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US President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on February 28, 2024.
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new york
CNN
—
The White House has formally asked Fox News to retract its reporting on bribery and corruption allegations against President Joe Biden.
White House press secretary Ian Sams said in a letter to right-wing network executives this week that the former FBI informant at the root of the bribery allegations is now being indicted. He was accused by federal authorities of fabricating the story.
“Nonetheless, Fox will continue to monitor this false allegation starting in 2023,” Sams said in a letter to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, president Jay Wallace, and Washington bureau chief Brian Boughton. “We have not taken any steps to retract, correct, or update the report.”
The letter is the latest by President Biden, who has taken a more aggressive stance on reporting about the president that he deems unfair in the run-up to the November election. Earlier this month, Mr. Sams sent a letter to the White House Correspondents’ Association protesting its coverage of special counsel Robert Hur’s report on Mr. Biden’s handling of classified materials.
Over the past year, Fox News hosts have relentlessly promoted serious corruption allegations against what they call the “Biden crime family,” which has saturated the conservative information space and led to a Republican-led investigation into the Capitol. and ultimately facilitated the impeachment inquiry against President Biden. the current president.
“I would like to cite the number of times Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity have promoted this allegation on prime-time television throughout this period and made false statements about President Biden, but a footnote citation would take up multiple pages. ” Mr. Sams emphasized in his letter to the top three executives. Fox News executives.
But when FBI informant Alexander Smirnov was indicted earlier this month on charges of fabricating bribery allegations against Biden and also apparently confessed to Russian intelligence’s involvement in sowing the smear, Fox News made a meaningful refused to retract the story in any way.
Mr. Hannity, the network’s top promoter of corruption claims, stuck to the story he had promoted in dozens of segments (though he did reveal to viewers that the informant had been indicted and (developed into a media attack). Elsewhere on the network, Mr. Watters used the arrest revelation as alleged evidence in the case. even deeper It’s a conspiracy theory, suggesting that Biden imprisoned Smirnov in retaliation for revealing the plan.
And while Fox News’ roster of unscrupulous right-wing hosts refuses to properly correct the record, the station’s supposedly nonpartisan news website also publicly exposed the informant’s false claims last year. The “exclusive” coverage from the summer was not updated.Article by Brooke Singman Mr. Smirnov’s bribery allegation remains unchanged on the Fox News website, with no amendment or mention that Mr. Smirnov was charged with lying to federal law enforcement about the very allegations he reported.
Let me be clear: a trusted news organization would not behave like that. In fact, even before Mr. Smirnov was indicted, responsible media outlets viewed the bribery charges as questionable at best. But Fox News has a poor relationship with the truth, often flooding the discourse with disinformation and conspiracy theories that distort viewers’ conservative worldviews. Last year, the network paid Dominion Voting Systems a historic $787.5 million defamation settlement for lies it told about the 2020 election.
Because Fox News has refused to act responsibly and meaningfully correct the record, the White House is now moving to formally request corrections from the station.
“We strongly urge all Fox News Digital articles on this subject to be updated with, at a minimum, an editor’s note informing readers that the originator of this allegation has been indicted by the federal government for fabrication. I feel that way,” Sams said in a letter to the three executives. “We also reminded viewers on the air that FOX News Channel television personalities, particularly Hannity and Watters, share unreliable claims from sources who have been federally indicted for making fabrications. I feel strongly that we should let them know.”
But officials said Fox News told the White House it had no intention of correcting or retracting the report. Fox News also did not directly address the White House’s request in a statement the station provided to CNN.
“Fox News Media has covered this story extensively, reporting on all major developments since the announcement that Alexander Smirnov has been charged with lying to the FBI,” a spokesperson for the agency said. Stated. “We will continue to report on developments in all aspects of the ongoing investigation, hearings and trial.”
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