As Sean Hannity whined about the “CNN fake news network and their abusively biased coverage” of Trump, Hannity ironically promoted fake news about CNN’s coverage of the New York City terror attack yesterday.
Hannity based his attack on a headline from the conservative NewsBusters. It stated, “40 Minutes After NYC Terror Attack, CNN Obsesses Over Trump’s Diet Coke Habits.” While that may have been correct, Fox News’ lower-third banner during a clip from the CNN segment was not.
The FOX News lower third read, “MINUTES AFTER NYC TERROR ATTACK, CNN REPORTS ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S DIET COKE INTAKE.”
In fact, the clip showed that CNN’s report on Trump and Diet Coke occurred well over an hour after the terrorism incident. The time stamp on the CNN clip shows that it aired at 8:43 AM ET. Fox’s own media reporter, Brian Flood, noted on FoxNews.com, “The explosion reportedly occurred around 7:30 a.m.”
When someone says something happened within “minutes,” it usually means 5, 10, 15 or even 20 minutes. Not well over an hour.
Flood’s article also contains an ironic quote from the conservative Media Research Center's vice president, Dan Gainor: “U.S. News was talking about the bombing at 7:54. Nearly an hour later, CNN is whining about Donald Trump drinks Diet Cokes and watches too much TV instead of reporting about terrorism in New York City.”
Yet, at 7:55 AM (minutes after the explosion) instead of covering the terror attack, FOX & Friends was doing a segment with contributor and Trump sycophant Mollie Hemingway cheerleading a Trump tweet attacking the media.
Dishonest reporting, news headlines and lower thirds seem to be a trend at FOX News the last couple of weeks. On December 4, 2017, we caught Fox host Pete Hegseth spreading fake news about MSNBC’s coverage of the Kate Steinle verdict. On December 8, 2017, Fox News had to alter its deceitful headline falsely claiming that a Roy Moore accuser had forged his inscription in her yearbook. Last weekend, Fox changed another headline that suggested Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn’s injury was related to her criticism of Trump.
Watch the latest example of Fox News dishonesty about “fake news” below, from the December 11, 2017 Hannity.