It is time for a class action suit charging Fox News with killing its own viewers. It convinced too many of them vaccines are deadly, COVID-19 is not, and masks are for sheep.
A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Association by Yale researchers found that after vaccines became available the COVID death rate was 43% higher among Republicans in the 2 states they examined, Florida and Ohio.
NBC News went on to report that in 2021, Trump counties nationwide reported 38% of the COVID deaths, while Biden voting counties reported 24% of the total deaths.
The bottom line: disinformation kills. And ironically, the people dying are their own viewers. This wasn’t “owning the libs”, this was killing conservatives. Another study by Political Communication showed a direct link between Fox News and vaccine misinformation.
“Fox coverage was more significant than that of other cable and mainstream sources, and is associated with increased negative public vaccine sentiment”, the study claimed. By 2022, more than 230,000 unvaccinated Americans died unnecessarily.
Further research by ETH Zurich found “there is an association between higher Fox News viewership and lower vaccinations”.
The biggest offender was Fox’s most popular host, Tucker Carlson. Over and over he preached “natural immunity “ without mentioning that to get there millions must first die. Even now that Carlson was sacrificed to the Gods of liability called on by Dominion voting systems, the COVID misinformation continues. Fox anchors immediately jumped to the “danger of vaccination “ upon the sudden and tragic cardiac arrest of Bronny James, son of LeBron.
Both Laura Ingraham and Martha McCallum linked his medical emergency to the vaccine despite no medical link from his doctors. Neither pointed out the very relevant fact that this particular type of cardiac arrest is an extremely rare side effect. It affects 0.01% of the COVID vaccinated.
And perhaps more importantly, the likelihood of suffering cardiac arrest is considerably higher from contracting COVID than it is from the vaccine. In other words, if you are worried about a heart attack, get the vaccine to avoid COVID.
These findings were framed politically by Chuck Todd on Sunday’s Meet the Press. While the program deserves credit for highlighting the latest Yale study, Todd reported that perhaps Republicans had done themselves a disservice by spreading COVID among their voters which could lead to defeat in the close presidential races to come in Georgia and Arizona. True, but not the point here.
This should not be viewed as it is by many in social media, who are reacting with smug glee and boastful memes featuring Charles Darwin.
These are human lives. Humans who trusted a network that falsely pretends to be a news source often admitting when pressed legally that it’s not. Where is the accountability? It can only be in the courts. Out there today is a loved one whose father, mother, brother, sister, or child died following the advice of right-wing media.
If the Dominion taught us anything, it’s that words and lies matter. Tucker Carlson found out the hard way by losing his job and Fox should be reminded 787.5 million more times.
Jim Avila previously served as a weekly columnist for Barrett News Media. An Award-winning journalist with four decades of reporting and anchoring experience, Jim worked as Senior National Correspondent, 20/20 Correspondent, and White House Correspondent for ABC News. Prior to his time with ABC, he spent a decade with NBC News, and worked locally in Los Angeles and Chicago for KNBC, and WBBM. He can be found on Twitter @JimAvilaABC.
Excellent article as always. It’s like Trump and Fox have a cult-like grip on so many Americans.