Timeline: Fox News misinformation in 2020

Trump absurdly claims that Joe Biden's press conference was scripted, and Fox News hosts follow right along. [Outnumbered, 7/1/20]
Fox host: Trump has “always been pro-mask but maybe didn’t say it the right way.” [The Five, 7/2/20]
Tucker Carlson calls Black Lives Matter protests a disease: “Minneapolis was our Wuhan.” Carlson's continued attacks on Black Lives Matter would prompt network insiders to speak to The Daily Beast about how Fox’s executives have “created a white supremacist cell inside the top cable network in America, the one that directly influences the president.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/1/20]
Fox & Friends host: “For some reason … masks have become political.” [Fox & Friends, 7/2/20]
Fox & Friends host on Trump not reading the Presidential Daily Brief: It is “a mini-novel every single day.” [Fox & Friends, 7/2/20]
Fox host Jesse Watters: “The media doesn’t report Black on white crime. They only report white on Black crime.” [The Five, 7/2/20]
Fox News contributor denounces “outrage and shame directed at skeptics of mask-wearing.” [MediaBuzz, 7/5/20]
Fox & Friends pitches the White House's new line: “We have to live with the virus” — and more deaths. [Fox & Friends, 7/6/20]
Newt Gingrich: People who destroy statues should get “locked up in large numbers” [Fox & Friends, 7/6/20]
Fox host lashes out at his colleague for mentioning the pandemic death toll. [The Five, 7/6/20]
On Fox News' straight news show, a guest pushes a debunked conspiracy theory about Black Lives Matter and ActBlue. It originated on far-right message boards and would keep being repeated on Fox, both on “straight news” and opinion shows, as the month went on. [The Story, 7/6/20]
Tucker Carlson compares White Fragility to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/6/20]
Tucker Carlson deceptively edits a video to accuse veteran Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of hating America. Carlson would melt down the following night after Duckworth called out his bigotry. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/6/20]
Carlson heavily praises Trump's July 4 speech that was ripped from Tucker Carlson monologues. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/6/20]
Laura Ingraham: Democrats should be “forced to apologize for their relentless slandering of our nation's history” [The Ingraham Angle, 7/6/20]
Fox & Friends once again suggests that the reaction to the pandemic, which has killed over 130,000 Americans in four months, is overblown because most people with the coronavirus don’t die -- an argument the channel relentlessly pushed in April, more than 50,000 deaths ago. [Fox & Friends, 7/7/20]
A Fox medical contributor spins Dr. Anthony Fauci’s comment that “we’re still knee-deep in the first wave” of the coronavirus as a positive development. “I like his expression knee-deep,” he says. “Notice he didn't say thigh-deep, he said knee-deep." [Outnumbered Overtime, 7/7/20]
Tucker Carlson attacks teachers for being concerned about safe working conditions during a pandemic. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/7/20]
Carlson says masks and social distancing “have no basis of any kind in science.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/7/20]
Sean Hannity: “We do have a dramatic increase of cases in Florida. Okay. But it's happening among younger people.” Fox would stuck to its narrative of Florida as a model for COVID-19 even as cases rose and the state fired a data scientist. [Hannity, 7/7/20]
Laura Ingraham says talking about rising COVID-19 positive test results is selling “panic porn” [The Ingraham Angle, 7/7/20]
Fox & Friends host says mail-in voting is bad: “Maybe there’s all types of pressure in your family dynamic.” [Fox & Friends, 7/8/20]
Lou Dobbs lies about a Biden quote, and then outright fabricates a long version of it in order to push the Trump campaign's completely false claim that Biden called police “the enemy.” Sean Hannity would later keep altering the same Biden quote -- at least 17 times. [Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight, 7/8/20]
Fox host says schools should reopen so kids can learn to take risks and overcome challenges. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/8/20]
Tucker Carlson calls for the government to take “decisive action” against “terror organization” Black Lives Matter. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/8/20]
Laura Ingraham warns parents that schools will turn their children “into mini-Ilhan Omars.” [The Ingraham Angle, 7/8/20]
Fox & Friends admits in passing that going to the gym is very risky -- after months of campaigning for them to reopen. A week later, the show would demand that all gyms reopen. [Fox & Friends, 7/9/20]
A Fox News political editor justifies Trump breaking promises to release his tax returns: “He’s not running on high ethical standards” [America’s Newsroom, 7/9/20]
A Fox guest pushes a far-right smear that has long circulated the internet falsely suggesting presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is a pedophile. [America's Newsroom, 7/9/20]
Fox contributor defends Trump: We don't know if there's any malfeasance in his tax returns because we haven't seen them. [America’s Newsroom, 7/9/20]
Fox host praises Trump for not releasing tax returns: “He wasn't going to allow things like his tax returns to be a distraction.” [Fox Business' Varney & Co., 7/9/20]
Lou Dobbs says the Supreme Court is trying to “overthrow” Trump. [Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight, 7/9/20]
Fox host says Iraq War is proof America values life. [The Five, 7/9/20]
Fox News guest attacks colleges for not reopening and playing sports, then attacks the notion of “universal mask-wearing” for COVID-19 or any respiratory virus. [The Story, 7/9/20]
Tucker Carlson: “Democrats want to abolish the suburbs.” Trump would repeat this claim throughout the election. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/9/20]
Tucker Carlson: “The purest kind of race hate” is racial sensitivity training. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/9/20]
Laura Ingraham: We're getting “closer to herd immunity” and not scheduling football games is “a war against our way of life.” [The Ingraham Angle, 7/9/20]
Fox News host: Sharp rise in coronavirus cases is “actually good news.” [Fox Business’ Varney & Co., 7/10/20]
Fox guest: Reopen schools immediately because “only 171” young people have died from coronavirus. [Fox Business’ Cavuto: Coast to Coast, 7/10/20]
Fox hosts shout down colleague for saying Trump called Mexicans “rapists." [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/10/20]
Fox News contributor tells Dr. Fauci to try to keep quiet. [Special Report, 7/10/20]
Laura Ingraham runs B-roll from May protests following the killing of George Floyd that showed violence. Fox did this for weeks following the protests, and would spend three hours displaying such imagery in August alone. [The Ingraham Angle, 7/10/20]
The Wall Street Journal's Daniel Henninger alleges that teachers unions are “doing the holdup” on reopening schools “for more money” from the state and federal government. The Journal's Jason Riley claims he has “no doubt” that teachers unions are planning “to leverage COVID to get more education spending, more spending on pensions and so forth. This is what the unions do. Their priority is their members -- the kids are not members and the parents are not members.” [Journal Editorial Report, 7/11/20]
Fox host: Julián Castro and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) “only preach hopelessness to Hispanics, Blacks, and others.” [Fox & Friends, 7/13/20]
Mike Huckabee calls former name of Washington football team a “tribute” to Native Americans. [Outnumbered, 7/13/20]
Fox medical contributor Marc Siegel criticizes states with COVID-19 surges for rolling back reopening. [Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs Tonight, 7/13/20]
Tucker Carlson issues a vague threat to the CNN reporters who had exposed that his top writer had made horribly bigoted and gross posts to online forums. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/13/20]
Carlson says “there is no evidence” masks help stop the spread of coronavirus. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/13/20]
Laura Ingraham: “No more lockdowns. Viruses are a fact of life.” [The Ingraham Angle, 7/13/20]
Brian Kilmeade claims that demands from the Los Angeles teachers unions sound “like Joe Biden talking points: $500 billion in federal assistance for K-12 schools, defund the police, Medicare for All, a wealth tax, a millionaire's tax, financial support for illegal immigrants. Why don't you just focus on algebra, math, and coloring?” Others on Fox made the same point. [Fox & Friends, 7/14/20]
Fox News host says Biden’s climate plan is akin to giving the economy to “Greta Thunberg in an old-man suit.” [The Five, 7/14/20]
Joe Biden's plan triggers the usual hysterical claims by Fox anchors, hosts, and their guests about any policy or plan related to the reduction of carbon emissions: It’s part of a radical agenda, based on climate alarmism, pushed by extreme elements of the Democratic Party that will devastate the U.S. economy. The attacks are crystallized by Fox anchor Bret Baier, who disingenuously labels Biden’s plan “a light green new deal that would still have a big government price tag to it.” [The Daily Briefing, 7/14/20]
Sean Hannity says if Biden wins the election, “America as you know it, we know it, will be destroyed.” [Hannity, 7/14/20]
Fox guest says teachers are “grooming our children for sexual predators to use them.” [The Ingraham Angle, 7/14/20]
Ingraham claims media figures are “lying to you when they say it’s too dangerous to reopen schools.” As evidence, Ingraham cites a promising study out of Germany which showed only a few students or teachers in schools that had reopened in May were found to have the antibodies that show they were infected with the virus. But Ingraham fails to note that Germany has a far lower infection rate than the United States, and that the study took place in a region of Germany with an even lower infection rate relative to the other parts of that country. [The Ingraham Angle, 7/14/20]
Fox Business host Charles Payne makes a very disingenuous statement that “so-called clean energy jobs are just a farce.” In reality, clean energy jobs have skyrocketed over the past several years, with one estimate showing that there are 3.3 million such jobs in the United States currently -- roughly three times more than there are fossil fuel jobs. [Outnumbered, 7/15/20]
Lou Dobbs and senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller are on the same draconian page when it comes to immigration. So it wasn’t a shock that Dobbs’s interview of Miller was soft as a feather: These were two proto-fascists comparing notes. [Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight, 7/15/20]
Laura Ingraham is Fox News' biggest COVID-19 misinformer. The network promotes her show as a reliable source for pandemic data analysis. [The Story, 7/15/20]
Fox host Brian Kilmeade: “One group that's living large these days is the San Francisco homeless population.” Fox News programming continued to attack the city for housing the homeless during a pandemic. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/15/20]
Laura Ingraham questions experts and science on masks helping to slow the spread of coronavirus. [The Ingraham Angle, 7/15/20]
Fox News panel attacks Dr. Anthony Fauci: “He has put our children last.” [Outnumbered, 7/16/20]
Fox “news side” contradicts itself on Biden's stance on defunding police after Biden makes clear that he never supported that -- but the Trump campaign says that he did. [Outnumbered Overtime, 7/16/20]
Fox Nation launches a show with a QAnon conspiracy theorist as a host. [Fox Nation, 7/16/20]
Fox News contributor says that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) “100% stands for the destruction of America.” [The Five, 7/16/20]
Sean Hannity says Joe Biden has “the most radical, extreme socialist agenda I've ever seen in any election.” [Hannity, 7/16/20]
Hannity ramps up coverage on a small group of protesters in Portland, Oregon, as the Trump administration reportedly has heavily armed federal agents detain protesters without apparent probable cause and driving them away in unmarked vehicles. Other Fox shows followed suit, framing the issue as law and order or anarchy. [Hannity, 7/16/20]
Laura Ingraham: “The science behind the mask mandates is shaky and that is putting it charitably.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/16/20]
Charles Hurt calls “Karen” a “racial slur.” [Outnumbered Overtime, 7/17/20]
The head of an NYPD police union gives an interview on Fox News with a QAnon mug in the background. [Your World, 7/17/20]
Climate contrarians Michael Shellenberger and Bjorn Lomborg both get airtime on Fox shows to attack Joe Biden’s recent climate plan and promote their new books, which similarly downplays the seriousness of the climate crisis. [Fox News and Fox Business, July 2020]
Laura Ingraham suggests Democrats will use the military “to short-circuit” Trump's reelection. [The Ingraham Angle, 7/17/20]
Fox anchor claims Fox News programming exemplifies John Lewis' “good trouble.” [Fox & Friends Weekend, 7/19/20]
Fox host calls unidentifiable federal officers throwing protesters into unmarked vans a “traditional law enforcement de-escalation tactic.” [The Five, 7/20/20]
Fox Business guest says claims of racism in policing are a “big Goebbels-type lie.” [Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight, 7/20/20]
Tucker Carlson suggests that his viewers dox a New York Times reporter, and they do. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/20/20]
Carlson returns to the network following his “planned” vacation after the resignation of his top writer for racist, misogynistic, and homophobic posts on an online message board. During his first reappearance on the network, Carlson promotes anti-abortion misinformation steeped in anti-Black rhetoric. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/20/20]
Fox News figures compare Trump's threats to deploy federal agents to desegregation. [Fox News, 7/19/20, 7/21/20]
Tucker Carlson's rant about Jeff Bezos attacks Democrats while ignoring that Bezos and billionaires like him benefited from the Republican-passed massive tax cut in 2017. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/21/20]
Carlson and Sean Hannity run with completely debunked claim about a reporter in the White House press corps. [Tucker Carlson Tonight and Hannity, 7/21/20]
Hannity is outraged by criticism of Trump deploying federal agents. He claims, “They are angry President Trump is protecting federal property. They spend more time lecturing the president than the anarchists that are violent, that are committing acts of arson and looting. I am having a hard time understanding this mindset that your hatred of Donald Trump surpasses your desire for these people to protect their men, women, and children.” Other Fox personalities similarly called for and praised federal agents being deployed in cities. [Hannity, 7/21/20]
Sean Hannity says the coronavirus situation “is getting better, not worse.” [Hannity, 7/21/20]
Geraldo Rivera calls violence in Chicago “a ghetto circular firing squad.” [Hannity, 7/21/20]
Laura Ingraham points to Sweden’s coronavirus approach as a model America should follow, even as Swedish scientists warned otherwise. [The Ingraham Angle, 7/21/20]
Lou Dobbs says “the left” is “moving right up to the edge of insurrection.” [Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight , 7/22/20]
Ingraham says it is “purely political calculation” for schools to choose to continue distance learning. [The Ingraham Angle, 7/22/20]
After interviewing the president, Fox News medical contributor Marc Siegel says that “in a sense” the discussion “was a cognitive test.” Trump told Siegel that he was his guide to vaccines. [Fox & Friends, 7/23/20]
Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy reads a statement from Trump campaign senior adviser Katrina Pierson accusing Biden of having “repeatedly used the n-word.” Guest co-anchor Melissa Francis repeats the Trump campaign statement accusing Biden of using the slur again, during a later panel discussion on the program. Neither Doocy nor Francis points out that this was not only a misleading statement (Biden was quoting critically quoting a Reagan nominee in 1984), but the claim has already been debunked for weeks earlier after a pro-Trump super PAC used it in an ad. [America's Newsroom, 7/23/20]
Tucker Carlson: The Democratic Party will “remake” America “completely” if they win the election. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/23/20]
Tucker Carlson suggests that COVID-19 protocols were part of a plot to help the Biden campaign. As the United States neared 150,000 COVID-19 deaths, Fox hosts like Carlson not only ignored the rising death toll but denied any problems. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/23/20]
Laura Ingraham’s show uses Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's speech condemning misogyny (following a sexist remark by a Republican congressman) to fearmonger about Democrats. [The Ingraham Angle, 7/23/20]
Laura Ingraham: “If Biden wins in November, the Democrats and their rioters allies will turn their sights on you.” [The Ingraham Angle, 7/23/20]
Fox & Friends reports on alleged “dangerous violence” in Portland and Seattle while showing nonviolent protests. [Fox & Friends, 7/24/20]
Fox hosts declare Pizzagate conspiracy theorist is one of their favorite people to follow on Twitter. [The Five, 7/24/20]
Fox anchor Martha MacCallum accuses Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of “laying down the gender card” for calling out sexism in Congress. [The Story, 7/24/20]
Tucker Carlson: “You may not think tearing down a statue is a big deal, until you are the next designated Christopher Columbus.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/24/20]
Fox host Jesse Watters praises QAnon, asks if Twitter banning QAnon accounts is election interference. [Watters' World, 7/25/20]
Maria Bartiromo asks why DHS can't “just arrest the leadership in Portland” for “ignoring what's really happening.” [Sunday Morning Futures, 7/26/20]
Fox guest says that all workers should return to office buildings immediately. [Fox Business' Making Money, 7/27/20]
As Congress debates another COVID-19 relief bill, a Fox host calls for eliminating unemployment benefits. Others on Fox made similar arguments. [Your World, 7/27/20]
Lou Dobbs suggests FBI Director Christopher Wray should be indicted. [Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight, 7/27/20]
Laura Ingraham: “Stop calling them protesters, they're violent revolutionaries trying to overthrow our government.” [The Ingraham Angle, 7/27/20]
Brian Kilmeade touts the “discipline” that Trump has shown “over the last ten days.” [Fox & Friends, 7/28/20]
Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham rally around Dr. Stella Immanuel and other members of the conservative “America's Frontline Doctors" group making false and dubious claims about the coronavirus at a press conference organized by the right-wing political nonprofit Tea Party Patriots. Immanuel claimed that hydroxychloroquine was a “cure” for the pandemic, and a video featuring her and Dr. Simone Gold went viral before being removed from social media platforms. The Daily Beast later revealed Immanuel’s long track record of colorful comments about medicine, particularly regarding the medical use of alien DNA and the gynecological effects of having sex with demons and witches while sleeping. Despite that, right-wing media figures and Fox prime-time hosts defended Immanuel and attacked The Daily Beast. Ingraham hosted Dr. Simone Gold to promote the group. [Fox News, 7/28/20]
Tucker Carlson on YouTube’s policy to not allow dangerous COVID-19 lies: “Thankfully, none of this applies to us at Fox News.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/28/20]
Carlson calls Anthony Fauci a “hypocritical buffoon.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/28/20]
Fox host justifies Trump’s call to “delay the election,” over mail-in voting “confusion.” [Fox Business’ Varney & Co., 7/30/20]
Fox News' political editor dismisses Trump's call to delay the election, telling viewers to “take it neither seriously nor literally,” and that this was “just flummery, and he’s either trying to provoke reaction or trying to sow doubt about the outcome.” [America's Newsroom, 7/30/20]
Fox's Martha MacCallum says Joe Biden claiming to be progressive is proof of extremist rhetoric “that is used on both sides.” [The Story, 7/30/20]
Tucker Carlson launches attack on everyone who attended John Lewis’ funeral: “Political power is their religion.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/30/20]
Sean Hannity accused Barack Obama of “politicizing” civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis' funeral. [Hannity, 7/30/20]
Fox & Friends uses Trump’s “Delay the Election” remark to lie about mail-in voting. [Fox & Friends, 7/31/20]
Fox News anchor: Expiring unemployment benefits might cause people to “actually go back to work” [Outnumbered, 7/31/20]
Tucker Carlson launches bizarre attack on Dr. Fauci, claims he’d push to reopen the economy if he had 22-year-old children. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/31/20]
Jason Chaffetz: Democrats “are OK with rioting and domestic terrorism” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/31/20]

A Fox host pushes a story about a stack of Bibles allegedly being burnt in Portland, Oregon. It was later revealed by a New York Times investigation that the entire story was Russian propaganda. The story was also subsequently pushed on a number of other Fox shows, including one “straight news” program. [Fox & Friends Weekend, 8/2/20]
A Fox News host pushes a lengthy series of falsehoods about the American response to the coronavirus pandemic as he urges Trump to initiate a near-total lifting of the protocols. [The Next Revolution, 8/2/20]
Ron Paul uses Fox Business appearance to push conspiracy theory about a COVID-19 vaccine and Bill Gates. [Fox Business' Varney & Co., 8/3/20]
Fox “straight news” anchor tells Scott Atlas that Fox will continue booking him “because people want to believe what you’re saying.” The network did keep booking Atlas, a neuroradiologist, even though he pushed misinformation in every single appearance on the network. Trump plucked him from the network to join the White House pandemic task force, where he undermined effective policies and made the situation far worse with his misinformation. He eventually resigned by the end of the year, after deaths from the pandemic had already skyrocketed. [The Story, 8/3/20]
Tucker Carlson says it's “illegal” for Joe Biden to prioritize women of color in his choice for a running mate. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/3/20]
Sean Hannity attacks COVID-19 relief bill for including “a blue state bailout for failed Democratic governors.” Fox figures would keep up this refrain and poison the debate pandemic funding for states and cities. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/3/20]
Fox News uses Trump's disastrous Axios interview to attack mail-in voting. [Bill Hemmer Reports, 8/4/20]
Tucker Carlson casts doubt on George Floyd’s cause of death. Other right-wing media figures used new bodycam footage to promote conspiracy theories as well. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/04/20]
Fox host: Trump's endorsement of mail-in voting in Florida was meant to stop Trump voters from throwing away their ballots. [Fox & Friends, 8/5/20]
After airing Sen. Lindsey Graham's opening statement referencing Fox News conspiracy theories, the network cuts away before former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates debunked them while under oath. [America’s Newsroom, 8/5/20]
Lou Dobbs says Democrats are “pushing mail-in voter fraud.” [Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight, 8/5/20]
Fox guest says “Martin Luther King is spinning in his grave” that Biden’s finalists for vice president are Black women. [Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight, 8/5/20]
On Fox, Rudy Giuliani calls Black Lives Matter “terrorist” “killers” who “hate white people, ... white men in particular.” [Fox & Friends, 8/6/20]
Fox & Friends defends Trump’s false statements about coronavirus and children, after social media platforms remove the video clip featuring him making false claims in an interview to Fox & Friends. The show also attacks Twitter and Facebook for removing the video. [Fox & Friends, 8/6/20]
After the announcement of a lawsuit targeting widespread fraud at the NRA, a Fox anchor suggests it is about “going after the Second Amendment.” [America’s Newsroom, 8/6/20]
Sean Hannity says the anti-fraud lawsuit against the NRA “reeks of a political agenda.” [Outnumbered Overtime, 8/6/20]
Fox News medical expert: “I can’t interpret” what Trump meant when he said children are immune from coronavirus. [Bill Hemmer Reports, 8/6/20]
Tucker Carlson attacks Dr. Fauci for “authoritarian” pandemic response guidelines. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/6/20]
Sean Hannity praises “up-and-coming” QAnon-friendly congressional candidate Lauren Boebert. [Hannity, 8/6/20]
Jeanine Pirro on the NRA: “I’ve prosecuted organizations or individuals who cheat their organizations, OK? It happens all the time. It’s no big deal.” [Fox & Friends, 8/7/20]
A Fox contributor falsely claims that there is “some debate … even within the scientific community, about whether masks are good or not.” [Outnumbered, 8/7/20]
Mark Levin likens teachers' unions that want COVID-19 protections for schools to segregationists Orval Faubus and George Wallace. [Fox and Friends Weekend, 8/9/20]
Fox News host declares “shock” that children get coronavirus: “I’ve heard kids really don’t get it.” [Fox & Friends, 8/10/20]
Tucker Carlson: “Demographic shifts” will lead to cities being “broke, dirty, and dangerous.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/10/20]
Sean Hannity mocks Joe Biden's stutter. [Hannity, 8/10/20]
COVID-denying Fox Sports host brings Trump on his show to spread more lies about the disease and college athletics. [Fox Sports Radio’s OutKick the Coverage, 8/11/20]
Fox News chief White House correspondent defends Trump campaign’s false claim that Harris called Biden a racist. [Your World, 8/11/20]
Fox's Martha MacCallum says prioritizing a woman of color for running mate “takes away” from the selection of Kamala Harris. [The Story, 8/11/20]
Tucker Carlson lashes out after guest corrects his pronunciation of Kamala Harris' name. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/11/20]
Carlson says that Joe Biden is enforcing sharia law and that Carlson didn't notice earlier because of his protestant upbringing. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/11/20]
Sean Hannity says states shouldn’t be allowed to have early voting until after the first debate. [Hannity, 8/11/20]
Laura Ingraham says that the Biden-Harris ticket is “too left-wing for Reverend Wright.” [The Ingraham Angle, 8/11/20]
Ingraham says Joe Biden prioritizing women of color for running mate was a racist violation of moral obligations. [The Ingraham Angle, 8/11/20]
Double Trojan horse: Ben Shapiro calls Kamala Harris a “Trojan horse” and Joe Biden “a Trojan horse for Kamala Harris.” [Fox & Friends, 8/12/20]
Jason Chaffetz: Kamala Harris will go after Donald Trump “sometimes in a nasty way, in nasty tones.” [Outnumbered Overtime, 8/12/20]
Tucker Carlson: Kamala Harris only wants “people of a certain color” to get a coronavirus vaccine. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/12/20]
Fox & Friends lets New Jersey gym owners promote a conspiracy theory that COVID-19 restrictions are a plot to spread the virus. [Fox & Friends, 8/13/20]
Fox hosts suggest it's “tyrannical” for Joe Biden to urge governments to enact mask mandates. Other Fox personalities run with this fearmongering as well. [The Five, 8/13/20]
Martha MacCallum: “Having differences of opinion” on science surrounding COVID-19 “is something we should welcome.” [The Story, 8/13/20]
Tucker Carlson calls workplace anti-bias training “poison” and reverse racism. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/13/20]
Fox & Friends interviews House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) without asking him about growing concern about QAnon supporters that he had endorsed. [Fox & Friends, 8/14/20]
Fox contributor: Current issues at United States Postal Service prove Trump was correct to be concerned about mail-in voting. [Special Report, 8/14/20]
Tucker Carlson: “Fauci is just another oily politician on an ego trip.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/14/20]
A Fox host lies about Trump's remarks about “very fine people” at the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Fox has been trying to rewrite this low point of the Trump presidency for years. [The Greg Gutfeld Show, 8/15/20]
Fox & Friends co-host: “There are no historically Black neighborhoods. There are no historically white neighborhoods.” [Fox & Friends Weekend, 8/16/20]
Fox host Will Cain attacks the United States Postal Service: “The postal service is not an efficient nor honestly a good service” [Fox & Friends Weekend, 8/16/20]
A Fox host likens Trump boat parades to the Spanish Armada. [Fox & Friends Weekend, 8/16/20]
Fox News' website touts South Dakota for turning down a “handout” of extra unemployment benefits during a pandemic with record-setting unemployment. [FoxNews.com, 8/16/20]
Fox guest says that media outlets are “baiting” Trump by asking him about avracist “birther” smear against Kamala Harris. [MediaBuzz, 8/16/20]
Mike Huckabee says concerns about the Postal Service are a distraction, likening it to COVID-19. [Outnumbered Overtime, 8/17/20]
Martha MacCallum says that “there is reason to be very cautious” about universal mail-in voting for the 2020 general election, because Michigan “had 864 dead people vote” in the August 4 state-wide primary election. “It’s an intentional action. It’s not a mistake,” MacCallum warns. The problem is that those 846 Michiganders (not 864) “died after casting their absentee ballot but before Election Day,” as the Michigan secretary of state’s website clearly states. MacCallum apologizes later in the day. [Outnumbered, 8/17/20]
Amid the Postal Service concerns, Fox anchor Martha MacCallum wrongly claimed that no Social Security checks are delivered by mail, even though the show immediately prior to hers had reported that an hour earlier. Other Fox personalities made the same false claim. The next day, after Mike Huckabee denies that any Social Security checks are sent in the mail and Marie Harf corrects him. Anchor Harris Faulker confirmed that some are, but then declares both Harf and Huckabee to be correct. [The Story, 8/17/20]
Fox guest claims George Soros is “intent on destroying our government” because of his “sick background.” [The Story, 8/17/20]
Tucker Carlson mocks concern for the Postal Service and says vote-by-mail “makes voter fraud easier.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/17/20]
Carlson claims concern over the Postal Service is part of preparations for a military overthrow of Donald Trump. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/17/20]
Fox News contributor attacks Michelle Obama for using “identity politics” to “scare the heck out of you." [Fox & Friends First, 8/18/20]
Fox host: The COVID-19 death toll has “nothing to do with Trump.” [The Five, 8/18/20]
Tucker Carlson: Michelle Obama wants “everyone who looks like her” to have “dominion over you.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/18/20]
Tucker Carlson launches an unhinged attack on Cardi B for promoting proper hygiene. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/18/20]
Fox guest: “We got to stop this race war the Democrats are perpetuating.” [Hannity, 8/18/20]
The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee’s damning new report dissects the Kremlin’s effort to help President Donald Trump win the 2016 election and the direct links between his associates and Russian intelligence. Sean Hannity claims that the report vindicated his years of conspiracy theories undermining exactly that conclusion and moves on to other topics quickly. Fox News also didn't want to spend much time examining the damning details in the report. [Hannity, 8/18/20]
Brit Hume: Jill Biden's speech “didn't have the hard angry edge that we heard last night" from Michelle Obama. [The Ingraham Angle, 8/18/20]
Laura Ingraham criticizes DNC for putting Colin Powell and “all these old homies out there.” [The Ingraham Angle, 8/18/20]
When Trump praises QAnon conspiracy theorists in the White House briefing room, Fox News runs a chyron “Trump: QAnon people 'love our country.'” QAnon supporters excitedly share that image. Fox's recap of Trump's press conference does not mention Trump's praise of the deranged conspiracy theory, and when chief political anchor Bret Baier gets around to mentioning QAnon later in the show, he doesn't include the FBI's terrorism warning, or the QAnon-inspired violence. A Fox host the next day claims that no such examples exist even though that many do. [Special Report, 8/19/20]
Fox News’ Shannon Bream helps Ric Grenell whitewash Trump and the GOP’s anti-LGBTQ extremism. [Fox News @ Night, 8/20/20]
Lou Dobbs claims that the arrest of Steve Bannon by postal agents on his benefactor's yacht was a “deep state” plot. [Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight, 8/20/20]
After Sean Hannity presses him to monitor polling places, Trump says he will send law enforcement. [Hannity, 8/20/20]
Fox News host Mark Levin pushes fringe climate denial in an unhinged rant about the Biden-Sanders unity task force. Fox repeatedly lied about Biden's climate plan over the last month, repeatedly claiming that Biden was taking far more stringent measures than his plan actually proposed, especially with regards to fracking. [Hannity, 8/20/20]
Laura Ingraham attacks Joe Biden for using “personal tragedy for political ends.” [The Ingraham Angle, 8/20/20]
Fox host declares that mentioning Trump's remarks about “very fine people” at Charlottesville isn't “healthy for America.” [The Five, 8/21/20]
On August 20, police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times as he was getting into the car with his family on Sunday night. Blake, who was Black, was unarmed. Fox News immediately suggests that Blake was to blame for the incident, bringing up a prior incident with Blake and the police. [America's Newsroom, 8/24/20]
Lou Dobbs says we may need to redo the presidential election if mail-in voting is allowed. [Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight, 8/24/20]
Tucker Carlson says people blaming the police officer for repeatedly shooting Jacob Blake are attempting to “inflame fear and race hate.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/24/20]
Carlson gives an unhinged and dishonest diatribe about the purported ineffectiveness of face masks in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/24/20]
A planned RNC speaker shares a conspiracy theory alleging a Jewish plot to enslave the world. Fox News spends less than one minute on the story, despite hosting the speaker on air previously. [Fox News, 8/25/20]
Dana Perino: Media said the RNC painted an alternate reality on coronavirus, “but isn't that what conventions do?" [The Daily Briefing, 8/25/20]
Tucker Carlson: “Joe Biden's voters really are a threat to you and your family.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/25/20]
Fox host blames Black Lives Matter movement for protesters being shot and killed in Kenosha. [The Five, 8/26/20]
Tucker Carlson: “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?” After a gunman kills two protesters in Kenosha, Fox News figures side with the shooter, outright embracing armed vigilantism. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/26/20]
When professional athletes go on a strike in protest of injustice, a Fox host tells them to focus on “Black-on-Black” crime. [Outnumbered, 8/27/20]
Fox host: “It doesn't matter” Trump is wrongly using the White House for politics because “this election’s going to be over” before an investigation. [The Five, 8/27/20]
A Fox contributor wildly lies about Trump's remarks about white supremacists following the Charlottesville white nationalist rally in 2017. [Special Report, 8/27/20]
Tucker Carlson: Cops “clean up the messes” when “fatherless sons turn violent.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/27/20]
Sean Hannity analyzes the RNC for Fox News as he simultaneously appeared in a RNC hype video [Hannity, 8/27/20]
Fox host defends Trump holding the Republican National Convention at the White House: “Joe Biden can do it from his house, but not the president?” [Fox & Friends, 8/28/20]
Tucker Carlson: “It's a total hoax” that people are protesting police brutality and racism in justice system. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/28/20]
Fox host attacks Jacob Blake: “Should his name be celebrated on the helmets of NFL players?” [Fox & Friends Weekend, 8/30/20]
Fox & Friends runs with a flimsy NY Post story based on an anonymous source that alleged widespread fraud with mail-in ballots. Other Fox personalities would later pick it up, even though none of the allegations were ever confirmed. [Fox & Friends Weekend, 8/30/20]
Marc Thiessen: Vigilantes are “filling a vacuum” to “stop this violence from happening.” [Bill Hemmer Reports, 8/31/20]
Tucker Carlson: Black Lives Matter “is the actual armed militia of the Democratic Party.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/31/20]
Carlson hosts the lawyer for the accused Kenosha shooting suspect for a friendly interview. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/31/20]
Laura Ingraham warns “the whole country is going to look like Portland” if Joe Biden is elected president. [The Ingraham Angle, 8/31/20]
Fox “straight news” conducts a friendly interview with Patriot Prayer's founder. The group has repeatedly organized public events in Portland with the Proud Boys, a group described by its founder Gavin McInnes as “foot soldiers” for the right. At a protest in 2018, Patriot Prayer members were found with a “cache of firearms” on the roof of a nearby parking garage. Patriot Prayer’s Facebook page has also been a center of hate speech, including at least one violent threat against a Muslim group. [Fox News @ Night, 8/31/20]

Timeline: Fox News misinformation in 2020

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Jack Posobiec directs conservative jurors to “sabotage” Trump trials

Right-wing media figures are citing a Spanish-language flyer of dubious origin as evidence that Democrats are importing new voters to “rig” elections

After bipartisan majority advances foreign aid package, Steve Bannon demands voters “start changing” out Republicans who back Speaker Mike Johnson

Right-wing media hurl attacks at the WNBA amid the league's popularity surge

Media Matters weekly newsletter, April 19

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