Fox News seemed to express remorse on Wednesday for displaying an onscreen message that referred to President Joe Biden as a “wannabe dictator” and falsely claimed that he had his political opponent arrested.
As former President Donald Trump faced charges of unlawfully retaining classified documents, he continued to attract significant attention from the media. PBS questioned the accuracy of one of its own messages regarding Trump, while CNN showcased a change in its prime-time programming following the departure of its former leader.
During this particular news segment, the Fox News Channel displayed a chyron at the bottom of the screen. It appeared alongside split-screen video boxes, with one box featuring Trump delivering a live speech to his supporters in New Jersey, and the other box showing Biden’s earlier address at the White House.
Fox News issued a statement on Wednesday acknowledging the onscreen message that read, “Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested.” The network stated that the chyron was promptly taken down and addressed. According to Mediaite, the message remained on the screen for approximately 27 seconds and was not removed during the late-night rerun of the telecast.
However, Fox News did not provide specific details about how the message ended up being displayed and the actions taken to rectify the situation.
The White House stated that President Biden had no communication with Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the indictment filed by special counsel Jack Smith, which accuses former President Trump of unlawfully retaining classified documents. As of now, Biden has not commented on the case.
In a separate matter, two months ago, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems a settlement amount of $787 million. This settlement was in response to a lawsuit filed by Dominion, accusing the news organization of spreading false information about the 2020 presidential election.
When asked about the onscreen chyron during a press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded by saying, “There are probably about 787 million things that I can say about this… That was wrong — about what we saw last night — but I don’t think I’m going to get into it.”
It is not uncommon to find Republican politicians or commentators on Fox News suggesting that the indictment against Trump is politically motivated. Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, made similar claims during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s show shortly after Trump’s speech.
However, some individuals on Fox News have acknowledged the seriousness of the case against Trump. Notably, his former attorney general, William Barr, spoke about it during a recent appearance, as did legal analyst [Name redacted].
Since the settlement of the Dominion case, Fox News has experienced a significant decline in primetime ratings. This decline coincided with the termination of Tucker Carlson, a prominent host on the network. Despite Fox’s lawyers demanding that Carlson refrain from posting video commentaries on Twitter, he posted another one on Tuesday night, which they claim violated the terms of his contract that extends until early 2025.
During the live streaming of Trump’s speech in New Jersey on its YouTube channel, PBS displayed fact-checks in the lower third of the screen. The final fact-check message caught attention with its statement: “Experts warn that inflammatory rhetoric from elected officials or people in power can prompt individual actors to commit acts of violence.”
While the statement itself is true, PBS officials are now questioning whether the live streaming platform was the appropriate forum to present such a fact-check. Sara Just, the senior executive producer at “NewsHour,” stated that PBS also displayed other onscreen messages. These messages highlighted statements from federal officials affirming the security of the 2020 presidential election and emphasized that some documents found at Trump’s residence were related to U.S. nuclear programs and defense capabilities, according to prosecutors.
Sara Just, the senior executive producer at “NewsHour,” acknowledged that they are currently discussing whether or not to rephrase the fact-check message for better clarity.
In contrast to Fox News, neither MSNBC nor CNN aired Trump’s speech live. This differs from a previous incident in April, when Trump was indicted on separate charges in New York, and CNN aired most of a similar Trump address on the night of his arraignment. However, it is worth noting that former CNN chief executive Chris Licht, who had been making efforts to attract Republican viewers, was no longer in his position at the time.
CNN’s Jake Tapper explained their decision not to carry Trump’s remarks live by stating, “We’re not carrying his remarks live because, frankly, he says a lot of things that are untrue and, frankly, potentially dangerous.”
After Trump’s speech concluded, CNN aired a nearly two-minute clip of Trump, which was followed by several fact-checks by Jake Tapper. Tapper emphasized that when it comes to attempting to undermine American democracy, the responsibility falls on Trump rather than Joe Biden. Tapper stated, “It’s not Joe Biden. It’s Mr. Trump.”
Similarly, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow made a similar assertion before the network decided not to air Trump’s speech live. However, MSNBC did show clips from the speech at a later time. Maddow explained that there is a cost for a news organization to knowingly broadcast false information, highlighting the importance of accuracy in their reporting.
