Fox News: The DOJ is investigating Trump - Fox Celebrates Police Brutality Week!
A condensed overview of 20 hours of Fox News for the week ending 7/31/22
A typical Fox viewer might not even know the Department of Justice started an investigation into Donald J. Trump. They might also not realize most of the United States grappled with record-breaking heatwaves while patches of the Midwest and South experienced extreme flash flooding due to excessive rainfall. A Fox News viewer might also be worried that every major city was overrun with violent criminals due to policies pushed by George Soros and his cavalcade of woke District Attorneys.
Anyone consuming Fox News last week would also miss out on stories that affect our national security, public health and the state of the world economy.
On Tuesday after the news broke that the Department of Justice was investigating Donald J. Trump for his role in the January 6th riot on the U.S. Capitol, I decided to add five hours of “Hannity” to my weekly schedule as I wanted to see how he would react.
Hannity has promoted a theory for over a year that Trump took steps ahead of the riot to prevent violence but was thwarted by Speaker Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. Numerous sources have debunked Hannity’s claims yet he repeated has repeated them countless times.
Hannity has gone so far as to claim there was a secret meeting on January 4th between Trump and Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff, Kash Patel, former chief of staff to the Acting United States Secretary of Defense, Christopher Miller, former Acting Defense Secretary and Gen. Mark Milley.
The Fox News host boasted that everyone involved with this meeting except Gen. Milley had come on “Hannity” and confirmed that then President Donald J. Trump had issued orders for 10,000 National Guard troops to defend the Capitol building in case of riots on January 6th, 2021. At some point the number of troops increased to 20,000 in this wacky scheme.
Last week, the January 6th Committee released a short excerpt of sworn testimony by Christopher Miller that completely destroyed Hannity’s theory. Miller testified that Trump made no order for additional National Guard troops.
In this clip I combined a excerpt from “Hannity” from two weeks ago where Sean Hannity briefly describes the false narrative that involves the meeting where Trump allegedly ordered National Guard troops for January 6th, along with sworn testimony of Miller where he testified Trump made no such request.
Clip of the Week
During the riot on January 6th Trump made no request for additional security to quell the rioters. As several White House advisors and aides testified during the last January 6th Committee Hearing Trump sat in his private dinning room and watched Fox News as the Capitol was overcome by violent protesters.
Even though several high ranking officials and White House aides begged the former President to do something to stop the violence on January 6th, Trump did nothing for over three hours before reluctantly making an official statement urging the rioters to go home.
It was Vice President Mike Pence who ultimately made the request for National Guard troops that helped clear the Capitol building of rioters.
How Ingraham handled the News that Trump was being investigated by the DOJ
The only program that I surveyed last week that addressed the Department of Justice’s prob into former President Donald J. Trump was “The Ingraham Angle.” This is a condensed edit of a much longer monologue where Ingraham portrays Trump as both a victim and a hero.
“Fox & Friends” decided to address the story of Trump being investigated by the Department of Justice in a thirty second Headline News clip.
They included the brief segment in between a story about a slow police chase and story about privacy concerns regarding the social media app TikTok.
Both “Hannity” and “The Five” did not directly address the DOJ’s investigation of Trump. Both shows featured segments about Hunter Biden and expressed outrage that Hunter was not under investigation by the departent. Trump was only mentioned in relation to the lack of scrutiny into Hunter Biden’s many overseas business ventures.
The Streets of New York City are Overrun with Crime!
The programs I surveyed last week decided instead to put a large amount of focus to a local crime story in New York City.
The network used a short clip shot by a bystander of a teenager in a physical altercation with a NYPD transit officer. According to Fox News the kid allegedly got caught trying to avoid the $2.75 subway fare and was stopped by multiple police officers.
It wasn’t that clear what happened next but the teenager ended up in a fight with the transit officer. The teen’s girlfriend also was involved in the fight as she tried to help her boyfriend.
It didn’t appear in the short clip that the officer or the teenager suffered any serious injuries. There was no blood and no weapons of any kind were used. The teenager was eventually subdued and arrested on the spot.
Fox featured this clip on “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday and Wednesday. The short cell phone video was featured on screen for nearly seven minutes on “The Five” on Tuesday and on “Hannity” on both Wednesday and Friday.
Footage of the fight was often followed by an excerpt of a press conference given by New York City Mayor Eric Adams who expressed his frustration over New York State’s cashless bail reform law.
“Catch, release, repeat,” said Adams. “This person was arrested for robbery a few days ago. Now he's back. As soon as we catch them. The system releases them. And they repeat the action. That is just you know, that's when I say we're the laughingstock of the country, this is what I'm talking about.”
Fox also went into the criminal background of the suspect in the video. Multiple Fox personalities expressed outrage that the child was not thrown in an adult jail after his arrest.
Since the alleged attacker was a minor he was released on his own recognizance the following day. The teen was charged with several charges including assaulting a police officer.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney's office said that the teen was released after his first offense in 2021 because they view "community monitoring was the appropriate pre-trial determination for a 15-year-old child with no previous reports." - As reported by NBCNewYork.
Fox left out that the transit officer was aided by a MTA worker who stepped in and helped the transit cop, and that the entire altercation started when police officers approached the young couple who were arguing loudly in the subway station.
Witnesses at the scene said the officers were checking to make sure the girl was O.K. when the cop shoved the teenaged boy which triggered the fight. According to local press reports about the altercation fare evasion was not a factor in what led to the fight.
This would have normally been a short story that might be included in a local news program. Fox News ended up showing this short clip repeatedly across multiple shows from Tuesday through Friday last week. All told the brief video was shown for a total of 25 minutes.
Showing the clip across multiple shows for the entire week seemed like excessive coverage considering no one was seriously injured and there was no weapon drawn during the fight. It was also a story that is very specific to New York City.
It was a great example of Fox News pushing the narrative that Democratic led cities are lawless crime filled nightmares.
Watters and Hannity Have the Solution to End Violence Against Cops - Get rid of Cameras
Fox News then used this brief clip to bemoan the fact that someone had filmed the altercation. Both Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity complained that the officer might have been able to use force that was not approved by the NYPD to subdue the teenager.
The fight was filmed by a bystander and the footage will undoubtedly be used against the boy who attacked the cop. The police officer would also benefit from the fact that the fight was documented as it could exonerate him from any charges that he acted improperly.
Guardian Angels founder promotes “Old School” Methods of Police Brutality
On Friday Hannity featured the same clip of the teenaged suspect fighting with the transit cop. Curtis Silwa promoted the idea that more force on the part of police would have prevented an incident like this.
“Well, Sean, the old school way is every police officer in every municipality had a nightstick,” said Silwa. “And when the cop pulled his nightstick out of the utility belt you knew halt cease and desist cops back then if if you did to this cop what this young thug did he get away with shampoo and attitude no readjustment he'd hit him in the kneecaps and this guy would never have been able to escape old school ways. Keep the thugs at bay. It worked before it'll work again.”
Of course Silwa didn’t seem to account that in the “good ol’ days” he was referring to overall crime was much higher. Even though New York City has seen a recent spike in crime, it’s dwarfed by the violence and general chaos that ravaged the city from the 1970’s through the 1990’s.
Let’s Dump Criminals next to Elected Officials
Continuing on the criminal defense theme Greg Gutfeld suggested dumping convicted criminals who had already served their sentences in the neighborhoods of elected officials.
I have no idea if this was Gutfeld’s attempt at a joke but absolutely no one laughed on the set of “The Five.”
“Populist” Fox News promotes the idea that corporations should pay no taxes.
I added this clip for comedy relief. Charles Payne, of Fox Business, pushed the idea that corporations should pay no taxes.
Dana Perino also advocated for pretty much the same thing on “The Five” the same week.
Fox News often promotes its network as fighting for the common citizen. I’m not sure how this would fit into that narrative. It’s perfectly fine for wage earners to pay taxes but not corporations. They didn’t even make an exception for foreign owned corporations. There’s no country on planet earth that does not levy some form of corporate taxes.
Bogus Expert of the Week
Fox News asked Lara Trump to discuss teacher’s union on the premise that she’s a “mother of two.” They didn’t mention that Lara Trump’s children were preschool aged and that she has no experience as a teacher or as a member of a union. During the segment she mentioned that the Union had only donated $75 to Republican candidates for a “sandwich or something.”
Stories Fox News thought were newsworthy that were NOT newsworthy
I decided to come up with a new category this week. Fox News dedicated an inordinate amount of focus and time on the following stories.
A record breaking lottery jackpot - The Mega Millions multi-state lottery drawing exceeded $1 billion. This is a news story that would normally get reduced to a quick 30 second segment. Fox News featured several segments on it.
Alec Baldwin - Fox produced a cheaply produced documentary about the actor for Fox Nation so in order to promote it they included several short segments about him.
Congressional baseball game - This yearly event features baseball teams composed of Democrat and Republican members of congress. It’s a charity event that raises money for multiple charities. Fox dedicated 21 minutes in total airtime to this story.
Stories Fox Ignored
Heatwaves in the U.S. – Fox did cover the wildfires in California but presented them more as a natural phenomena unique to the region. During the short weather segment on “Fox & Friends” Janice Dean, senior meteorologist even commented. “California is prone to wildfires, we don’t know the source,” said Dean.
Scientists study into the state of the Thwaites glacier in Antartica - The glacier holds a tremendous amount of water and holds back even more. It’s melting at an alarming rate.
Myanmar executed pro-Democracy activists – A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning February 1st, 2021 after democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy, were deposed by Myanmar's military. Military rulers executed several high-profile democracy advocates.
WHO declared the spread of Monkeypox a global health emergency
U.S. settles with with poultry producers over illegal labor practices
Pope visited Canada to apologize for abuse indigenous children received for decades in Catholic boarding schools.
Virginity tests in Mongolia - Even though the tests have been banned girls are still forced to undergo them in rural area schools.
Russia plans to pull out of International Space Station after 2024
EU decided to ration natural gas - Russia reduced the supply of natural gas to put more pressure on the EU and to increase the price. The EU responded by calling for rations rather than give in to Russia.
Alex Jones trial - The trial is to determine how much Jones will pay in damages to the family of the Sandy Hook shooting victims. Jones defamed the families when he promoted the false idea that the shooting was a hoax.
George Floyd murder – Two of the police officers who were part of the arrest and then murder of George Floyd, Tao Thao and Alexander Kueng, were just sentenced with federal charges. Keung received three years and Thao got a 3.5 year sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Statue of Amelia Earhart was just added to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall. The statue of Earhart was one of two that will represent the State of Kansas.
PACT Act block by Republicans – A bill meant to help veterans who have been injured or harmed due to toxic exposure they experienced while deployedTwenty-five Republican senators voted for the bill in June but have flipped their votes
Oil companies post record profits after an extended period of high gasoline prices
January 6th Committee Hearing investigation - Text messages from DHS are missing
By the Numbers
It’s perfectly reasonable to include stories about both the state of the U.S. economy and the border crisis. What makes this past week’s chart notable though is how they mostly avoided discussing the DOJ’s investigation into Donald J. Trump.
PBS was far more specific in it’s coverage of the problems with the U.S. economy. The network had a narrow focus on the Inflation Reduction Act, which is a bill pending in congress. They also discussed the possibility of Trump running for president again in 2024.
The stories about climate change where broken up into specific instances of both extreme heat, wildfires and flooding which is the main reason the topic did not show up in this week’s list. PBS also included a segment about how scientists are tracking the rate of glaciers melting in Antartica.
Fox did not use the term heatwave once this past week. All of the major extreme weather events were treated as flukes and not part of a larger trend of the earth’s atmosphere warming.
Coming up…
For the this week I’ll be putting my focus back on “Hannity” as I’m still anticipating some pivot or reaction regarding the Department of Justice’s decision to investigate former President Donald J. Trump for his role in the riots of January 6th. I might do a separate podcast/newsletter where I break down Hannity’s false theory that involves Speaker Pelosi. It sort of depends on whatever else happens in the news. Stay tuned.