The Fox network’s widely criticized coverage of the coronavirus pandemic is the subject of a new damning montage that the anti-Trump conservative group The Lincoln Project released on Monday.
The supercut ― titled “Fox & Fiends” ― starts with a memo that Fox CEO Suzanne Scott and Fox President Jay Wallace reportedly sent to employees on March 13 to remind them that “viewers rely on us to stay informed.”
It then segues into footage of widely watched Fox personalities ― including Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs ― initially playing down the threat of the virus that has now sickened more than 380,000 people worldwide and killed 16,500.
Many of Fox’s hosts have since pivoted to acknowledging the severity of the global public health crisis, a shift that has not gone unnoticed, while others are now starting to question the effect that social distancing measures are having on the economy.
Check out the clip here:
“From Sean Hannity calling the coronavirus a ‘hoax’ to Ainsley Earhardt calling this the ‘safest time to fly’ to Laura Ingraham accusing those trying to sound the alarm of trying to gain ‘cheap political points,’ FOX News has become nothing more than a propaganda outlet for Donald Trump,” The Lincoln Project’s co-founder Jennifer Horn said in a statement shared online.
“The network consistently reports lies and unverified information as fact,” Horn added. “Their ‘coverage’ of the coronavirus pandemic has revealed just how low they are willing to go to remain in Trump’s good graces. By repeating the ignorant statements made by Trump and parroting his dangerously incorrect ramblings about the deadly virus, they have placed their audience at grave risk.”
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes issued a similar rebuke of Fox’s reporting on Monday’s broadcast of “All In.”