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Amid climbing coronavirus death toll, Fox & Friends devotes twice as much coverage to Obamagate

  • While COVID-19 continues to kill thousands of people every week across the United States, Fox & Friends has pivoted to covering “Obamagate,” dedicating nearly two times as much coverage on May 14 to revelations about former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe as it did to the ongoing public health crisis.

    Fox & Friends dedicated just over 35 minutes to covering the coronavirus pandemic during its three-hour run this morning. The show did not host any medical experts or doctors to discuss the ongoing crisis. Instead, discussion focused on the political fight to reopen the country and schools. There was also an extended discussion of NASCAR starting again, as well as cooking tips with Food Network personality Guy Fieri.

  • Fox and Friends coverage of COVID-19 and Michael Flynn
  • In comparison, Fox & Friends spent an hour and nine minutes discussing revelations about Flynn, focusing on Republican-released documents that showed the Obama administration officials who inquired about surveillance of Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. During interviews on the morning show, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rand Paul (R-KY) spent over 18 minutes combined talking about Flynn, compared to just four minutes discussing the coronavirus.

    Co-host Steve Doocy even complained that Obamagate isn’t receiving enough attention in mainstream media, a sentiment which was later echoed by White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

    As the coronavirus continues to ravage the U.S., killing at least 82,000 Americans already, Fox News has pivoted away from covering the virus, with its coronavirus coverage being down 20% this month compared to last. Much of the network’s coverage has shifted to downplaying the death toll nationwide despite evidence that it is actually being undercounted, helping President Donald Trump distract from his administration’s catastrophic response.