By replacing Shep Smith with Bill Hemmer, Fox shows it is fully committed to the pro-Trump line
While Shep Smith told the truth at Fox News, Bill Hemmer has toed the company line.
Written by Madeline Peltz
Published
Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer will replace Shepard Smith, who abruptly resigned in October after reportedly reaching a a breaking point with Fox's pro-Trump propaganda. While Smith stood out at Fox for his honest reporting, Hemmer has a history of pushing misinformation, smears, and Republican talking points verbatim. His elevation to the 3 p.m. hour underscores that the network, both on the opinion side and the “straight news” side, is committed to the pro-Trump line.
Hemmer has repeatedly pushed lies on issues including health care and climate change, contradicted his own network’s reporting and polling, and appeased a presidential demand that his show be more aggressive in interviews with Democrats. Hemmer has also earned him praise from President Donald Trump for uncritical coverage of his rallies.
Here is a sampling of Hemmer's work at Fox:
Hemmer gave into Trump’s demands after the president lashed out at Hemmer’s co-anchor Sandra Smith for not pushing back strongly enough on a Democratic National Committee official. After Trump attacked Smith, Hemmer’s co-anchor on America’s Newsroom, for not pushing back on Democratic National Committee Communications Director Xochitl Hinojosa to his liking during an August 28 interview, Hemmer was aggressive with Hinojosa during a subsequent appearance. [Media Matters, 9/12/19]
Hemmer praised the speech in which Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border as “a tour de force.” [Media Matters, 2/15/19]
Speaking “as a white American,” Hemmer claimed that the n-word “was entirely off-limits, and now you have the president using it.” Hemmer was offended after Obama used the n-word on a podcast. [Media Matters, 6/22/15]
Hemmer contradicted Fox’s own reporting with a false claim about hurricanes. During a segment criticizing action on climate change, Hemmer falsely claimed there were no major hurricanes in 2014. But just one day earlier, Fox News had correctly reported that two major hurricanes had formed that year. [Media Matters, 5/29/15]
Discussing former Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) draconian budget proposal, Hemmer said: “I think America’s ready for the pain.” [Media Matters, 6/1/11]
Hemmer claimed a mosque near Ground Zero could be “the first stop for a radical jihadist who comes to America.” When construction of the mosque was first proposed, ring-wing media used it as a chance to fearmonger about Muslims. [Media Matters, 9/8/10]
Hemmer pushed a climate change myth that cold weather undermines the existence of global warming. He called snow during former Vice President Al Gore’s testimony before Congress on the topic “an inconvenient forecast.” [Media Matters, 1/29/09]
Hemmer ignored the pushback from Fox’s own anchor during an interview with white nationalist Trump official Stephen Miller. After Chris Wallace earned praise from journalists for pushing back on White House immigration adviser Stephen Miller’s defense of racist tweets from the president about four congresswomen of color, Hemmer repeated some of Miller’s talking points and said, “A lot of people in middle America probably would agree with that point.” [Media Matters, 7/22/19]
Hemmer falsely claimed that former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about her affair with Trump affair not given the so-called “catch and kill” treatment. In fact, McDougal’s story was purchased by the National Enquirer’s parent company in 2016 to prevent it from running in the press. [Media Matters, 7/25/18]
Hemmer misinformed viewers about Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-TV) tax proposals. Hemmer falsely stated that Sanders claimed “everybody should pay 52%.” Sanders has proposed that taxpayers who earn more than $10 million a year should have a top marginal tax rate of 52%. [Media Matters, 4/16/19]
Hemmer cited snow in Alaska to dismiss the importance of United Nations climate change negotiations. During the segment, Hemmer questioned whether climate change is “man-made or not.” [Media Matters, 11/30/15]
Hemmer suggested terror victims “pay the price for the lack of security” fostered by President Barack Obama’s anti-ISIS strategy. [Media Matters, 11/16/15]
Hemmer boosted false Republican accusations that Obama had issued a “presidential record” high of executive orders. [Media Matters, 2/10/14]
Hemmer earned praise from a GOP congressman for pushing a partisan falsehood about Obama’s health care legislation. “Bill, we love you for doing that,” said then-Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX). [Media Matters, 8/13/13]
Hemmer pushed the lie that Obamacare included “death panels.” [Media Matters, 3/22/12]
Hemmer argued Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan should recuse herself from hearing an Affordable Care Act case based on a false premise. Despite rejection of this suggestion by judicial ethics experts as well as some of his Fox colleagues, Hemmer furthered the bad faith right-wing campaign to claim Kagan had a conflict on interest based on discredited reasoning. [Media Matters, 12/13/11]
Hemmer pushed the misleading claim that the U.S. corporate tax rate is “second highest” in the world. [Media Matters, 6/23/11]
Hemmer cherry-picked an “unscientific poll” to downplay strong public support for collective bargaining rights. He ignored an actual Fox News poll that found more than two-thirds of Americans support public union rights, instead boosting legislation in Ohio that sought to undermine them. [Media Matters, 3/25/11]
Hemmer gushed over Paul Ryan’s response to an Obama State of the Union address. [Media Matters, 1/26/11]
Hemmer praised former Vice President Dick Cheney as a crusader for small government, despite spending increases under his leadership. [Media Matters, 1/18/11]
Hemmer threw a fit over the election of Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown. He complained, “I can't understand California. I can't figure it out. I mean you're tens of billions of dollars in debt and you're electing not just the same people, but people who helped get you into the mess 25 years ago.” [Media Matters, 11/3/10]
In 2010, Hemmer claimed a border fence would stop illegal immigration, though he noted that it “may be a very un-American idea.” [Media Matters, 9/28/10]
Hemmer perpetuated a debunked myth on health care reform: “Could people be going to jail for not owning health insurance?” [Media Matters, 3/19/10]
Hemmer falsely claimed the House of Representatives was considering a “self-executing rule that does not require a single vote” to pass health care reform. [Media Matters, 3/16/10]
Hemmer fearmongered about the community organizing group ACORN long after the scandal regarding the organization was debunked and the talking point was exhausted. [Media Matters, 2/3/10]
Hemmer claimed the Affordable Care Act would “require” end-of-life counseling, even after Fox News debunked this myth. [Media Matters, 8/3/09]
Hemmer lifted research from a GOP website to claim he was “keeping track of the stimulus money.” He made it seem like the data was compiled by Fox News, when in reality it was from former Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) leadership website. [Media Matters, 4/23/09]
Hemmer boosted the tea party movement, sharing a website where viewers could learn about protests. [Media Matters, 4/8/09]
Hemmer advanced a discredited GOP calculation to misrepresent the cost of Obama’s cap-and-trade proposal. [Media Matters, 4/6/09]
Hemmer allowed the former CEO of a scandal-plagued hospital firm to spread a falsehood about the stimulus bill and health care. Hemmer allowed Richard Scott, who resigned from HCA Inc. amid a federal investigation, to falsely claim a provision in the stimulus bill allows the federal government to “take away” some patients’ health care “choices.” [Media Matters, 3/5/09]
Hemmer said of Fox News’ treatment of Obama’s faith: “No one here is promulgating untrue rumors about anyone’s faith.” Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade and other Fox hosts had suggested that Obama was a Muslim to fearmonger to their audience. [Media Matters, 9/10/08]