During her Fox Business Network (FBN) show on Friday afternoon, Melissa Francis told viewers that she “was silenced” by executives at CNBC when worked there after she criticized ObamaCare on-air and told viewers that the “math of ObamaCare simply didn’t work.”
Speaking in regards to what ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber said [1] about relying on the “stupidity” of voter and the need for lying to get the law passed, Francis opined that while: “It is shocking, but it actually doesn’t surprise me because when I was at CNBC, I pointed out to my viewers that the math of ObamaCare simply didn’t work. Not the politics by the way, just the basic math and when I did that, I was silenced.” [MP3 audio here [2]; Video below]
Francis then immediately expanded on her story and held nothing back, including being called into speak with CNBC management:
I said on the air that you couldn’t add millions of people to the system and force insurance companies to cover their preexisting conditions without raising the price on everyone else. I pointed out that it couldn’t possible be true that if you liked your plan, you can keep it. That was a lie, and in fact, millions of people had their insurance cancelled. As a result of what I said at CNBC, I was called into management where I was told that I was “disrespecting the office of the President” by telling what turned out to be the absolute truth.
Turning her attention to her current employer, she pleaded with viewers that FBN and its parent network, the Fox News Channel (FNC), were the only media outlets that are not deceiving the American people:
This, Fox Business, is the only network – and Fox News not complicit in the campaign to keep you in the dark. Don’t trust the other guys. I can tell you firsthand, they are willing participants in the campaign to keep the economic truth from you. Don’t let them do it.
Francis’s candid comments came at the onset of a segment about the lack of media coverage regarding Jonathan Gruber and how liberal policymakers like him “aren’t the only villains in this story” as they are relying on “a liberal media to help them cover up the truth.”
Just as the Media Research Center did earlier in the week [3], Francis pointed to the no coverage of Gruber on broadcast networks ABC and NBC plus the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press (since the first video surfaced a week ago).
The segment then moved into a discussion with FBN senior correspondent Charlie Gasparino and the host of FNC’s Mediabuzz in Howard Kurtz on the lack of media coverage regarding Gruber and their collective experiences with previous employers in the mainstream media.
(h/t: Media Bistro’s TVNewser blog [4])
The relevant portion of the transcript from FBN’s Money with Melissa Francis on November 14 can be found below.
FBN’s Money with Melissa Francis
November 14, 2014
MELISSA FRANCIS: Straight from the horses mouth. Jonathan Gruber, telling you that the architects of ObamaCare think that you’re stupid and most importantly, they are absolutely counting on your lack of economic understanding.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Networks Silent on Gruber]
They aren’t the only villains in this story though. They are also depending on a liberal media to help them cover up the truth. So far, NBC, ABC, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and others, have been only too happy to comply. Those outlets have not even mentioned the video evidence from Jonathan Gruber.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Francis: Silenced by CNBC]
It is shocking, but it actually doesn’t surprise me because when I was at CNBC, I pointed out to my viewers that the math of ObamaCare simply didn’t work. Not the politics by the way, just the basic math and when I did that, I was silenced.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Francis: CNBC Silenced Me When I Challenged ObamaCare Math]
I said on the air that you couldn’t add millions of people to the system and force insurance companies to cover their preexisting conditions without raising the price on everyone else. I pointed out that it couldn’t possible be true that if you liked your plan, you can keep it. That was a lie, and in fact, millions of people had their insurance cancelled.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Francis: CNBC Management Said I Was Disrespecting Office of the President]
As a result of what I said at CNBC, I was called into management where I was told that I was “disrespecting the office of the President” by telling what turned out to be the absolute truth. This, Fox Business, is the only network – and Fox News not complicit in the campaign to keep you in the dark. Don’t trust the other guys. I can tell you firsthand, they are willing participants in the campaign to keep the economic truth from you. Don’t let them do it.
— Curtis Houck is News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Curtis Houck on Twitter. [5]