NEW YORK — If you think Fox News is moderating its tone since paying $787.5 million to settle a landmark defamation suit, think again.
The Rupert Murdoch-controlled conservative news network ran an extraordinary graphic Tuesday under a double box showing images of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump; the latter was criminally charged in Miami on 37 counts related to mishandling of classified documents.
At 8:59 p.m. EDT, the potential 2024 election rivals appeared above a chyron that said, "Wannabe Dictator Speaks At the White House After Having His Political Rival Arrested."
The line ran during "Fox News Tonight," the program that replaced Tucker Carlson after he was removed from the schedule in April, which had "Fox & Friends" co-host Brian Kilmeade in the anchor chair.
The chyron remained onscreen for just under 30 seconds before switching over to host Sean Hannity's program at the top of the hour. Earlier on "Fox News Tonight," Kilmeade introduced Trump as "the president of the United States" before switching to a live speech.
The chyron generated disbelief on Twitter, where Fox News clips and quotes are a frequent topic.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about it Wednesday at her daily afternoon briefing with reporters and clearly was prepared for the query.
"There are probably 787 million things that I can say about this that was wrong about what we saw last night," Jean-Pierre said, a direct reference to the $787.5 million settlement the network paid to Dominion Voting Systems in April.
Fox News paid the voting machine company to head off a trial, but not before the release of evidence that reflected poorly on the network.
Dominion alleged it was damaged by Fox News amplifying false claims made by Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudolph W. Giuliani that the company's machines manipulated votes to help elect Joe Biden president. Fox News faces a similar lawsuit from Smartmatic, a voting software firm.
Fox News, which was carrying the press conference live, dipped down the audio during Jean-Pierre's remarks and swiftly went back to anchors Sandra Smith and John Roberts in its Washington studio. The network switched to a report about a crocodile pulled from a Florida pool.
Before the press conference, a Fox News representative said, "The chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed." No further explanation was offered.
Fox News has devoted significant time to covering Trump's legal problems, including the airing of a harsh assessment from former attorney general William Barr, who said the former president is "toast."
But the opinion hosts have been doing their best to counter the negative narrative for Trump — an audience favorite — with a steady stream of commentary about Biden and Hillary Clinton not being prosecuted for their handling of classified material.
Guests and hosts frequently call the Trump indictment politically motivated and downplay the severity of the charges against him.
The Dominion case revealed how Fox News executives were concerned about audience tune-out after the 2020 election, as their viewers tend to go away when things are not going well for Trump or the Republicans. Executives and anchors deliberated on how to hold onto the audience by covering Trump's false voter-fraud claims, even though their own reporting determined the election was fair.
Fox News is currently grappling with audience declines that have occurred since Carlson was ousted from the prime-time lineup.
"Fox News Tonight," the interim replacement for Carlson, has failed to hold the audience of its predecessor, as its audience has declined more than 50%.
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