OAN Producer Fired for Criticizing Accuracy of Network’s Coverage Since Capitol Riot
One America News Network producer Marty Golingan was fired after speaking to The New York Times for a piece that ran over the weekend and criticized his employer.
He confirmed the news on Twitter, retweeting a Times journalist who reported his firing.
A representative for OAN did not immediately return a request from comment on Golingan’s employment.
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In a Times piece from the weekend that looked at the cable network’s rightward turn and its role in shaping and echoing conservative talking points before and after the Capitol riot in January, Golingan took a harsh stance against the channel.
He said that the network became more hardline and conservative throughout his employment, though it had seemed neutral and “scrappy” when he started there. His LinkedIn says he started at OAN in 2016, the same year OAN started gaining notoriety for broadcasting then-candidate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign rallies in full.
OAN’s coverage points hewed ever closer to the topics favored by Trump and his supporters, according to the Times report. Inevitably, when Trump began baselessly insisting that the 2020 election had been somehow stolen from him by President Joe Biden, OAN began focusing coverage on those claims, as well.
“The majority of people did not believe the voter fraud claims being run on the air,” said Golingan of his colleagues.
While watching footage of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, during which Trump supporters stormed the nation’s capitol in a siege that left five dead, Golingan noticed a flag bearing his network’s logo.
“I was like, OK, that’s not good,” the producer told the Times. “That’s what happens when people listen to us.”
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