Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight for June 22, 2020 covers toppling of statues

Research/Study Research/Study

Fox’s prime-time shows have covered the toppling of statues more than 3 times as much as coronavirus this week

Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity, and The Ingraham Angle ran 27 segments on the statues and just six on the coronavirus

Written by Rob Savillo

Research contributions from Tyler Monroe & Chloe Simon

Published

  • Fox News’ prime-time shows -- Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity, and The Ingraham Angle -- have spent significantly more time this week complaining about the toppling of statues than covering the coronavirus, which has seen a recent surge in cases across the country.

    In total, Fox’s three prime-time shows devoted 1 hour and 21 minutes to statues but just 25 minutes to the coronavirus in their episodes for June 22 through June 24. The shows ran 27 segments about statues and just six on the coronavirus. In fact, Hannity ran zero coronavirus segments and briefly mentioned the coronavirus only eight times.

  • Fox News prime-time coverage of coronavirus and toppling statues, June 22 through June 24, 2020

  • In recent weeks, some protesters who have gathered since May 26 to speak out against police brutality toward Black Americans and the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police have turned their efforts toward the toppling of monuments dedicated to colonizers who enslaved Indigenous populations or Confederate military officers who fought to maintain the system of slavery in the United States. Protesters have forcibly pulled down or vandalized many such statues, and some local municipalities have responded by removing statues themselves. President Donald Trump is simultaneously preparing an executive order to protect such monuments, an action which he has been threatening to do for several days.

    Fox has a history of defending racist monuments going back several years, and that tradition continued this week. During the June 22 edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, host Tucker Carlson, in his trademark apoplectic fashion, slippery-sloped the toppling of statues to the banning of the First Amendment of the Constitution:

  • From the June 22, 2020, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight. 

    TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): A few foolish souls will attempt to point out the obvious: What’s true. Of course there are racists here as there are everywhere. But overall this is the least racist country in the history of the world. Millions of Africans want to move here. Many already have. Our last President was Black. What are you talking about? Those people will be silenced. Anyone who defies the narrative will be silenced. By that point, the category of hate speech will have expanded to include anything they don’t want to hear, and it will be criminalized. A federal offense. You watch. If they can tear down a Lincoln statue because it's racist, they can ban the First Amendment. You don’t want to live in a place like that.

    Who can save us from that? Well, as of right now, only Republicans can save us from that. Not because they’re inherently virtuous, not because they want to -- they don’t -- but because they’re the opposition party to the extent they still have opposition to anything. We have no choice but to ask for their help. The Republican Party is the only power center left in this country available to people who dissent. It doesn't matter who you voted for last time. This is not an endorsement of anyone's policies; it's an acknowledgement of who holds power and how doesn't. And the Republican Party is the only power center available.

  • At the same time, new coronavirus cases have spiked this week in 26 states across the country. Some states have been hit harder than others: Arizona has seen a 77% increase in new cases while Michigan, Texas, Florida, and California have experienced 75%, 70%, 66%, and 47% increases, respectively. Health experts agree that the increase in testing for coronavirus cannot fully explain the surge in new cases. The latest data show that in 19 U.S. states over the last week, the positivity rate, which indicates the percent of tests that come back positive, is above the World Health Organization-recommended 5% for relaxing restrictions.

    When Fox’s prime-time shows do cover coronavirus, their hosts downplay the seriousness of the disease, such as in this June 22 segment on The Ingraham Angle in which host Laura Ingraham mocked coverage from CNN on the surge in new cases as “COVID armageddon”:

  • From the June 22, 2020, edition of The Ingraham Angle

  • By prioritizing defending symbols of racism and colonialism over addressing the very real public health threat posed by the coronavirus, Fox’s prime-time line-up does a disservice to its viewership.

  • Methodology

  • Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for any of the terms “coronavirus,” “COVID-19,” “COVID,” “virus,” “pandemic,” or “outbreak” on Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity, and The Ingraham Angle from June 22 through June 24, 2020, for coverage of the coronavirus.

    We searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for either the term “monument” or any variation of the term “statue” on Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity, and The Ingraham Angle from June 22 through June 24, 2020, for coverage of the toppling of Confederate or other statues.