After airing a graphic that wrongly implied that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died, “Fox & Friends,” apologized — pointing the finger at a “technical error.”
Under the image, the dates display the years “1933-2019” directly under Ginsburg’s name as well as right next to her portrait.
It appeared on the screen for just a few moments prior to cutting to host Ainsley Earhardt’s interview with a college professor regarding campus culture.
Closer to the end of the show, the hosts acknowledged the error, saying:
“We need to apologize,” said host Steve Doocy. “A technical error in the control room triggered a graphic of Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a date on it. We don’t want to make it seem anything other than ― that was a mistake. That was an accident. We believe she is still at home recovering from surgery. Big mistake.”
“We apologize,” Earhardt emphasized. “Big mistake.”
A spokesperson from Fox News shared with HuffPost that the technical error “emanated from the graphics team.”
Last month, Ginsburg, 85, underwent a pulmonary lobectomy for two malignant growths in her lung. The surgery was a success and she has since continued to recover.
This month, she missed oral arguments for the Supreme Court’s first case since her operation.
It was the first time since 1993 that she has missed arguments — and that was when she was appointed to the high court.
On Jan. 11, the Supreme Court announced that Ginsburg’s recovery is “on track.”
“Post-surgery evaluation indicates no evidence of remaining disease, and no further treatment is required,” Kathleen Arberg, court spokeswoman, shared in a statement.
Twitter commenters were quick to share their thoughts, saying:
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not dead. If you see this-it’s a real [screen grab] of Fox News jumping the gun. Don’t panic. It’s FOX.”
“This is wrong on every level and again I ask – why are they still on the air? Anyone who spoke of this on screen should be sanctioned with discipline, fines and suspension.”
“Everyone’s doing anything for ratings and we’re not sure anymore if it’s a true error. Dangerous.”
“How are they allowed to put something like this on the airways, the FCC should fine them heavily for it. Are they really going this low to distract everyone from the #TrumpShutown“
“Why the h*ll does fox news even have this ready to go??? Sick!!!!”
“CNN should “accidentally” air Trump’s obituary graphic. That might get me through the day.”
“News [organizations] always have graphics prepared for big name deaths that are relatively likely. CNN and MSNBC certainly have one too. Fox just screwed up and showed it for a second.”
Regardless of whether it was an actual mistake or just a routine graphic that was prepared for the worst-case scenario — the slip up was a big one.
But maybe not as big as the time Fox News broadcasted a graphic that displayed how it was the least trusted major news network during a live segment.
You can’t make this up, folks.
Host of Media Buzz, Howard Kurtz, told producers to “take that down” after showing polls from Monmouth University displaying how only 30 percent of Americans trusted Fox News more than Donald Trump.
Yikes.
Maybe it’s time to clean house in the graphics department at Fox? Maybe their numbers would go up…
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