Study Shows Areas Where Hannity Reigns Over Carlson Had Worse Coronavirus Outbreaks; Fox News Slams Findings As ‘Reckless’

TOPLINE

Fox News host Tucker Carlson spent more time discussing the public health threat posed by coronavirus in February than his colleague Sean Hannity, a difference of weeks that is associated with a disparity in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in places where Hannity is more popular, according to a University of Chicago working paper.

KEY FACTS

Chief critic 

The network disputes the idea that Hannity did not take the virus seriously, issuing a statement saying: “The selective cherry-picked clips of Sean Hannity’s coverage used in this study are not only reckless and irresponsible, but downright factually wrong. As this timeline proves, Hannity has covered COVID-19 since the early days of the story.” 

The timeline, first posted on Hannity’s personal website, like the study, shows a gap in the host’s coverage both on Fox News and on his radio show for most of the month of February. There is no comparable Fox News time line of Carlson’s coverage of the pandemic.

Additional info

Hannity was not the only cable news host to trail Carlson in coverage of the virus. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow first mentioned the U.S. outbreak on February 10, 2020, and started covering it on a regular basis in the last week of February. CNN’s Anderson Cooper first talked about American coronavirus cases on February 17, 2020, and began daily coverage of the disease in late February as well. He drew criticism for saying as late as March 4, 2020, that “if you’re freaked out at all about the coronavirus, you should be more concerned about the flu.” Hannity also compared coronavirus to the flu on February 27, 2020.

Key background

Carlson’s approach to the virus not only had an effect on his viewers, but also the president. He travelled to Mar-a-Lago to speak with Trump about the seriousness of the situation. Later, he told Vanity Fair that he “had a moral obligation to be useful in whatever small way I could.” His monologue on March 9 also reportedly made an impact on the way Trump viewed the virus.

On April 1, 2020, a group of 74 journalists and communications professors wrote an open letter to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch saying that Fox News viewers face a particular risk from coronavirus because they “have been regularly subjected to misinformation.” The letter cited a Pew Research poll that found 79% of Fox News viewers believed the media was exaggerating the potential impact of the virus. 

Hannity slammed the letter. “It’s the same Democrats, media mob and liberal professors who are so lazy they won’t even look at what I’ve said about the virus,” he said in a Newsweek interview. ‘They just go with their narrative. I never called it a ‘hoax.’ I said it was a hoax for them to be using it as a bludgeon on Trump.”

What to watch for

Yanagizawa-Drott said he and his fellow researchers are continuing to update their findings with more data, and that Hannity’s shift to covering the coronavirus more like Carlson may have had an effect. Comparing the number of new cases and deaths in areas where one host is more popular than the other, he said “there is some evidence that these gaps are closing.”

Further READING

Coronavirus deaths greater where Fox News viewers watched ‘Hannity’ more than Tucker Carlson, says U. of C. study (Chicago Tribune)

“Dishonesty…Is Always an Indicator of Weakness”: Tucker Carlson on How He Brought His Coronavirus Message to Mar-a-Lago (Vanity Fair)

Coronavirus Hospitalizations In New York Fall To Lowest Level In Almost A Month (Forbes)

Scientists Widely Criticize Studies That Claim Coronavirus Death Rate Could Be Far Lower Than Believed (Forbes)

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