president is well-known for watching that channel and has granted countless interviews to Fox News over his public career. Trump is a high-profile media personality himself, of course, who once hosted a prime-time reality show and enjoys jousting with reporters in press conferences and gaggles. It figures that he would be impressed with and appreciate people who can perform in a media spotlight.
Presidential administrations necessarily fill up with people who have impressed the sitting president on one level or another. It’s not like commanders in chief select their staffers based on LinkedIn profiles or from “help wanted” ads in the weekly shopper. John Kennedy’s administration featured a heavy influence of Harvard-educated appointees, including his brother Robert Kennedy as attorney general. JFK’s director of the United States Information Agency was CBS’s Edward R. Murrow, perhaps the most prominent broadcaster of that era. JFK also appointed distinguished journalist Pierre Salinger as press secretary.
Although the Fox News pipeline into the Trump administration is noticeable, it’s just not that big of a deal in the greater scheme of things. Having Tammy Bruce as spokesperson for the State Department won’t change the trajectory of America’s foreign diplomacy, nor will Kimberly Guilfoyle’s appointment as ambassador to Greece. And it’s not like other media outlets haven’t had substantial influence over American politics, even if in a less direct route. MSNBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post, not to mention social media platforms, have all had sizeable sway over past Democrat White Houses through agenda-setting and editorializing.
This unseemly mix of government and media is by now fully baked into the American political ecosystem, and goes in both directions. George Stephanopoulos had no professional media experience when he left the Clinton White House to climb the ranks at ABC, becoming a news personality and host. Jen Psaki exited her Biden administration role as press secretary and landed in an anchor seat at MSNBC. Kayleigh McEnany jumped from the first Trump administration to a hosting gig at Fox. And the list goes on.
The American citizenry would ultimately be better served if there were barriers between the powerful institutions of government and the media. When the powerful are cross-pollenating, so to speak, average Americans wonder who is looking out for them. There was a time when the media world tried to maintain the appearance of an outsider, serving as surrogates for the people. That day is forever gone — and maybe never truly existed.
The people who worry about Fox News Channel’s influence in the White House should just be happy that its biggest megaphones won’t ever be joining the administration. The biggest personalities there — Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity and Greg Gutfeld — couldn’t afford the pay cut.
Jeffrey M. McCall is a media critic and professor of communication at DePauw University. He has worked as a radio news director, a newspaper reporter and as a political media consultant.
