Four Corners ‘fails’ basic reporting: Fox News

Four Corners has bizarrely claimed that Fox News ‘undermined the American democratic system’ simply by reporting Donald Trump’s public statements on the US election.

ABC Four Corners journalist Sarah Ferguson. Picture: John Appleyard

The ABC’s flagship current affairs program, Four Corners, has bizarrely claimed that the Fox News network “undermined the American democratic system” — simply by reporting Donald Trump’s public statements in the aftermath of the US election last November.

In the second episode of a self-described “expose” into the relationship between the Murdoch-controlled US cable network and the Trump administration, journalist Sarah Ferguson sought to prosecute her argument that Fox News helped spread the “big lie” that the election was “stolen” from Mr Trump.

“When the facts didn’t suit Donald Trump, he simply made up his own. After November 3, Trump ramped up his ‘stolen election’ lies, and Fox News helped him spread them,” Ferguson said.

But the 50-minute episode on Monday night was beset by unverified claims, glaring omissions of fact and a confused narrative that at times seemed to favour the censorship of news reporting.

At times, Ferguson adopted a sneering tone toward the 74 million Americans who supported Trump, suggesting they were incapable of thinking for themselves.

“They didn’t reach these conclusions on their own. There’s plenty of propaganda to feed their beliefs. But former Fox News insiders level blame at the powerful organisation they worked for,” Ferguson said.

However, the program failed to mention that five of the six “insiders” who were interviewed have not worked at the network for more than three years.

A statement from Fox News said: “The episode clearly violates the basic tenets of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s published standards by exhibiting bias and a failure to maintain any level of impartiality in the presentation of news and information. The use of five former deeply disgruntled employees, only one of whom was part of the company during our coverage of the 2020 US presidential election and its aftermath, single handedly discredits all credibility of the program.

“As for the events of January 6th, implicating Fox News in any way is false and malicious. Congressional hearings this past February and the Biden Justice Department not only did not implicate Fox, but other media companies were cited as platforms for inciting and coordinating the Capitol riots. We stand by our coverage with our millions of viewers who have made us the most-watched cable news network in the US for nearly two decades.”

At one point in the Four Corners program, Ferguson covered a peaceful Trump rally in Ohio after the election, and offered: “How does Donald Trump still get a big crowd to come out and see him? He lost,” she said.

“You could write this off as a crazy sideshow, but thousands of people kept flooding in.”

Ferguson chose not to observe that what Trump was saying after the election was a newsworthy story — about which the American public could make up their own minds — that was covered by countless media outlets across the world.

The program glossed over the high-profile Fox News hosts who criticised Trump for his baseless claims about the stolen election.

On another occasion, Ferguson attacked Trump lawyer Sidney Powell during a sit-down interview during questioning on the alleged election fraud.

“Do you ever hear yourself and think that it sounds ridiculous?” Ferguson asked.

“Uh, no,” Powell replied.

Ferguson did ultimately note that Trump himself was responsible for his public statements, but still attempted to sheet part of the blame to Fox News for reporting his comments.

“So, who should be held accountable for the assault on truth, especially the ‘stolen election’ lies? Well, certainly Trump himself, but we’ve also seen what happens when America’s number one news network abandons its social contract to tell the truth,” she said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Fox News said: “The episode clearly violates the basic tenets of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s published standards by exhibiting bias and a failure to maintain any level of impartiality in the presentation of news and information.

“The use of five former deeply disgruntled employees, only one of whom was part of the company during our coverage of the 2020 US presidential election and its aftermath, single-handedly discredits all credibility of the program.

“As for the events of January 6th, implicating Fox News in any way is false and malicious. Congressional hearings this past February and the Biden Justice Department not only did not implicate Fox, but other media companies were cited as platforms for inciting and co-ordinating the Capitol riots. We stand by our coverage with our millions of viewers who have made us the most-watched cable news network in the US for nearly two decades.”