Fox News: Jobs Report? What Jobs Report? RUN IT'S A CHINESE SPY BALLOON!

A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 2/5/23

Feb 07, 2023

Most Fox News viewers might have believed an unmanned Chinese spy balloon was the greatest military threat the United States has seen since World War II. They might also falsely believe American workers were facing massive layoffs and that copper was a rare metal only mined in Africa.

Anyone who exclusively watched Fox News might not realize that the Jobs Report for January doubled most analysts expectations while the unemployment rate dipped to its lowest rate since 1969. The same viewer is most likely unaware the Pope visited Africa, or that there were massive labor protests in France, Belgium and the U.K. while violence and tensions have increased to alarming levels in Israel-Palestine.

For months Fox News has promoted stories about inflation and energy prices. Two weeks ago there was a subtle shift to layoffs. The network might have thought they finally had a new way to criticize the Biden administration as some corporations, especially in the tech sector, began to announce they were reducing their workforces.

The network knew the Jobs Report was going to come out on Friday so they just assumed it would be lackluster. Fox News was wrong. On Friday the Chinese gave Fox News the gift of distraction via a spy balloon drifting over Montana.

Shows I covered last week

Fox & Friends - 1st hour
The Five
Jesse Watters Primtime

Jobs Report? What Jobs Report?

Fox was hoping for a dreadful jobs report on Friday. On Fox & Friends Fox correspondent Ashley Strohmier had some dire predictions during a Headline News segment.

“On the economy in Philadelphia this morning after the January jobs report is released at 8:30 Eastern Time. The report is expected to account for tens of thousands of layoffs, including over 86,000 from the tech sector. Cash strapped Americans now tapping into their 401k accounts for financial emergencies like mortgage payments. As inflation squeezes their budget,” said Stromhmier.

A couple of hours after this segment the Jobs Report was released, it showed the U.S. economy added 517,000 new jobs last month, much more than most analysts expected. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.4%. the lowest rate since 1969.

In this video I also included a short except from NBC.

CHINESE SPY BALLOON INCOMING!

A military surveillance balloon from China drifted low enough that residents in Montana were able to spot it in the air. Within hours of the first sightings the balloon became an huge news story. Watters asked retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis about his thoughts on the balloon.

“Of these F22 raptors equipped with what? Do we just sling a missile out of that thing and just blast it to smithereens? Either that or they pull guns out on it. I probably would probably use the guns. That'd be the easiest thing. Okay. And it's unmanned. There's no Chinese spies in that little sack floating down spying on us with a telescope.

“This thing's all tech. All right. Well, I would have popped it, and Joe should have popped it some time in Beijing. Would have let us fly a balloon and not pop it. So, yeah, I mean, Beijing. Beijing just killed a million Americans with COVID. I think maybe we popped the balloon. Colonel, thank you so much,” said Watters.

Jesse Watters also thought it was appropriate to ask about the science behind Groundhog’s Day.

“So much. Is there any science at all behind this thing? Good morning. Well, the groundhog is above science,” said Watters.

Jesse Watters Shills for a Copper Mining Company

Jesse Watters had a puzzling segment on his show last week. It started with U.S Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s recent trip to Africa. Watters portrayed it as a manipulative move to force Zambia to accept solar panels in exchange for an opportunity for U.S. mining companies to exploit what he called vast copper deposits.

“So when you connect the dots, this little trip to Zambia wasn't about climate change. It was about Biden's precious copper mines. But you better start melting your pennies because there's not enough copper in the world to go green. Copper is going to be rare if we keep going green, which means we won't go 100% green when there's going to be a lot more wars in Africa,” said Watters.

There’s a lot to unpack with that one quote but I have to point out that pennies are made out of zinc and only have a light coating of copper.

Watters completely misrepresented the purpose of Yellen’s visit to the impoverished African nation. She wasn’t there to push green energy, she went to Zambia to address the growing concern of food insecurity in the region and to address the country’s debt crisis.

When Watters referred to “Biden’s mines” he was most likely referring to Biden’s plan to invest in mining for metals and minerals that are specifically used in green energy technologies.

The plan is not limited to Africa and includes several other wealthy nations in partnership with the U.S.. Zambia also already has an established mining industry as it makes up 77% of the countries exports and 27.7% of government revenue. Another benefit of the plan is that it could reduce China’s dominance in this industry.

Watters then brought on a supposed expert who seemed for more like a lobbyist.

“Let's bring in Isaac Orr policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment. So copper is very precious and we sent our treasury secretary over there to talk about how important it is to go green,” said Watters.

Orr didn’t have much to say except to advocate for a very specific mining project. The area that his organization wants to open up for mining is called the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. The Biden administration has already shut down any new leases in that area for the next two decades.

The U.S. Department of the Interior made their decision based on the environmental impact on the area. In the Georgetown Environmental Law Review the area is described as such.

This natural area held a place of importance for ecologists, outdoor recreationists and native communities for generations.The Boundary Waters is home to some of the United States’ most endangered species, including the Gray Wolf and the Canadian Lynx. . .For native communities in Minnesota, such as the Chippewa, hunting, fishing, and gathering within the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area and the Superior National Forest is a way of life tenuously preserved after generations of forceful relocation, land constriction, and cultural suppression.

The group that Orr worked for, the Center of the American Experiment appeared to be a right-wing think tank focused solely on Minnesota.

He awkwardly brought this nonsense about Africa and mining later in the week on “The Five.”

“So you need copper in all of these leaves. And Biden shut down copper mines in Minnesota and all of the mining is now in Africa. Yeah. So we get dirty mining with child labor in Africa. That's good, he's saying. But it's not good to have American miners with American labor in Minnesota. That's clean. That's how, you know, it's not about the weather. It's about the money,” said Watters.

I knew Watters was talking complete nonsense in both segments when he acted as if copper was a rare metal and that it was only found in Africa. Chile is the dominant producer of copper with the largest output in the world. In terms of copper deposits Zambia ranks eleventh.

The United States is the fifth largest producer of copper with Arizona and Utah having the largest mines in the country.

Chart via Global Data.

Jesse Watters Promotes a Conspiracy Theory and is Instantly Debunked by his Own Guest

Watters thought it was a good idea to promote a baseless conspiracy theory about the murder of Tyre Nichols.

“And Memphis is buzzing right now with rumors that Tyre Nichols might have dated one of the cops ex-girlfriends. People are saying that Tyree and the officers baby mama both worked together at FedEx. Prime time has not been able to verify this, but Newsweek is now investigating whether or not one of the officers targeted Tyree because of baby mama drama.
And Newsweek has also not been able to verify this. Tyre stepdad says this story. Nothing but a rumor. Nothing to it. His family's upset. Can you blame them? We have a dead kid with no rap sheet getting dragged through the mud. You got half the country trying to federalize the police and still nobody knows what really happened that night.
So once again, it's up to prime time to step in and help. We filed a records request with the city of Memphis demanding they release the remaining body cam footage. It's the least they could do. Have you heard about this rumor floating around Memphis,” asked Watters.

Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD inspector, didn’t seem as convinced.

“I have actually heard it pretty quickly. But unable to verify. Unable to verify. Look, a lot of people are poking at this. A lot of people are trying to find it. I suspect that if it's there, it'll come out. But I have to say, Jesse, my inclination with these things is generally that, you know, the simplest and most obvious answer is usually most accurate. I think if there had been some sort of underlying motive here, we would have heard some indication of that during the event. The person who's supposedly getting wronged by him would probably have been yelling stuff to that effect. So I'm not really quite ready to buy it,” said Mauro.

This has happened before. Jesse Watters will invite a guest on who will instantly contradict him. It’s a glorious sight to behold as Watters doesn’t exactly have a poker face. As he looks foolish in front of millions of people watching his show a mild dread mixed with a mild panic flashes across his face.

Clutch Your Pearls

Steve Doocy was deeply concerned about a very specific demographic - couples who make more than $300,000 and families that own more than one home. Last week he mentioned how the wealthy aren’t able to benefit from the tax subsidy for electric vehicles.

“And here's the other thing you cannot make. You as a family, if you're if you're a single person, you can't make more than $150,000 to qualify for the credit. You can make up to $300,000 for married couples. And the final thing is the car has got to be assembled in North America,” said Doocy.

Later in the week during a discussion about upcoming changes to Netflix’s subscription plans Doocy expressed his concern about families who own more than one home.

“They might have two houses. They have a house down in Florida for the winter and a house up north. So what are they going to do? Netflix doesn't really address it all,” said Doocy.

Stories Fox News Ignored

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

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Israel for a two-day visit where he met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank and separately with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Blinken criticized Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, calling it an obstacle to peace.
On Wednesday, while Blinken was visiting, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the West Bank. One was a Palestinian who allegedly tried to stab a soldier, the other was a teenager who was shot and killed after brandishing a fake pistol during an operation in East Jerusalem.
Two days after Blinken’s visit and call for calm, Palestinians fired rockets from Gaza and Israel retaliated with air strikes. The Israelis said they targeted rockets and weapons sites used by Hamas. There were no reports of serious casualties.
A suicide bomber, dressed as a police officer, managed to evade security measures detonated explosives inside a Mosque in Northwestern Pakistan. At least 100 died and over 170 were injured.
Seven states that rely on water from the Colorado River failed to come to an agreement about reductions of water use by a January 31st deadline set by the Department of the Interior. The federal government will most likely need to step in and mandate cuts. The Colorado River supplies water to roughly 40 million Americans.
Pope Francis made trips to both the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. He advocated for an end to corruption and the exploitation of African nations by wealthier countries. Both countries have large Catholic populations.
The U.S. ambassador to the UN called for more aid for Somalia as the region faces famine due to ongoing conflict, climate change and COVID-19.
Heavy rains continued in New Zealand’s largest city, causing even more flooding. Four people died in flash floods and landslides in what experts are calling the most destructive weather event in the country’s history.
Massive protests in France brought Paris to a standstill as workers took to the streets over a proposed raise in the retirement age from 62 to 64. This is the second protest over pension reforms in the past month.
Thousands of care workers protested in Brussels over demands for better working conditions and higher pay. Trade union activists and workers want more workers in hospitals, and care facilities for the elderly as well as wage increases.
Roughly half a million teachers, civil servants and train drivers in the UK participated in a general strike last Wednesday called ‘Walkout Wednesday’ to demand wage increases to help ease the strain of inflation. The government has argued that increasing wages would only make inflation worse.
Eleven people were injured in a drive-by mass shooting in Lakeland Florida.
The Virginia elementary school where a six-year-old intentionally shot a teacher re-opened last week. The teacher, Abby Zwerner, has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.
Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. The shuttle disintegrated as it re-entered earth’s atmosphere killing all seven astronauts on board.
The Department of Agriculture proposed limits on sugar and salt in school meals. These new proposed rules would gradually return standards to limits set during the Obama administration that Trump rolled back.
A 24-year-old man has been arrested and charged with six counts of animal cruelty in connection with the theft of two tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo. He also faces charges for an incident involving a clouded leopard that temporarily escaped its enclosure. The monkeys were not harmed.
The U.S. blocked export license renewals for Chinese tech giant Huawei citing security concerns. The new restrictions could cut off the company’s access to processor chips and other technology.
Representative George Santos (R-NY) announced he would step down from two congressional committees amid calls for his resignation. Santos fabricated most of his resume and personal background and is facing investigations into his campaign finances.
PBS did an extended segment on a North Carolina State Senator, Phil Berger’s decision to back Medicaid expansion in his state after being a vocal critic of the program. Medicaid expansion is part of the Affordable Care Act. Some states have rejected the program.
Roadways fatalities reached their highest level in 16 years a rise of 10.5% from 2020 to 2021.
Legendary Canadian hockey player Bobby Hull died at 84. Hull spent 15 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Barret Strong, one of the founding artists of Mowtown, died at 81. He is probably best known for the hit song “Money” (That’s What I Want).

By the Numbers

The most interesting part of last week’s analysis is that segments about the House voted to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Fox dedicated 5% of its airtime to the story.

It was just an excuse by the network to replay emotional speeches by other Democrat members of Congress. It was also difficult to stomach their ‘outrage’ over comments Omar has made that were deemed antisemitic when I’ve collected countless examples of antisemitism on Fox News.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) spoke at a white nationalist conference, compared mask wearing to the Holocaust and once promoted a conspiracy theory that lasers controlled by wealthy Jewish people started wildfires in the West Coast. Fox didn’t have any problem with Greene’s many problematic statements and actions.