After East Palestine train derailment, Fox News discovers the purpose of industry regulations after years of vilifying them – By John Knefel (Media Matters) / Feb 23, 2023
Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade: “I’m stunned by it – that we have thousands of derailments” so “maybe the regulation needs to be there”
Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade acknowledged on Thursday that federal regulations may be necessary to protect people and the environment, a rare admission on a network that has pushed for mass deregulation for decades. Kilmeade, who co-hosts Fox & Friends, made the comments while discussing the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment and its aftermath.
“I knew nothing about these derailment numbers,” Kilmeade said. “I’m stunned by it – that we have thousands of derailments all the time and how costly it is, and how they’re not kept up and maybe the regulation needs to be there.”
Fox News has long vilified federal regulations as governmental overreach, and needless red tape that eats into corporate profits. In 2011, the network launched Regulation Nation, a series that would “expose how excessive laws are drowning American businesses.” The series was the brainchild of then-Fox News President Roger Ailes, who said at the time that bureaucrats “draw up regulations to try to ruin your life.”
