The conservatives’ favorite channel Fox News on Tuesday evening called Joe Biden a “budding dictator”, sparking many mockery or outraged comments, while its competitors CNN and MSNBC chose not to broadcast Donald Trump’s speech live after his historic indictment.
This discrepancy in the media coverage of the event is a new illustration of the polarization of the political climate in the United States, a phenomenon that is now old and from which the 24-hour news channels are no exception.
“Budding dictator speaks in White House after arresting political rival,” read a Fox News banner shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday night, when the screen was cut in half with d On one side, images of Joe Biden speaking from the presidency, and Donald Trump in front of his supporters, from one of his golf courses in New Jersey.
Earlier, he had pleaded not guilty to the 37 charges against him in the case of top-secret White House documents, including confidential information on nuclear weapons, which he is accused of not not returned to the National Archives after the end of his term.
The headband, which sparked many comments on social media, appeared during the show Fox News Tonighta new program that replaced that of the former star of the channel Tucker Carlson in the first part of the evening.
Since the departure from the antenna, at the end of April, of this character who has become essential in the conservative media world, known for his radical positions and his taste for certain conspiracy theories, the hearing of Fox News has declined in this time slot.
For its part, CNN, like MSNBC, had decided Tuesday evening not to broadcast Donald Trump’s speech live after densely covering his indictment, “because frankly he says a lot of things that are not true and that are sometimes potentially dangerous,” journalist Jake Tapper told the air.
Also faced with a drop in its audiences, CNN had been criticized for having broadcast a live program with Donald Trump on May 10, a question-and-answer session in front of Republican supporters during which the former president had multiplied provocations and infox on the allegedly “rigged” presidential election of 2020.
The show had been badly experienced internally and accelerated the departure of CNN CEO Chris Licht, already disputed, on June 7.