It’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between FOX News and CNN or MSNBC, especially when the topic is guns, especially after a mass shooting.
For at least seven years, FOX News has been citing fake mass-shooting data from the Gun Violence Archive – an anti-gun nonprofit we debunked years ago – in its digital and broadcast news stories. The reason is simple. The GVA inflates body counts, sometimes by more than 1,000%, so its overblown data has become catnip for the legacy media, which is constantly seeking more sensational headlines and news stories.
How does the GVA get its inflated numbers? They created their own definition of a mass shooting, of course. When most Americans hear the term, they picture a madman stalking the halls of a school or a shopping mall, coldly murdering innocent victims. What does not come to mind are rival drug crews shooting it out in Chicago, a deranged husband murdering his entire family, or a law-abiding gun owner acting in self-defense.
Yet for the GVA, anytime four or more people are killed or even slightly wounded with a firearm, it’s labeled a mass shooting. For example, according to the FBI and its more conservative definition, there were 30 mass shootings in 2019. The GVA claims there were 417. Despite the obvious bad math, the legacy media, politicians and the gun-ban industry treat GVA’s reports as gospel. The Biden-Harris Administration, The New York Times, National Public Radio, USA Today, The Trace and a host of other outlets all cite GVA’s fictitious data and use its overly broad definition when reporting about mass shootings.
The GVA uses dubious sources to gather its mass-shooting data, too. In a 2021 interview with the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project, Mark Bryant, a retired computer analyst and GVA’s executive director, admitted his researchers gather data from law enforcement Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as media accounts, even though the media is notorious for getting the facts wrong after a mass shooting.
Despite these bad sources and bad math, FOX News continues to cite the GVA in their stories, most recently Monday, after a mass-shooting in Louisville, Kentucky.
Missing attribution
Bryant founded the GVA in 2013, and FOX News began citing them as a news source just a few years later.
The network has never fully disclosed the nature of the anti-gun nonprofit to its viewers, or how it gathers its information. Here is a list of how FOX News has attributed the GVA data in news stories from the past seven years:
- 2016 – “using information collected by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonpartisan research group.”
- 2017 – “based on data from the Gun Violence Archive, which catalogs reports of gun violence in the U.S.”
- 2018 – “according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.”
- 2019 – “according to data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive (GVA).”
- 2020 – “according to the Gun Violence Archive.”
- 2021 – “according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive (GVA).”
- 2022 – “The Gun Violence Archive defines mass shootings as ones where ‘4 or more [people are] shot or killed, not including the shooter.’”
- February, 2023 – “according to the non-profit Gun Violence Archive.”
- March, 2023 – “according to the non-profit Gun Violence Archive.”
No comment
Both Trace Gallagher, FOX News Anchor/Chief Breaking News Correspondent, and Brett Baier, Chief Political Anchor and Executive Editor of Special Report, have cited GVA data recently in news stories.
I reached out to both on Twitter, warning them their credibility was at risk. Neither Gallagher nor Baier responded.
Hey @BretBaier, every time you cite "data" from the antigun Gun Violence Archive you lose credibility. We debunked them years ago: https://t.co/t3GSm95be6 pic.twitter.com/ORMpeiT9MI
— Lee Williams (@HT_GunWriter) March 27, 2023
Hey @tracegallagher. Why are you using biased mass-shooting data from the Gun Violence Archive, an anti-gun nonprofit we debunked years ago? For example, the GVA claims there were 417 mass shootings during 2019. The FBI says there were 30. pic.twitter.com/f62Rwzv6Up
— Lee Williams (@HT_GunWriter) April 10, 2023
Neither Irena Briganti, Senior Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications – FOX News Media, nor Porter Berry, Executive Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of FOX News Digital, responded to emails seeking their comments and an explanation as to why the network was pushing flawed and biased data in news stories.
Takeaways
I should disclose I am a regular FOX News viewer. I turn it on in the morning after my computer warms up and it stays on throughout my workday. I check the FOX News website at least hourly, and I cannot miss an episode of Tucker, who fearlessly holds the powerful accountable, or Gutfeld, who is always good for a laugh.
Still, what FOX News is doing is dead wrong. They are aiding and abetting the gun-banners by repeatedly citing overblown mass shooting data, which can lead the uninformed into believing that “gun violence” – another term FOX should stop using – is far worse that it really is. FOX is the most-watched cable news network in the country. Millions of people tune in to its programming. That could be a real gamechanger if the network would start telling the truth rather than promulgating debunked lies.
In my humble opinion, FOX should immediately stop citing GVA data and issue a clarification and an apology to its viewers. That’s what’s required journalistically, and it’s also the right thing to do. I hope FOX’s editors and producers take corrective action quickly because America is watching.
This story is presented by the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project and wouldn’t be possible without you. Please click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support more pro-gun stories like this.
About Lee Williams
Lee Williams, who is also known as “The Gun Writer,” is the chief editor of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project. Until recently, he was also an editor for a daily newspaper in Florida. Before becoming an editor, Lee was an investigative reporter at newspapers in three states and a U.S. Territory. Before becoming a journalist, he worked as a police officer. Before becoming a cop, Lee served in the Army. He’s earned more than a dozen national journalism awards as a reporter, and three medals of valor as a cop. Lee is an avid tactical shooter.
There is no such thing as “gun violence” and anyone using these talking points is a complete idiot living in a deep state of denial. Humans are violent , guns are an inanimate object incapable of violence . Love to destroy the clowns talking points with ” reality” . Get a clue !
So true. Any more than there is a thing as “car violence” to describe incidents on the road.
Use of the lib/left media shibboleth “gun violence” shows us upon which side of the fence they are….
True, except the Sonofabitches don’t want to ban Humans, they want to ban GUNS!
They have no room for reality, or facts, in this war to disarm us.
Fox’s Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Jesse Watters,Mark Levin and Laura Ingram are all solidly Second Amendment supporters. There might be others I’m unaware of, since I view television only in prime time. Hitting Fox is misplaced.
Ope, Yep! Graham is more worthless than a Bull that has been castrated, The meat don’t taste good and can’t make any more beef. Fertilizer is the only thing Graham is good for. He wants to go to war with Russia over Ukraine and is in favor of weakening the USA by sending our weapons to Ukraine. There must be a way………..
What I have been seeing, as far as Hannity is concerned, is that as a reporter he is way too full of his own ego. He constantly interrupts his guests while they are talking, tries to steer the conversation the way he wants it to go and rarely makes a negative comment to a person he thinks is on Trump’s side. That’s why the last interview with Trump went to Tucker. Tucker calls out Graham, just like he did to Cruz, and Graham won’t even go on Tucker. I believe Trump has finally seen the light. The wife and I… Read more »
Yes, for years Lindsay Graham has been a traitor to the American People voting with the Left Socialist Marist Biden Agenda (1.1 Trillion Dollars Biden Infrastructure; 1.7 Trillion Pork Bill and in graham’s words “its a train wreck” but voted democrat for it anyway; Reverse Trumps Methane Rule; etc. etc.) I’m disliking the Hannity show more and more as Hannity is becoming more about himself and less about America as demonstrated by such things as the Graham routine (when Lindsay Graham sells out the American People and votes with Biden for Destruction of America/Left Wing Policies, Hannity waits about 2-months;… Read more »
A lot of this information is data that comes across the wire, and I would put the onus on the producers more than the hosts, but professional like Baier and Gallagher should know better. With that posted Fox does question the shootings in the inner city, they did report, although years back, on Fast & Furious. Is Fox always right? No but they are better than any other.
I’d add Gutfeld, Kat Timp, Tyrus who have openly supported owning guns on Gutfeld.
Gutfeld, Kat and Tyrus are the best- I look forward to seeing them as if they were old friends. Until I discovered them on Gutfeld’s show I thought that I was alone in my thinking…conservative, cut-to-the-chase with a dash of humor thrown in… we need more like them! When I get fed up with what I see as FOX veering slowly to the left, they bolster my courage and give some hope for the future…
It’s simple, either you support the 2nd or you don’t. Support equals all citizens have the right to defend themselves and their nation with whatever weapons they choose and can make or obtain by legal means. Knives, swords. pistols, Ar-15’s, Browning M2, 105mm howitzers, P-51’s and MiG21’s
If you want to restrict that to non-scary single shot 22LR plinking rifles you don’t really support the 2nd and you are a traitor. It’s really that simple because I don’t remember the Constitution specifying limitations.
It should be a binary decision. Yes or No on the 2nd. None of this “yes, but…”
We quit paying for these liars to be pumped into our house via satellite a long time ago. They are ALL in the same business: try to steer people’s minds into accepting the unacceptable. As for all the comments on Lindsey Graham: Remember during the Judge Kavanough confirmation hearings that he practically did a shout out to, if I remember correctly, Justice Kagan and remarked how proud he was he helped “put her” on the Supreme Court. He was and is proud of putting these mindless traitors to our country in positions of authority where they should NEVER have been… Read more »
This has been going on for at least ten years that I know of.
By the way… Each and every moderate or conservative who voted for Biden needs to find the nearest wall and vigorously smack their forehead against it while shouting, “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”. Without those votes, the 2020 ballot fraud would not have succeeded and Biden would not have been installed. You know who you are, now go find that wall and make sure it hurts.
I have notice the anti-gun reports across all media. Read the comments under the articles that allow comments. Most are pro-gun!
Yes, FOX is no longer a bastion of true facts- they’ve been corrupted. We must know the truth, not politically correctness!
They were corrupted from the get go… They were always british bent… They are an mi6 propaganda operation that is meant to qwell real conservative constitutional thought and power in america…
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
― Helen Keller, The Open Door
“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”
― Thomas Jefferson
Lee – good observations regarding the disingenuous ‘reporting’ from gva (they don’t deserve all caps). That being said, how about doing an analysis of “gun violence” being the number one killer of ‘kids’? I suspect they use the same shady numbers for that as well. For instance, if 18 and 19 year olds (mostly gang affiliated) are subtracted from the total, it goes way down. These are likely the same sort who want 16 year olds to ‘vote’.
this helps my theory of how ignorant the people of this great country are getting most of them have no clue
It just ain’t your daddy’s FOX news anymore. Now it seems more at home with your neighbor’s pink haired boy-daughter and your Trump-hating crazy uncle.
Faux is owned by Disney,no more needs to be said.
Fox is owned by the british government.
False. Fox entertainment is owned by Disney. Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Ok, we were clearly talking about fox news… That is what the article is about, is it not? You need to get back on your anti psychotics, ope…
Fox News was not part of the broader Fox sale to Disney. The Murdoch family kept Fox News along with WSJ and other news media outlets. Disney bought all the entertainment assets.
https://www.forbes.com/profile/rupert-murdoch/?sh=76ffbc95b1af
I recently challenged our local TV station on this issue. This was their response: “There is no consensus about what constitutes a “mass shooting” and that can complicate the conversation about them. GVA defines “mass shooting” as any event where four or more people were shot or killed, not including the shooter. The FBI has no definition of “mass shooting.” The 40 you cite from the FBI in 2020 are “active shooter incidents” which the FBI defines as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” GVA has proved a reliable database for… Read more »
Another Fake News Media
I’ve a got a comment directly for the ammoland editors… It is time to eliminate your comments section… You have some wackos on here bullying people and chasing off, not only readers, but donors… Just get rid of it altogether… This is a magnet for sophisticated antigun propaganda, etc…
The experience here would go from negative to positive very quickly as your articles are generally enlightened and informative. There is no reason to have something that allows sociopathic bullies and propagandists to have a voice here.
Fox has always been a left leaning psyop… They support conservatives until right before elections and then they always throw them under the bus or at least try to. There is a heavy connection to mi6 and the british government… Not exactly pro freedom folks over there.
Thanks for this article and calling this out. Ignore all the subversive fudd commies on here who think that ganging up and down voting me with their multiple accounts means something… Lol…
When YOU decide to come on over to the side of reason let us know and we might just welcome you in……otherwise, bugger off.
Bugger off? So you are british intel… Never really doubted it… All of you pull the british/soros/bloomberg line on ”common sense gun control” very consistently… Not only would i die before being welcomed into your filthy totalitarian cult, i’m going ro fight you to the end. You guys are idiots and in wayyy, wayy over your head. Enjoy.
Admittedly, I have come into the middle of this conversation, but you are misclassifying this fellow. I have known him for years and you have him all wrong.
I definitely have nothing wrong here. Ive been dealing with people like you for decades… FUDDs… Anti american elitist totalitarianists…
Superman? Clark Kent?
You mean, come over to the side of british/soros/bloomberg, ”common sense gun control?” That’s what you meant to say isn’t it? That is the line you and ope etc take everyday on here…pro fox news, phoney conservatives…you don’t have any clue who your audience is on this site…you have zero self awareness and display very low iq’s…Your not tricking anyone on here… ”Bugger off” is a british term… Fits you well… You guys are in well over your head here…
Obviously we are tricking YOU, birdbrain. Now why don’t you just go away from where you do not seem to be very welcome. Talk about being well in over your head………
So you own this comment section? Perhaps the thousands of dollars I give every year to the pro gun organisations featured on this website isn’t welcome either? You’re a punk and virtually guarenteed to be some kind of british or otherwise anti american psyop. You should find somewhere else to post your bs… Maybe reddit needs another idiot… All i did was come on here and post pro 2nd ammendment stuff and you idiots immediately ganged up on me and tried to sociopathically herd me into your anti american FUDD, pro joe biden elitist idealism… Classic british counter intel tactic…… Read more »
These are probably the same bastages who are pushing us into war with Russia over the gangster-ridden thugocracy in Ukraine. Just sayin.
Tell me, what am i wrong about? Just one thing… I am quickly able to deduce that you have multiple personalities on here… Upvoting yourself instantly with 4 upvotes everytime you make a comment and instamtly downvoting me 5-6-8 times is pretty funny… Seriously though, you need to find someplace else… Your’re entire purpose on here is to scare off donors like myself… Leave now.
You mean I’m not supposed to upvote myself? Dang it, there goes my average.
Ha Ha Ha. I guess Frack forgot about that. He always was kinda hung up on downvotes, evidently still is. I’m guessing that he is still embarrassed about living in his mum’s basement.
And of course all the above replies since my last comment and all of their upvotes and downvotes were instaneous… Pretty entertaining watching a schizophrenic at work… Or, if this is actually separate people, then we are definitely dealing with a government intel psyop… Most likely british but possibly biden’s.
All of these people are on here to cause trouble for second amendment supporters. Take note of their id’s.
@ Ope, Yes I do remember F&F, even though my memory is starting to fade in my ‘golden years’. His latest post below reminds me the most of Frack……(take your pick) LOL! Even his handle reminds me of what we used back in the 50’s, as ‘RED’ was the word for commies….so he is nothing more than a Big Red communist to me…Everyone here can see the accusation of all of us having multiple accounts come around one more time.
Bingo! Bullseye! Right on Brother! (in an English way, of course)