REPORT: Fox's Nonstop Benghazi Coverage Is A $124 Million Boon For The GOP

Just two weeks of Fox News' Benghazi coverage is worth over $124 million, according to a Media Matters study. 

Fox's coverage of the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya went into overdrive in the wake of House Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) announcement on May 2 that Republicans would form a select committee to further investigate the tragedy. The decision marked a victory for the network, which has dedicated months -- and years -- to pushing misinformation and demanding answers to questions already addressed in the public record. 

According to a Media Matters study of publicity values for Fox programming, the network's never-ending effort to hawk the GOP's Benghazi theories amounts to a public relations windfall for Republicans valued at over $124 million.

For the two weeks following the select committee announcement, Media Matters reviewed TVEyes Media Monitoring Suite, a subscription-only database of television broadcasts, for Fox's weekday coverage of Benghazi. Data revealed that the network devoted over 16 hours and 27 minutes -- at least 225 segments -- to Benghazi in that time period. According to TVEyes' “national publicity value,” which estimates the value of 30-second slots on any given program, this coverage carries a value of approximately $124,234,562.74.

And yet, given the fervor with which Fox has politicized the tragedy since September 2012, this amount almost certainly represents but a fraction of the publicity value Benghazi scandal mongers have enjoyed from the network's devotion to their phony attacks.

METHODOLOGYMedia Matters searched Fox News Channel programming in TVEyes Monitoring Suite for “Benghazi OR Libya,” for weekday broadcasts airing 5:00 am - 11:00 pm between May 2 - May 16. Only segments with at least 30 seconds of discussion of Benghazi were included.