Fox flagship “straight news” program downplays Trump’s lies about the election

This afternoon, President Donald Trump posted a long and rambling video to social media complaining about the presidential election.

The Associated Press titled its article about the speech “In video, Trump recycles unsubstantiated voter fraud claims.” The article noted that Trump spent the video “unspooling one misstatement after another to back his baseless claim that he really won” and that the speech “was largely a recycling of the same litany of misinformation and unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud that he has been making for the past month.”

Bret Baier, Fox’s chief political anchor who leads the flagship “straight news” show Special Report, framed the speech differently.

Early in the December 2 edition of his show, Fox reporter Kristin Fisher discussed Trump’s speech and added some necessary context:

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From the December 2, 2020, edition of Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier

But when Baier threw to a panel later in the show, there was no fact-checking at all, with the anchor’s focus instead on the length of the speech, the political impacts of the speech, news outlets not being permitted to film the speech, and the idea that Trump “is still fighting to the end.”

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From the December 2, 2020, edition of Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier

CNN reporter Oliver Darcy argued with Baier about his characterization of Trump’s complaining:

It's great Kristin fact-checked at very start of your show. You then played a bunch of clips later and didn't provide any of that necessary context. C'mon.

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 2, 2020

Hard-hitting stuff, Bret. pic.twitter.com/wF0iR1q384

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 2, 2020

As Media Matters has noted, Fox’s “straight news” side has repeatedly cast doubt or pushed conspiracy theories about President-elect Joe Biden’s victory since Election Day. When Trump earlier this week complained that Fox wasn’t showing Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s deranged remarks at a meeting in Arizona, a Fox “straight news” program ramped up coverage.

And during the panel discussion today, Baier teased Giuliani’s remarks in Michigan.