Is Fox News so damaging to the public that it should be taken off the air?

It’s pretty obvious to most Americans that Fox News in the US is a very right wing, conservative news source that is known to not only spread misinformation, but openly publish news stories that border both racism, sexism, and homophobia.

It draws its users in by publishing propaganda & hateful stories- some recent ones being that BLM is a terrorist organization, and a few in the past being that Barak Obama was not a US citizen and had ties to Islamic extremism.

“What Fox News has become is destructive. To state the obvious: Democracy, if it’s going to function, needs to be based on a shared set of facts, and the news media’s role is to seek out and deliver those facts.

Most news organizations take that seriously, though they may flounder badly at times. When they do, they generally try to correct themselves — that’s why you see editor’s notes, lengthy corrections, on-air acknowledgments, suspensions and even firings of errant newspeople. Fox News is fundamentally in the business of spreading disinformation, as opposed to conservative reportage.” — Washington Post: “It’s time — high time — to take Fox News’s destructive role in America seriously”

Recently, Fox’s most damaging reporting concerns the Coronavirus pandemic and the extreme downplaying of the virus and suggesting it is both a hoax and not serious.

“Three serious research efforts have put numerical weight — yes, data-driven evidence — behind what many suspected all along: Americans who relied on Fox News, or similar right-wing sources, were duped as the coronavirus began its deadly spread.

Dangerously duped.

The studies “paint a picture of a media ecosystem that amplifies misinformation, entertains conspiracy theories and discourages audiences from taking concrete steps to protect themselves and others,” wrote my colleague Christopher Ingraham in an analysis last week.” —Washington Post: “The data is in: Fox News may have kept millions from taking the coronavirus threat seriously”

The main audience of Fox News has a median age of 68 as of 2015. According to a 2013 Gallup poll, 94% of Fox viewers "Either identify as or lean Republican”. 74% of regular Fox users also identify themselves as White/Non-Hispanic.

▪️Do you find Fox News a damaging news source?

▪️Should Fox News be taken off the air for their tactics of spreading damaging/dangerous propaganda and misinformation?