Fox News channel apologized after an on-screen graphic broadcast on Friday showed stock-market gains in relation to “infamous” killings of black men, including George Floyd and Martin Luther King. The image came following Friday’s unemployment announcement that coincided a rise in the stock market, capping off a week of protests around the nation.
The graphic was aired during Special Report with Bret Baier and appeared whild discussing stock market performance during the unrest around the country. It used MLK, Michael Brown, Rodney King and George Floyd as examples of the stock market performance related to their deaths.
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We call this “planting seeds.”
Fox News posts a graphic “suggesting” murdered black men that capture nationwide attention is “good” for the economy.
The MSM creates or furthers division & chaos.
Never forget that.#BlackLivesMatter #MainstreamMedia pic.twitter.com/dJfjobtKpi
— Jen Perelman For Congress (@JENFL23) June 6, 2020
The network released an apology statement on Saturday, though they claimed the chart lacked context before admitting it was wrong to air. Baier also tweeted the statement to followers.
“The infographic used on Fox News Channel’s ‘Special Report’ to illustrate market reactions to historic periods of civil unrest should have never aired on television without full context,” the Fox News statement read. “We apologize for the insensitivity of the image and take this issue seriously.”
Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush condemned the use of the graphic, tweeting that it showed clearly that “Fox News does not care about Black lives.”
Make no mistake, @FoxNews is only apologizing because of the public response to that inane and insensitive graphic.
If you see injustice, speak on it. Keep fighting! https://t.co/1tOlaEcg4B
— Bobby L. Rush (@RepBobbyRush) June 6, 2020
On top of the graphic, the actual content of the segment rubbed some the wrong way according to Variety. The content was less about the men who died and more about how numbers rose.
“Historically. there has been a disconnect between what investors focus on and what happens across the country. For instance., in 1968, the week after the tragedy of Martin Luther King, the S&P 500 rose over 2 percent. Also up the week after the Rodney King ruling. And Wall Street trading on the reopening instead in 2020,” the reporter in the segment said.
The decision to run the graphic came after a week of rising protests around the United States. Many took to the streets to protest police brutality and the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor in recent months.
