Stone famously quipped, “All governments lie.”And while profit — Fox executives and hosts feared alienating their audience and hurting their stock price — rather than journalistic norms drove the decisions for Fox News, the network’s executives actually ended up adopting a common media practice. Journalists have long allowed officials to tell lies so long as they do it on the record. After all, journalists were informing readers of the perspective provided by a prominent newsmaker — even if behind the scenes, reporters knew it wasn’t truthful. This reality was underscored by the way Fox executives reprimanded journalists who tried to expose and fact-check the falsehoods being shared by Trump and his allies. Yet, while Fox News’s disingenuous handling of these lies may have had dire repercussions, the gap between what Fox executives and hosts knew behind the scenes and what made it onto the air isn’t actually that unusual.

Source: Fox News March 07, 2023 21:40 UTC