QUESTIONABLE SOURCE
A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact-checked on a per-article basis. Please note sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source. See all Questionable sources.
- Overall, we rate Fox News right biased based on editorial positions that align with the right and Questionable due to the promotion of propaganda, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, the use of poor sources, and numerous false claims and failed fact checks. Straight news reporting from beat reporters is generally fact-based and accurate, which earns them a Mixed factual rating.
Detailed Report
Questionable Reasoning: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, Propaganda, Poor Sources, Numerous Failed Fact Checks
Bias Rating: RIGHT
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: TV Station/Website
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
History
On 6/13/2020, Fox News ran digitato coverages in coverage of Seattle’s protests, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.
On 12/12/2021 – 18-year, veteran journalist Chris Wallace resigned from Fox News and joined CNN.
On 12/13/2021, it was reported that on January 6th, 2021, several Fox TV personalities texted Trump’s Chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to encourage Trump to stop the Capitol Riot, which contradicted their reporting later that evening that Antifa was involved in a false flag.
In 2022, Fox News was sued for Defamation by Dominion Voting Systems for 1.6 billion dollars due to alleged false claims and conspiracy theories related to the companies voting machines in the 2020 presidential election. According to the lawsuit’s court docket, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Jeannine Pirro, and former Fox Business host Lou Dobbs will be deposed.
On 04/18/2023, Fox News settled a defamation lawsuit for $787 million where they were accused of promoting false claims and conspiracy theories against Dominion Voting Systems during the 2020 elections. A statement by Fox reads as follows:
“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems,” the network said Tuesday in a statement. “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects FOX’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.”
On 4/24/2023, Tucker Carlson, the top-rated prime-time news host, left Fox News for undisclosed reasons.
Read our profile on the United States government and media.
Funded by / Ownership
Rupert Murdoch is the owner and a board member of News Corp 21st Century Fox. According to Reuters, James Murdoch (son) was chief executive of 21st Century Fox and left in May 2018. Lachlan (the other son of Murdoch) and Rupert Murdoch will serve as the new Fox co-chairman. Revenue analysis can be found at Investopedia, and income reports here.
Analysis
According to a Pew Research Center survey, “Fox News was the main source for 40% of Trump voters” during the 2016 election. Further, another Pew Survey indicates, “When it comes to choosing a media source for political news, conservatives orient strongly around Fox News. Nearly half of consistent conservatives (47%) name it as their main source for government and political news.” Further, a Reuters institute survey found that 35% of respondents trust their news coverage and 46% do not, ranking them #11 in trust among the major USA news providers.
Fox News typically looks at the issues from a conservative perspective. Also, it has several on-air personalities that are strong supporters of former President Trump, such as Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson (former), Laura Ingraham, and Dan Bongino (former); thus, during the Trump Presidency, FNC typically skewed conservative as there was less criticism of Trump.
Bias
In review, FNC publishes stories with emotionally loaded headlines such as Biden says ‘MAGA Republicans’ threaten democracy as he and Dems crank up anti-Trump rhetoric ahead of midterms and White House defends slamming half of America as ‘semi-fascist,’ ‘terrorists’ despite Biden’s unity pledge.
After the 2020 election, Fox News TV personalities advanced false and unproven conspiracy theories regarding election fraud Questions linger over the Left’s plot against Donald Trump. Numerous audits and studies reveal that election fraud during the 2020 election was average and had no impact on the election’s outcome. Further, as noted above, they promoted conspiracy theories related to Dominion Voting Machines.
TV personalities also advanced false claims and conspiracies on the following issues: No guns at the capitol riot (False), Trump authorized the National Guard for the Capitol Riot (No Evidence), FBI orchestrated insurrection (False), The USA funds Biolabs in Ukraine (False), Numerous instances of Covid-19 vaccine disinformation (False). Further, according to Politifact, FNC has also been deemed the least accurate cable news source.
Finally, Fox News also features fact-based news reporting by beat reporters and some daytime TV hosts. However, this credible news reporting is buried between TV programming promoting Right Leaning propaganda and false claims. The website is similar, with credible news stories between hyper-partisan questionable content from their nighttime TV hosts.
In general, Fox News’ beat reporters produce low-biased fact-based news; however, the reporting on their entertainment-based news programming frequently promotes propaganda and false claims that render Fox News Questionable.
Failed Fact Checks
- Says John Bolton “fundamentally was a man of the left.” – PANTS OF FIRE
- “NASA scientists fudged the numbers to make 1998 the hottest year to overstate the extent of global warming.” – PANTS ON FIRE
- Obamacare is “one big fat VA system.” – PANTS ON FIRE
- Marie Yovanovitch is “dishonest” when she claimed she never personally responded to an email from a Democratic staffer. – FALSE
- “Biden’s climate requirements” will “cut 90% of red meat from diet” to a “max 4 lbs per year” and “one burger per month.” – PANTS ON FIRE
- “Black Lives Matter says it stands with Hamas terrorists in Israeli conflict.” – FALSE
- Clinton campaign paid to ‘infiltrate’ Trump Tower, White House servers to link Trump to Russia: Durham. – FALSE
- Natural immunity protects better than vaccination; “the mortality risk of an un-boosted person under age 30 was zero”; cloth face masks, school closures had zero benefits for children and some harm – MOSTLY FALSE
Overall Bias and Credibility Rating
Overall, we rate Fox News right biased based on editorial positions that align with the right and Questionable due to the promotion of propaganda, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, the use of poor sources, and numerous false claims and failed fact checks. Straight news reporting from beat reporters is generally fact-based and accurate, which earns them a Mixed factual rating. (7/19/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 04/26/2023)
Source: https://www.foxnews.com/
Last Updated on February 22, 2024 by Media Bias Fact Check
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Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources