Bill Melugin ‘fine’ with his reporting for Fox News being ‘spun’ by both conservatives and liberals

Bill Melugin, whose reporting from the southern border has become a fixture of programming on Fox News in recent months, says he’s not bothered by his work being spun for partisan gain.

“I’ve seen our footage spun on both sides of the aisle,” Melugin told the Los Angeles Times as part of a wide-ranging profile published this week on the former Southern California local TV reporter.

Melugin has broken a number of stories at the border that have served as fodder on immigration issues for Republican lawmakers and conservative media personalities, including some on his own network.

“You’ll sometimes have people on the right wing using the footage to say there’s an invasion on the border. I’ve seen our same footage used by people on the left to say ‘We’re being so cruel to these migrants. This country is showing no humanity.’ All we’re doing is putting a mirror up and showing what’s happening,” Melugin said. “People are going to use it for their representative political commentary and that’s fine.”

Fox News draws a distinction between what it considers “straight news” reporting such as Melugin’s and its at times controversial but widely watched opinion programming hosted by big names such as Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham.

Carlson specifically has come under scrutiny from liberals and media watchdogs for his commentary on immigration, referring to the situation at the border as an “invasion.”

“I am willing to report for any show, anytime, anyplace, because if my reporting is going to be used, then who better to make sure it’s done right, and done accurately, than me?” Melugin told the Times.

A Politico report last fall, titled “A Doocy on the border,” noted that some White House officials have grown frustrated with Melugin’s reporting as they grapple with the government response and political messaging surrounding the situation on the border.

Melugin says the people he interacts with while reporting miles away from Washington appreciate his work.

“The Rio Grande Valley is traditionally a very Democratic area,” he said. “We’ve had locals come up to us, shake our hands and say ‘You know, we don’t watch Fox’ but they shake our hands and say, ‘Thank you guys for being out here to cover this.’”

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