It argued: “As the virus spread across the world, Fox News hosts and guests minimized the dangers, accusing Democrats and the media of inflating the dangers (in Sean Hannity’s words) to ‘bludgeon Trump with this new hoax’. An open letter to Fox Corporation’s chairman, Rupert Murdoch, and chief executive, Lachlan Murdoch, signed by 74 journalism professors and leading journalists, described Fox News misinformation as “a danger to public health”. What effect did these comments have? Four in five Fox News viewers surveyed by Pew Research said they believed the media had exaggerated the risks of the virus. Watters later admitted he was wrong, but this and remarks from Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and other Fox News and conservative media stars will live in infamy in a video compilation produced by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, under the title: “Saluting the Heroes of the Coronavirus Pandumbic”. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images Laura Ingraham of Fox claimed Trump would eventually have to ‘look at Drs Fauci and Birx and say, we’re opening on May 1’. On 3 March, Jesse Watters, a co-host of The Five, boasted: “You want to know how I really feel about the coronavirus, Juan? If I get it, I’ll beat it … I’m not afraid of the coronavirus and no one else should be that afraid either.” While Fox News reporters did cover it, some opinion hosts rhymed with Trump in comparing it to flu and accusing liberals of whipping up hysteria. I hope not.”īut when the coronavirus outbreak began, the stakes rose. I don’t think the White House would debate that. He’ll tweet out, ‘I just saw on Fox & Friends’ or ‘Hannity segment tonight’. Sean Spicer, a host on the conservative Newsmax channel and former Trump White House press secretary, said: “There’s no question about it that he watches a lot of Fox and you can tell by the tweets and the comments and his actions. In the ensuing days and weeks, Trump hoped to spread his message the November 2020 vote was a fraud and Democrats had stolen the election by enlisting the help of the alternative right channels all too willing to risk defamation lawsuits to help his cause.Indeed, on some occasions Fox News echoes, amplifies and refines Trump’s message, while on others the president takes his cue from its programming. Yet Trump began to break away from Rupert Murdoch’s media empire and court other right-wing outlets like Newsmax and One America News Network after Fox sparked a political earthquake by predicting Joe Biden had flipped the battleground state of Arizona. “If ‘low ratings’ CNN ever went conservative, they would be an absolute gold mine, and I would help them to do so!”įox News played a critical role in Trump’s term in office, with popular opinion leaders like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham helping explain his policies to millions of their viewers across America every night. Gets worse every day,” he posted to his Twitter clone, Truth Social. “Fox News is really pushing the Democrats and the Democrat agenda. Now he may be playing Fox News off against CNN, vocally encouraging the latter’s new centrist editorial direction, if only to badger the former into being a more reliable cheerleader of his. The ex-President’s savvy manipulation of the media has been a hallmark of his political strategy ever since his surprise election in 2016, helping him maintain a stranglehold over the Republican Party even after the January 6 th Capitol riots.
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