Fox News

=== COVID-19 pandemic ===
{{main|Fox News controversies#Coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic|Media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic|l1=Fox News coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic}}

During the first few weeks of the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United States]], Fox News was considerably more likely than other mainstream news outlets to promote misinformation about [[COVID-19]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/a8r3p|title=How Right-Leaning Media Coverage of COVID-19 Facilitated the Spread of Misinformation in the Early Stages of the Pandemic|last=Motta|first=Matt|website=osf.io|access-date=April 18, 2020|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223200735/https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/a8r3p|url-status=live}}</ref> The network promoted the narrative that the emergency response to the pandemic was politically motivated or otherwise unwarranted,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Darcy |first=Oliver |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/media/fox-news-coronavirus/index.html |title=How Fox News misled viewers about the coronavirus |date=March 13, 2020 |publisher=CNN |access-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-date=December 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208181915/https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/media/fox-news-coronavirus/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> with [[Sean Hannity]] explicitly calling it a "hoax" (he later denied doing so) and other hosts downplaying it.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rieger |first=JM |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/19/sean-hannity-denied-calling-coronavirus-hoax-nine-days-after-he-called-coronavirus-hoax/ |title=Sean Hannity denied calling coronavirus a hoax nine days after he called coronavirus a hoax |date=March 19, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-date=December 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207134118/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/19/sean-hannity-denied-calling-coronavirus-hoax-nine-days-after-he-called-coronavirus-hoax/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This coverage was consistent with the messaging of Trump at the time.<ref name=Wapo2020-03-17>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/on-fox-news-suddenly-a-very-different-tune-about-the-coronavirus/2020/03/16/7a7637cc-678f-11ea-9923-57073adce27c_story.html|title=On Fox News, suddenly a very different tune about the coronavirus|year=2020|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=March 18, 2020|archive-date=January 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103171038/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/on-fox-news-suddenly-a-very-different-tune-about-the-coronavirus/2020/03/16/7a7637cc-678f-11ea-9923-57073adce27c_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Only in mid March did the network change the tone of its coverage,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gabbatt |first=Adam |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/mar/17/fox-news-coronavirus-outbreak-trump |title='We have a responsibility': Fox News declares coronavirus a crisis in abrupt U-turn |date=March 17, 2020 |work=The Guardian |access-date=April 5, 2020 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=November 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117222625/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/mar/17/fox-news-coronavirus-outbreak-trump |url-status=live }}</ref> after President Trump declared a national emergency.<ref name=Wapo2020-03-17/> At the same time that Fox News commentators downplayed the threat of the virus in public, Fox's management and the Murdoch family took a broad range of internal measures to protect themselves and their employees against it.<ref>{{Cite news|last=James|first=Meg|date=March 12, 2020|title=Fox News addresses coronavirus threat internally as on-air talent faces criticism|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-03-12/fox-news-coronavirus-threat|access-date=April 21, 2020|archive-date=December 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230071638/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-03-12/fox-news-coronavirus-threat|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Smith|first=Ben|date=March 23, 2020|title=As Fox News Played Down the Coronavirus, Its Chief Protected Himself|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/business/media/fox-news-coronavirus-rupert-murdoch.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323223005/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/business/media/fox-news-coronavirus-rupert-murdoch.html |archive-date=March 23, 2020 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=April 7, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Arciga|first=Julia|date=March 24, 2020|title=Murdoch's 89th Birthday Party Canceled While Fox Downplayed Virus: NYT|work=Daily Beast|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/rupert-murdochs-89th-birthday-party-reportedly-canceled-while-fox-downplayed-coronavirus|access-date=April 7, 2020|archive-date=December 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230021555/https://www.thedailybeast.com/rupert-murdochs-89th-birthday-party-reportedly-canceled-while-fox-downplayed-coronavirus|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Derysh|first=Igor|date=March 25, 2020|title=Murdoch family took serious precautions against coronavirus as Fox News downplayed risk to public|work=Salon|url=https://www.salon.com/2020/03/25/murdoch-family-took-serious-precautions-against-coronavirus-as-fox-news-downplayed-risk-to-public/|access-date=April 7, 2020|archive-date=December 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228204650/https://www.salon.com/2020/03/25/murdoch-family-took-serious-precautions-against-coronavirus-as-fox-news-downplayed-risk-to-public/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Sean Hannity and [[Laura Ingraham]], two of Fox News's primetime hosts, promoted use of the drug [[hydroxychloroquine]] for the treatment of COVID-19, an [[off-label]] usage which at the time was supported only by [[anecdotal evidence]], after it was touted by Trump as a possible cure.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rupar |first=Aaron |url=https://www.vox.com/2020/3/24/21192222/fox-news-coronavirus-coverage-dan-patrick-drugs |title=Fox News's coronavirus coverage slid back off the rails spectacularly on Monday night |date=March 24, 2020 |work=Vox |access-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101001758/https://www.vox.com/2020/3/24/21192222/fox-news-coronavirus-coverage-dan-patrick-drugs |url-status=live }}</ref> Fox News promoted a [[conspiracy theory]] that coronavirus death toll numbers were inflated with people who would have died anyway from preexisting conditions. This was disputed by White House coronavirus task force members [[Anthony Fauci]] and [[Deborah Birx]], with Fauci describing conspiracy theories as "nothing but distractions" during public health crises.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brewster |first1=Jack |title=A Fox News Conspiracy—Are Coronavirus Death Numbers Inflated?—Attacked By Fauci, Birx |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/04/09/a-fox-news-conspiracy-are-coronavirus-death-numbers-inflated-attacked-by-fauci-birx/ |website=Forbes |access-date=April 11, 2020 |date=April 9, 2020 |archive-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103170621/https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/04/09/a-fox-news-conspiracy-are-coronavirus-death-numbers-inflated-attacked-by-fauci-birx/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Later in the pandemic, Hannity, Ingraham and Carlson promoted the use of livestock [[dewormer]] [[ivermectin]] as a possible COVID-19 treatment.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Darcy |first=Oliver |date=August 23, 2023 |title=Right-wing media pushed a deworming drug to treat Covid-19 that the FDA says is unsafe for humans |language=en-US |work=[[CNN]] |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/23/media/right-wing-media-ivermectin/index.html |access-date=April 19, 2023 |archive-date=August 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824110456/https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/23/media/right-wing-media-ivermectin/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Studies have linked trust in Fox News,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zhao|first1=Erfei|last2=Wu|first2=Qiao|last3=Crimmins|first3=Eileen M.|last4=Ailshire|first4=Jennifer A.|date=October 1, 2020|title=Media trust and infection mitigating behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA|journal=BMJ Global Health|volume=5|issue=10|pages=e003323|doi=10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003323|issn=2059-7908|pmc=7545496|pmid=33037063|doi-access=free|s2cid=222229835}}</ref> as well as viewership of Fox News,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Simonov|first1=Andrey|last2=Sacher|first2=Szymon|last3=Dubé|first3=Jean-Pierre|last4=Biswas|first4=Shirsho|date=December 16, 2021|title=Frontiers: The Persuasive Effect of Fox News: Noncompliance with Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic|url=https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mksc.2021.1328|journal=Marketing Science|volume=41|issue=2|pages=230–242|doi=10.1287/mksc.2021.1328|s2cid=245299737|issn=0732-2399|access-date=December 25, 2021|archive-date=December 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221021630/https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mksc.2021.1328|url-status=live}}</ref> with fewer preventive behaviors and more risky behaviors related to COVID-19.<ref>{{citation|last1=Ash|first1=Elliott|last2=Galletta|first2=Sergio|last3=Hangartner|first3=Dominik|last4=Margalit|first4=Yotam|last5=Pinna|first5=Matteo|date=June 27, 2020|title=The Effect of Fox News on Health Behavior During COVID-19|location=Rochester, New York|doi=10.2139/ssrn.3636762|hdl=20.500.11850/427768|ssrn=3636762|s2cid=242785823|url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/119447/1/Hangartner_effect_of_fox_news_on_health_behavior_published.pdf|hdl-access=free|access-date=September 14, 2023|archive-date=September 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230920024835/http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/119447/1/Hangartner_effect_of_fox_news_on_health_behavior_published.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Once a COVID-19 vaccine became widely available, Fox News consistently questioned the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, celebrated evidence-free skepticism, and blasted attempts to promote vaccinations.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Thompson|first=Derek|date=September 26, 2021|title=How America's Vaccination Campaign Fell Behind the World's|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/how-america-lost-its-lead-vaccination/620201/|access-date=September 26, 2021|website=The Atlantic}}</ref> More than 90% of Fox Corporation's full-time employees had been fully vaccinated by September 2021.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/sep/15/fox-news-vaccines-testing-tucker-carlson "Nearly all Fox staffers vaccinated for Covid even as hosts cast doubt on vaccine"]. ''Guardian''. September 15, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2022</ref>