Fox News and the Biden administration are wrangling after the network published an article about the White House’s decision to fly the Pride Progress flag, which Fox News corporate previously used in its responsibility report about diversity.
The issue stemmed from an article that Fox News published with the original title, “White House flew controversial new transgender flag that promotes grooming and pedophilia, say critics,” Mediaite reported. The headline has been tweaked to “White House flew controversial new transgender flag that troubles some critics in the gay community.”
The revised article was published after White House Deputy Press Secretary and Senior Communications Adviser Andrew Bates accused the network of “lying through their teeth.”
“Fox never even communicated the malicious and discredited foundation of this article to the White House. Then they lie about whether we responded at all,” he tweeted. A White House spokesperson told Mediaite that a media representative from the White House responded to Fox before it initially published the story.
A Pride flag on Saturday is displayed during a celebration on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. Fox News and the White House are at odds over a network article criticizing the Pride Progress flag.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty
Fox News told Newsweek that the network reached out to the White House 24 hours in advance prior to publishing the article and that the White House declined to comment at the time. The White House press team then contacted the network after the article was published, and Fox News tweaked the headline and changed some language in the article based on feedback received from the White House press team.
At the bottom of the current Fox News article the network wrote, “The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment on the flag’s design and meaning.”
Bates called out Fox News again on Thursday, pointing out that the network was inquiring about the White House using the flag when the network had previously used the same flag in its 2022 corporate report.
“Will Fox News retract their hateful, debunked lie of a story, or will they issue a statement condemning themselves for covering their own logo in literally the same flag? Which is it?” Bates said in a statement to Mediaite.
White House spox @AndrewBatesNC: “Will Fox News retract their hateful, debunked lie of a story, or will they issue a statement condemning themselves for covering their own logo in literally the same flag? Which is it?” https://t.co/nDGPjF1p5M
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) June 15, 2023
President Joe Biden has repeatedly asserted his support for the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S., touting that “America is a nation of pride.”
“I know that too many people in the LGBTQI+ community are worried and afraid about their future and their safety. I want to send a message to the entire community—especially to transgender children. You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong,” the president tweeted on Saturday.
The feud between the White House and Fox News comes amid trans rights being heavily targeted across the country. The trans community has been hardest hit by anti-trans proposals and legislation sweeping through Republican-led states over the past months.
More than 490 anti-LGBTQ+ proposals have been introduced in state legislatures across the United States since the beginning of the year, according to data from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). This figure is double the number of bills introduced last year, according to CNN. Many of the GOP-backed bills have been promoted as an effort to “protect children” from medical or societal harm. Some conservative lawmakers and pundits have described those opposed to such efforts as “groomers.”
Update 6/16/2023, 10:09 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comments from Fox News.
Source : Newsweek