Fox 5 Discloses That Chief Investigative Reporter Is “A Strong Advocate Of The Second Amendment”

Emily Miller, the chief investigative reporter for Washington, D.C.'s Fox affiliate, delivered a rare segment on gun policy for the station. Her report was appended with the disclosure from her employer that “she is a strong advocate of the Second Amendment.”

Miller, who was previously one of the most prominent sources of conservative misinformation on gun violence, has largely been silent on the topic since February, following controversies related to her pro-gun advocacy.

The August 24 broadcast of Fox 5 News @ 10 and the August 25 broadcast of Fox 5 Morning News @ 5 both ran a Miller segment on Washington, D.C., police chief Cathy Lanier's recent discussion of a spike in gun violence in the city. Lanier said at a meeting of law enforcement professionals that officers are recovering more high-capacity ammunition magazines -- those that can hold 10 rounds of ammunition or more -- at crime scenes in D.C., including some incidents “where there are 40 to 50 rounds fired.”

Miller's segment -- which included her questioning Lanier at a news conference -- sought to cast doubt on the claim that more high-capacity magazines are actually being recovered. Miller often submits adversarial reporting on Lanier for Fox 5. During Miller's previous stint as senior opinion editor for the conservative Washington Times, she frequently criticized Lanier with the claim that she is anti-gun.

Following both broadcasts of Miller's segment, one of the program's co-anchors said, “It should be noted that chief investigative reporter Emily Miller authored a book about the national political debate over gun control. She is a strong advocate of the Second Amendment.”

The book referenced by Fox 5 is Emily Gets Her Gun: ... But Obama Wants To Take Yours, which was published in 2013 and advances conspiracy theories about a supposed desire by Obama to “disarm the populace” while pushing numerous falsehoods about gun violence.

Miller has not regularly reported on gun issues in D.C. since February, following controversy over her appearances at pro-gun rallies in Virginia and Maryland. During a January speech in front of an extremist gun group during a lobbying day at the Virginia State Capitol, Miller said that Washington D.C. “is not part of America, because they don't recognize the Second Amendment.”

Miller's appearances at pro-gun rallies were criticized by journalism experts as a conflict of interest, given her coverage of gun issues in the D.C. metropolitan area.

Following the controversy, Fox 5 included a disclosure on one of Miller's reports that she “is a proponent for Second Amendment rights,” but soon Miller left the gun beat entirely after a second controversy.

On February 25, The Washington Post's Erik Wemple reported that Miller had given different accounts of a 2010 “home invasion” in order to “squeeze the story for additional terror” in support of her pro-gun advocacy.

Miller's advocacy began with a series of blog posts for the Washington Times about her efforts to obtain a firearm license in Washington D.C. Miller explained that she wanted a gun in the wake of a “home invasion” in 2010.

Miller often told the story to pro-gun audiences, and in some instances described how she encountered a burglar inside of a residence she was housesitting and had to “talk him out of the house without” being harmed. Miller also had described being chased by more than a dozen of the burglar's accomplices after following him outside of the house.

But according to a series police documents obtained by Wemple, Miller told police that she encountered a suspicious man outside of the home, who gave her a business card for a tree service. Only hours later did Miller call the police after discovering that her credit card was missing from a wallet she had left inside of the house. Miller also made no mention of encountering more than a dozen of the suspected burglar's companions.

Fox 5's disclosure that Miller is “a strong advocate of the Second Amendment” is important given her long track record of spreading false information about gun violence, even while working as a reporter for the station.

During a May 19, 2014, segment on Fox 5, Miller reported on remarks about firearms given by Hillary Clinton during an appearance before the National Council for Behavioral Health. In her report, Miller claimed Clinton had “talked about hunting and fishing and all that stuff, now she is like, 'We need to pull back guns, nobody should have guns.'”

Clinton had actually said nothing of the sort. According to a video from the event, Clinton called for stronger gun laws but added, “I think you can say that and still support the right of people to own guns.”