FLASHBACK: Warning From The Non-Profit Media Research Group, Media Matters: With coronavirus, the Fox News-Trump feedback loop will get people killed
Media Matters: For Fox News, mass death in the U.S. was just the cost of doing business
No matter how you look at it, no single entity had a more damaging effect on the U.S. pandemic response than Fox News.
While it’s true that social media, and especially Facebook, helped saturate the landscape with COVID misinformation, much of the most prolific COVID misinformation that circulated on social media either was or originated from a Fox News story or was subsequently picked up by Fox News.
The well documented Fox-Trump feedback loop meant that Fox News had a significant influence on the U.S. pandemic response. Trump enacted what he saw on Fox News and Fox News ran cover for the harms resulting from those enactments. From Trump promoting hydroxychloroquine as a magic cure early in the pandemic to the hiring of Fox favorite Scott Atlas, a champion of intentionally infecting the public in order to race to herd immunity, Fox’s influence on U.S. response is evident on policy big and small.
Fox News deserves this designation for its role in worsening the pandemic response -- directly and indirectly contributing to mass death.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fox News’ coverage has been recklessly dominated by misinformation.
As the total number of deaths reported continues to rise, Fox’s pandemic coverage has callously downplayed both the severity of the crisis as well as the risk posed by the devastating long-term side effects. Beyond actively undermining and casting aspersions on prevention measures such as wearing masks, Fox has also openly stoked calls for civil disobedience and protests against public health protocols -- including the championing of business that ignored basic rules.
Before the development of a vaccine, Fox elevated dubious and potentially harmful treatments for COVID-19 as well as giving a consistent platform to a number of guests with no scientific authority to spread misinformation. Now, as vaccine distribution begins, Fox hosts have already begun to focus on undermining public confidence by broadcasting baseless skepticism, misrepresentations, and outright misinformation about the vaccine’s efficacy to viewers with little regard for the consequences.
All of this coverage was bad enough on its own, but became even worse due to the president’s obsession with Fox News.
Fox’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic has been nothing short of irresponsible and catastrophic.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough sends message to “Fox News’ sponsors” about the network’s continued insurrectionist rhetoric
JOE SCARBOROUGH (CO-HOST): You know, Willie, I talked briefly before, and I don't want to get into it — because I don't want to give people the attention that they probably want.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI (CO-HOST): Very much, yes.
SCARBOROUGH: But I will say Fox News had someone I know, a former leader of the Republican Party, saying that Democrats wanted — and I'm using his words here — Democrats wanted to, quote, “exterminate,” exterminate all Republicans. Let me say that again, for Fox News’ sponsors, to let you know.
BRZEZINSKI: And he knows what he's doing.
SCARBOROUGH: For Fox News’ sponsors, to let you know what's happening now on Fox News. That they're getting people who are Fox News contributors, who are saying that Democrats — Joe Biden and Democrats want to, quote, “exterminate” all Republicans.
You also have Fox News hosts that are talking about how Democrats are using troops to make American people submissive. That they are not American troops — they are Democratic troops that are just there to show that they are in complete power.
This is sick, Willie. It's especially sick and damagin, here we are, what, a couple weeks after an insurrection against the United States of America. I understand that Fox News is having trouble because Newsmax is taking some of its viewers, and some of the people think that Fox News hasn't been harsh enough since the election.
But we had mobs surging up to the United States Capitol a couple of weeks ago. And you have a former Republican leader saying that all Democrats want to, quote, “exterminate” Republicans. That is patently — that is patently, patently un-American for him to say that. He is trying to gin up the base so he can make money on his mailing lists, so they can drive ratings up, and so he can inspire an insurrection against the United States as well.
