On Fox News, the anchor Bret Baier told viewers that Mr. Biden “would become the president-elect of the United States” if the network’s decision desk projected a Biden win in Nevada or Pennsylvania.
Mr. Baier’s use of the term “president-elect” was noted throughout the media industry because of a report earlier in the day from CNN, which quoted internal messages at Fox News that instructed on-air talent to “stay away” from referring to Mr. Biden as the president-elect. According to CNN, Fox News anchors had been urged instead to say that Mr. Biden had “enough electoral votes to win the presidency.”
Fox News said on Friday that no directive about the use of “president-elect” had been issued by its newsroom leadership. Two people with direct knowledge of the network’s internal communications said that key Fox News political anchors did not receive guidance on how to refer to Mr. Biden, should the network’s decision desk project a Democratic victory in the presidential race.
Fox News’ coverage of the election has been under intense scrutiny. Liberals are suspicious of the network’s owners, Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan. At the same time, President Trump and his allies are angry that the network made an early call for Mr. Biden in Arizona on election night, and they have publicly castigated Fox News in recent days.
Several Trump allies appeared on Fox News on Friday and made baseless claims about election irregularities; Newt Gingrich, for instance, raised the prospect of “dead people” voting in Michigan without offering evidence to back up the allegation.
Mr. Baier, the co-anchor of Fox News’ breaking coverage with Martha MacCallum, pushed back on several false claims. When Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee, suggested there were problems with poll observers in Michigan, Mr. Baier replied, “The transparency on watching the ballots is different than finding fraud that narrows the gap.”
Addressing claims of voter fraud more broadly, Mr. Baier added: “There’s all kinds of stuff flying on the internet. But when you look into it, it doesn’t pan out.”
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/06/business/media/election-call.html
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