Sarah Wasko / Media Matters
Fox News’ latest mischaracterization, this time about comments made by CNN’s Jake Tapper, may have gotten national attention, but the tactics the network used are par for the course for Fox.
During the October 31 edition of his CNN show, host Jake Tapper said that the phrase “Allahu akbar” is “sometimes said under the most beautiful of circumstances and too often we hear it being said in moments like this.” He was referring to an attack in New York City in which the attacker reportedly shouted “Allahu akbar” after he killed eight people by driving a truck down a bike path. Soon after the show aired, websites that promote fake news and other pro-Trump outlets pushed stories about Tapper’s comments, many of which took them out of context. Fox News Insider also published an article with the headline “CNN's Jake Tapper: 'Allahu Akbar' Can Be Said Under 'Most Beautiful' of Circumstances.” A subsequent (and since deleted) tweet from Fox News promoting the article claimed that “Tapper says ‘Allahu Akbar’ Is ‘Beautiful’ Right After NYC Terror Attack.”
The story got national attention after Tapper called out Fox for “lying,” but it’s actually nothing new for the network, which is prone to both taking people out of context and attacking other media, frequently targeting CNN. The premises for these attacks can be as ridiculous as they are misleading. Fox has even taken its own polling out of context in a desperate attempt to prove a point. And while many on the network have lashed out at the “media” at large, Fox often seems to single out CNN in particular.
There was also anti-Muslim sentiment injected into Fox’s suggestion that Tapper’s comments were sympathetic to terrorism. And that was likely no accident as, at this point following the terror attack, Fox was in the midst of its typical anti-Muslim crusade.
Here is how the events unfolded:
October 31:
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Tapper said on his show that “Allahu akbar” is “sometimes said under the most beautiful of circumstances and too often we hear it being said in moments like this.”
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Shortly after, The Daily Caller, Infowars, Breitbart, and fake news purveyors Liberty Writers and Conservative 101 reported on his comments, some of them misleadingly.
November 1:
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Other fake news purveyors, including True Pundit, RedStateWatcher, and TruthFeed, continued to push the story.
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The Washington Times and Fox News’ Jason Chaffetz reported on the story (Chaffetz later apologized to Tapper on Twitter).
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Fox published a story online and promoted the piece with a tweet misquoting Tapper.
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Fox deleted the tweet.
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Tapper called out Fox News host Sean Hannity and guest Sebastian Gorka for continuing to push the misleading point after Fox had retracted the tweet.
Madeline Peltz contributed research to this piece.