For years, Fox News network has marketed itself for American conservatives as an alternative to the oft-maligned mainstream media and its supposedly liberal agenda.
But what was presented as an alternative has far too often veered into alternate reality.
Fox News hosts like Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs gleefully amplified former President Donald Trump's lies that the 2020 election was "stolen" from him by Democrats—lies that eventually led a mob of pro-Trump extremists to storm the United States Capitol in a deadly failed insurrection.
Meanwhile the network's opinion hosts like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Jeanine Pirro broadcast anti-immigrant rants to millions of viewers each night, along with further misinformation promoting hysteria over things like the gender of Mr. Potatohead and the falling prominence of Dr. Seuss.
And on Monday—after yet another deadly mass shooting occurred, this time in Colorado—Fox News didn't air coverage of the Boulder Police Department's press conference providing updates on the massacre. The network instead aired the broadcasts of its opinion hosts.
CNN Senior Media Reporter Oliver Darcy—a favorite target of right-wing media outlets—called them out for it in a scathing rebuke.
Darcy wrote:
"During the first press conference, [Fox] aired Sean Hannity showing footage of Biden stumbling on the stairs of Air Force One last week. And as Boulder Police announced that 10 people had lost their lives, Laura Ingraham chatted with Dr. Scott Atlas about 'THE SOCIAL DISTANCING FARCE.'"
He further called on other outlets to stop granting the network legitimacy:
"This is not the behavior of a news organization. It's the behavior of a right wing talk channel. And it's really time for other media outlets to recognize this and stop pretending the channel's primary aim is to deliver the news. Failure to call the network for what it is not only does a disservice to readers, it is simply inaccurate."
Others agreed.
Criticism of Fox's coverage continues.
The network continues to be one of the highest rated so-called news channels in the United States.
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