February 15, 2024 09:30 AM UTC

Fox News Morphs Ex-GOP Vice Chair Into Concerned "Denver Public School Teacher"

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• by: Colorado Pols

Reporting earlier this week on the struggle faced by Denver to respond to the flood of migrants in recent months, many arriving by bus from Texas as part of that state’s controversial policy of exporting migrants to blue cities and states as political retribution for a crisis much bigger than any one state, Fox News aired an interview with an individual they billed as a “Denver public school teacher” who seemed unusually eager to assign blanket partisan political blame for the effects of the migrant influx on the city.

Readers with a good memory will know why right away:

A Denver public school teacher is sounding the alarm on the strain the migrant crisis is putting on classrooms as the city’s Democratic mayor cuts millions from services for residents.

“We are already 100 students over projection, and we have new students coming in weekly. We’re already past the October count. So every new student that we get, we don’t have the funds to provide them with resources,” teacher Priscilla Rahn told “Fox & Friends” Monday…

So first of all, if you’re getting your morning news from Fox and Friends, there’s a good chance you’re not overly interested in the details being accurate or contextual. But here in reality we’re obliged to note that Priscilla Rahn is no ordinary “public school teacher,” but rather the former vice-chair of the Colorado Republican Party who resigned last summer to run for Douglas County Commissioner. During her term as Colorado GOP vice-chair, Rahn appeared before far-right groups including the militia-linked FEC United to give her presentation warning of the dangers of “critical race theory” and other assorted forms of wokeness. Safe to say, Rahn is not representative of rank-and-file Denver Public Schools teachers.

Rahn, a candidate for Douglas County commissioner, called the cuts “incredibly unfair” for the city’s families and placed the blame directly on President Biden, Mayor Johnston and Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis…

Of course she did, because even though Fox and Friends represented Rahn as a “Denver public school teacher” who just happens to be running for commish in some other county with no additional details provided, Rahn is the former vice-chair of the Colorado Republican Party–a fact completely omitted from Rahn’s appearance, not even an acknowledgment that Rahn is a registered Republican candidate running in one of the state’s most conservative counties.

Again, these are details that the average Fox and Friends viewer isn’t going to second-guess the absence of, but they’re crucial to discerning the news value of Rahn’s appearance on national cable news to bash Colorado Democrats over a crisis Republicans are wilfully refusing to address for political gain.

In this case, the total lack of news value.