On Friday, Fox News announced that they have parted ways with prime time host, Trish Regan due to her show on March 9, that showed her stating that the coronavirus disease was nothing more than a scam and another attempt to impeach the president, Donald Trump. Regan’s on-air comments sparked all-around criticism which led to her final days with Fox News. According to New York Times this decision shocked many journalists and anchors at the network due to the fact Fox executives have adapted to withholding from public pressure and rarely make any decisions that validate any criticism of the network.
"We thank her for her contributions to the network over the years and wish her continued success in her future endeavors," Fox News said in a statement. "We will continue our reduced live prime time schedule for the foreseeable future in an effort to allocate staff resources to continuous breaking news coverage on the Coronavirus crisis."
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Vanity Fair’s Gabe Sherman made an appearance on MSNBC’s AM Joy and stated that the network is worried about potential lawsuits, and that's the reason behind why they let Regan go.
"When I've been talking to Fox insiders over the last few days, there's a real concern inside the network that their early downplaying of the coronavirus actually exposes Fox News to potential legal action by viewers who maybe were misled and actually have died from this. I've heard Trish Regan's being taken off the air is, you know, reflective of this concern that Fox News is in big trouble by downplaying this virus," he said.
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski delivered her own opinion regarding Fox News and suggests the broadcasters and their guests could be held accountable for their misleading claims. Brzezinski states they’re committing malpractice.
“That’s grounds for a lawsuit. People delivering the news are supposed to be giving facts, not fiction. The viewers are there to trust them. If they get poor information, or they are misled to believe they can’t get sick, and they get sick, exactly how is that not grounds for some sort of situation to arise? This is clear, and if anyone is trying to push against it, they are committing malpractice.”
As of now there’s no clear statement on what Fox plans to do about these claims.