As Trump ramps up his final campaign push before the 2020 election, Fox News has ceded hours of its own programming to air his in-person rally blitz live on the network. Trump has had 12 in-person rallies since ending his COVID-19 quarantine. Safety regulations and social distancing have continued to be lax and in defiance of government recommendations, an issue that Fox has ignored in coverage of the rallies even as evidence shows that community outbreaks often occur after Trump rallies.
Fox has dedicated 9 hours and 28 minutes to live coverage of Trump’s rallies since October 12, showing at least some portion of Trump’s 12 in-person rallies each day. On five occasions, the network aired Trump's rally in full.
Trump rallies, which often feature extreme rhetoric and chants encouraging violence, have aired on Fox’s “news side” for 6 hours and 58 minutes since October 12, over twice as much as on Fox’s “opinion shows,” which aired his rallies for 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Fox’s coverage is a continuance of the network’s 2018 and 2016 strategies of delivering Trump live to viewers in the run-up to the election. These rallies ultimately end up as free advertising, a donation in kind from Fox News to the Trump campaign, and they’re continued evidence of the Trump-Fox News feedback loop.