It all depends on if your name is Hillary
It’s not quite a revelation to suggest – or simply state – that Fox News tends to favor conservative and Republican pursuits in its reporting. However, now that Mike Pence is being accused of maintaining a private email account to conduct public business during his time as governor of Indiana, much like Hilary Clinton one was as Secretary of State, we’re dealing with an apples-to-apples study of how the network is covering the similar issues.
To the surprise of few, the coverage isn’t similar at all. One could parse through hundreds of hours of coverage to create an aggregate stance the network took on the Clinton email scandal, but with the Pence malfeasance just now emerging, that would leave us with little coverage to aggregate for his treatment.
So, rather, let’s use two simple and telling screenshot of Fox News chyrons (graphics – courtesy of Vox and Twitter) used to handle each subject’s scandal.
Let’s start with the chyron used for Hilary Clinton’s email coverage:
Ok. With no further commentary, let’s now look at the chyron used for their early coverage of Mike Pence’s personal email scandal:
Not only is there no “Corrupt Pence?” pseudo-question, but the outright assertion that this is a non-story. Oh, and covering the issue is an act nothing short of “hysterical,” as though the mainstream media was clawing at their own skin trying to rid themselves of imaginary bugs.
The cases will undoubtedly prove to be different and less comparable as investigation provides more information, but Fox News’ tone at the outset of a scandal they were so quick to latch onto for an entire campaign speaks volumes in very few words.
It’s probably time to put “Fair and Balanced” to bed, guys.
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