Fox News went over the top Tuesday night with its chyron after Donald Trump’s indictment on 37 federal charges, saying, “Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested.” The chyron appeared during Trump’s speech following the indictment, supposedly as part of Fox’s news coverage.
As John Amato pointed out, Trump was indicted by a grand jury of ordinary citizens in Florida based on evidence presented to them by a special prosecutor. Biden had nothing to do with it.
After the chyron went viral, and The Washington Post published an article about it, Fox News issued a statement, saying, “the chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed.”
Well, not really immediately. The Post noted that the chyron stayed on the screen for 27 seconds.
Furthermore, the chyron echoes the same rhetoric that can be heard almost any time Trump's latest indictment is discussed on the network.
The Trump speech and the now-infamous chyron were broadcast during the Fox News Tonight show. The Post pointed out that similar chyrons appeared on Fox during the same program.
The “wannabe dictator” graphic was also in line with other chyrons during that evening’s program. Earlier, viewers saw a graphic previewing the Trump speech with: “Soon: Donald Trump Speaks After Being Targeted by Biden’s Department of Justice.”
That same night, about 20 minutes before the “wannabe dictator” graphic, a segment on special counsel Jack Smith was accompanied by a chyron reading, “A Look at the Man Who’s Out To Get Trump.”
Oh, and just before Trump’s remarks, host Brian Kilmeade called Trump “the president of the United States.”
The Post also reported that, according to a veteran Fox News producer speaking on the condition of anonymity, chyrons are generally approved by a senior producer before a show’s airing, though they would be written on the fly during a live speech.
So, this employee whose work was "addressed" probably had similar chyrons approved by a senior producer, then “went rogue” by putting up another one during a speech? Right.
At least Fox News was shamed enough into distancing itself from this horrible chyron, albeit a day after the fact.
But the episode also shows that exposing and calling out Fox News propaganda is effective.
6/15/23 update: The chyron author and Fox News have "severed ties," according to Tucker Carlson, as per Oliver Darcy. Also, he or she seems more like a scapegoat than a rogue: "Carlson, who made the disclosure in his latest Twitter video, said that the chyron writer was a veteran of the company," Darcy writes. So, someone who knew how to follow company policy and had a long history of doing so.
