How Fox News was key in promoting Trump's "Big Lie" that the election was stolen from him

The Daily Beast

"The 'Big Lie,' as it’s now been labeled, is the comprehensive collection of unfounded allegations and wild conspiracies peddled by Trump and his allies in conservative media and the GOP, that Joe Biden’s decisive electoral victory was 'stolen' due to widespread voter fraud," says The Daily Beast's Justin Baragona. "It is that lie that eventually led thousands of insurrectionist Trump supporters to violently storm the Capitol on Jan. 6 in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s Electoral College win. The riots, which featured insurgents shouting 'Hang Mike Pence,' resulted in five deaths, one of them a police officer killed by the mob. So far, at least 135 participants have been charged with federal crimes, with more expected to come. While much of the attention has been understandably centered on Trump and his political allies’ role in inciting the riot—one which led to the former president’s second impeachment—the former president’s 'rigged' election rhetoric didn’t occur in a vacuum. In fact, Team Trump’s bogus claims were amplified and boosted across the right-wing media spectrum. And Fox News’ primetime lineup of pro-Trump opinion talkers, which set an all-time cable news record in viewership in 2020, was key in helping fan the flames of the 'Big Lie.' In the two weeks after Fox called the election for Biden on Nov. 7—joining other news outlets—the network began casting doubt on the election results or pushed conspiracy theories nearly 800 times on its airwaves, according to liberal watchdog Media Matters. Sean Hannity, along with his fellow primetime colleagues Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, were among the biggest offenders in pushing the lies—whether it be through innuendo, reckless spin, or outright misinformation. And their efforts to boost the now-ex president’s crusade to overturn the election didn’t stop in late November, either."

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