{"id":44416,"date":"2020-03-14T11:03:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T18:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44416"},"modified":"2020-03-14T11:22:55","modified_gmt":"2020-03-14T18:22:55","slug":"fox-news-warns-their-employees-about-covid-19-while-lying-to-their-viewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44416","title":{"rendered":"Fox News Warns Their Employees About COVID-19, While Lying to Their Viewers"},"content":{"rendered":"

After nearly two months of rapidly growing infection rates, anxiety, and fatalities, Donald Trump has finally declared a national emergency due to COVID-19 (the coronavirus). This declaration is both an acknowledgement that the problem is far more serious than he has previously let on, and an inadvertent confession that he was wrong to trivialize the all too apparent risks in the first place.<\/p>\n

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However, Trump’s press conference continued to paint an unrealistically rosy scenario wherein everything would soon be fine due to the “perfectly”<\/em> implemented response by his administration. Trump spent much of the presser praising himself and falsely smearing his predecessor, President Obama. Never mind that the Obama administration quickly declared a health emergency at the outset of the H1N1 (swine Flu) virus, and tested a million Americans the first month. It’s been two months since the first reported case of COVID-19, but Trump just got around to declaring an emergency and only about 10,000 Americans have been tested.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Trump\u2019s Flagrant Coronavirus Lies Are Turning His Supporters Into Carriers<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The coverage of Trump’s declaration by his State TV news outlet (aka Fox News) was predictably sparkling with unflinching adoration and praise. This required a significant turnabout in their editorial stance considering that Fox News had been staunchly supporting Trump’s prior insistence that the coronavirus wasn’t a really a problem at all. For weeks Trump lied (video below)<\/em> about there being only a handful of cases and that the number was going down. He assured the public that the whole thing would miraculously disappear in short order. And Fox News backed him up a hundred percent. But now that Trump has conceded that this situation requires an emergency declaration, Fox News has flipped their position in tandem with the President’s.<\/p>\n

That position, however, is confusing, and perhaps deliberately so. While Trump did declare a national emergency, he continued to speak optimistically about how quickly his “flawless”<\/em> management of the crisis would result in its timely conclusion. In other words, there is still nothing to worry about. Naturally, Fox News parroted that positivity. On many of its programs the slant was toward how confident the American people should be that Trump would would guide us all to safety. There was little of the caution that the rest of the media is encouraging.<\/p>\n

For instance, Fox and Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt told viewers<\/a><\/strong> that “It’s actually the safest time to fly.<\/em>” This, while medical experts are advising people to avoid non-essential travel such as long plane trips. And that’s especially true for those over 65, which is the bulk of Fox’s audience. Additionally, Trish Regan said that it’s all a Democratic hoax to impeach the President. That’s similar to Trump’s “shadow”<\/em> chief of staff Sean Hannity’s take that pegged Democrats as the real threat, rather than the virus:<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the beginning, all they\u2019ve done is use the virus, politicize the virus to bludgeon President Trump. All the same people who have done the same thing for three straight years. … Russia, Russia. Ukraine, Ukraine. And impeach, impeach. Now, corona, corona.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What’s most disturbing about this is that, while Fox News is virtually encouraging risky behavior for their viewers, they are giving completely different advice to their employees. A memo that was sent<\/a><\/strong> by Fox’s CEO Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace told staffers to…<\/p>\n

“…cut back on studio bookings and to expect possible programming changes as a result of precautions being taken against the spread of coronavirus.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And furthermore…<\/p>\n

“Fox News told producers and bookers to rely more on remote interviews or interviews conducted via Skype; to cancel all in-person meetings; and to limit vendors for entering the building. Earlier this week, Fox News canceled the in-studio audience for its ‘Greg Gutfeld Show’ on Saturday nights and said it would stop doing a live-audience show for ‘Fox & Friends’ that had been taking place about once every month.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s good advice that is consistent with the guidance given by medical experts. Many companies are instituting similar precautions. But while that’s good enough for the Fox staffers, it isn’t what Fox is telling their own viewers. And that isn’t just the view of outsiders and critics of the network. A Fox producer told CNN’s Brian Stelter<\/a><\/strong> that…<\/p>\n

“The attempt to deflect and blame the media and Democrats from Trish Regan, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Lou Dobbs, Jesse Watters, and Greg Gutfeld — instead of addressing the coronavirus — is really irresponsible and hazardous to our viewers.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The stark difference between Fox’s internal personnel guidance and their editorial policy is indicative of their political biases. It also demonstrates that their concerns for their audience (which is largely made up of vulnerable seniors) is focused more on pro-Trump propaganda and advancing his reelection prospects, than on protecting their health and welfare. Which, not surprisingly, is exactly what Trump himself is focused on. That’s why he has failed to implement<\/a><\/strong> broad-based testing and continues to understate the still very serious risks.<\/p>\n

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19 times Trump downplayed the coronavirushttps:\/\/t.co\/fswjvFlRoS<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ucwyEvoVCg<\/a><\/p>\n

— The Fix (@thefix) March 12, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n