Morning Joe: ‘Cracks Forming at Fox News’ Over Politicalization of Coronavirus Coverage

Joe Scarborough was interested in how conservative media—especially Fox News—has changed their coverage of the coronavirus as the disease continues to spread and cause global panic.

As Morning Joe talked on Tuesday about everyone at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) who self-quarantined after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for the virus, Scarborough said he was “glad that some of those people in that group are starting to take things seriously.”

“There were a lot of people a week or two ago that were mocking this public health epidemic, this possible pandemic,” Scarborough said. “I’m hopeful that other people a week from now will do the same. There are some Fox News people, hosts who are aggressively saying you may not like the media, maybe you think the media is blowing it up too much, but there are Fox News hosts who are saying you have to take this seriously.”

Scarborough eventually broadened his remarks toward pro-Donald Trump talk radio hosts, saying they need to take the coronavirus seriously for the sake of their audiences’ health. After accusing the Trump administration of ignoring the advice of the CDC, Scarborough returned to the issue at hand and said “I’m hoping that this White House and that people who like Donald Trump, people on talk radio, will start acting as responsible as some other hosts are now.”

“Some hosts last night were just saying that this was a plot to take down Donald Trump,” Scarborough said. “That is so dangerous, especially for our seniors.”

Willie Geist agreed, but he also noted “There are some cracks forming over at Fox News. There were prominent hosts last night who took a turn and looked into the camera and said to viewers ‘this thing is serious.'”

While Morning Joe didn’t name names, it is possible that they was referring to Fox people like Tucker Carlson, who used his Monday night show to pan those who have minimized the seriousness of the coronavirus. This, however, was in contrast to how Trish Regan called the pandemic a weaponized “scam” against the president, and Sean Hannity grumbled about “unnecessarily” scaring people by taking the disease seriously.

Watch above, via MSNBC.

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