I wrote about the ridiculous chyrons that PBS appended to former President Donald Trump’s speech in Bedminster, N.J. on Tuesday night in the wake of his arraignment.
Trump’s remarks were a measured breakdown of some of his likely defenses to the charges. Yet as PBS carried his remarks, they ran chyrons warning people “Violent rhetoric has escalated in online forums and far-right militia groups since Trump’s federal indictment.” They also ran another one, “Experts warn that inflammatory rhetoric from elected officials or people in power can prompt individual actors to commit acts of violence.”
When Joe Biden delivered his “red speech” in Philadelphia, and demonized millions of MAGA Americans as a threat to the very foundation of the Republic, PBS had no such chyrons, despite Biden trying to whip up anger against millions of Americans. The chyrons last night were a seeming attempt to smear Trump with violence despite him not saying anything to suggest violence. Some liberal media like CNN and MSNBC didn’t even cover his remarks live because of their bias.
Fox was one of the networks to cover it live, but they too had a chyron issue that is causing a meltdown by the left. While Fox and Trump have been on the outs, it looks like at least whoever was behind the chyron had a point they wanted to make.
Fox News ends its 8pm hour w/ the chyron: “wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested”
Chyron went away when Hannity took over at 9. pic.twitter.com/EpWpqqzMqH
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) June 14, 2023
Trump was talking about how Hillary Clinton didn’t have the power to declassify anything in her classified document scandal. The chyron said, “Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested.” The chyron ran just before 9 p.m. during the remarks.
Biden was delivering Juneteenth remarks, but those didn’t get anywhere near the attention that Trump’s remarks did, so if he was hoping to upstage Trump’s remarks, Biden didn’t succeed. Fox didn’t even play the sound from his remarks.
It infuriated people on the left. They weren’t yelling about the inappropriateness of the PBS chyrons but they were upset about the Fox one which ran under a split screen of Biden and Trump and labeled Biden a “wannabe dictator.”
This is a real Fox News chyron. pic.twitter.com/4u3meRzXUY
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) June 14, 2023
Some argued the White House should cut off Fox from briefings or that their advertisers should now cut them off.
Yeah, if Fox News is running chyrons calling Biden "a wannabe dictator," then there's really no need to keep pretending it's worth taking questions from Steve Doocy's kid or whoever's in there now. https://t.co/RIGhOCh1Aa
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) June 14, 2023
FOX referring to Pres. Biden as a "wannabe dictator" should be the final straw for advertisers to withdraw their support & for cable companies to remove FOX from their TV lineups.
Apparently FOX learned nothing from its payout of $787.5 million in the Dominion defamation lawsuit. https://t.co/kBoublxott— Charles Campisi (@1813Doncarlo) June 14, 2023
The White House already has trouble being transparent, so cutting reporters out of their briefing would just add to the problems they already are having with the American people. That would be further cutting off their nose to spite their face.
A journalism professor warned the left that they were spreading the claim further by commenting on it.
Fox’s “wannabe dictator” chyron was designed for secondary circulation on social media.
Good work y’all, you helped boost it far beyond the network’s reach.
— A.J. Bauer (@ajbauer) June 14, 2023
Folks on the right thought the Fox chyron was hilarious and on point.
Spot on
Fox News banner refers to Joe Biden as 'wannabe dictator' who had his 'rival arrested' – Raw Story – Celebrating 19 Years of Independent Journalism https://t.co/VGyMJ9OSOA
— Sean Thornton (@SeanTho98192182) June 14, 2023
Chances are it was a mistake/anomaly, rather than a greater comment by Fox. Maybe it was meant for Sean Hannity’s opinion show, but the PBS ones appeared intentional.
Representatives for Fox News did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to a New York Times report. That suggests to me it was a mistake and Fox is now trying to track down what happened.
