A letter to Fox News on their George Floyd coverage

Dear Fox News:

Your coverage of the unrest following the murder of George Floyd has crossed the line from your usual polemical, partisan, irresponsible “journalism” into inflammatory disinformation that could potentially incite violence. 

To paraphrase the take down of another demagogue (Joseph McCarthy) whom you would have no doubt supported: Fox News, have you no sense of decency?

One example of your indecency is your distorted, mendacious reporting and commentary about Antifa, a tiny anti-fascist protest movement (it’s too loosely constituted to even be called an organization) that has sometimes had violent encounters with right wingers and neo-Nazis.

Antifa is your favorite bogeyman. A study shows that from May 27 to June 10, “Fox News programs have mentioned Antifa more than 325 times, per TVEyes. Fox Business: 173+ times. Antifa has come up 67+ times on CNN and 88+ times on MSNBC.”

The truth is that Antifa poses little or no threat. According to the Washington Post, when the group tried to gather nationally, they topped out at a few hundred. On CNN, Historian Mark Bray, who has studied the leftist groups, agreed. He said, "You can see that when these groups in major cities mobilize, they don't get more than a couple hundred people…”

In addition, Antifa had nothing to do with the violence during the recent protests. The FBI found “no evidence that the American militant anti-fascist movement Antifa was involved in violence that erupted during national protests over the death of George Floyd.” Further, a Reuters “examination of federal court records related to the charges and social media posts by some of the suspects and interviews with defense lawyers and prosecutors found mostly disorganized acts of violence by people who have few obvious connections to Antifa or other left-wing groups.” Reuters looked at federal charging documents related to the protests and found “no violent acts are alleged at all” that are attributed to Antifa.

When you weren’t scaring your viewers with a false Antifa narrative, you frightened them with distorted reporting and commentary that emphasized violence over legitimate, peaceful protests and the legitimate reasons behind those protests. A GDELT study  (chart, right) showed that Fox reports used the terms “riots” or “rioters” five times more than CNN, and your reports discussed looting 25% more than CNN. And yes, you discussed Antifa six times more than on CNN.

The result is that your deliberately distorted and demonstrably false narratives have created an atmosphere of irrational fear, a fertile ground into which seeds of disinformation have been planted on social media. Thanks to Fox and fake social media posts, terrified gun-toting small town residents in the Western U.S. have gathered to defend themselves against an Antifa invasion –an invasion, of course, that never came, and will never come. (See recent, excellent articles in the New York Times and Buzzfeed. This is the alt right’s “waiting for the Great Pumpkin” moment, the difference being that Charlie Brown and his friends weren’t armed with AK-47’s. If Fox had reported the truth about Antifa, perhaps the good citizens of small town Montana, Oregon, and Idaho wouldn’t have been so quick to take up arms and contemplate violence.

Fox News, you can and must be better. Start with more honest coverage that does less pandering and more informing. Take my advice from Peace Journalism Principles and Practices, and report on “them” (the “other side”) fairly, respectfully, and with empathy; and report about the invisible causes and effects of the unrest, and not just the visible violence. You must report contextually in a way that reflects that 99% of the protesters were peaceful. Also, report counter-narratives that provide a different perspective on the protesters, the police, and the community (this means avoiding stereotypes like all cops are brutal or all protesters are violent thugs); and report with reconciliation in mind--discuss how healing can occur and what needs to happen for it to begin.

Fox, if you don’t get better, it’s inevitable that you and your allies spreading social media disinformation are going to eventually have blood on your hands, since it’s inevitable that one of your deluded viewers hopped up on Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson wades into a crowd of protesters and starts using the assault weapons you love so much.

Steven Youngblood, concerned viewer