In case you thought Tucker Carlson and Fox News really cared about your safety…
Last month, I wrote about how Fox only cares about crime it can weaponize. Otherwise, they might care about the many criminal charges Donald Trump is facing, e.g.
That post cited Media Matters research after Tucker Carlson’s August 19 monologue urged Republicans to focus on “law and order” in order to create a “red wave” in the midterms. The study found that between August 19 and October 14, Fox aired 97 segments “that included significant discussions of violent crime” during prime time. Most of them blamed the left or accused the left of being soft on violent crime.
Now that the election is over, so is Fox News’ interest in crime. Media Matters conducted another study – and surprise! – the coverage of violent crime dropped significantly.
In the lead-up to the midterms, Fox averaged 141 weekday violent crime segments per week from Labor Day through the Friday before the election. The two weeks prior to Election Day, those starting October 24 and October 31, featured the highest number of weekday violent crime segments of the period studied: 187 and 193 segments, respectively. That coverage dropped dramatically during the week of the election, which had just 71 weekday violent crime segments.
In the week after the election, Fox’s crime coverage has ticked back up a bit as stories about the tragic shooting at the University of Virginia and multiple killings at the University of Idaho entered the news cycle — but the coverage was notably less focused on painting Democratic cities as crime-infested. Thus far this week, Fox has aired 74 violent crime segments in three days, which is still notably fewer than in the weeks prior to the midterms.
Lo and behold, the Republicans seemed to have forgotten about crime, too. None other than Fox's own Geraldo Rivera has called them out on it.
Republicans get control of the House & the first they do is…No not explore how to tame inflation or crime etc. They launch an investigation of President & Hunter Biden.
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) November 17, 2022
Boring. Divisive. Retro. Unwanted. Zero positive impact on the lives of Americans. Is this the real Red Wave?
You know that means Fox will be hand-in-hand with the same messaging. In fact, it has already begun.
You can watch Fox’s phony-baloney concern for public safety below, via Media Matters.
