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Fox News has announced the ten Republicans who will be participating in the network’s first debate, and the hypocrisy of the situation was illustrated by the fact that 30% of the GOP field used to work at Fox News.

Via Fox News:

Real estate magnate Donald Trump; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

…. But former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and several others will not be on the prime-time, 9 p.m. ET stage. The seven who did not make the top 10 will be invited to a separate 5 p.m. ET debate. Aside from Perry and Santorum, this includes Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; former HP head Carly Fiorina; South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham; former New York Gov. George Pataki; and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore.

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Ben Carson, John Kasich, and Mike Huckabee are all former Fox News employees. Donald Trump was such a regular on Fox News that he had a special Monday morning segment on Fox and Friends. All told, 40% of the Republican debate field were regularly featured on Fox, but only 30% were paid employees.

The entire setup of the debate demonstrates how deeply intertwined Fox News and the Republican Party are. It is not a coincidence that the debate lineup is populated with former Fox employees and Fox favorites like Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio.

One can only imagine the outcry from conservative and establishment media if CNN hosted a presidential debate where 30% of the field were former employees of the network, but the mainstream press is so terrified of Fox that no one will utter a peep about the obvious hypocrisy and conflict of interest that surrounds this debate.

A news network should not be selecting the candidates who will be participating in a debate. Fox News does not practice journalism, and the conservative media bubble was made even smaller by this con job of a debate selection process.

Fox News has moved from being a partisan advocate for the Republican Party to picking who will get to audition to be the nominee. The fact that Fox News has gotten away with this speaks volumes about the sorry state of what passed for media in the United States.