Fox News is purportedly doing serious preemptive damage control after misleading its millions of viewers about the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.
Fox Business recently announced it had “parted ways” with homophobic prime time host Trish Regan, who famously called the coronavirus a politically motivated “scam” by Democrats on her March 9 show.
The network said it wished Regan all the best and that her firing was part of its effort to “continue our reduced live primetime schedule for the foreseeable future” to focus on “the coronavirus crisis.”
But reporter Gabriel Sherman isn’t buying the excuse.
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Speaking to Joy Reid on MNSBC’s AM Joy, Sherman said he suspects Regan’s firing is part of a larger effort by the network to limit legal liability surrounding its wildly inaccurate coronavirus coverage, which included repeatedly lying to viewers by saying the virus was less deadly than the flu.
“Fox News tried to do their original playbook, which was dismiss it as a hoax, say that this is another partisan attempt by Democrats to hurt Donald Trump, and this was the case where they could not prevent reality,” Sherman said.
But as Fox News anchors downplayed the pandemic to viewers, Fox News execs were sending out internal memos to employees detailing the actions it was taking to prevent them from getting sick. On top of that, the Murdoch family, who owns the network, took serious precautions to protect themselves against the virus.
Sherman continued, “Fox News is a very powerful media organization, but it cannot stop people from dropping dead. And what happened is that people did start dying. We did see hot spots in New York, on the West Coast and now we’re seeing one in the deep South, which is getting closer to Trump country, and Fox News has had to pivot to actually cover this as a real story.”
It wasn’t until after Donald Trump declared a national emergency that the network made a noticeable shift in tone.
Sherman said that Fox News viewers are now being forced to confront “what the rest of us have known since February and early March, is that this is a global pandemic that is unprecedented in American history.”
He added: “There’s a real concern inside the network that their early downplaying of the coronavirus actually exposes Fox News to potential legal action by viewers who maybe were misled and actually have died from this.”
Former federal prosecutor and Justice Department inspector general, Michael Bromwich, agrees. He believes Fox News may be in store for a “legal bloodbath.”
In a tweet, he writes: “Fox is right to be concerned. Very concerned. This could be a legal bloodbath. Discovery will undoubtedly show that its personnel were putting out falsely comforting information it knew to be false and misleading in order to sync up with [White House] messaging.”
Fox is right to be concerned. Very concerned. This could be a legal bloodbath. Discovery will undoubtedly show that its personnel were putting out falsely comforting information it knew to be false and misleading in order to sync up with WH messaging. https://t.co/Om9XpwQfLP
— Michael R. Bromwich (@mrbromwich) March 29, 2020
Related: Fox News host Jeanine Pirro swears she wasn’t drunk during her show, but everyone else disagrees
Jim
They should be held liable for endangering people.
ElPillo
Aren’t they all simply repeating what trump says?
RyanMBecker
ElPillo,
Yes, they are indeed echoing Trump but that’s not the job of a journalist, especially on opinion shows, where they are supposed to offer an INFORMED opinion. In fact, any journalist is supposed to fact check before going on the air. So yes, they are opened to lawsuits. That said, I think Fox viewers deserve much of the blame for being stupid.
Chuck
I hope Karma bits every fu*king one of them is the a*s, and they feel it for years!
Joshooeerr
Trump’s dopey advice that chloroquine could kill the virus has already lead directly to at least one death. He should be sued by the dead man’s surviving widow. And his cheer squad needs to reflect on what it means to have a president so reckless that his advice in a medical crisis can kill you.
As for Fox, when you invent conspiracies and blithely broadcast malicious lies, then it’s only a matter of time before it goes badly wrong. This is hardly the first time that their views have resulted in fatalities. The sooner somebody organises a legal response that will take them out, the better.
TomG
We already KNOW that FOX is Trump’s propaganda network, so of course they will give misinformation to the uneducated who actually believe all the garbage from the current white house.
gmcarr1
or, you can join the rest of us who think for ourselves, and stop believing the MSM. Whether this story is true or not, FOX would just be joining the rest of the networks in allowing bias based “news”.
Cam
FOX News was a long term Republican plan. They knew that if they had a biased network they might have been able to protect Nixon.
Republicans changed the law to allow foreigner Rupert Murdoch to buy into American media. Then Republicans changed the laws to allow media companies to consolidate Newspapers, TV, and other forms of media.
FOX Has not just paid back Republicans by lying to cover up for them, but it has more and more trafficked in anti-American and Anti-government conspiracy theories, dragging the GOP in that crazy direction. FOX is responsible for weakening our government agencies, while pushing for more and more money to be spent on endless wars.
They were always going to kill people, it was just a matter of how. FOX told people there was nothing to be afraid of, at the same time their executives were sending out memos to staff saying exactly the opposite. They’re in huge trouble.
just1normalguy
Every single one of the People who were peddling this should personally be held accountable. If the network wants to reduce the fallout they need to fire each and every one of the people who pushed the fake narrative. If they do not do this than the Network should be closed down permanently.
carllonghorn
Yeah, like ALL the other news channels in the country, and for that matter, the world, are wrong and Fox is right. Good luck throwing around the “socialism” word – unless you are in the 1%, you can’t say that pure capitalism has worked out that well for you. Regardless, you are obviously a troll on this site or you haven’t taken in Sean Hannity et al on Fox and what they have to say about gays and all that we represent. Troll someplace else.
AxelDC
Of course they care far more about their liability than they do about the actual deaths they cause.
Money > People
strap2900
I don’t recall any of the other news networks calling the covid19 a hoax.
ShiningSex
TYPICAL OF RIGHT WINGERS LYING. ANYONE WHO IS REPUBLICAN IS DIRT
ShiningSex
WELL CNN IS NOT IN TROUBLE. TYPICAL OF IGNORANT REPUBLICAN TO NOT FACE THE ACCUSATION AND JUST CONTINUE TO DEFLECT FACTS. SIT DOWN AND TAKE IT. YOU ALL ARE USED TO KISSING THE PRESIDENT’S C*CK
ShiningSex
ALSO THOSE ANTI SOCIALISTS REPUBLICANS SHOULD NOTE THAT GETTING THE STIMULUS CHECKS IS SOCIALISM.
rockland2u
they get away with murder, because they are licensed as an “entertainment” channel and not a “news” channel. however they have gone too far, in that they (allegedly) KNEW the information was false and dangerous. (cant yell fire in a crowded theatre) or in this case, tell people they is NO fire. but good luck shaming fox. souless lot
Baldmedic64
Next thing to happen will be that idiot President calling it fake news and sending out bribe money to everyone…… oh, wait …. never mind.
David Feinberg
Fox News gets all the attention, but how about Premier Networks from iHeartRadio? Yes, the same iHeart that brought us the recent Elton John TV concert also brings us Rush Limbaugh (Medal of Freedom for being a Trump lackey, or is Trump a Limbaugh lackey?) and Sean “Corona is a Democratic Hoax” Hannity and a host of other BS-ers.
This network owns most of the nation’s big “news” radio stations, but they’re somehow not a part of the Evil Mainstream Media. I’m sure they have their share of mislead COVID victims.
dhmonarch89
I hope families of people who died, and watched Fox- sues the hell out of them
fur_hunter
I hope they get sued for MILLIONS!!! Their reporters are all total Pieces of S hit who continually defend that stupid Orange MORON in the White House with their lies and false information. I would do the Snoopy Happy Dance if a bunch of them went to jail.
Saps48
It won’t be much of a case, unless a plaintiff can prove direct causation, and was seriously harmed by actions he took from relying on something he saw on TV…
Cam
Incorrect.
If, during discover they find (and they will) emails from FOX executives that indicate they knew the virus was dangerous and the safety precautions they were taking….while at the same time people like Hannity and Trish Reagan were calling the virus a hoax, that right there nails them for Reckless Endangerment at a minimum. And if viewers went out to parties, or took dangerous medicine based on Fox it’s a legit case.
Saps48
You still need an actual plaintiiff that was directly harmed by the defendant, not exactly an easy case to make and one that will no doubt be vigorously defended…
Aires the Ram
So is the corona virus the fault of FoxNews or President Trump? Gee, I thought it came out of a lab in China!! All this time I’ve understood that this is the fault of the Chinese, and the Chinese communist government.