How Fox News Exploited the NYC Subway Choking Story

A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 5/7/23

Fox News heavily featured a story that had all the elements of their typical paranoia filled nightmares - a Democratic run city, a terrifying underground train, dangerous un-homed mentally ill vagrants, and a white misunderstood former military hero who was just doing what needed to be done to save the lives of others.

Last week on a New York City subway a homeless man, Jordan Neely, was choked to the point of death by a young former Marine, Daniel J. Penny, who thought Neely was a threat to him and other passengers.

According to witnesses Neely was acting erratically and throwing garbage. He made threatening statements but it appears that he didn’t actually strike or touch anyone before Penny put him in a chokehold that ultimately killed him.

The NYPD didn’t immediately charge Penny although a grand jury is expected to review details of his case this week. There is a high likelihood that he will be criminally charged with manslaughter or another crime.

Protests immediately broke out in various parts of the New York City including the subway which Fox portrayed as even more evidence of an out of control metropolis on the brink of collapse.

Lawless chaotic urban streets overrun with crime is a common theme on Fox News. Although many of the Fox hosts live in New York City they never seem to tire of trashing it. Fox revels in crime stories.

Every morning on “Fox & Friends” the network almost always starts their Headline News segments with a crime story that normally wouldn’t make a national news broadcast. I suspect they search for incidents specifically about injured or murdered police officers because they seemingly have one every day.

The network will often repeat a short clip of a violent crime on the screen throughout an episode, sometimes showing it as part of a split screen. The same video will replay throughout the day on “The Five” and later on a primetime show.

Fox also has produced countless segments about homelessness with the same message - homeless people are destroying cities and liberal policies are making things worse. Un-homed people are viewed as drug addicted monsters who are irredeemable.

The rest of the news covered on Fox last week was its standard fare - the never-ending Hunter Biden scandal, the border crisis, yet another senseless mass shooting, and the failure of the Biden presidency.

For this newsletter I’m going to explore how the network got as much mileage as possible out of the horribly tragic death of desperate man suffering from mental illness on the New York City subway.

Shows I covered last week

• Fox & Friends - 1st hour

• The Five

• Fox News Tonight - Hosted by guest host Lawrence Jones

New York City Crime is Out of Control - Even Though it Isn’t.

Last week countless followers on Twitter asked, “Who is Lawrence Jones?”

On January 29, 2022, at the age of 29, Lawrence Jones became the youngest Black man to work as a solo host of a cable news show. He hosts “Lawrence Jones Cross Country,” which airs Saturday nights at 10 p.m. on Fox News.

I was a bit shocked when Fox News announced Jones would be one of the temporary hosts of Tucker Carlson’s old time slot. Jones is a frequent correspondent on “Fox & Friends,” where he mostly reports from a distant location.

Jones was completely over his head last week as he stumbled with reading a teleprompter and screamed over guests.

Lawrence Jones Repeats the Same Tired Stereotypes about Crime in New York City

Jones was seemingly friendly with one of his guests who absolutely destroyed his arguments in a clear and calm way.

“Jason Nichols is a senior lecturer at the University of Maryland. He joins us now. Jason, thanks so much for joining me, brother. We all mourn his death, but the city is out of control. And people that are black, brown, white, everybody is on edge right now and they're going to do everything that is necessary. Those that are willing to defend themselves. So why the rush to judgment on this case? ” said Jones.

Nichols responded with a smile.

“Well, first of all, Lawrence, let me just say congratulations. I'm really proud of you. And, you know, I keep always rooting for you. First of all, we have to understand that the characterization that you made earlier about crime being out of control in New York City is just factually inaccurate. It's actually major crimes are down 6% in New York City. Subway crimes are down 9%.”

The Lawrence began to interrupt saying “Not today,” repeatedly as Nichols tried to get his points out.

“You can look at it - NYC.gov,” said Nichols.

“I just put the stats up on the screen. Year to date yes, it is down. But if you compare the crime to this point last year, it's up. And that is a problem for people that walk the streets of New York. The mayor that he was elected because of this reason,” said Jones.

As Nichols spoke Jones just looked befuddled his face in a bit of a squint while he shook his head.

“And I think we need to give credit to the New York Police Department, the NYPD. They get a lot of heat. I've been someone who's been critical, but they're actually doing a good job at dropping crime when we look at the crime statistics. They are actually going trending downward,” said Nichols

Nichols was correct as the city has seen a slight decrease in crime since last year including a 15% drop in shootings. NYPD statistics show a 27.8% decrease in murders, 22.1% decrease in rapes and 15% decrease in burglaries. Some forms of property crimes have risen and with a slight increase some isolated areas in the outer boroughs.

Historically all forms of crime in New York City are much lower than previous decades.

The Five Also Fed the Crime Hysteria

Dana Perino also stoked the flames of fear by dropping scary sounding statistics during a discussion about the attack.

“Subway crime is a big problem for New York City. So far this year, there have been 139 robberies, 131 felony assault, one rape and one murder. And we've shown you countless videos of attacks on commuters. Critics blasting AOC for not even commenting on those crimes,” said Perino.

What Perino left out is that the subway has roughly 2.4 million riders every single day.

The entire subway system includes:

• More than 6,455 subway cars

• 472 subway stations

• 665 miles of track

Any violence in the subway system is unwanted but most highways are more dangerous than public transit. According to the National Safety Council’s latest report the most dangerous form of transportation in the U.S. is a passenger vehicle.

To quote the report directly.

Over the last 10 years, passenger vehicle death rate per 100,000,000 passenger miles was over 20 times higher than for buses, 17 times higher than for passenger trains, and 595 times higher than for scheduled airlines.

The Economist also rated New York City one of the 15 safest cities in the world.

Greg Gutfeld Compared the Choking to Bernie Goetz

A brief history of Bernie Goetz

Bernie Goetz shot four young Black men on the subway on December 22, 1984. He had been mugged twice and started carrying a handgun with him even though he did not have the proper permit to do so.

Goetz claimed he thought the men were going to rob him but reports indicated that the men were unarmed and only had three screwdrivers between them. One man was so badly injured a bullet severed his spinal column resulting in paralysis.

The details around the shooting are murky as Goetz shot one man twice and then fled the scene. After two grand juries and the subsequent trial Goetz was only convicted for criminal possession of a handgun and found not guilty on the other charges; he served less than a year in jail.

Crime was much higher in New York City at the time and public sentiment was in Goetz’s favor. The case remains extremely controversial.

In 1996 the man Goetz paralyzed won a civil lawsuit against him for $18 million in civil damages and $25 million in punitive damages for the attack. Goetz was not a wealthy man so the plaintiff received a small fraction of that amount.

Gutfeld on “The Five”

“It feels like a Bernie Goetz moment where everybody goes, okay, we're hitting the bottom here. This is bad. Permission to rant. Anyone accusing anyone else of supporting that guy of of non compassion can go screw themselves. Right. We've been talking about what's going on in the subways. We've been talking about what's been going on the streets. The mentally ill being left to suffer on the street, the criminally deranged left on the street to attack and push women in front of trains and beat people over the head with pieces of wood.

We've been talking about the danger to themselves and the dangers to others for years, and I have nothing but contempt for the outraged leftists who caused this, who ignored this. They are like the person on the subway who just gets on their phone. It's something like, I wonder. I wonder what would AOC or anybody on the squad or what's his name?

Chris Hayes. Anybody like that, would they actually step in? Right. I have to wonder, would they actually, you know, would they see somebody being menaced by a violent felon? Would they actually try and intervene? Or would they decide not to share the risk and just step away? Because metaphorically, that's what they've been doing for the last five years,” said Gutfeld.

Gutfeld has been Horribly Inconsistent in Terms of How to Fix the Homelessness Problem

On Thursday Greg Gutfeld blamed the lack of public resources dedicated to help the homeless and mentally ill.

“This was a textbook person that would have been helped by the $800 million that somehow disappeared. Right. There is there was money in the city for the homeless. What did the de Blasio-OEs do with it? This guy had 40 arrests. Violence. He was a danger to others. And when he's a danger to others, he becomes a danger to himself.

Right. But they didn't give a shit about him. None of the none of the liberals gave a damn,”

I remembered an earlier rant Gutfeld made in September 15, 2022. Just months ago he thought un-homed people should be left to fend for themselves.

“A majority of law abiding citizens are at the mercy of a few thousand 10,000 50,000, maybe a half a million nationwide people who exist independent of our rules, laws and manners. Right. We have defined a heinous lifestyle. Homelessness as a lifestyle choice.

And I'm saying exempt from like the tiny exceptions. I'm talking largely men. When you see these pictures that are mostly men, they're not hanging out like the jovial transients and hobos that you used to see in cartoons. These are strung out manic, unfriendly, aggressive people. And you're lucky if they're unconscious because then they won't hurt you.

I walk this city all the time. I drive up in the morning, I count them, I recognize them, I know them. They prefer the shelters. They don't prefer shelters to the streets because you can't do drugs and score drugs in shelters. That's why they're out there. That's a choice, right? You can't bring your property into the shelter either because that because they don't allow that.

So you prefer to be outside with your bags of stuff and do your drugs. All you got to do is spend one afternoon in New York City and you see the reality. And it flies in the face of everybody there that tells you you have to be more compassionate because their compassion is allowing this to happen, throwing money at that.

They're like the tourists that give that the healthy beggar with the little dog money and that beggars in front of your house. And it's like, I want to go to your damn house where you are in Germany or Spain. You do the same thing and see how you feel because all you do is you keep these people here making money.

I do have a solution and it's a progressive solution. Give the homeless what they want because there is no way you can have a conversation with them. You can't have a you can't reason with the unreasonable. Give them what they want, but not in this city. The city allows this to happen. Move it out onto government property and let them run it,” said Gutfeld.

Fox Guest Goes Rogue - A Lawyer Doesn’t Stick to the Script

On Friday “Fox & Friends,” invited Mark Bederow, former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney, to talk about the case. He didn’t stick to their expected script.

“Great to see you. First off, your reaction. How much should this 24-year-old Marine be worried right now being charged?” said Brian Kilmeade.

“I would be worried that he could be charged with manslaughter charges or criminally negligent homicide charges. I think he should be worried. Because there is a video of him holding nearly choking him, using what lawyers call deadly physical force. And if he was not authorized to use that force, then he's potentially facing charges. And one might assume or believe that he just was not justified because he didn't appreciate the risk that a reasonable person should have, which is by choking someone, it's likely to cause their death, particularly a Marine who presumably is well-trained in the use of that kind of force,” said Mark Bederow

“So if you feel threatened, you can't get somebody in a submission hold,” asked Kilmeade.

“Well, the law requires, before you use deadly physical force that you believe another person is using or is about to use deadly physical force,” said Bederow.

It appeared Kilmeade tried to shift Bederow a bit.

“And this could be the case, especially when you look at this case, this guy's track record, 44 arrests. One time he spent the last time he spent time in jail was for punching a woman in the face, causing severe brain injury,” said Kilmeade.

Bederow then said something that absolutely no one on the shows I analyzed on Fox last week thought to bring up.

“The issue is the Marine who just encounters him on the subway is not likely to be aware of that. So in a legal sense, although that history I think is relevant to people who want to see the right thing happen here legally with respect to what the Marine perceived and what kind of physical force he saw being used. He's not going to be aware of that,” said Bederow.

Later during this same interview Bederow ultimately said he didn’t think Penny would be convicted because he thought a New York City jury might sympathize with him.

Campos-Duffy - the Criminals are the Victims

On Friday on “Fox & Friends,” Rachel Campos-Duffy weaved in the border crisis, claimed protesters were paid and implied that the demonstrations were part of a government smoke screen.

“I wish I could say that this is just some sort of urban situation, some urban chaos. I look at the border. Last week, we interviewed ranchers who said, Yeah, we're expecting more because of Title 42. We've put up cameras. We've got more bullets and guns. But we're actually afraid to use them to defend ourselves because the victims turn into the criminals in this country.

Something is shifting because because when it's happening in Texas and it's happening in in New York City, it's not an urban. This is a national cultural issue,”said Campos-Duffy.

Brian Kilmeade interjected.

“They want to make this George Floyd 2.”

Campos-Duffy continued.

“Of course they do. . .Here's the deal. This is a plug and go riot. They've got black victim, white guy, and all the actors know what they have to do. The NGOs, though, as you said, they probably a lot of these people are paid by all these other NGOs.

You've got the actors like AOC ready to go because they know they want another racial issue, just like George Floyd, because when these things happen, they can distract, they can distract from the economic misery that they're bringing on all of these people.

They can distract from the fact that they're consolidating power and and wealth at the very top. This is a distraction, but they need these useful idiots here not going to do this. You watch with the president weigh in today. You watch. He's going to find a microphone. It is not going to work when everyone feels like they're under attack,” said Campos-Duffy.

Riots When there were no Riots

Later on “Fox News Tonight,” Jones along with his guest author Douglas Murray repeated the false claim that there were riots. Although there were protests and some arrests there was no property damage or looting.

During this entire exchange a live video feed from a protest took up half the screen. It was clear that it was a peaceful protest.

“This is where we're at. We got complete maniacs in this city. No one wants to be here anymore, but they're forced to. They have work or families they want to take care of. And you have a God that has a track record. No one wants anybody to die. No. But what's going on in the subway has to stop, right?” said Jones.

Murray agreed.

“Every new Yorker knows this. Everyone, every New Yorker has a story of meeting somebody exactly like this being screamed at. You know, somebody's always on the fringe of violence. Everybody knows that. I know plenty of people, particularly women, who won't take the subway or won't take it after dark. There's all sorts of stuff. Everybody knows it's unsafe. And you know, the tragedy of this is that this incident, which will end up being litigated and much more, should have been jumped on by people who seemed to be wanting to provoke riots in New York.

I mean, that that clip, which is that clip we just heard the crowd from tonight and last night, they are shouting justice or we burn it down, burn it down is this city. It's our city. It's a city was sitting in. It's not a joke. And yet, despite this powder keg, existing politicians like members of the squad and the radical left Democrats have been over the last two days, just endlessly hitting every single sore spot. they can.

We've had we've had elected officials saying that this was a lynching. I mean, you know, don't even want to tell you this. This is just the most emotive language you could use,” said Murray.

Jones interrupted.

“They cropped out the black guy that was assisting the Marine out of the video. Right. And you gotta ask yourself why. Why would they do that? Why would they do that if they didn't have ulterior motives there?” said Jones

Murray doubled down on his assertion that elected officials were trying to incite a riot.

“Why would somebody like Representative Bowman or Cassio Cortez say that this was a public execution? And why would they say that unless they want the crowds to go berserk in New York, you know? I mean, that is to consider this, just to consider that they couldn't keep quiet. They couldn't do what Mayor Adams did and say, why don't we wait for the facts in this case? They couldn't they couldn't restrain themselves. These are people standing by a tinderbox, throwing lighted matches at it and hoping that it catches,” said Murray.

Stories Fox News Ignored

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

• E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against former President Donald J. Trump for defamation and battery continued last week. Carroll has accused Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room nearly 30 years ago. Parts of Trump’s videotaped deposition were released to the public. In one clip he mistakes Carroll for his second wife Marla Maples in a photograph, after saying Carroll wasn’t his type.

• PBS spent a lot of time and focus on the various scandals involving Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and gifts he had his wife received from various wealthy Republican donors included private boarding school tuition for Thomas’ grand nephew.

• The latest Jobs Report indicated the U.S. economy added 253,000 new jobs while unemployment fell 3.4%, its lowest rate since 1969.

• Four members of the Proud Boys were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their role in the riot on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

• The Mississippi River reached near record levels in the Quad-Cities area in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. The flooding was due to rapid snow melt.

• Montana State Representative Zoey Zephyr is suing the state in district court to allow her to return to the floor of the Montana Legislature. Zephyr, who is transgender, was barred from entering the floor after she said her fellow legislators would have “Blood on their hands” if anti-transgender legislation passed.

• A state judge in Missouri temporarily blocked the state’s extreme bans on gender-affirming care. The ban included gender affirming healthcare for transgender adults as well as minors.

• Millions marched in May Day related events all over the world last Monday. In France an estimate one million people protested President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

• A strike by more than 155,000 Canadian federal government workers came to end last week as a tentative deal was reached.

• Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met with President Biden last week in the White House.

• The final criminal case in the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police ended in a conviction. Former police officer, Tou Thao was convicted on state charges of aiding and abetting manslaughter. He was already convicted in federal court for violating Floyd’s civil rights.

• On Tuesday a high profile Palestinan prisoner died after a three month hunger strike while in Israeli custody. His death set off protests in the West Bank and cross-border fighting in Gaza and Israeli territory. The next day in response Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed a 58-year-old man and wounded five others. Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians linked to fatal shooting of a British Israeli woman and her two daughters.

• The U.S. Surgeon General cites loneliness as a serious health threat in a new report.

• PBS conducted an interview with Cindy McCain on her new role as head of the U.N. World Food Program. Global food insecurity has dramatically increased in the past several years due to conflicts and climate change.

• The Tony Award nominees were announced last week.

• A convicted rapist who was scheduled to be in court over another sex related charge shot and killed his wife, her three children and two friends before killing himself.

• In Serbia, a 13-year-old boy shot eight students and a guard at his school. He was later captured by police. Mass shootings are extremely rare in Serbia.

• Iran seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz. It is the second such capture in a week.

• Heavy rains and landslides in western Rwanda killed 127. In nearby eastern Congo over 200 died due to extreme floods.

• The U.S. ambassador to Russia met with Paul Whelan. Whelan has been wrongfully imprisoned in Russia over bogus espionage charges. Fox News only seems to care about Whelan when its politically advantageous. The shows that I surveyed last week did not mention this story.

• A court in Belarus sentenced a dissident journalist to eight years in prison.

• The Federal Trade Commission proposed sweeping changes to the privacy order with Facebook, now called Meta, over its failure to protect children’s privacy.

• The Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame announced new inductees for 2023 - Missy Elliott will be the first female hip hop artist inducted along with other artists such as Wille Nelson, Kate Bush, Rage Against the Machine, Sheryl Crow and the late George Michael.

• The state of Idaho passed a law making it illegal for minors to leave the state to have an abortion. PBS also produced a segment about how many OB/GYN’s are leaving the state because of the severe restrictions.

• According to new data from the CDC overdose deaths from Fentanyl tripled from 2016-2021

• California and New York State will investigate the NFL regarding gender discrimination complaints.

• The Supreme Court blocked the state of Oklahoma for executing Richard Glossip. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has stated Glossip did not get a fair trial. His execution is on hold while the court reviews the case.

• The military rulers of Myanmar released 2,153 political prisoners. Thousands remain detained.

By the Numbers

Coming up…

This week I have another installment of the Fox Nation series “Who is Hunter Biden? Part 2” for paid subscribers. I’m also planning on a cheat sheet of sorts for all of my subscribers on the Hunter Biden scandal. I found some great resources this past weekend that I’d love to share and organize for everyone.

I’ll also be covering “Fox & Friends,” “The Five,” and “Fox News Tonight,” and “Hannity.”