FOX News has made a reputation for broadcasting news stories that prey on racial tensions and fears. FOX News spreads anti-Black racism by:  

1. Reinforcing White Nationalist Conspiracies: FOX New has been a source of partisan misinformation for years. The “Great Replacement Theory” is a white supremacist conspiracy that argues a concerted effort exists to purposely diminish the white population in America. FOX News host Tucker Carlson explicitly repeated this racist theory on his cable talk show in July 2022 as part of an anti-immigration rant, and regularly repeats it on his nightly show. This same rhetoric was cited by the mass shooter in Buffalo, New York,  who specifically targeted Black Americans during his attack in May. Carlson parroting the rhetoric of white nationalists is alarming, unacceptable and directly leads to violence against our communities.
2. Censoring Black History: FOX News continuously airs segments that seek to erase or rewrite histories of racism.  FOX News mentioned “critical race theory” more than 1,300 times in less than four months. These segments have a huge impact on the perceptions and actions of viewers. Anti-CRT  campaigns seek to ban books by civil rights icon Ruby Bridges and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison.  FOX News intentionally misconstruing critical race theory is not just misinformation. It is a purposeful attempt to censor Black authors and suppress Black history.
3. Promoting Jan. 6 Disinformation: The Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection was the biggest direct attack on American democracy in recent history. FOX News continuously pushed false claims that “Antifa” was responsible for the attacks on the U.S. Capitol. When only 18% of FOX viewers believe the 2020 elections were legitimate, it is easy to see how FOX News programming fundamentally supports the attitudes that led to the insurrection. It is also important to situate the Jan. 6 insurrection as a form of white supremacist terrorism. The insurrectionists hurled racial slurs at Capitol Police and proudly waved Confederate flags. To deny the racist ideology that fueled the Capitol rioters is to deny the chokehold racism has on right-wing politics. 

FOX News and their continuous anti-Black “reporting” supplements racist attitudes and fuels violent attacks. The Brookings Institute reports that “30% of Republicans agree with the statement, ‘Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.’ ” FOX News often cruelly excuses police brutality, even when the victims are children., These segments have a huge impact on the perceptions of viewers. A recent study showed that FOX viewers are more likely to believe protesting police brutality is an overreaction that leads to violence. 

FOX is simultaneously shaping and being shaped by racist rhetoric that fuels white supremacist violence against Black people. We even see avowed white supremacists studying FOX News programming. When your own journalist accuses you of sounding like a “white supremacist chat room,” you know there is a problem. The same ideology that motivated the attacks on Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, and Black shoppers in Buffalo, New York, is apparent in FOX News’ reporting.  

Something needs to change. The racism embedded in FOX News programming has harmful, real-world effects for Black people. FOX News is profiting off of white nationalist rhetoric and anti-Black discourse. We no longer can allow FOX News to air dangerous, inaccurate and sensationalized content that harms Black people. And it is companies like Verizon, Comcast and AT&T that have the power to shut it down.Tell broadcasting companies that we have had enough: Drop Fox News.

Here is the Petition:

Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and other broadcasting companies must re-evaluate their relationship with FOX News. The right-wing news channel is doing irreparable damage to American democracy and frequently targets the Black community. FOX News has pushed harmful conspiracy theories, including the white nationalist ”Great Replacement Theory,” to the detriment of their audience and the general public. FOX also has a long history of anti-Black coverage which, at best, frames any response to racism as an overreaction and, at worse, labels any attempts to address white supremacy as inherently violent and anti-American. Finally, FOX New repeats dangerous misinformation about the Jan. 6 insurrection. Not only is their inability to directly acknowledge and condemn the attacks on the U.S. Capitol a threat to democracy, but placing the blame on far-left activists puts an unnecessary target on the backs of Black and Brown people. 

For these reasons, we call on all broadcasting companies to stop airing FOX News.