Fox & Friends ignores “strong” jobs report after interviewing diners about their economic concerns

Even after interviewing multiple patrons at a Texas diner about economic conditions, Fox & Friends’ Friday edition completely ignored the December 2023 jobs report which blew past expectations and was characterized by a Fox Business anchor multiple times as “strong.”

In various Fox & Friends segments, the economy was one of the main topics discussed by Fox News host Lawrence Jones and the various diners he talked to.

Jones asked one diner, “We were talking about the economy. … What’s going on with the country?” To another, Jones posed the question: “The economy, what's going wrong and what's going right?” Jones said to another diner: “People just have been hit hard and we're trying to find some type of way to keep the money in our pocket. Sir, how bad is the economy?”

Later, Jones asked a group of diners to raise their hands if they “[think] we’re on the wrong track, economy-wise.” As Jones noted, “pretty much the entire diner” raised their hands.

Yet when the December 2023 jobs report was released Friday morning, showing 216,000 jobs added — well above the expected 160,000 jobsFox & Friends failed to cover it at all. Instead, the program interviewed Marie Osmond about her bucket list, aired a segment from reporter Jeff Flock taking a Tesla for a test drive, and lastly, the hosts tried out mechanical bull riding outside of their New York City studio.

In contrast to Fox & Friends’ failure to even mention the jobs report, Fox Business anchor Stuart Varney led off his program by calling it “a strong report.” Varney again repeatedly referred to the jobs report as “a strong report” and “a strong economy” in a later segment with economist Peter Morici, who agreed with him.

Video file

Citation From the January 5, 2024, edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co.