Fox News appears to be matching the focus of the GOP's “closing argument” in the weeks before the 2024 election, increasing the network's coverage of trans athletes at the same time that Republican politicians are spending millions on ad campaigns attacking the rights of trans Americans.
Fox News’ segments mentioning trans athletes rose from six in September to at least 47 so far in October, an increase of over 683%.
Fox’s coverage of trans athletes in October has spiked as the election draws closer. The first week of the month featured at least three such segments, the second week also featured at least three, while the third featured at least 30, showing a steep increase in segments per week. The fourth week of October featured 12 such segments.
Fox News aired at least 41 segments that mentioned trans athletes from the start of July through the end of August, at least 24 of which were aired over the course of just three days, July 31 through August 2, amid widespread anti-trans attacks against Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif. (Although Khelif is not transgender, Donald Trump has repeated false claims about her gender identity as recently as October 21 while speaking with former professional wrestler Mark Calaway.)
Fox's weekday coverage of trans athletes declined following its spike in July, with no mentions of the subject at all in the first week of September. October's coverage has now surpassed the previous peak, however, with the network airing at least 42 segments that mentioned trans athletes in just the last two weeks.
Some segments aired by the network in October have featured references to a college volleyball player from San Jose State University who right-wing media have recently attacked over claims she is trans. (Neither the athlete nor the university have spoken publicly about her gender identity.)
Trump referenced the SJSU player in a Fox News town hall this month, speaking favorably of a national ban on trans athletes, while Trump running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) responded to a recent question about the story by saying, “You have to make clear that Title IX protects the interests of our young girls, instead of facilitating the destruction of girls' sports.”
SJSU teammate Brooke Slusser has joined a suit against the NCAA that aims to bar trans women from competition, earning herself two interviews on Fox since the start of October.
Experts estimate that “fewer than 40 of the NCAA’s more than 500,000 athletes are known to be transgender,” and of the 3.3% of high schoolers who are trans, according to the CDC, few participate in athletic competition. At least 25 states have passed legislation that bars transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity since Trump's loss in 2020, however, setting the stage for national campaigns and coverage in 2024.
A recent survey from Data For Progress showed that 80% of voters agree that “both Democrats and Republicans should spend less time talking about transgender issues and more time talking about voters' priority issues like the economy and inflation.”
Chart by Andrea Austria.
Methodology
Media Matters searched our internal database of all original, weekday programming on Fox News Channel (shows airing from 6 a.m. through midnight) for segments that analysts determined to mention trans athletes from July 1, 2024, through October 25, 2024.
