How did Fox News spin the January 6th Hearings in real time?
A condensed overview of four hours of Fox Primetime coverage compared PBS coverage of the January 6th Hearings.
In a defiant move Fox News decided to air Tucker Carlson Tonight and Hannity instead of showing the first night of the Congressional Committee on the January 6th riot which was broadcast live on every other news network. Then in an attempt to keep their viewers from straying to even a moment of the other network’s coverage they didn’t break away for a single commercial for a solid two hours.
Fox did air the hearing on their far less popular Fox Business channel.
I captured the Fox Business broadcast, the PBS broadcast of the same event and four hours of the Fox News primetime shows - “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, “Hannity”, “The Ingraham Angle” and “Fox News @ Night” hosted by Shannon Bream.
I stacked the PBS broadcast along with the two Fox News primetime shows that aired during that time and cut back and forth between both to show what most Americans were watching and what a Fox viewer saw instead.
One of the most surreal things I witnessed during this experience was watching both Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity criticize the live broadcast of the hearings while they were both live on air.
It’s not like they could have paused to watch the hearing. They were both either reading a teleprompter of their own scripted show or interviewing a guest. There was simply no time for them to absorb or watch the coverage of the hearing.
They both had extremely negative opinions about a congressional hearing they could only get whispered notes about in their earpieces.
The Slavery comment
Before I get into this multiple hour extravaganza I want to address one moment in both broadcasts.
Rep. Benny Thompson (MS) made one comment at the very beginning of the hearing where he addressed the legacy of slavery,
“I'm from a part of the country where people justify the actions of slavery, the Klu Klux Klan, and lynching. I'm reminded of that dark history, as I hear voices today, try and justify the actions of the insurrectionists on January 6 2021,” said Thompson.
Every single anchor on Fox primetime felt the need to address this remark. In the case of Tucker Carlson Tonight he brought up the statement during his own live broadcast about 12 minutes after Thompson uttered it. I’m assuming his guest, Jason Whitlock of Blaze Media, had seen the comment during Carlson’s monologue.
Guests on Hannity and The Ingraham Angle also had opinions about the comment but they at least had the opportunity to watch it as Thompson said it. There’s no way Carlson could have seen it.
I also found it very telling the one comment that spawned harsh reactions from all three primetime shows involved a Black man talking about slavery.
The first hour - Tucker Carlson Tonight
Tucker Carlson opened with the following,
“It tells you a lot about the priorities of a ruling class that the rest of us are getting yet another lecture about January 6th tonight, from our moral inferiors no less, an outbreak of mob violence, a forgettable minor outbreak by recent standards that took place more than a year and a half ago, but they've never stopped talking about it.”
Then Carlson went into a brief diatribe about all the other problems in the country and the world even citing the potential for nuclear war. I guess we shouldn’t be concerned that an angry mob tried to overturn an election when gasoline cost $5 or more in most States.
Carlson preceded down a path of mistruths for his usual 12-minute extended monologue ending it with the simple question “Why?”
His first blatant lie of the evening was that none of the protesters were carrying a firearm during the riot. At least 12 rioters or individuals tied to the day’s event were charged with firearms offenses.
Then Carlson lambasted the press for falsely claiming that USCP officer Brian Sicknick died after being bashed on the head by rioters with a fire extinguisher. It was later revealed that Sicknick died from two strokes he suffered shortly after the event.
In a statement, the U.S. Capitol Police said it accepts the medical examiner's finding,
"This does not change the fact Officer Sicknick died in the line of duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol," the statement said.
It’s not unreasonable to believe the extreme stress Sicknick experienced during the riot might have exacerbated his condition.
Carlson also acted as if all other news sources purposefully mislead the public regarding the cause of Sicknick’s death rather than simply making a mistake given the information they were given by law enforcement and witnesses immediately after Sicknick’s death.
Carlson then went on to lionize, Ashli Babbitt the one protester who was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to climb through a shattered window of a barricaded door.
His rant then turned into a web of conspiracy theories and accusations waged at the government from its alleged use of FBI informants, supposed lies about pipe bombs, accusations of law enforcement graciously opening doors to rioters and finally the refusal to release thousands of hours of surveillance footage.
Of course the FBI isn’t going to hand over evidence that’s currently being used in an active criminal investigation to Carlson or any reporter no matter how much they whine about it.
Carlson then promoted “The Big Lie” implying that Trump really won the 2020 presidential election. This is the first clip I pulled from both broadcasts, my first edit was at 7:15.
On PBS the Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS) showed a clip of former Attorney General Bill Barr testifying he told then President Donald J. Trump that his delusions about voter fraud were “bullshit.” At the exact same time on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Carlson was going on a diatribe about how the 2020 election was stolen.
There’s no way Carlson would have known what was being discussed during the hearing. His monologue was obviously scripted and written beforehand.
Carlson also complained that somehow the rioters were unfairly smeared as white supremacists even as the cries of a protester bellowing “White Power” were clearly audible in one of the clips played during the hearing. The Proud Boys and other organized hate groups at the event also have known white nationalist leanings.
Guest – Michael Tracey – “journalist” downplays the riot.
Reduces the riot to “having their legislative process interrupted for a couple of hours” The entire segment is just about downplaying the entire event of rioters breaking windows in our Capitol and threatening to kill the Vice President.
I purposefully sought out the most compelling sections of the hearing to contrast with Fox News primetime programming. This next clip is from approx. 44 minutes into both broadcasts.
Carlson then decided to show a split screen of 8 different news networks,
“So we should tell you, as we said at the top, this is the only hour on American television that is not broadcasting unfiltered propaganda, into the Homes of unsuspecting viewers on the screen you see eight boxes or eight different TV channels, taking the Nancy Pelosi feed unfiltered. Now, if at any time in your life you've ever made fun of totalitarian regimes that you know, broadcast lies into the homes of the population that they can't turn off.”
Just at this moment, the screens cut from Rep. Liz Cheney (WY) to indecipherable images of text messages between Sean Hannity and Donald J. Trump in which Hannity was begging him to stop promoting election fraud lies and call off the mob.
Again this obviously wasn’t planned as there’s no way Carlson or his producers would have known exactly what was being broadcast from the hearings since both shows were live.
This next clip is from about 52 minutes into both broadcasts. I went back and forth between the PBS coverage and what Fox was showing. While the committee showed never before seen footage of graphic violence at the Capitol, Carlson has long shot congressional candidate, Joe Kent on to complain about Speaker Pelosi.
This next clip is from about 55 minutes into both broadcasts. Tucker Carlson is interviewing Darren Beattie of Revolver News, a far-right-wing media company that dabbles in conspiracy theories. Beattie also has known white nationalists ties.
What’s especially odd about Beattie’s appearance is that he’s the first guest who brings up the “false flag” theory that is the main thrust of the Tucker Carlson Original film “Patriot Purge” that was produced in partnership with Beattie.
Up until this point, Carlson didn’t imply that the riot was staged or egged on by the FBI. If anything Carlson was echoing Hannity’s claims that Nancy Pelosi could have somehow prevented the rioting.
Hour 2 - Hannity
Sean Hannity started his broadcast with another extended monologue that was obviously written beforehand.
Hannity’s main focus was on a widely debunked theory that the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was somehow to blame for why the Capitol Police could not contain the rioters on Jan. 6th.
I could write several pages about all of the twists and turns about how this theory got started and the many nonsensical claims contained within it. I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible so I’m resorting to my usual - bulleted list method of debunking a conspiracy theory.
Here is the basic premise - Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was more concerned about optics than security so she rebuffed President Donald J. Trump’s request for 20,000 National Guard troops on the day of the riots.
The Blame Nancy Conspiracy Theory
This claim is 100% completely false.
Here is one source that debunks it in exact detail over 10-pages - “Republicans’ Shaky, No Evidence Attempt to Cast Blame on Pelosi for Jan. 6”
Hannity has promoted this theory for nearly a year.
Several other prominent Republican law makers have also insisted it’s true.
The source of the rumor comes from comments from Trump claiming he requested 10,000 National Guard troops four days before the riot.
That number magically got increased to 20,000 months later
Kash Patel, of the Trump Admin, claims he was at meeting where this was discussed.
Patel can provide no real evidence or documentation of his claim
It makes no sense that the Speaker of the House could somehow override the Commander-In-Chief of the U.S. military.
Jane L. Campbell, president and CEO of the Capitol Historical Society has made multiple statements to the press where she’s said,
“The Speaker of the House does not oversee security of the U.S. Capitol, nor does this official oversee the Capitol Police Board.”
That is my “as brief as possible” explanation for this wacky theory ] there are several sources that spend far more time explaining it.
Every single Fox News program I watched that night brought up The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (CA),
Tucker Carlson Tonight - 7 times
Hannity - 28 times
The Ingraham Angle - 10 times
Fox News @ Night - 5 times
This next clip is from approx. 1:20:09 minutes into both broadcasts. It starts with Marcus Childress, investigative counsel for the January 6th Committee explaining key details about how two organized extremist groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers planned the attack months in advance.
Meanwhile Hannity keeps doubling down on his false claim that Pelosi blocked the use of the National Guard. I cut back and forth between the two networks.
This next clip is from approx. 1:21:00 minutes it’s an extension of the previous footage.
This final clip occurred 1:46:21 minutes into the broadcast as USCP officer Caroline Edwards describes her harrowing ordeal during the riot while Sean Hannity called the entire proceedings as “underwhelming.”
During a lot of her testimony Sen. Mike Lee (UT) also agressively hawked his book “Saving Nine” a book about the SCOTUS.
The Ingraham Angle
Laura Ingraham was more of the same. She also repeatedly dismissed the hearings as political theater and predicted no one would watch.
Probably the most memorable moment of her broadcast is when she laughed while declaring that “Roughly 2/3 of Republican voters would still want Trump to run again in 2024.”
Fox News @ Night
This is one of first times I’ve experienced a more traditional Fox News show. Instead of heated opinion host Shannon Bream offered far more nuanced coverage of the hearing. She even included Marc Short, Former Chief of Staff for Vice Pres. Mike Pence who said,
“And I think it shows that, you know, for those who say this was a peaceful protest and expose videos, put that to a lie that the notion this was a false flag operations, just frankly, propaganda. And I think it's important that American people see that,” said Short sort of destroying the entire premise of Carlson’s “Patriot Purge” film.
By the Numbers
I took the transcripts of all four hours of Fox News programing and turned it into one giant transcript. This is the first time since covering Fox News that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) didn’t make the list. I was a bit shocked myself.
The “Saving Nine” reference was the amount of times Sen. Mike Lee got in the name of his book about SCOTUS. Most of the references about Sen. Lindsey Graham were made by Tucker Carlson who seemed enraged at that Graham allegedly told Capitol Police during the riots, “You've got guns. Use them.”
All 16 clips going back and forth between both networks
In all I made 16 clips going back and forth between the two networks, if you want to watch all of them together in one video the link is right here.