The passing of Colin Powell, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and secretary of state to George W. Bush, has been dominating headlines today. While other outlets examine the political heavyweight’s legacy and send well wishes to his family, Fox News is employing a different tactic.
Apparently, Powell’s death is as good an excuse as any for fear-mongering social media tactics and the spreading of misinformation to ta conservative base. Earlier this morning while reporting on Powell’s death, Fox News host Will Cain raised truly erroneous suspicions about the COVID-19 vaccine. Powell had received the vaccine but he still suffered COVID complications that resulted in his death. Now, another Fox News face is being dragged for suggesting something similar.
John Roberts took to Twitter Monday to do his own hypothesizing about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. (He’s since deleted his tweet, but everything lives forever on the internet, so here’s a screenshot of what he wrote.)
First, here’s some background on Powell’s passing and how it related to COVID-19 vaccines. Though he did get his shots, Powell was 84-years-old at the time of his death. He had been battling multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that weakens the body’s ability to fight infections. All of this is important information to share with your followers if you’re investigating the efficacy of vaccines by using this man’s tragic death. That’s just good journalism 101. But, this is Fox News, so here’s how Roberts explained his intentional gaffe.
I deleted my tweet about the tragic death of Colin Powell because many people interpreted it as anti-vax. It was not. I was excited to get vaccinated, hoping it would help speed a return to ‘normal life’. I also did a PSA on Fox encouraging vaccination for those able….
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) October 18, 2021
As we all know, the FDA is now recommending boosters for certain people, and I personally know a number of people who have had breakthrough infections – some of them, quite troubling. Yes, Powell had myeloma, but I was still stunned to hear of his passing from COVID….
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) October 18, 2021
..we live in the same town, and we would occasionally run into each at the local sandwich shop. His death is a loss for our community and our country.
I plan to get a booster as soon as possible.— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) October 18, 2021
Obviously, Twitter was not buying that.
The fact that you tweeted this without even mentioning he was an 84-year-old man with a kind of cancer that directly limits the body’s ability to fight viruses raises new concerns about how utterly godawful you are as a journalist.
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) October 18, 2021
Yes, this is an anti-vaxx statement. It strongly implies the vaccine isn’t effective without mentioning Powell’s health problems. Seriously irresponsible.
— ValM (@vmich8667) October 18, 2021
No dude. It was because you failed to say Powell was a cancer survivor and was fighting another bout with cancer when he contracted Covid. Can you read the room?
— Kelly D (@KellDA) October 18, 2021
Here’s hoping that Roberts grows a conscience sometime this year.