This was pretty much a rhetorical question. I will not appear on Fox Business with Stuart Varney and here's why. 1/ https://twitter.com/jeffjarvis/status/1296770730315657218

In the story above, they position my objection to the Trump takeover ad on the Post as political: "Liberals scold..." No, my objection is journalistic, about not letting the Post be gamed to amplify Trump's lies (which Post journalists did fact-check, albeit after the fact). 2/

Fox won't want to discuss journalistic principle. The host will accuse me, the lib, of wanting to cancel Trump. That is their game. We know their game as we know Trump's games. And that is my point: The Post should not have played (or been played). I won't play either. 3/

The Fox networks are not journalistic enterprises. They are--without even being paid by him--the fawning, unquestioning, promotional mouthpieces of Donald Trump. That's because they are his creator. Dr. Frankenstein will protect his creation. 4/

Rupert Murdoch is, more than any other single man, responsible for the downfall of democracy in the English-speaking world.
I will not be the foil of him and his agents. 5/

Many years ago, when I last appeared on air with Stuart Varney, he visibly recoiled when I said I wrote for the Guardian. How did a liberal sneak in his air without him being prepared to turn this into an own-the-libs segment? He cut it short. Because it's his game. 6/

When I posed my question, some of you said I should go on because I'll show them a thing or two about Fox or Trump. That is precisely what they (and their trolls and botmasters) want: a fight. What would it accomplish? Nothing. Whom would it inform? No one. 7/

I'm happy to discuss the issues raised by Trump's takeover ad. They are many and nuanced. The discussion starts with recognizing that Trump succeeds by playing journalism's strengths--our standards, rules, ethics, openness--as our weaknesses. That's what happened to the Post. 8/

This is much too nuanced a discussion in five minutes with Stuart Varney scolding the lib for scolding the Post for taking the ad from Varney's hero portrayed as my victim, Trump. So no thanks. Let them fill those five minutes without me. 9/