Fox News: Bogus Experts on Parade! Give me some of that Fake News!

A condensed overview of 27 hours of Fox News for the week ending 1/8/23

Jan 10, 2023

In addition to the onslaught of coverage on the Speaker of the House vote a typical Fox News viewer might falsely believe the COVID-19 vaccine and abortion medication were dangerous. The same viewer might mistakenly think that a food stamp recipient couldn’t buy healthy foods or that Ashli Babbitt’s mother was arrested for simple jaywalking.

The same Fox fan probably wouldn’t know about massive flood damage in Pakistan or that Europe is experiencing a record breaking heat wave. They could have missed stories about how the U.S. economy continued to add new jobs last month or that the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned some of the harshest abortion restrictions in that state.

As usual Fox viewers got a lot of the same stories repeated on multiple programs while missing out on major news stories.

The Speaker of the House vote dominated most programs on Fox News last week. I decided to capture all of the primetime shows to give my readers the best representation of how the network covered the crisis. This newsletter is dedicated to the other stories covered on Fox last week.

Bogus Experts on Parade

Michael Shellenberger - BA in Peace and Global Studies from Ealham College and a MA in Anthropology from University of California, Santa Cruz.

Despite a lack of education or training in climate science, Shellenberger has built a career as a climate change denialist having written several books that have largely been criticized by actual scientists. He also identifies as a journalist.

Shellenberger has also worked on The Twitter Files, Elon Musk’s bizarre public relations stunt to change public perception of Twitter.

Last week Shellenberger was invited on to “Jesse Watters Primetime” to discuss biologist Paul Ehrlich’s appearance on “60 Minutes.”

The premise of Shellenberger’s brief appearance on was to somehow disprove Ehrlich’s prediction that the earth could be headed for a mass extinction.

This was Schellenberger’s rebuttal to the segment. I’m going to break it down sentence by sentence.

“It misses the fact that actually those of us that actually care about nature have done a really good job taking care of it,” said Shellenberger

This sentence is largely meaningless. It’s Shellenberger’s opinion. There’s absolutely nothing to back it up.

You know, the truth is that we are not in a mass extinction. 6% of species are critically endangered. That's 6% too many, but that's nowhere close to the 75 or 90% that are required for a mass extinction,” said Shellenberger.

Ehrlich never said during the segment that the earth is currently experiencing a mass extinction. The biologist’s focus was more on what could happen if we don’t do more to protect wildlife.

The other key phrase here is ‘critically endangered’. Critically endangered is when a population of a given species is reduced by 80-90%. That’s a subgroup of a much larger group of endangered species.

What Shellenberger didn’t address is the overall extinction rate. To quote an article by Columbia University Climate School

Today, the rate of extinction is occurring 1,000 to 10,000 times faster because of human activity. The main modern causes of extinction are the loss and degradation of habitat (mainly deforestation), over exploitation (hunting, overfishing), invasive species, climate change, and nitrogen pollution.

Ehrlich’s also included a study by the World Wildlife Federation that showed wildlife had collapsed by 69% in the past 50 years and that an abundance of wildlife in Latin America had declined 94% since 1970. The biologist also pointed out that over 70% of the earth’s land and water is now dominated by humans.

Marc Morano - BA in political science from Mason University. Morano has also built a career as a climate change denialist despite having no background or training in climate science or experience in the energy sector.

Morano founded and runs the website ClimateDepot.com. ClimateDepot is part of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow(CFACT), a US non-profit organization that promotes climate change denialism

Last week Morano was invited on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to discuss rising energy costs across the country. The segment included specific increases in the Miami area .

“This is disproportionately impacting people on fixed income, lower income people, a higher percentage of their money goes to pay for this higher energy. And of course, you think the media would be all over that, but they're not because they're in on what Kamala Harris described. And it's essentially this green utopian vision that has not been achieved anywhere in the world to our policies,” said Morano.

When I did a general search for ‘energy price increases in the U.S.’ I found dozens of recent news articles. I’m not sure what Morano means when he implied the media is ignoring the problem.

There’s nothing in what he that could be considered evidence. His next statement was more misleading.

“You have solar and wind being subsidized. There's no penalty for the unreliability, the lack of battery storage, the lack of energy they produce, they're treated equally, which then forces grids to have to incorporate with solar and wind, mandates them into the grid. And then you end up with either shortages and inconsequential, skyrocketing prices. We ought to stop,” said Morano.

The first sentence is true but what Morano left out is that oil and gas are also heavily subsidized in the United States. Conservative estimates put U.S. direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry at roughly $20 billion per year; with 20% percent allocated to coal and 80% to natural gas and crude oil.

Energy prices have increased in Miami and other areas of the country largely due to increases in the cost of natural gas, a fossil fuel. The increase in the cost of natural gas has shot up partly due to the war in Ukraine as Russia was a major global supplier of natural gas before the war.

Alex Epstein - BA in computer science and philosophy from Duke University.

Epstein is the founder and president of the Center for Industrial Progress, a for-profit organization in San Diego, CA. Epstein has written a number of books that promote the use of fossil fuels despite having no training or experience in the energy industry.

Tucker Carlson invited Epstein to talk about a recently released Department of Energy study about the consequences of shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline.

“ I looked into the details of the report and it's the minimum possible admission they could make. I mean, this thing this cancelation of Keystone has been an absolute disaster. Number one, it made good on Biden's promise. I guarantee you, we're going to end fossil fuel. And so it was really the beginning of a reign of terror on the fossil fuel industry that is suppressed investment production, refining, transportation,” said Epstein.

His phrase ‘beginning of a reign of terror on the fossil fuel industry’ is hardly subtle and it’s also inaccurate. Crude oil production in the United States has actually increased since President Biden shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline.

A Fox News viewer would never know it but the United States is the largest producer of crude oil in the world. The U.S. is also largest consumer of crude oil.

This chart shows U.S. crude oil production from June 2021 to the last date available which is October 2022. The general trajectory is upward which goes against Epstein’s claim that the industry is a disaster.

The main criticism of the decision to shut down the pipeline in the Department of Energy report is that it cost jobs, not that it increased prices to consumers.

To quote the actual study.

The literature review for this report showed that the effect on consumer prices was inconclusive, particularly in light of the changes that have occurred in Canadian and U.S. crude oil markets since the KXL pipeline was proposed.

The Keystone XL pipeline continues to have many critics as there was a recent oil spill at TC Energy’s existing Keystone pipeline in December.

I don’t have the time or space to do a deep dive into the many complexities of the oil and gas industry in the United States but this article by Shannon Osaka at the Washington Post does a fairly good job of breaking down the basics. “The U.S. is the world’s largest oil producer. You’ll still pay more for gas.”

Tucker Mislead his Audience about January 6th - AGAIN

Ashli Babbitt was an unarmed protester who was shot during the riot on the Capitol on January 6th 2021. Tucker Carlson has portrayed her as a completely innocent victim who was “murdered” by a Capitol Police officer who was defending lawmakers.

There is debate of course on the officer’s use of force but he was cleared of any wrongdoing after a months long investigation.

After a short diatribe about Babbitt’s death Carlson transitioned to the recent arrest of her mother.

“Ashley Babbitt's mother, Micki Witthoeft, was arrested to day by the Capitol Police. She was apparently the capital to memorialize her daughter's death. Police say she was jaywalking, so they put her in handcuffs. Hard to believe. But here's the footage,” said Carlson.

He then showed footage of Witthoeft being cuffed by police officers and put into a squad car.

This is what Carlson declined to tell his viewers. From the Washington Post’s reporting.

Witthoeft was as arrested for failing to obey police orders and blocking and obstructing roadways, according to a statement from U.S. Capitol Police. The group did not have a permit to demonstrate, the statement said, and would have asked to be arrested.

As is routine in these types of arrests, she was processed, given a citation to appear in court and released.

Jesse Watters Leaves out some Details about an Arson Attack

I saw this same dramatic clip about an arson attack on several Fox News programs last week. Two men dressed in all black throw gasoline on a building and then accidentally light themselves on fire when the fuel basically explodes after its ignited.

Fox framed this as another example of out of control urban crime.

“On Monday, a pair of arsonists tried to burn down a small business in California. But let's just say things backfired on them. And if you break the law, you might get burned,” said Watters.

This story was featured on multiple Fox News programs last week. The business is simply described as a small business. This is why Fox may not have mentioned the specifics, the name of the business is Servicio de Inmigracion, which provides immigration and naturalization services.

Fox new regularly demonizes undocumented immigrants while painting our current border crisis as an invasion akin to an actual war.

Jesse Watters Lies about SNAP (food stamps) Benefits

I usually try to avoid to the term lie but in this instance either Watters didn’t do 30 seconds of research before airing this story or he knowingly lied to his viewers.

In a segment that was supposed to be about the evils and manipulation of the food lobby Watters made a false statement about the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) better known as food stamps.

“Now, the government won't tell you this, but most of these junky foods they're pushing also just happened to qualify for food stamps. And you can't buy healthy food with food stamps, but you can buy as many chocolate covered almonds as you want,” said Watters.
This is a screenshot directly from the USDA website about the program.

A SNAP benefit recipient can buy almost any food they want except for prepared hot food from a store, vitamins, supplements, pet food or non-food items and alcohol, cigarettes or tobacco.

Another incredibly popular food program in the United States. It's for women, infants and children under the age of five. WIC does have restrictions but they are the exact opposite of what Watters implied. WIC foods are restricted to vegetables and fruits, milk, eggs, beans, peanut butter, juice, cheese, yogurt, canned fish, baby food, infant with approved cereal with baby formula. Whole grain foods such as rice bread, cereal tortillas and pasta.

Fox has ZERO irony in terms of Abortion access

In this segment about the FDA’s decision to increase access to abortion medication, Fox News medical contributor. Dr. Nicole Saphier warns about the possible negative side effects.

“So if someone is considering medical abortion, I strongly encourage you to be under the care of a physician, of someone who's doing an ultrasound to confirm the gestation of that baby, make sure there's nothing wrong and doing the appropriate physical examination. I think we need to stop cutting through the red tape and politics need to stop inserting themselves into science as that's what we're seeing here,” said Saphier.

There’s a lot Saphier glossed over. In many states it would be illegal for a patient to seek out a abortion medication through a doctor. Medical abortion is also incredibly safe as its used the majority of abortions performed in the U.S.

The biggest problem that Saphier glossed over completely here is without safe abortion medication women and girls and pregnant people might resort to far more dangerous methods.

Tucker Carlson Uses a Bogus Source to Back up more COVID-19 Nonsense.

A 24-year-old NFL player Damar Hamlin suddenly collapsed after he made a tackle during a game. He suffered cardiac arrest and paramedics worked for nine minutes to necessitate his heart.

There was not one shred of evidence that Hamlin’s medical emergency was caused by the COVID-19 vaccine but that wasn’t going to stop Tucker Carlson from making that leap.

“We don't know exactly why Damar Hamlin collapsed last night, but at the same time, there are concerns about cases like this young athletes collapsing on the field of heart problems. And there has been a dramatic increase in this. You're not imagining it. What is this? Cardiologist Peter McCullough and researcher Angus Pollock. Chris, looked into this trend in Europe, European sports leagues.
They found that prior to COVID and the COVID 19 vaccines, there were roughly 29 cardiac arrests in those European sports leagues per year. Since the VAX campaign began. There have been more than 1500 total cardiac arrests in those leagues,” said Carlson.

The Associated Press published an excellent article that broke down Carlson’s false claims in detail.

Carlson is referencing a letter, not a scientific study. The researchers cited a number from a blog that lists news stories about recent deaths in medical emergencies among people of all ages from all over the world. Some of which were attributed to other causes such as cancer.

PBS NewsHour featured a segment that included the former president of the American Heart Association, Dr. Robert Bonow, a cardiologist, currently a professor of cardiology at Northwestern and also editor in chief of Journal of American Medical Association - Cardiology.

“First of all, the incidence of myocarditis after a COVID vaccination is is real. But it's very, very low. Very, very low and unlikely that the individual who has myocarditis would feel healthy enough to be participating at that level of sports activity. I mean, that's that's a truly, you know, one in a 10 million kind of possibility here,” said Bonow.

Stories Fox News Ignored

Every week I compare 15 hours of Fox News to five hours PBS NewsHour. The following are stories from PBS Newshour that Fox did not cover.

The Philippines was hit with massive flooding over the holiday season including a vicious storm on Christmas. Thousands have be displaced and at least 51 people are confirmed dead.
Pakistan is still recovering from floods that displaced millions, cost the lives of 1700 people and plunged 1/3 of the country underwater. Pakistan generates less than 1% of green house gases. PBS featured several segments about the crisis over the course of the week.
Europe is experiencing a record breaking winter heat wave. On New Year’s Day, at least eight European countries recorded their warmest January day ever.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the new radical right-wing minister of national security in Israel, visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. The compound is referred to as the Temple Mount by Jews and Haram al-Sharif by Muslims. It is the most religiously sensitive site in Jerusalem. His visit was seen as insulting as Ben-Gvir has expressed views in the past of building a synagogue on the site.
The U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs last month which is slightly lower than the previous month but still a sign of a healthy economy. The unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5%
In a 3-2 ruling the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down a ban on abortion at six weeks. The court based its decision on the state constitutions privacy protections.
Also in a 3-2 decision the Supreme Court of Idaho upheld the State’s near total abortion ban. The law allows immediate and extended family members to sue medical providers who perform abortions for no less than $20,000. The same law does allow an exception for abortions performed to save a pregnant person’s life or in documented cases of rape and incest.
Twitter plans to lift its ban on political ads on the platform. The ban was put in place three years ago by former CEO Jack Dorsey.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) will not seek reelection in 2024. Stabenow was first elected to the Senate in 2000 after serving two terms in the House. Stabenow is 72 years old.
The list of countries imposing COVID-19 restrictions on travelers from China continues to grow. The United States, Australia, Canada, India, Israel, Malaysia, Morocco, Qatar, South Korea, Taiwan, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden have all introduced additional COVID measures for arrivals from China due to a surge of new cases of the disease.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, was hit with $4 million in fines in Ireland for online privacy violations and banned the company from forcing European users to agree to personalized ads based on their online activity.
Lula da Silva was sworn in as Brazil’s president
Ukraine War - Russia continues to target civilian areas. Russia also proposed a cease fire for the Russian Orthodox Christmas that was largely met with skepticism by Ukrainians.
South Korea and the United States are in discussing each countries involvement of the U.S. nuclear weapons management after multiple threats by North Korea.
The military government in Myanmar released more than 7000 prisoners under an amnesty to mark the country’s independence day. The government has faced international isolation and Western-led sanctions since the military seized power from a democratically elected government last February.
Journalist, Rana Ayyub, will return to her home country of India to face false charges designed to silence and harass her.
The EPA proposed tougher standards on soot a form of air pollution.
Last week the Federal Trade Commission proposed a near total ban on non-compete clauses. Laws regarding non-compete clauses vary from state to state so a federal ban could benefit millions of workers.