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(CNN Business) – Fox News was the last to announce the result.
After CNN, NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, and Associated Press predicted that Joe Biden was elected as the next president of the United States, President Trump’s favorite cable channel finally agreed. Sixteen minutes after the first major network selected Biden as the winner, Fox was ready to announce the result.
But unlike the other networks, Fox was not yet doing special coverage with its core political team at one of the most anticipated news moments in recent history. Before the network could make the announcement, Neil Cavuto, who was the host at the time, first had to give way to hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. The transition was marred by an audio glitch.
The bumbling episode heralded Fox’s poor coverage of Biden’s victory over Trump. For the next two hours, Fox’s broadcast remained noticeably different from other channels.
Fox News coverage of Biden’s win
In other channels, the gravity of the moment was clear: it was the beginning of the end of an era. One was defined by scandal after scandal, one conspiracy theory after another and one lie after another. An era where insults and bullying have become normal. An era in which the rules have been repeatedly and blatantly violated. An era in which the president blew the fire of the division and applauded the jail calls of his political opponents. An era that will end with hundreds of thousands of deaths from a horribly handled pandemic.
Fox had guests on the air congratulating Biden on his win. Former president of the National Democratic Commission Donna Brazile, for example, cried when she said that the election of a woman as vice president for the first time “was not a partisan moment.”
But looking at Baier and MacCallum, one would have had little or no indication of the chaos and disorder that has dominated not just the White House but American life for the past four years.
Instead, Baier and MacCallum showed the president an incredible amount of deference in their coverage.
There are “interesting things that could happen” until January 20
Despite their defeat, Baier and MacCallum followed suit. Baier has repeatedly pointed out that there is no real evidence of widespread election fraud, but he and MacCallum have repeatedly mentioned the legal challenges in the elections that Trump has promised to introduce. This is despite the fact that most legal experts have dismissed them as having little or no basis.
“We have to remember that he is the president until January 20,” Baier said at one point. “And there are interesting things that may or may not happen during that time as these legal disputes continue,” he added.
Elsewhere, Baier again said that “no evidence” had been presented to support the allegations of “widespread fraud”, but he also promised that the canal would not “stop digging, tracking and following the markers”.
MacCallum, who yesterday had considered a discredited narrative about a vote-counting center in Detroit, at one point referred to social media posts that Trump supporters believe suggest voter fraud. MacCallum asked former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer: “They are talking about markers (markers) and cards and photos of them in the dust. What do you tell them? “.
Suggestions for a possible change of Fox News
In recent days there have been hints that Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire media mogul who owns Fox News, was turning away from Trump. And that you might see that split in Fox coverage.
Fox, for example, was the first to choose Biden as the winner of the crucial state of Arizona, a decision that inspired fury within the White House and the Trump campaign. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, contacted Murdoch after the statement. And other Trump aides reached out to Fox personalities to complain.
Fox kept that announcement. But the overall tone of the network remained strong largely in support of Trump.
Tips from the stars
The leaders of the network allowed its biggest stars, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, to go on the air and dishonestly undermine the integrity of the American electoral system.
Even on Saturday, prominent personalities such as Tomi Lahren and Mark Levin were unfounded by suggesting on Twitter that they had stolen Trump’s election. And the “direct news” division of the network treated the president’s baseless accusations against the electoral system with a softer hand than other networks and newspapers. (A spokesperson for the network did not provide comment for this story.)
For years, Trump’s critics have watched and waited, thinking there may be a time when Fox could no longer bear to be the president’s propaganda medium. During the investigation of former special adviser Robert Mueller into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. During the impeachment. During the pandemic. But apart from a few brief explosions, the channel has continued to support the president for the past four years. In the last moments of the administration, there are no real indications that this will change.
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