Fox News is not being honest about the fact that violent crime is significantly down since President Biden took office.
Media Matters has noted how Fox is ignoring and/or disputing statistics showing that violent crime is lower under President Joe Biden than it was under Donald Trump. Instead, the network is hyping people’s feelings of being unsafe. It’s an obvious effort to increase those fears for the sake of its MAGA politics - and never mind Donald Trump’s 88 felony charges nor his violent rhetoric.
“Fox News’ reluctance to report declining crime rates appears to be part of its election year strategy to fearmonger about a ‘crime crisis,” Media Matters also noted, given that Fox used the same talking points in the run-up to the 2022 midterms.
Fox News analyst Gianno Caldwell did his part for the campaign propaganda on Wednesday. His 18 year-old brother was shot and killed in 2022. That’s horrible but it hardly makes him an expert in crime or crime fighting. Except on Fox News.
Attorney General Merrick Garland had spoken earlier in the day about the drop in crime and he announced an effort to surge resources to three new cities as part of its Violent Crime Initiative.
If you thought that Fox News would celebrate increased federal resources to fight crime, think again. You must have forgotten that Fox’s mission is to propagandize not inform.
Caldwell told viewers, "It's a lie to believe that any Biden policy is reducing crime." He said Chicago had "an 11% spike just last year with a 33% decline in arrests since 2023. Last year we saw 625 murders in the city of Chicago." But as CBS News reported, "the actual story is littered with nuances. Some crimes dropped during the pandemic with fewer people out in public, such as robberies and thefts, while other crimes such as shootings and homicides shot up. As the pandemic waned, and people returned to public life, most crimes rose to pre-COVID levels, especially those involving robberies and motor vehicle thefts."
"There is a lot wrong in the city of Chicago and across the country which is leading to an overall spike in crime in many jurisdictions around the nation. [AG Garland] did not address that,” Caldwell added. “Neither did he address the soft-on-crime progressive prosecutors across the country who aren't doing their jobs.”
Fox’s “crime expert” continued, “We need police officers all over the country. We need to give them bonuses, we need to give them training, we need to ensure that those who serve and protect us know that we have their backs, and if they do something wrong, they will be held accountable. … [Garland] did not demonstrate that."
Host Sandra Smith said, "yeah" twice. She further validated the message, saying, "You know I'm from Chicago, that is a city that is lost." She said “people with money” have "fled the city," that they’re being “taxed to death,” that businesses are "having a hard time attracting top talent" and that "people are scared to go to school, they're scared to go to work."
FACT CHECK: It’s true that Chicago is losing population but crime does not seem to be the driving factor. The not-liberal Chicago Tribune reported last May: “Chicago is part of a regional trend driven by nationwide forces — a general migration, led by retiring Baby Boomers and young job seekers, from the Midwest to warmer, cheaper and economically growing areas in the South. Many relatively wealthy and low-crime suburbs, for instance, from Country Club Hills to Arlington Heights to Evanston and Winnetka, lost comparable percentages of population, if not more.”
Last month, the FBI reported that 2023 saw a 13% drop in murders, a 6% drop in violent crime, and a 4% drop in property crime.
But Caldwell said, "The Biden administration has failed, Joe Biden has failed, and we need new leadership."
You can watch Fox try to dupe its viewers below, from the April 3, 2024 Your World.