Dumb Like FOX (and MSNBC)

The jury announced the result of its deliberations at 5:05 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 30. Within the first half hour, MSNBC – a left-leaning network, shall we say – already had used the adjectives “first ever,” “convicted felon,” “unanimous,” and “definitive” to describe the result. Fox News, which is synonymous with right-wing television, spent that same timeframe labeling the verdict as “partisan,” “unfair,” “terrible,” and “reversible.”

In the five initial post-verdict TV hours I studied, Fox devoted 100 percent of its coverage to the Trump case. During that time, 38 Fox News reporters, analysts, and guests spoke live. All 38 denigrated the process, criticized Democrats, urged viewers to vote for Trump, dismissed the importance of the verdict, or a combination thereof.

“This is a disgrace, a rigged trial,” commented Donald Trump himself, “but the real verdict is November 5.” All 38 speakers echoed that message on Fox. Not one reporter, commentator, or guest said anything positive about the outcome – other than predicting that it actually would help Trump win the election.

During the same five hours, MSNBC also devoted all of its coverage to the verdict. A total of 23 people appeared on MSNBC in that span. And, sure enough, all praised the jury’s decision, lauded the prosecution for bringing and winning the case, and emphasized the significance of the verdict.

“Trump was convicted by a jury of his peers,” noted one MSNBC commentator. “The judicial system worked like clockwork. The system held.”

This was all as I had expected. True, both networks presented the same actual news regarding the jury’s findings; both Fox News and MSNBC showed the entire post-verdict speeches by Mr. Trump and the district attorney; both laid out the timeline for sentencing and appeals; and both read on air the statements released by the Biden campaign and others. But it was the tone and commentary that distinguished them dramatically.

MSNBC appeared determined to focus on and defend all of the participants in the trial – with the exception of the defendant. Its hosts and guests (which included key witness Michael Cohen) praised the jury, the prosecutors, and the trial judge. The “rule of law” was upheld, according to MSNBC’s coverage.

Fox News also stressed the importance of the same fundamental concept, but said this case proved that the rule of law is virtually dead. Per Fox News, the jury and judge were “biased,” the judicial system “weaponized,” and America is now “a banana republic” rather than a nation operating under constitutional and legal standards.

Interestingly, despite MSNBC’s confidence in the rule of law and the Fox News belief that Trump is treated unfairly in court, it was the latter and its guests who expressed the most sureness in how appellate courts ultimately will rule. I counted at least five legal experts who told the FOX News audience that the verdict “likely” or “certainly” will be reversed on appeal. None predicted that Trump will lose again. MSNBC’s analysts opined only that “we shall see” and “it is a stretch to assure” that the conviction will be overturned. Both networks doubted that an appeal will be decided before November.

The verdict’s impact on the November election itself provided another major distinction in the networks’ coverage. Many Fox News guests and commentators boasted that Trump will benefit from the New York case, with one going so far as to say this verdict “guarantees Trump wins in 2024.” Meanwhile, MSNBC seemed pleased to suggest that the verdict gives Biden the ability to label Mr. Trump a “convicted felon” and to ask this question: “Why should Americans vote for a convicted felon?”