The channel was created by Australian-born American media mogulRupert Murdoch in 1996 to appeal to a conservative audience, hiring formerRepublican media consultant andCNBC executiveRoger Ailes as its founding CEO.[11][12] It launched on October 7, 1996, to 17-million cablesubscribers.[13] Fox News grew during the late 1990s and 2000s to become the dominantUnited States cable news subscription network.[14] By September 2018, 87-million U.S. households (91 percent of television subscribers) could receive Fox News.[15] In 2019, it was the top-rated cable network, averaging 2.5-million viewers in prime time.[16][17][18] Murdoch, the executive chairman since 2016,[19][20] said in 2023 that he would step down and hand responsibilities to his son,Lachlan.[21]Suzanne Scott has been the CEO since 2018.[22]
It has been identified as engaging inbiased and false reporting in favor of the Republican Party, its politicians, and conservative causes,[23][24][25] while portraying theDemocratic Party in a negative light.[26][27] Researchers have argued that the channel is damaging to the integrity of news overall,[28][29] and acts as an expanded part of the Republican Party.[26][30][31][32]
The channel has knowingly endorsed false conspiracy theories to promote Republican and conservative causes.[33][34][35] AfterDominion Voting Systems initiateda defamation lawsuit against Fox regarding their reporting on the2020 presidential election, Fox's internal communications were released. The communications showed that its presenters and senior executives privately doubted claims of a stolen election, while Fox continued to broadcast such claims.[36] Other communications showed Fox CEO Suzanne Scott stating thatfact-checking such claims would alienate Fox viewers.[37] Fox settled the lawsuit in 2023 by agreeing to pay Dominion $787.5 million and acknowledging the court ruling that Fox had broadcastfalse statements about Dominion.[38][39]
According to research done by thePew Research Center in 2019, 65 percent of Republicans and people who lean Republican trusted Fox News.[40]
In May 1985, Australian publisher Rupert Murdoch announced that he and Americanindustrialist and philanthropistMarvin Davis intended to develop "a network ofindependent stations as a fourth marketing force" to directly compete withCBS,NBC, andABC through the purchase of six television stations owned byMetromedia.[41] In July 1985,20th Century Fox announced Murdoch had completed his purchase of 50% ofFox Filmed Entertainment, the parent company of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation.[42]
Subsequently, and prior to founding FNC, Murdoch had gained experience in the 24-hour news business whenNews Corporation'sBSkyB subsidiary began Europe's first 24-hour news channel (Sky News) in the United Kingdom in 1989.[43] With the success of his efforts establishing Fox as a TV network in the United States,[44][45] experience gained from Sky News and the turnaround of 20th Century Fox, Murdoch announced on January 30, 1996, that News Corp. would launch a 24-hour news channel on cable and satellite systems in the United States as part of a News Corp. "worldwide platform" for Fox programming: "The appetite for news – particularly news that explains to people how it affects them – is expanding enormously".[46]
In February 1996, after former U.S. Republican Party political strategist and NBC executive[47]Roger Ailes left cable television channelAmerica's Talking (nowMSNBC), Murdoch asked him to start Fox News Channel. Ailes demanded five months of 14-hour workdays and several weeks of rehearsal shows before its launch on October 7, 1996.[2]
At its debut 17-million households were able to watch FNC;[13] however, it was absent from the largest U.S. media markets of New York City and Los Angeles. Rolling news coverage during the day consisted of 20-minute single-topic shows such asFox on Crime orFox on Politics, surrounded by news headlines. Interviews featured facts at the bottom of the screen about the topic or the guest. The flagship newscast at the time wasThe Schneider Report, withMike Schneider's fast-paced delivery of the news. During the evening, Fox featured opinion shows:The O'Reilly Report (laterThe O'Reilly Factor),The Crier Report (hosted byCatherine Crier) andHannity & Colmes. From the beginning, FNC has placed heavy emphasis on visual presentation. Graphics were designed to be colorful and gain attention; this helped the viewer to grasp the main points of what was being said, even if they could not hear the host (with on-screen text summarizing the position of the interviewer or speaker, and "bullet points" when a host was delivering commentary). Fox News also created the "Fox News Alert", which interrupted its regular programming when abreaking news story occurred.[citation needed]
Fox News Studios in 2009
To accelerate its adoption by cable providers, Fox News paid systems up to $11 per subscriber to distribute the channel.[48] This contrasted with the normal practice, in which cable operators paid stations carriage fees for programming. WhenTime Warner boughtTed Turner'sTurner Broadcasting System, a federalantitrustconsent decree required Time Warner to carry a second all-news channel in addition to its ownCNN on itscable systems. Time Warner selected MSNBC as the secondary news channel, not Fox News. Fox News claimed this violated an agreement (to carry Fox News). Citing its agreement to keep its U.S. headquarters and a large studio in New York City, News Corporation enlisted the help of MayorRudolph Giuliani's administration to pressure Time Warner Cable (one of the city's two cable providers) to transmit Fox News on a city-owned channel.[49] City officials threatened to take action affecting Time Warner's cable franchises in the city.[50]
During theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks, Fox News was the first news organization to run anews ticker on the bottom of the screen to keep up with the flow of information that day. The ticker has remained, and has proven popular with viewers.[51] In January 2002, Fox News surpassed CNN in ratings for the first time.[52]
In 2023,The Economist reported that Murdoch had "ditched a plan" to remerge News Corporation with Fox because it "faced resistance from News Corp investors unhappy at the prospect of being lumped together with Fox News, which they consider a toxic brand."[53] Later that year, Murdoch said he would step down and that his son Lachlan would take over both Fox Corporation and News Corp.[21]
Fox News has been identified as practicingbiased and false reporting in favor of the Republican Party, its politicians, and conservative causes,[23][24][25] while portraying theDemocratic Party in a negative light.[26][27] Fox News has been characterized by critics, commentators, and researchers as apropaganda organization and damaging to the integrity of news overall.[a][28][29] Fox News has denied bias in its news reporting and the channel's official position is that its news reporting operates independently of itsopinion journalism.[71][needs update] The channel has knowingly endorsed falseconspiracy theories to promote Republican and conservative causes.[33][34][35]
Media analystBrian Stelter, who haswrittenextensively about the network, observed in 2021 that in more recent years it had adjusted its programming to present "less news on the air and more opinions-about-the-news" throughout the day, on concerns it was losing viewers to more conservative competitors that were presenting such content.[72]
FNC maintains an archive of most of its programs. This archive also includesMovietone News series of newsreels from its now Disney-owned namesake movie studio,20th Century Fox. Licensing for the Fox News archive is handled by ITN Source, the archiving division ofITN.[73]
In an October 11, 2009, in aNew York Times article, Fox said its hard-news programming runs from "9 AM to 4 PM and 6 to 8 PM on weekdays". However, it makes no such claims for its other broadcasts, which primarily consist of editorial journalism and commentary.[74]
Fox News Channel began broadcasting in the720p resolution format on May 1, 2008.[75] This format is available on all major cable and satellite providers.
Fox News Media producesFox News Sunday, which airs on Fox Broadcasting and re-airs on FNC. Fox News also produces occasional special event coverage that is broadcast on FBC.
With the growth of the FNC, the company introduced a radio division,Fox News Radio, in 2003.[76]Syndicated throughout the United States, the division provides short newscasts and talk radio programs featuring personalities from the television and radio divisions. In 2006, the company also introducedFox News Talk, asatellite radio station featuring programs syndicated by (and featuring) Fox News personalities.
Online
Introduced in December 1995,[77] the Fox News website features news articles and videos about national and international news. Content on the website is divided into politics, media, U.S., and business. Fox News' articles are based on the network's broadcasts, reports from Fox affiliates and articles produced by other news agencies, such as theAssociated Press. Articles are usually accompanied by a video related to the article.[78] Fox News Latino is the version aimed at aHispanic audience, although presented almost entirely in English, with a Spanish section.[79]
According toNewsGuard, "Much of FoxNews.com's content, particularly articles produced by beat reporters and broadcasts produced by network correspondents, is accurate and well-sourced ... However, FoxNews.com has regularly advanced false and misleading claims on topics including theJan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, theRusso-Ukrainian War,COVID-19, andU.S. elections".[78]
In September 2008, FNC joined other channels in introducing a live streaming segment to its website:The Strategy Room, designed to appeal to older viewers. It airs weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM and takes the form of an informal discussion, with running commentary on the news. Regular discussion programs includeBusiness Hour,News With a View andGod Talk.[80] In March 2009,The Fox Nation was launched as a website intended to encourage readers to post articles commenting on the news.[81] Fox News Mobile is the portion of the FNC website dedicated tostreaming news clips formatted for video-enabled mobile phones.[82]
In 2018, FNC announced that it would launch asubscription video on demand service known asFox Nation. It serves as a companion service to FNC, carrying original and acquired talk, documentary, and reality programming designed to appeal to Fox News viewers. Some of its original programs feature Fox News personalities and contributors.[83][84][85][86]
Ratings and reception
In 2003, Fox News saw a large ratings jump during the early stages of theU.S. invasion of Iraq. At the height of the conflict, according to some reports, Fox News had as much as a 300% increase in viewership (averaging 3.3 million viewers daily).[87] In 2004, Fox News' ratings for its broadcast of theRepublican National Convention exceeded those of the three major broadcast networks. During PresidentGeorge W. Bush's address, Fox News attracted 7.3 million viewers nationally; NBC, ABC, and CBS had a viewership of 5.9 million, 5.1 million, and 5.0 million respectively.
Between late 2005 and early 2006, Fox News saw a brief decline in ratings. One was in the second quarter of 2006, when it lost viewers for every prime-time program compared with the previous quarter. The audience forSpecial Report with Brit Hume, for example, dropped 19%. Several weeks later, in the wake of the2006 North Korean missile test and the2006 Lebanon War, Fox saw a surge in viewership and remained the top-rated cable news channel.[88][89] Fox produced eight of the top ten most-watched nightly cable news shows, withThe O'Reilly Factor andHannity & Colmes finishing first and second respectively.[90]
FNC ranked No. 8 in viewership among all cable channels in 2006, and No. 7 in 2007.[91] The channel ranked number one during the week of Barack Obama's election (November 3–9) in 2008, and reached the top spot again in January 2010 (during the week of thespecial Senate election in Massachusetts).[92] Comparing Fox to its 24-hour-news-channel competitors, in May 2010, the channel drew an average daily prime-time audience of 1.8 million viewers (versus 747,000 for MSNBC and 595,000 for CNN).[93]
In September 2009, thePew Research Center published a report on the public view of national news organizations. In the report, 72 percent of polled Republican Fox viewers rated the channel as "favorable", while 43 percent of polled Democratic viewers and 55 percent of all polled viewers shared that opinion. However, Fox was given the highest "unfavorable" rating of all national outlets studied (25 percent of all polled viewers). The report went on to say that "partisan differences in views of Fox News have increased substantially since 2007".[94]
A Public Policy Polling poll concluded in 2013 that positive perceptions of FNC had declined from 2010. 41% of polled voters said they trust it, down from 49% in 2010, while 46% said they distrust it, up from 37% in 2010. It was also called the "most trusted" network by 34% of those polled, more than had said the same of any other network.[95]
On the night of October 22, 2012, Fox set a record for its highest-ratedtelecast, with 11.5 million viewers for the thirdU.S. presidential debate.[96][97] In prime time the week before, Fox averaged almost 3.7 million viewers with a total day average of 1.66 million viewers.[98]
In prime time and total day ratings for the week of April 15 to 21, 2013, Fox News, propelled by its coverage of theBoston Marathon bombing, was the highest-ranked network on U.S. cable television, for the first time since August 2005, whenHurricane Katrina hit theGulf Coast of the United States.[99] January 2014 marked Fox News's 145th consecutive month as the highest-rated cable news channel. During that month, Fox News beat CNN and MSNBC combined in overall viewers in both prime time hours and the total day.[100] In the third quarter of 2014, the network was the most-watched cable channel during prime time hours.[101] During the final week of the campaign for theUnited States elections, 2014, Fox News had the highest ratings of any cable channel, news or otherwise. On election night itself, Fox News' coverage had higher ratings than that of any of the other five cable or network news sources among viewers between 25 and 54 years of age.[102] The network hosted the first prime-time GOP candidates' forum of the 2016 campaign on August 6. The debate reached a record-breaking 24 million viewers, by far the largest audience for any cable news event.[103]
In 2018, Fox News was rated by Nielsen as America's most watched cable network, averaging a record 2.4 million viewers in prime time and total day during the period of January 1 to December 30, 2018.[106] In an October 2018Simmons Research survey of the trust in 38 news organizations, Fox News was ranked roughly in the center, with 44.7% of surveyed Americans saying they trusted it.[107]
TheCOVID-19 pandemic led to increased viewership for all cable news networks. For the first calendar quarter of 2020 (January 1 – March 31), Fox News had their highest-rated quarter in the network's history, with Nielsen showing a prime time average total audience of 3.387 million viewers.Sean Hannity's program,Hannity, weeknights at 9 pm ET was the top-rated show in cable news for the quarter averaging 4.2 million viewers, a figure that not only beat out all of its cable news competition but also placed it ahead of network competition in the same time slot. Fox ended the quarter with the top five shows in prime time, with Fox'sTucker Carlson Tonight finishing the quarter in second overall with an average audience of 4.2 million viewers, followed byThe Five,The Ingraham Angle, andSpecial Report with Bret Baier.The Rachel Maddow Show was the highest non-Fox show on cable, coming in sixth place. Finishing the quarter in 22nd place wasThe Lead with Jake Tapper,CNN's highest rated show.[108] According to a Fox News article on the subject,Fox & Friends averaged 1.8 million viewers, topping CNN'sNew Day and MSNBC'sMorning Joe combined. The same Fox News article said that theFox Business Network also had its highest-rated quarter in history and that Fox News finished March as the highest-rated network in cable for the 45th consecutive month.[109]
According to theLos Angeles Times on August 19, 2020: "Fox News Channel had six of last week's 11 highest-rated prime-time programs to finish first in the network ratings race for the third time since June" 2020.[110]
AMorning Consult survey the week afterElection Day 2020 showed 30 percent of Republicans in the United States had an unfavorable opinion of Fox News, while 54 percent of Republicans viewed the network favorably, compared to 67 percent before the election. AMcClatchy news story suggested criticism from Donald Trump as a major reason, as well as the network's early calling ofArizona forJoe Biden, and later joining other networks in declaring Biden the winner of the2020 election.[111]
Ratings were also down for Fox News. Although it remained ahead of other networks overall, its morning show fell out of first place for the first time since 2001. Trump recommendedOANN, which was gaining viewers.Newsmax was also increasing in popularity.[111]
As indicated by a 2013New York Times article, based onNielsen statistics, Fox appears to have a mostly aged demographic.[114] In March 2024, Fox was the most watched news network in total day and prime time viewers in primetime, with 2.135 million/1.306 million viewers respectively, compared to MSNBC with A25-54 demo, 1.307 million in primetime and 830,000 in day viewers, and CNN with 601,000 in primetime and 462,000 in day viewers. In the Adults age 25-54 category, Fox also leads with 246,000 in primetime and 158,000 in day viewers, followed by MSNBC with 133,000 viewers in primetime and 86,000 viewers in day, and CNN with 124,000 viewers in primetime and 85,000 in day viewers.[115] According to the same Nielsen analysis, MSNBC is the second most watched news network.
In 2008, in the 25–54 age group, Fox News had an average of 557,000 viewers, but dropped to 379,000 in 2013 while increasing its overall audience from 1.89 million in 2010 to 2.02 million in 2013. The median age of a prime-time viewer was 68 as of 2015[update].[116] A 2019Pew Research Center survey showed that among those who named Fox News as their main source for political news, 69% are aged 50 or older.[117]
According to a 2013Gallup poll, 94% of Fox viewers "either identify as or lean Republican".[118] The 2019 Pew survey showed that among people who named Fox News as their main source for political and election news, 93% identify as Republicans. Among the top eight political news sources named by at least 2% of American adults, the results show Fox News andMSNBC as the two news channels with the most partisan audiences.[117]
Wikipedia consensus on reliability
In 2010, theWikipedia community had its first major discussion on Fox News' reliability. The community decided that Fox News was politically biased, but generally reliable.[119]
In July 2020, the Wikipedia community announced that Fox News would no longer be considered "generally reliable" in its reporting of science and politics, and that it "should be used with caution to verify contentious claims" for those topics.[120][121] The decision was made due to Fox News downplaying the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as allegations of Fox News spreading misinformation aboutclimate change and reporting on the false concept of "no-go zones" for non-Muslims in British cities. The decision did not affect Fox News' reliability on other topics.[121]
In 2022, the Wikipedia community announced that Fox News would now be considered "marginally reliable" in its reporting of science and politics, that Fox News cannot be used as a source for "exceptional claims", and that its reliability would be decided on an individual case-by-case basis for other scientific and political claims. The decision only applies to news articles on Fox News' website and does not apply to Fox News articles about topics that are not scientific or political.[119]
Fox News is considered a generally unreliable source for its scientific and political coverage and its talk shows.[122][123]
Slogan
Fox News Channel originally used the slogan "Fair and Balanced", which was coined by network co-founder Roger Ailes while the network was being established.The New York Times described the slogan as being a "blunt signal that Fox News planned to counteract what Mr. Ailes and many others viewed as aliberal bias ingrained in television coverage by establishment news networks".[124][125] In a 2013 interview withPeter Robinson of theHoover Institution, Rupert Murdoch defended the company's "Fair and Balanced" slogan, saying, "In fact, you'll find just as many Democrats as Republicans on and so on".[126]
In August 2003,Fox News sued comedianAl Franken over his use of the slogan as a subtitle for his book,Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, which is critical of Fox News Channel.[127] The lawsuit was dropped three days later, after JudgeDenny Chin refused its request for aninjunction. In his decision, Chin ruled the case was "wholly without merit, both factually and legally". He went on to suggest that Fox News' trademark on the phrase "fair and balanced" could be invalid.[128] In December 2003, FNC won a legal battle concerning the slogan, whenAlterNet filed a cancellation petition with theUnited States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to have FNC's trademark rescinded as inaccurate. AlterNet includedRobert Greenwald's documentary filmOutfoxed (2004) as supporting evidence in its case.[129] After losing early motions, AlterNet withdrew its petition; the USPTO dismissed the case.[130] In 2008, FNC used the slogan "We Report, You Decide", referring to "You Decide 2008" (FNC's original slogan for its coverage of election issues).
In August 2016, Fox News Channel began to quietly phase out the "Fair and Balanced" slogan in favor of "Most Watched, Most Trusted"; when these changes were reported in June 2017 byGabriel Sherman (a writer who had written a biography on Ailes), a network executive said the change "has nothing to do with programming or editorial decisions". It was speculated by media outlets that Fox News Channel was wishing to distance itself from Ailes' tenure at the network.[124][125][131] In March 2018, the network introduced a new ad campaign,Real News. Real Honest Opinion. The ad campaign is intended to promote the network's opinion-based programming and counter perceptions surrounding "fake news".[132][133]
In mid-November 2020, following the election, Fox News began to use the slogan "Standing Up For What's Right" to promote its primetime lineup.[134]
Fox News provided extensive coverage of the2012 Benghazi attack, which host Sean Hannity described in December 2012 as "the story that the mainstream media ignores" and "obviously, a cover-up. And we will get to the bottom of it."[135] Programming analysis by media watchdogMedia Matters, which has declared a "War on Fox News", found that during the twenty months following the Benghazi attacks, FNC ran 1,098 segments on the issue, including:[136]
478 segments involving Susan Rice's September 16, 2012, Sunday news show appearances, during which she was falsely accused of lying
382 segments onSpecial Report, the network's flagship news program
281 segments alleging a "cover-up" by the Obama administration
144 interviews of GOP members of Congress, but five interviews of Democratic members of Congress and Obama administration officials
120 comparisons toIran-Contra,Watergate, and the actions of the Nixon administration
100 segments falsely suggesting the administration issued a "stand-down order" to prevent a rescue operation in Benghazi
Over nearly four years after the Benghazi attack, there wereten official investigations, including six by Republican-controlled House committees. None of the investigations found any evidence of scandal, cover-up or lying by Obama administration officials.
From 2015 into 2018, Fox News broadcast extensive coverage of an alleged scandal surrounding the sale ofUranium One to Russian interests, which host Sean Hannity characterized as "one of the biggest scandals in American history".[137] According to Media Matters, the Fox News coverage extended throughout the programming day, with particular emphasis by Hannity.[138] The network promoted an ultimately unfounded narrative asserting that, as Secretary of State,Hillary Clinton personally approved the Uranium One sale in exchange for $145 million in bribes paid to theClinton Foundation.Donald Trump repeated these allegations as a candidate and as president.[139][140][141] No evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton had been found after four years of allegations, an FBI investigation, and the 2017 appointment of a Federal attorney to evaluate the investigation. In November 2017, Fox News hostShepard Smith concisely debunked the alleged scandal, infuriating viewers who suggested he should work for CNN or MSNBC.[140] Hannity later called Smith "clueless", while Smith stated: "I get it, that some of our opinion programming is there strictly to be entertaining. I get that. I don't work there. I wouldn't work there."[142][143]
Pro-Republican and pro-Trump bias
Fox News has been described asconservative media,[144][145] and as providingbiased reporting in favor of conservative political positions,[146][147][148] theRepublican Party,[149][150][151] and President Donald Trump.[25][152][153] Political scientist Jonathan Bernstein described Fox News as an expanded part of the Republican Party.[26] Political scientists Matt Grossmann and David A. Hopkins wrote that Fox News helped "Republicans communicate with their base and spread their ideas, and they have been effective in mobilizing voters to participate in midterm elections (as in 2010 and 2014)."[26] Prior to 2000, Fox News lacked an ideological tilt, and had more Democrats watch the channel than Republicans.[154] During the2004 United States presidential election, Fox News was markedly more hostile in its coverage of Democratic presidential nomineeJohn Kerry, and distinguished itself among cable news outlets for heavy coverage of theSwift Boat smear campaign against Kerry.[155][156][157] During President Obama's first term in office, Fox News helped launch and amplify theTea Party movement, a conservative movement within the Republican Party that organized protests against Obama and his policies.[163] In the 2004 documentaryOutfoxed, four people identified as former employees said that Fox News made them "slant the news in favor of conservatives".[164] Fox News said that the film misrepresented the employment of these employees.[165]
During theRepublican primaries, Fox News was perceived as trying to prevent Trump from clinching the nomination.[145] Under Trump's presidency, Fox News remade itself into his image, as hardly any criticism of Trump could be heard on Fox News' prime-time shows.[152][166] In Fox News' news reporting, the network dedicated far more coverage to Hillary Clinton-related stories, which critics argued was intended to deflect attention from the investigation intoRussian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[166] Trump provided significant access to Fox News during his presidency, giving 19 interviews to the channel while only 6 in total to other news channels by November 2017;The New York Times described Trump's Fox News interviews as "softball interviews" and some of the interviewers' interview styles as "fawning".[167] In July 2018,The Economist has described the network's coverage of Trump's presidency as "reliably fawning".[168] From 2015 to 2017, the Fox News prime-time lineup changed from being skeptical and questioning of Trump to a "Trump safe space, with a dose ofBannonist populism once considered on the fringe".[169] The Fox News website has also become more extreme in its rhetoric since Trump's election; according toColumbia University's Tow Center for Digital Journalism, the Fox News website has "gone a littleBreitbart" over time.[170] At the start of 2018, Fox News mostly ignored high-profile scandals in the Trump administration which received ample coverage in other national media outlets, such as White House Staff SecretaryRob Porter's resignation amid domestic abuse allegations, the downgrading ofJared Kushner's security clearance, and the existence of anon-disclosure agreement between Trump and the porn starStormy Daniels.[171]
In March 2019,Jane Mayer reported inThe New Yorker that Fox News.com reporterDiana Falzone had the story of theStormy Daniels–Donald Trump scandal before the 2016 election, but that Fox News executiveKen LaCorte told her: "Good reporting, kiddo. But Rupert [Murdoch] wants Donald Trump to win. So just let it go." The story was killed; LaCorte denied making the statement to Falzone, but conceded: "I was the person who made the call. I didn't run it upstairs to Roger Ailes or others. ... I didn't do it to protect Donald Trump." She added that "[Falzone] had put up a story that just wasn't anywhere close to being something I was comfortable publishing."Nik Richie, who claimed to be one of the sources for the story, called LaCorte's account "complete bullshit", adding that "Fox News was culpable. I voted for Trump, and I like Fox, but they did their own 'catch and kill' on the story to protect him."[172][173]
A 2008 study found Fox News gave disproportionate attention to polls suggesting low approval for PresidentBill Clinton.[174] A 2009 study found Fox News was less likely to pick up stories that reflected well on Democrats, and more likely to pick up stories that reflected well on Republicans.[175] A 2010 study comparing Fox News Channel'sSpecial Report With Brit Hume and NBC'sNightly News coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during 2005 concluded "Fox News was much more sympathetic to the administration than NBC", suggesting "if scholars continue to find evidence of a partisan or ideological bias at FNC ... they should consider Fox as alternative, rather than mainstream, media".[176]
Research finds that Fox News increases Republican vote shares and makes Republican politicians more partisan.[30][31][32] A 2007 study, using the introduction of Fox News into local markets (1996–2000) as an instrumental variable, found that in the2000 presidential election "Republicans gained 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points in the towns that broadcast Fox News", suggesting "Fox News convinced 3 to 28 percent of its viewers to vote Republican, depending on the audience measure".[144] These results were confirmed by a 2015 study.[32] A 2014 study, using the same instrumental variable, found congressional "representatives become less supportive of President Clinton in districts where Fox News begins broadcasting than similar representatives in similar districts where Fox News was not broadcast."[31] Another 2014 paper found Fox News viewing increased Republican vote shares among voters who identified as Republican or independent.[177] A 2017 study, using channel positions as an instrumental variable, found "Fox News increases Republican vote shares by 0.3 points among viewers induced into watching 2.5 additional minutes per week by variation in position."[30] This study used a different methodology for a later period and found an ever bigger effect and impact, leadingMatthew Yglesias to write in thePolitical Communication academic journal that they "suggest that conventional wisdom may be greatly underestimating the significance of Fox as a factor in American politics."[178]
Fox News publicly denies it is biased,[179] with Murdoch and Ailes saying to have included Murdoch's statement that Fox has "given room to both sides, whereas only one side had it before".[180][181] In June 2009,[182] Fox News hostChris Wallace said: "I think we are the counter-weight [to NBC News] ... they have a liberal agenda, and we tell the other side of the story."[183][184][185] In 2004,Robert Greenwald's documentary filmOutfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism argued Fox News had a conservative bias and featured clips from Fox News and internal memos from editorial vice presidentJohn Moody directing Fox News staff on how to report certain subjects.[186][187]
A leaked memo from Fox News vice presidentBill Sammon to news staff at the height of thehealth care reform in the United States debate has been cited as an example of the pro-Republican Party bias of Fox News. His memo asked the staff to "use the term 'government-run health insurance,' or, when brevity is a concern, 'government option,' whenever possible". The memo was sent shortly after Republican pollsterFrank Luntz advisedSean Hannity on his Fox show: "If you call it a public option, the American people are split. If you call it the government option, the public is overwhelmingly against it."[188]
Surveys suggest Fox News is widely perceived to be ideological. A 2009 Pew survey found Fox News is viewed as the most ideological channel in America, with 47 percent of those surveyed said Fox News is "mostly conservative", 14 percent said "mostly liberal" and 24 percent said "neither". In comparison,MSNBC had 36 percent identify it as "mostly liberal", 11 percent as "mostly conservative" and 27 percent as "neither".CNN had 37 percent describe it as "mostly liberal", 11 percent as "mostly conservative" and 33 percent as "neither".[189] A 2004Pew Research Center survey found FNC was cited (unprompted) by 69 percent of national journalists as a conservative news organization.[190] ARasmussen poll found 31 percent of Americans felt Fox News had a conservative bias, and 15 percent that it had a liberal bias. It found 36 percent believed Fox News delivers news with neither a conservative or liberal bias, compared with 37 percent who saidNPR delivers news with no conservative or liberal bias and 32 percent who said the same of CNN.[191]
David Carr, media critic forThe New York Times, praised the2012 United States presidential election results coverage on Fox News for the network's response to Republican adviser and Fox News contributorKarl Rove challenging its call thatBarack Obama would win Ohio and the election. Fox's prediction was correct. Carr wrote: "Over many months, Fox lulled its conservative base with agitprop: that President Obama was a clear failure, that a majority of Americans saw[Mitt] Romney as a good alternative in hard times, and that polls showing otherwise were politically motivated and not to be believed. But on Tuesday night, the people in charge of Fox News were confronted with a stark choice after it became clear that Mr. Romney had fallen short: was Fox, first and foremost, a place for advocacy or a place for news? In this moment, at least, Fox chose news."[192]
A May 2017 study conducted byHarvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy examined coverage of Trump'sfirst 100 days in office by several major mainstream media outlets including Fox.[193] It found Trump received 80% negative coverage from the overall media, and received the least negative coverage on Fox – 52% negative and 48% positive.[194]
On March 14, 2017,Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News commentator, claimed onFox & Friends that British intelligence agencyGCHQ had wiretapped Trump on behalf of Barack Obama during the2016 United States presidential election.[195][196] On March 16, 2017, White House spokesmanSean Spicer repeated the claim.[195] When Trump was questioned about the claim at a news conference, he said "All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. I didn't make an opinion on it."[197] On March 17, 2017,Shepard Smith, a Fox News anchor, admitted the network had no evidence that Trump was under surveillance. British officials said the White House was backing off the claim.[197] Napolitano was later suspended by Fox News for making the claim.[198]
In June 2018, Fox News executives instructed producers to head off inappropriate remarks made on the shows aired by the network by hosts and commentators.[199] The instructions came after a number of Fox News hosts and guests made incendiary comments aboutthe Trump administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents.[199] Fox News hostLaura Ingraham had likened the child detention centers that the children were in to "summer camps". GuestCorey Lewandowski mocked the story of a 10-year-old child withDown syndrome being separated from her mother; the Fox News host did not address Lewandowski's statement.[199] GuestAnn Coulter falsely claimed that the separated children were "child actors"; the Fox News host did not challenge her claim.[199] In a segment on Trump's alleged use of racial dog whistles, one Fox News contributor told an African-American whom he was debating: "You're out of your cotton-picking mind."[199]
In October 2018, Fox News ran laudatory coverage of a meeting between Trump-supporting rapperKanye West and President Trump in theOval Office. Fox News had previously run negative coverage of rappers and their involvement with Democratic politicians and causes, such as when Fox News ran headlines describing conscious hip-hop artistCommon as "vile" and a "cop-killer rapper", and when Fox News ran negative coverage of Kanye West before he became a Trump supporter.[200]
On November 4, 2018, Trump's website, DonaldJTrump.com, announced in a press release that Fox News host Sean Hannity would make a "special guest appearance" with Trump at a midterm campaign rally the following night inCape Girardeau, Missouri.[201] The following morning, Hannity tweeted "To be clear, I will not be on stage campaigning with the President."[202] Hannity appeared at the president's lectern on stage at the rally, immediately mocking the "fake news" at the back of the auditorium, Fox News reporters among them. Several Fox News employees expressed outrage at Hannity's actions, with one stating that "a new line was crossed".[203] Hannity later asserted that his action was not pre-planned, and Fox News stated it "does not condone any talent participating in campaign events".[204] Fox News hostJeanine Pirro also appeared on stage with Trump at the rally. The Trump press release was later removed from Trump's website.[201][205]
Fox News released a poll of registered voters, jointly conducted by two polling organizations, on June 16, 2019. The poll found some unfavorable results for Trump, including a record high 50% thought the Trump campaign had coordinated with the Russian government, and 50% thought he should be impeached – 43% saying he should also be removed from office – while 48% said they did not favor impeachment.[206][207] The next morning onFox & Friends First, hostHeather Childers twice misrepresented the poll results, stating "a new Fox News poll shows most voters don't want impeachment" and "at least half of U.S. voters do not think President Trump should be impeached," while the on-screen display of the actual poll question was also incorrect. Later that morning onAmerica's Newsroom, the on-screen display showed the correct poll question and results, but highlighted the 48% of respondents who opposed impeachment rather than the 50% who supported it (the latter being broken-out into two figures). As hostBill Hemmer drew guestByron York's attention to the 48% opposed figure, they did not discuss the 50% support figure, while the on-screenchyron read: "Fox News Poll: 43% Support Trump's Impeachment and Removal, 48% Oppose."[208] Later that day, Trump tweeted: "@FoxNews Polls are always bad for me...Something weird going on at Fox."[209]
In April 2017, it became known that former Obama administration national security advisorSusan Rice sought theunmasking of Trump associates who were unidentified in intelligence reports, notably Trump's incoming national security advisorMichael Flynn, during thepresidential transition.[210] In May 2020, actingDirector of National IntelligenceRichard Grenell, a Trump loyalist, declassified a list of Obama administration officials who had also requested unmasking of Trump associates, which was subsequently publicly released by Republican senators.[211] That month, attorney generalBill Barr appointed federal prosecutorJohn Bash to examine the unmaskings.[212] Fox News primetime hosts declared the unmaskings a "domestic spying operation" for which the Obama administration was "exposed" in the "biggest abuse of power" in American history.[213] The Bash inquiry closed months later with no findings of substantive wrongdoing.[214]
However, certain Fox personalities have not had as much of a favorable reception from Trump: news anchorsShepard Smith (who retired from Fox in 2019) andChris Wallace have been criticized by Trump for allegedly being adversarial,[215][216] alongside Fox analystAndrew Napolitano, who said Trump's actions in theTrump–Ukraine scandal were "both criminal and impeachable behavior".[217] Trump was also critical of the network hiring formerDNC chairDonna Brazile, in 2019.[218] The relationship between Trump and Fox News, as well as otherRupert Murdoch-controlled outlets, soured following the2020 United States presidential election, as Trump refused to concede thatJoe Biden had been electedPresident-elect.[219][220] This negative tonal shift led to increased viewership ofNewsmax andOne America News among Trump and his supporters due to their increased antipathy towards Fox;[221][222][223][224] and as a result, Fox released promotional videos of their opinion hosts disputing the election results, promoting a Trump-affiliatedconspiracy theory aboutvoter fraud.[225] By one measure, Newsmax saw a 497% spike in viewership, while Fox News saw a 38% decline.[226]
Writing for thePoynter Institute for Media Studies in February 2021, senior media writer Tom Jones argued that the primary distinction between Fox News and MSNBC is not right bias vs. left bias, but rather that much of the content on Fox News, especially during its primetime programs, "is not based in truth".[227]
TheTampa Bay Times reported in August 2021 that it had reviewed four months of emails indicating Fox News producers had coordinated with aides of Florida governorRon DeSantis to promote his political prospects by inviting him for frequent network appearances, exchanging talking points and, in one case, helping him to stage an exclusive news event.[228]
In February 2024, Alan Rosenblatt ofJohns Hopkins University said that Fox News "is an entertainment company that has a news division, not a news company", adding that it "not only does not provide that distinction, it goes out of its way to make it difficult to see the difference. They make their opinion programs look like news programs, and they incorporate enough opinion content on their news programs to further that deception."[35]
On October 30, 2017, when special counselRobert Mueller indictedPaul Manafort andRick Gates, and revealedGeorge Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty (all of whom were involved in the Trump 2016 campaign), this was the focus of most media's coverage, except Fox News'.[230] Hosts and guests on Fox News called for Mueller to be fired.[230][231] Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson focused their shows on unsubstantiated allegations that Clinton sold uranium to Russia in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation and on the Clinton campaign's role in funding theSteele dossier.[230][232] Hannity asserted: "The very thing they are accusing President Trump of doing, they did it themselves."[230] During the segment, Hannity mistakenly referred to Clinton as President Clinton.[230][233] Fox News dedicated extensive coverage to the uranium story, which Democrats said was an attempt to distract from Mueller's intensifying investigation.[234][235] CNN described the coverage as "a tour de force in deflection and dismissal".[232] On October 31, CNN reported Fox News employees were dissatisfied with their outlet's coverage of the Russia investigation, with employees calling it an "embarrassment", "laughable", and saying it "does the viewer a huge disservice and further divides the country" and that it is "another blow to journalists at Fox who come in every day wanting to cover the news in a fair and objective way".[236][237]
When the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller intoRussian interference in the 2016 presidential election intensified in October 2017, the focus of Fox News coverage turned "what they see as the scandal and wrongdoing of President Trump's political opponents. In reports like these, Bill and Hillary Clinton are prominent and recurring characters because they are considered the real conspirators working with the Russians to undermine American democracy."[238] Paul Waldman ofThe Washington Post described the coverage as "No puppet. You're the puppet", saying it was a "careful, coordinated, and comprehensive strategy" to distract from Mueller's investigation.[239] German Lopes ofVox said Fox News' coverage has reached "levels of self-parody" as it dedicated coverage to low-key stories, such as a controversialNewsweek op-ed and hamburger emojis, while other networks had wall-to-wall coverage of Mueller's indictments.[240]
AFiveThirtyEight analysis of Russia-related media coverage in cable news found most mentions of Russia on Fox News were spoken in close proximity to "uranium" and "dossier".[241] On November 1, 2017,Vox analyzed the transcripts of Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, and found Fox News "was unable to talk about the Mueller investigation without bringing up Hillary Clinton", "talked significantly less about George Papadopoulos—the Trump campaign adviser whose plea deal with Mueller provides the most explicit evidence thus far that the campaign knew of the Russian government's efforts to help Trump—than its competitors", and "repeatedly called Mueller's credibility into question".[242]
In December 2017, Fox News escalated its attacks on the Mueller investigation, with hosts and guest commentators suggesting the investigation amounted to acoup.[243][244][245][246][247] Guest co-host Kevin Jackson referred to a right-wing conspiracy theory claiming Strzok's messages are evidence of a plot by FBI agents to assassinate Trump, a claim which the other Fox co-hosts quickly said is not supported by any credible evidence.[248][249] Fox News host Jeanine Pirro called the Mueller investigation team a "criminal cabal" and said the team ought to be arrested.[243] Other Fox News figures referred to the investigation as "corrupt", "crooked", and "illegitimate", and likened the FBI to the KGB, the Soviet-era spy organization that routinely tortured and summarily executed people.[244] Political scientists and scholars of coups described the Fox News rhetoric as scary and dangerous.[244] Experts on coups rejected that the Mueller investigation amounted to a coup; rather, the Fox News rhetoric was dangerous to democracy and mirrored the kind of rhetoric that occurs beforepurges.[244] A number of observers argued the Fox News rhetoric was intended to discredit the Mueller investigation and sway President Donald Trump to fire Mueller.[250]
In August 2018, Fox News was criticized for giving more prominent coverage of a murder committed by an undocumented immigrant than the convictions of Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his long-term personal attorney,Michael Cohen.[251] At the same time, most other national mainstream media gave wall-to-wall coverage of the convictions.[252] Fox News hosts Dana Perrino and Jason Chaffetz argued that voters care far more about the murder than the convictions of the President's former top aides, and hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity downplayed the convictions.[253][251][254]
False claims about other media
CNN's Jake Tapper
In November 2017, following the2017 New York City truck attack wherein a terrorist shouted "Allahu Akbar", Fox News distorted a statement byJake Tapper to make it appear as if he had said "Allahu Akbar" can be used under the most "beautiful circumstances". Fox News omitted that Tapper had said the use of "Allahu Akbar" in the terrorist attack was not one of these beautiful circumstances. A headline on FoxNews.com was preceded by a tag reading "OUTRAGEOUS". The Fox News Twitter account distorted the statement even more, saying "Jake Tapper Says 'Allahu Akbar' Is 'Beautiful' Right After NYC Terror Attack" in a tweet that was later deleted. Tapper chastised Fox News for choosing to "deliberately lie" and said "there was a time when one could tell the difference between Fox and the nutjobs atInfowars. It's getting tougher and tougher. Lies are lies."[255] In 2009, Tapper had come to the defense of Fox News while he was a White House correspondent for ABC News, after theObama administration claimed that the network was not a legitimate news organization.[256]
Fox News guest hostJason Chaffetz apologized to Tapper for misrepresenting his statement.[257] After Fox News had deleted the tweet, Sean Hannity repeated the misrepresentation and called Tapper "liberal fake news CNN's fake Jake Tapper" and mocked his ratings.[256][257]
The New York Times
In July 2017, a report byFox & Friends falsely saidThe New York Times had disclosed intelligence in one of its stories and that this intelligence disclosure helpedAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of theIslamic State, to evade capture.[258][259][260] The report cited an inaccurate assertion by Gen.Tony Thomas, the head of theUnited States Special Operations Command, that a major newspaper had disclosed the intelligence.[258][261] Fox News said it wasThe New York Times, repeatedly running the chyron "NYT Foils U.S. Attempt To Take Out Al-Bahgdadi".[261]Pete Hegseth, one of the show's hosts, criticized the "failingNew York Times".[261] President Donald Trump tweeted about theFox & Friends report shortly after it first aired, saying "The FailingNew York Times foiled U.S. attempt to kill the single most wanted terrorist, Al-Baghdadi. Their sick agenda over National Security."[258] Fox News later updated the story, but without apologizing toThe New York Times or responding directly to the inaccuracies.[261]
In aWashington Post column,Erik Wemple said Chris Wallace had coveredThe New York Times story himself onFox News Sunday, adding: "Here's another case of the differing standards between Fox News's opinion operation", which has given "a state-run vibe on all matters related to Trump", compared to Fox News's news operation, which has provided "mostly sane coverage".[262]
Fox News has often been described as a major platform forclimate change denial.[263][264][265][266] According to thefact-checking websiteClimate Feedback, Fox News is part of "a network of unreliable outlets for climate news."[264] A 2011 study by Lauren Feldman andAnthony Leiserowitz found Fox News "takes a more dismissive tone toward climate change than CNN and MSNBC".[267] A 2008 study found Fox News emphasized the scientific uncertainty of climate change more than CNN, was less likely to say climate change was real, and more likely to interview climate change skeptics.[267] Leaked emails showed that in 2009Bill Sammon, the Fox News Washington managing editor, instructed Fox News journalists to dispute thescientific consensus on climate change and "refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question."[268]
According to climate scientistMichael E. Mann, Fox News "has constructed an alternative universe where the laws of physics no longer apply, where thegreenhouse effect is a myth, and where climate change is a hoax, the product of a massive conspiracy among scientists, who somehow have gotten the polar bears, glaciers, sea levels, superstorms, and megadroughts to play along."[265] According toJames Lawrence Powell's 2011 study of theclimate science denial movement, Fox News provides "the deniers with a platform to say whatever they like without fear of contradiction."[266] Fox News employsSteve Milloy, a prominentclimate change denier with close financial and organizational ties to oil companies, as a contributor. In his columns about climate change forFoxNews.com, Fox News has failed to disclose his substantial funding from oil companies.[269]
In 2011, the hosts ofFox & Friends described climate change as "unproven science", a "disputed fact", and criticized theDepartment of Education for working together with the children's networkNickelodeon to teach children about climate change.[270] In 2001, Sean Hannity described thescientific consensus on climate change as "phony science from the left".[271] In 2004, he falsely alleged that "scientists still can't agree on whether the global warming is scientific fact or fiction".[271] In 2010, Hannity said the so-called"Climategate" – the leaking of e-mails by climate scientist that climate change skeptics claimed demonstrated scientific misconduct but which all subsequent enquiries have found no evidence of misconduct or wrongdoing – a "scandal" that "exposed global warming as a myth cooked up by alarmists".[272] Hannity frequently invites contrarian fringe scientists and critics of climate change to his shows.[273] In 2019, a widely shared Fox News news report falsely claimed that new climate science research showed that the Earth might be heading to a new Ice Age; the author of the study that Fox News cited said that Fox News "utterly misrepresents our research" and the study did not in any way suggest that Earth was heading to an Ice Age. Fox News later corrected the story.[274]
Shepard Smith drew attention for being one of few voices formerly on Fox News to forcefully state that climate change is real, that human activities are a primary contributor to it and that there is ascientific consensus on the issue.[275][276] His acceptance of the scientific consensus on climate change drew criticism from Fox News viewers and conservatives.[277][278] Smith left Fox News in October 2019.[279] In a 2021 interview withChristiane Amanpour on hereponymous show inCNN, he stated that his presence on Fox had become "untenable" due to the "falsehoods" and "lies" intentionally spread on the network's opinion shows.[280][281]
On May 16, 2017, a day when other news organizations were extensively coveringDonald Trump's revelation of classified information to Russia,[282] Fox News ran a lead story about a private investigator's uncorroborated claims about themurder of Seth Rich, aDNC staffer.[283][284][285] The private investigator said he had uncovered evidence that Rich was in contact with WikiLeaks and law enforcement were covering it up.[283] The killing of Rich has given rise toconspiracy theories in right-wing circles that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party had Seth Rich killed allegedly because he was the source of theDNC leaks.[283] U.S. intelligence agencies determined Russia was the source of the leaks.[286] In reporting the investigator's claims, the Fox News report reignited right-wing conspiracy theories about the killing.[283][285]
The Fox News story fell apart within hours.[287] Other news organizations quickly revealed the investigator was a Donald Trump supporter and had according to NBC News "developed a reputation for making outlandish claims, such as one appearance on Fox News in 2007 in which he warned that underground networks of pink pistol-toting lesbian gangs were raping young women."[283][288] The family of Seth Rich, the Washington D.C. police department, the Washington D.C. mayor's office, the FBI, and law enforcement sources familiar with the case rebuked the investigator's claims.[283][284] Rich's relatives said: "We are a family who is committed to facts, not fake evidence that surfaces every few months to fill the void and distract law enforcement and the general public from finding Seth's murderers."[283] The spokesperson for the family criticized Fox News for its reporting, alleging the outlet was motivated by a desire to deflect attention from the Trump-Russia story: "I think there's a very special place in hell for people that would use the memory of a murder victim in order to pursue a political agenda."[282] The family has called for retractions and apologies from Fox News for the inaccurate reporting.[288][289] Over the course of the day, Fox News altered the contents of the story and the headline, but did not issue corrections.[288][290] When CNN contacted the private investigator later that day, the investigator said he had no evidence that Rich had contacted WikiLeaks.[285] The investigator claimed he only learned about the possible existence of the evidence from a Fox News reporter.[285] Fox News did not respond to inquiries by CNN, and the Washington Post.[284][285] Fox News later on May 23, seven days after the story was published, retracted its original report, saying the original report did not meet its standards.[287][291]
Nicole Hemmer, then assistant professor at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, wrote that the promotion of the conspiracy theory demonstrated how Fox News was "remaking itself in the image of fringe media in the age of Trump, blurring the lines between real and fake news."[292]Max Boot of theCouncil on Foreign Relations said while intent behind Fox News, as a counterweight to the liberal media was laudable, the culmination of those efforts have been to create an alternative news source that promotes hoaxes and myths, of which the promotion of the Seth Rich conspiracy is an example.[293] Fox News was also criticized by conservative outlets, such asThe Weekly Standard,[294]National Review,[295][296] and conservative columnists, such asJennifer Rubin,[297]Michael Gerson,[298] andJohn Podhoretz.[299]
Rich's parents, Joel and Mary Rich, sued Fox News for the emotional distress it had caused them by its false reporting. In 2020, Fox News settled with Rich family, making a payment that was not officially disclosed but which was reported to be in the seven figures.[300] Although the settlement had been agreed to earlier in the year, Fox News arranged to delay the public announcement until after the 2020 presidential election.[300][301]
Fox News hosts and contributors defended Trump's remarks that "many sides" were to blame for violence at a gathering of hundreds ofwhite nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia.[302][303] Some criticized Trump.[303][304] In a press conference on August 15, Trump used the term "alt-left" to describe counterprotesters at thewhite supremacist rally, a term which had been used in Fox News' coverage of the white supremacist rally.[302] Several of Trump's comments at the press conference mirrored those appearing earlier on Fox News.[305]
According toDylan Byers of CNN, Fox News' coverage on the day of the press conference "was heavy with "whataboutism". The average Fox viewer was likely left with the impression that the media's criticism of Trump and leftist protestors' toppling of some Confederate statues were far greater threats to America than white supremacism or the president's apparent defense of bigotry."[304] Byers wrote "it showed that if Fox News has a line when it comes to Trump's presidency, it was not crossed on Tuesday."[304]
Glenn Beck's comments about George Soros
DuringGlenn Beck's tenure at Fox News, he became one of the most high-profile proponents ofconspiracy theories about George Soros, a Jewish Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist known for his donations toAmerican liberal political causes.[306] Beck regularly described Soros as a "puppet-master" and used commonanti-Semitic tropes to describe Soros and his activities.[306] In a 2010 three-part series, Beck depicted George Soros as a cartoonish villain trying to "form a shadow government, using humanitarian aid as a cover", and that Soros wanted a one-world government.[307][308] Beck promoted the false and anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Soros was aNazi collaborator as a 14-year-old in Nazi-occupied Hungary.[309] Beck also characterized Soros's mother as a "wildly anti-Semitic" Nazi collaborator.[307] According toThe Washington Post: "Beck's series was largely considered obscene and delusional, if not outright anti-Semitic", but Beck's conspiracy theory became common on the right-wing of American politics.[307] Amid criticism of Beck's false smears, Fox News defended Beck, stating "information regarding Mr. Soros's experiences growing up were taken directly from his writings and from interviews given by him to the media, and no negative opinion was offered as to his actions as a child."[308][310] Roger Ailes, then-head of Fox News, dismissed criticism levied at Beck by hundreds of rabbis, saying that they were "left-wing rabbis who basically don't think that anybody can ever use the word, Holocaust, on the air."[311]
During the first few weeks of theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Fox News was considerably more likely than other mainstream news outlets to promote misinformation aboutCOVID-19.[312] The network promoted the narrative that the emergency response to the pandemic was politically motivated or otherwise unwarranted,[313] withSean Hannity explicitly calling it a "hoax" (he later denied doing so) and other hosts downplaying it.[314] This coverage was consistent with the messaging of Trump at the time.[315] Only in mid March did the network change the tone of its coverage,[316] after President Trump declared a national emergency.[315] At the same time that Fox News commentators downplayed the threat of the virus in public, Fox's management and the Murdoch family took a broad range of internal measures to protect themselves and their employees against it.[317][318][319][320]
Sean Hannity andLaura Ingraham, two of Fox News's primetime hosts, promoted use of the drughydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19, anoff-label usage which at the time was supported only byanecdotal evidence, after it was touted by Trump as a possible cure.[321] Fox News promoted aconspiracy theory that coronavirus death toll numbers were inflated with people who would have died anyway from preexisting conditions. This was disputed by White House coronavirus task force membersAnthony Fauci andDeborah Birx, with Fauci describing conspiracy theories as "nothing but distractions" during public health crises.[322] Later in the pandemic, Hannity, Ingraham and Carlson promoted the use of livestockdewormerivermectin as a possible COVID-19 treatment.[323]
Studies have linked trust in Fox News,[324] as well as viewership of Fox News,[325] with fewer preventive behaviors and more risky behaviors related to COVID-19.[326]
Once a COVID-19 vaccine became widely available, Fox News consistently questioned the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, celebrated evidence-free skepticism, and blasted attempts to promote vaccinations.[327] More than 90% of Fox Corporation's full-time employees had been fully vaccinated by September 2021.[328]
2020 election fraud allegations and lawsuits by Dominion and Smartmatic
After Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential election, Fox News hostJeanine Pirro promoted baseless allegations on her program that voting machine companySmartmatic and its competitorDominion Voting Systems had conspired to rig the election against Trump. HostsLou Dobbs andMaria Bartiromo also promoted the allegations on their programs on sister networkFox Business.[329] In December 2020, Smartmatic sent a letter to Fox News demanding retractions and threatening legal action, specifying that retractions "must be published on multiple occasions" so as to "match the attention and audience targeted with the original defamatory publications."[330] Days later, each of the three programs aired the same three-minute video segment consisting of an interview with an election technology expert who refuted the allegations promoted by the hosts, responding to questions from an unseen and unidentified man. None of the three hosts personally issued retractions. Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion defamation suit against the network, the three hosts, Powell and Trump attorneyRudy Giuliani in February 2021.[331] In an April 2021 court brief seeking dismissal of the suit, Fox attorneyPaul Clement argued that the network was simply "reporting allegations made by a sitting President and his lawyers."[332] A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled in March 2022 that the suit could proceed, though he dismissed allegations againstSidney Powell and Pirro, and some claims against Giuliani. The judge allowed allegations against Bartiromo and Dobbs to stand.[333] TheNew York Supreme Court, Appellate Division unanimously rejected a Fox News bid to dismiss the Smartmatic suit in February 2023. The court reinstated defamation allegations against Giuliani and Pirro.[334][335]
In December 2020, Dominion Voting Systems sent a similar letter demanding retractions to Trump attorney Sidney Powell,[336][337][338] who had promoted the allegations on Fox programs.[339][340][341] On March 26, 2021, Dominion filed a $1.6billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, alleging that Fox and some of its pundits spread conspiracy theories about Dominion, and allowed guests to make false statements about the company.[342] On May 18, 2021, Fox News filed a motion to dismiss the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, asserting aFirst Amendment right "to inform the public about newsworthy allegations of paramount public concern."[343] The motion to dismiss was denied on December 16, 2021, by a Delaware Superior Court judge.[344] In addition to Bartiromo, Dobbs, and Pirro, the suit also names primetime hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity.[345] Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil sued Fox, Dobbs and Powell for $250 million in December 2021, alleging they had falsely implicated him in rigging Dominion and Smartmatic machines.[346] Dobbs and Fox News reached a confidential settlement with Khalil in April 2023.[347]
Fox News was the only major network or cable news outlet to not carry the first televisedprime time hearing of theJanuary 6 committee live; its regular programming ofTucker Carlson Tonight andHannity was aired without commercial breaks. During the weeks following the election, Carlson and Hannity often amplified Trump's election falsehoods on their programs; previously disclosed text messages between Hannity and White House press secretaryKayleigh McEnany were presented during the hearing. Hannity told his audience, "Unlike this committee and their cheerleaders in the media mob, we will actually be telling you the truth," while Carlson said, "This is the only hour on an American news channel that won't be covering their propaganda live. They are lying and we are not going to help them do it."[348][349][350][351]
In June 2022, a Delaware Superior Court judge again declined to dismiss the Dominion suit against Fox News, and also allowed Dominion to sue the network's corporate parent, Fox Corporation. The judge ruled that Rupert andLachlan Murdoch may have acted withactual malice because there was a reasonable inference they "either knew Dominion had not manipulated the election or at least recklessly disregarded the truth when they allegedly caused Fox News to propagate its claims about Dominion." He noted a report that Rupert Murdoch spoke with Trump a few days after the election and informed him that he had lost.[352]
The New York Times reported in December 2022 that Dominion had acquired communications between Fox News executives and hosts, and between a Fox Corporation employee and the Trump White House, showing they knew that what the network was reporting was untrue. Dominion attorneys said hosts Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, and Fox executives, attested to this in sworn depositions. In November 2020, Hannity hostedSidney Powell, who asserted Dominion machines had been rigged, but said in his deposition, "I did not believe it for one second."[353] A February 2023 Dominion court filing showed Fox News primetime hosts messaging each other to insult and mock Trump advisers, indicating the hosts knew the allegations made by Powell and Giuliani were false. Rupert Murdoch messaged that Trump's voter fraud claims were "really crazy stuff," telling Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott that it was "terrible stuff damaging everybody, I fear." As a January 2021 Georgia runoff election approached that would determine party control of the U.S. Senate, Murdoch told Scott, "Trump will concede eventually and we should concentrate on Georgia, helping any way we can."[354][355][356][357]
After the 2016 election, the network developed a cutting-edge system to call elections, which proved very successful during the 2018 midterm elections. The network was the first to call the 2020 Arizona race for Biden, angering many viewers. Washington managing editorBill Sammon supervised the network's Decision Desk that made the call.Bret Baier andMartha MacCallum, the network's main news anchors, suggested during a high-level conference call that relying solely on data to make the call was inadequate and that viewer reaction should also be considered; MacCallum said, "in a Trump environment, the game is just very, very different." Sammon stood by the 2020 call and was fired by the network after the January 2021 Georgia runoff.[358]
In 2023, Rupert Murdoch was deposed and testified that some Fox News commentators were endorsingelection fraud claims they knew were false.[359][360]
In February 2023, Fox's internal communications were released, showing that its presenters and senior executives privately doubted Donald Trump's claims of a stolen election.[36] Chairman Rupert Murdoch once described Trump's voter fraud claims as "really crazy stuff", and also said that Trump advisers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell's television appearances were "terrible stuff damaging everybody".[36] One November 2020 exchange showed Tucker Carlson accusing Powell of "lying ... I caught her. It's insane", with Laura Ingraham responding that "Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy".[36] In another exchange that month, Carlson called for Fox journalist Jacqui Heinrich to be "fired" because she fact-checked Trump and said that there was no evidence of voter fraud from Dominion.[36] Carlson said that Heinrich's actions "needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It's measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down", while Heinrich deleted the fact-check the next morning.[36]
In March 2023, more of Fox's internal communications were released.[37] One November 2020 communication showed Fox CEO Suzanne Scott criticizing fact-checking, stating that she cannot "keep defending these reporters who don't understand our viewers and how to handle stories ... The audience feels like we crapped on" them, and Fox was losing their audience's "trust and belief" in them.[37] Another December 2020 communication showed Scott responding to Fox presenter Eric Shawn's fact-checking of Donald Trump's false 2020 election claims by demanding that the fact-checking "has to stop now ... This is bad business ... The audience is furious."[37]
On March 31, 2023, Delaware Superior Court judge Eric Davis ruled in asummary judgment that it "is CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true" and ordered for the case to go to trial.[39]
On April 18, 2023, Fox News reached a settlement with Dominion just before the trial started, concluding the lawsuit; Fox agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million, and further stated: "We acknowledge the Court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false".[38]
Compulsory reductions in meat consumption
In April 2021,[361] at least five Fox News and Fox Business personalities amplified a story published by theDaily Mail, a British tabloid, that incorrectly linked a university study to President Joe Biden's climate change agenda, to falsely assert that Americans would be compelled to dramatically reduce their meat consumption to mitigategreenhouse gas emissions caused byflatulence. Fox News aired a graphic detailing the supposed compulsory reductions, falsely indicating the information came from theAgriculture Department, which numerous Republican politicians and commentators tweeted. Fox News anchorJohn Roberts reported to "say goodbye to your burgers if you want to sign up to the Biden climate agenda." Days later, Roberts acknowledged on air that the story was false.[362][363][364]
Report that Biden administration was continuing to build the Mexico–United States border wall
According to analysis by Media Matters, on May 12, 2021, Fox News reported on its website: "Biden resumesborder wall construction after promising to halt it". Correspondent Bill Melugin then appeared onSpecial Report with Bret Baier to report "theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers is actually going to be restarting border wall construction down in the Rio Grande Valley" after "a lot of blowback and pressure from local residents and local politicians." After the Corps of Engineers tweeted a clarification, Melugin deleted a tweet about the story and tweeted an "update" clarifying that a levee wall was being constructed to mitigate damage to flood control systems caused by uncompleted wall construction, and the website story headline was changed to "Biden administration to resume border wall levee construction as crisis worsens." Later onFox News Primetime, hostBrian Kilmeade briefly noted the levee but commented to former Trump advisorStephen Miller: "They're going to restart building the wall again, Stephen." Fox News hostSean Hannity later broadcast the original Melugin story without any mention of the levee.[365][366][367]
Crime reporting
Media Matters reported in September 2024 that during the Biden presidency Fox News had promoted a false "crime crisis" narrative, particularly directed toward undocumented migrants, which reflected Donald Trump's political rhetoric. The Fox News narrative consisted of reported violent crime anecdotes rather than FBI crime rate statistics showing violent crime had declined significantly since 2020. One Fox host,Ainsley Earhardt, said that even if the FBI data were right, "we're all a little bit more scared than we used to be." Later that month, weeks before the 2024 presidential election, the FBI released crime data for 2023 showing that violent crime had declined 3% from 2022. The report was widely covered by mainstream news outlets that day, though the Fox News coverage was limited to a 28-second segment by evening anchorBret Baier. He reported "critics say the report is not accurate because it does not include big cities," echoing a false assertion made byElon Musk and other Trump supporters on social media.[368][369]
The network has been accused of permittingsexual harassment andracial discrimination by on-air hosts, executives, and employees,[370][371][372] paying out millions of dollars in legal settlements.[373][374] Prominent Fox News figures such as Roger Ailes,Bill O'Reilly andEric Bolling were fired after many women accused them of sexual harassment. At least four lawsuits alleged Fox News co-presidentBill Shine ignored, enabled or concealed Roger Ailes' alleged sexual harassment.[375][376][377] Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch has dismissed the high-profile sexual misconduct allegations as "largely political" and speculated they were made "because we are conservative".[378]
Bill O'Reilly and Fox News settled six agreements, totaling $45 million, with women who accused O'Reilly of sexual harassment.[379][380] In January 2017, shortly after Bill O'Reilly settled a sexual harassment lawsuit for $32 million ("an extraordinarily large amount for such cases"), Fox News renewed Bill O'Reilly's contract.[379] Fox News's parent company, 21st Century Fox, said it was aware of the lawsuit.[379] The contract between O'Reilly and Fox News read he could not be fired from the network unless sexual harassment allegations were proven in court.[381]
Fox News's extensive coverage of theHarvey Weinstein scandal in October 2017 was seen by some as hypocritical.[382][383] Fox News dedicated at least 12 hours of coverage to the Weinstein scandal, yet only dedicated 20 minutes to Bill O'Reilly, who just like Weinstein had been accused of sexual harassment by a multitude of women.[382][383] A few weeks later, when a number of females under the age of 18, including a 14-year-old, accused Alabama Senate candidateRoy Moore of making sexual advances, Hannity dismissed the sexual misconduct allegations and dedicated coverage on his TV show to casting doubt on the accusers.[384][385] Other prime-time Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham queriedThe Washington Post's reporting or opted to bring up sexual misconduct allegations regarding show business figures such as Harvey Weinstein andLouis C.K.[169] Fox News figuresJeanine Pirro andGregg Jarrett questioned both the validity ofThe Washington Post's reporting and that of the women.[386] In December 2017, a few days before the Alabama Senate election, Fox News, along with the conspiracy websitesBreitbart News andThe Gateway Pundit, ran an inaccurate headline which claimed one of Roy Moore's accusers admitted to forging an inscription by Roy Moore in her yearbook; Fox News later added a correction to the story.[387]
A number of Fox News hosts have welcomed Bill O'Reilly to their shows and paid tributes to Roger Ailes after his death. In May 2017, Hannity called Ailes "a second father" and said to Ailes's "enemies" that he was "preparing to kick your a** in the next life".[388] Ailes had the year before been fired from Fox News after women alleged he sexually harassed them.[388] In September 2017, several months after Bill O'Reilly was fired from Fox News in the wake of women alleging he sexually harassed them, Hannity hosted O'Reilly on his show.[389][390][391] Some Fox News employees criticized the decision.[390] According to CNN, during the interview, Hannity found kinship with O'Reilly as he appeared "to feel that he and O'Reilly have both become victims of liberals looking to silence them."[390]
Obama administration conflict
In September 2009, theObama administration engaged in a verbal conflict with Fox News Channel. On September 20, PresidentBarack Obama appeared on all major news programs except Fox News, a snub partially in response to remarks about him by commentators Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity and Fox coverage of Obama's health-care proposal.[392][393]
In late September 2009, Obama's senior advisorDavid Axelrod and Roger Ailes met in secret to attempt to smooth out tensions between the two camps. Two weeks later, White House chief of staffRahm Emanuel referred to FNC as "not a news network" and communications directorAnita Dunn said "Fox News often operates as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party".[394][395] Obama commented: "If media is operating basically as a talk radio format, then that's one thing, and if it's operating as a news outlet, then that's another."[396] Emanuel said it was important "to not have the CNNs and the others in the world basically be led in following Fox".[397]
Within days, it was reported that Fox had been excluded from an interview with administration officialKen Feinberg, with bureau chiefs from the White House press pool (ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN) coming to Fox's defense.[395] A bureau chief said: "If any member had been excluded it would have been the same thing, it has nothing to do with Fox or the White House or the substance of the issues."[398] Shortly after the story broke, the White House admitted to a low-level mistake, saying Fox had not made a specific request to interview Feinberg. Fox White House correspondent Major Garrett said he had not made a specific request, but had a "standing request from me as senior White House correspondent on Fox to interview any newsmaker at the Treasury at any given time news is being made".[399]
On November 8, 2009, theLos Angeles Times reported an unnamed Democratic consultant was warned by the White House not to appear on Fox News again. According to the article, Dunn claimed in an e-mail to have checked with colleagues who "deal with TV issues" who denied telling anyone to avoid Fox.Patrick Caddell, a Fox News contributor and former pollster for PresidentJimmy Carter, said he had spoken with other Democratic consultants who had received similar warnings from the White House.[400]
On October 2, 2013, Fox News hostAnna Kooiman cited on the air a fake story from theNational Report parody site, which claimed Obama had offered to keep the International Museum of Muslim Cultures open with cash from his own pocket.[401][402]
Journalistic ethical standards
Fox News attracted controversy in April 2018 when it was revealed primetime host Sean Hannity had defended Trump's then personal attorney Michael Cohen on air without disclosing Cohen was his lawyer.[403] On April 9, 2018, federal agents from theU.S. Attorney's office served a search warrant on Cohen's office and residence.[404] On the air, Hannity defended Cohen and criticized the federal action, calling it "highly questionable" and "an unprecedented abuse of power".[405] On April 16, 2018, in a court hearing, Cohen's lawyers told the judge that Cohen had ten clients in 2017–2018 but did "traditional legal tasks" for only three: Trump,Elliott Broidy, and a "prominent person" who did not wish to be named for fear of being "embarrassed".[406][407][408] The federal judge ordered the revelation of the third client, whom Cohen's lawyers named as Hannity.[406]
Hannity was not sanctioned by Fox News for this breach of journalistic ethics, with Fox News releasing a statement that the channel was unaware of Hannity's relationship to Cohen and that it had "spoken to Sean and he continues to have our full support."[403][409][410][411] Media ethics experts said that Hannity's disclosure failure was a major breach of journalistic ethics and that the network should have suspended or fired him for it.[411]
NYC Human Rights Law violations
In mid-2021, Fox News agreed to pay a $1 million settlement to New York City after itsCommission on Human Rights cited "a pattern of violating theNYC Human Rights Law". A Fox News spokesperson claimed that "FOX News Media has already been in full compliance across the board, but [settled] to continue enacting extensive preventive measures against all forms of discrimination and harassment."[412]
Climate denial and misinformation
During the May 22, 2023, episode of Fox News Tonight, discussing Roman climate protesters drawing attention on drought and floods in Italy, the correspondent Trace Gallagher downplayed the role of climate change for the recent meteorological situation pointing at Italian history.[413][414]
International transmission
Countries where Fox News is provided
The Fox News Channel feed has international availability via multiple providers, whileFox Extra segments provide alternate programming.[415] Fox News is carried in more than 40 countries.
Australia
In Australia, FNC is broadcast on the dominant pay television providerFoxtel, which is 65% owned byNews Corp Australia, the Australian arm ofNews Corp and the sister company of FNC-ownerFox Corporation. Local cable news channelSky News Australia is wholly owned by News Corp Australia[416] and is therefore FNC's de facto sister channel, although has formal partnerships with FNC competitorCNN as well as bothABC News andCBS News.[417]
Brazil
FNC reached Brazil throughSky Brasil on November 1, 2002, after being introduced at ABTA 2002.[418] On January 8, 2003, Sky Brasil added interactive functions for the channel exclusively from the provider.[419]
Commercials on FNC are replaced withFox Extra. It is available onVivo TV.
Canada
Fox had initially planned to launch a joint venture withCanwest'sGlobal Television Network, tentatively named Fox News Canada, which would have featured a mixture of U.S. andCanadian news programming (MSNBC had backed asimilar venture withRogers andShaw).[420] As a result, theCRTC denied a 2003 application requesting permission for Fox News Channel to becarried in Canada. However, in March 2004, a Fox executive said the venture had been shelved; in November of that year, the CRTC added Fox News to its whitelist of foreign channels that may be carried by television providers.[421]
In May 2023, the CRTC announced that it would open a public consultation regarding the channel's carriage in Canada, acting upon complaints by the LGBT advocacy groupEgale Canada surrounding a March 2023 episode ofTucker Carlson Tonight that contained content described as "malicious misinformation" regarding trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming, andtwo-spirit communities, including "the inflammatory and false claim that trans people are 'targeting' Christians."[422]
France
Fox News is available on cable through French Internet providerFree on channel 352. As of Spring 2017, the channel was no longer found on the providerOrange's lineup.[citation needed]
In Israel, FNC is broadcast on Channel 105 of the satellite providerYes, as well as being carried on Cellcom TV and Partner TV.[423] It is also broadcast on channel 200 on cable operatorHOT.[424]
Although service to Japan ceased in summer 2003, it can still be seen on Americable (distributor forAmerican bases),[425] Mediatti (Kadena Air Base)[426] and Pan Global TV Japan.[427]
Mexico
The channel's international feed is being carried by cable providerIzzi Telecom.
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, Fox News has been carried by cable providersUPC Nederland and CASEMA, and satellite providerCanaldigitaal; all have dropped the channel in recent years. At this time, only cable provider Caiway (available in a limited number of towns in the central part of the country) is broadcasting the channel. The channel was also carried by IPTV provider KNIPPR (owned byT-Mobile).
New Zealand
In New Zealand, FNC is broadcast on Channel 088 of pay satellite operatorSKY Network Television's digital platform. It was formerly broadcast overnight on free-to-airUHF New Zealand TV channelPrime (owned by SKY); this was discontinued in January 2010, reportedly due to an expiring broadcasting license.[428] Fox News' former parent company News Corporation had a stake in both SKY and Prime until 2014.
Pakistan
In Pakistan, Fox News Channel is available onPTCL Smart TV and a number of cable andIPTV operators.
Philippines
In thePhilippines, Fox News Channel is available onSky Cable Channels 138 (Metro Manila) and 510 (Regional),Cablelink Channel 224 (Metro Manila) andG Sat Channel 50. It was available onCignal Channel 131 until January 1, 2021, due to contract expiration; however, the channel returned on June 16, 2022.
Portugal
In Portugal, Fox News was available onMeo. The channel is however no longer available on the operator and it is not carried by other Portuguese TV operators.
Scandinavia
Between 2003 and 2006, in Sweden and the otherScandinavian countries, FNC was broadcast 16 hours a day onTV8 (withFox News Extra segments replacing U.S. advertising). Fox News was dropped by TV8 and replaced by German news channelDeutsche Welle in September 2006.
Singapore
In Singapore, FNC is broadcast on Channel 702 on pay-TV operatorStarHub TV, as well on Channel 165 onSingtel TV. Both providers also broadcast its sister channel,Sky News.
The most popular pay television operator,DStv, does not offer FNC in its channel bouquet.[430]
Spain
In Spain, Fox News was available onMovistar Plus+. The channel was part of the operator since its first incarnation asCanal Satellite Digital in the early 2000s, but was later removed from the operator's satellite offer by March 2023, and ceased transmission to the remaining offers on July 9, 2024.[431] The channel is not carried by other Spanish TV operators.
United Kingdom and Ireland
FNC was carried in theUnited Kingdom bySky, which was 40-percent owned by 21st Century Fox at the time, and operates its own domestic news channelSky News. On August 29, 2017, Sky dropped Fox News; the broadcaster said its carriage was not "commercially viable" due to average viewership of fewer than 2,000 viewers per day. The company said the decision was unrelated to 21st Century Fox's proposed acquisition of the remainder ofSky plc (which ultimately led to a bidding war that resulted in its acquisition byComcast instead).[432]
The potential co-ownership had prompted concerns from critics of the deal, who felt Sky News could similarly undergo a shift to an opinionated format with a right-wing viewpoint. However, such a move would violateOfcom broadcast codes, which requires all news programming to show due impartiality. The channel's broadcasts in the country have violated this rule on several occasions, while the channel also violatedelection silence rules by broadcasting analysis of the2016 Brexit referendum while polls were still open (the channel was blacked out while polls were open during the2017 general election to comply with the rule).[433][434][435][436]
^abJamieson, Kathleen Hall; Cappella, Joseph N. (February 4, 2010).Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19539-860-1.Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. RetrievedMay 11, 2018.We do this to illustrate the ways Fox News, Limbaugh, and the print and web editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal play both offense and defense in service of conservative objectives. As these case studies will suggest, the big three reinforce each other's conservative messages in ways that distinguish them from the other major broadcast media, CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and major print outlets such as the Washington Post and New York Times.
^abcSkocpol, Theda; Williamson, Vanessa (September 1, 2016).The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 5, 8, 86, 123, 125,130–140.ISBN978-0-19063-366-0.Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. RetrievedMay 11, 2018.... the challenge of spreading and germinating the Tea Party idea was surmounted with impressive ease because a major sector of the U.S. media today is openly partisan—including Fox News Channel, the right-wing 'blogosphere,' and a nationwide network of right-wing talk radio programs. This aptly named conservative media 'echo chamber' reaches into the homes of many Americans ... Towering above all others is the Fox News empire, the loudest voice in conservative media. Despite its claim to be "fair and balanced", multiple studies have documented FNC's conservative stance ... Fox News's conservative slant encourages a particular worldview.
^abcKludt, Tom (February 28, 2018)."Fox News has avoided talking about Jared Kushner's security clearance".CNN Money.Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. RetrievedFebruary 28, 2018.The network claims a uniquely powerful role in the pro-Trump echo chamber, setting the agenda for both the president and his millions of supporters. In this vein, Trump is rarely cast in an unfavorable light and the so called 'mainstream media' draws little praise. Bad news, like the one surrounding Kushner, routinely gets glossed over.
^Lenzner, Robert (May 5, 1985)."Murdoch, partner plan 4th network".The Boston Globe. p. 1.Archived from the original on October 27, 2020. RetrievedJune 10, 2008 – via nl.newsbank.The six stations cover many of the nation's major markets – New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston and Washington.
^Saad, Lydia (July 8, 2013)."TV Is Americans' Main Source of News".Gallup.Archived from the original on December 30, 2020. RetrievedAugust 10, 2018.Two-thirds of core Fox News viewers identify themselves as Republican, and 94% either identify as or lean Republican.
^Berry, Jeffrey M.; Sobieraj, Sarah (2014).The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 110–111.ISBN978-0-19992-897-2.Archived from the original on December 29, 2020. RetrievedMay 11, 2018.As trade publication Broadcasting & Cable put it, Fox has created 'a clear and strong brand, and an unwavering commitment to stick with it. Viewers, advertisers and cable operators all know what they're getting.' 'Unwavering' is apt; no matter how much it is criticized for the ideological nature of its content, Fox remains unbowed. It continues to deliver a strong conservative perspective throughout its programming ... over the years Fox has actually moved further to the right.
^abRydgren, Jens (2018).The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right. Oxford University Press. p. 273.ISBN978-0-19027-455-9.Archived from the original on May 22, 2024. RetrievedOctober 31, 2020.The way the conservative media, especially Fox News, reported on the initial Tea Party demonstrations illuminates the momentum the media can give to a start-up movement. Fox became an amplifier of Tea Party activism and rhetoric, giving national momentum to its predominantly local demonstrations.
^Grossmann, Matt; Hopkins, David A. (February 27, 2019). "From Fox News to Viral Views: The Influence of Ideological Media in the 2018 Elections".The Forum.16 (4):547–567.doi:10.1515/for-2018-0037.ISSN1540-8884.S2CID150481237.
^Major, Mark; Andersen, David J. (October 27, 2016). "Polls and Elections: Swift Boating Reconsidered: News Coverage of Negative Presidential Ads".Presidential Studies Quarterly.46 (4):891–910.doi:10.1111/psq.12324.ISSN0360-4918.
^Groeling, Tim (December 1, 2008). "Who's the Fairest of them All? An Empirical Test for Partisan Bias on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News".Presidential Studies Quarterly.38 (4):631–657.doi:10.1111/j.1741-5705.2008.02668.x.ISSN1741-5705.
^Aday, Sean (February 25, 2010). "Chasing the Bad News: An Analysis of 2005 Iraq and Afghanistan War Coverage on NBC and Fox News Channel".Journal of Communication.60 (1):144–164.doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01472.x.ISSN0021-9916.
^Hopkins, Daniel J. (March 11, 2014). "The Consequences of Broader Media Choice: Evidence from the Expansion of Fox News".Quarterly Journal of Political Science.9 (1):115–135.doi:10.1561/100.00012099.ISSN1554-0626.
^Harrison, Stephen (June 16, 2022)."Inside Wikipedia's Historic, Fiercely Contested "Election"".Slate.Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. RetrievedAugust 26, 2022.Publications like Fox News and OpIndia have a history of running headlines decrying what they view as Wikipedia's leftist, socialist bias.
^Dryzek, John S.; Norgaard, Richard B.; Schlosberg, David (October 24, 2013).Climate-Challenged Society. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 31.ISBN978-0-19966-011-7.Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. RetrievedMay 25, 2019.
^Sandoval, Marisol (2014).From Corporate to Social Media: Critical Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility in Media and Communication Industries. Routledge.ISBN978-0-41572-256-8.
^Folkenflik, David (June 10, 2022)."Only one major cable news channel did not carry the Jan. 6 hearing live: Fox News". National Public Radio.As it turned out, the hearings would also have repeatedly required Fox to have broadcast flat contradictions of what many leading Fox News personalities have told their audiences in the past year and a half—including Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. Instead, their prime-time shows continued without commercial interruption Thursday, offering an alternate reality to a hearing that showed vivid and bloody detail of a national crisis.
Hopkins, Daniel J.; Ladd, Jonathan M. (March 2014). "The Consequences of Broader Media Choice: Evidence from the Expansion of Fox News".Quarterly Journal of Political Science.9 (1):115–135.doi:10.1561/100.00012099.
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