12 times Fox News goofed in 2018

The year was pretty ridonkulous across the board, but Fox News had itself a doozy of a 2018, with a string of controversies, slip-ups, feuds, and strange happenings. 

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The news network has long since tied its fortunes to President Trump. They seem to sink or swim along with the president — with the occasional aside from figures like Shep Smith, the lone voices of reason among a collection of pro-Trump pundits.

From beefs with teen school shooting survivors to fear-mongering about, well, all sorts of things, it was another weird, wacky, controversial year for The House That Roger Ailes Built. Here are 12 moments that stuck out above the rest.

1. The Seth Rich lawsuit

In 2018, most of the controversy over Fox News' role in propagating a conspiracy theory surrounding the murder of DNC worker Seth Rich had largely subsided. The main story, suggesting Rich was the leaker of the trove of DNC emails during the 2016 campaign, was retracted in May 2017, a week after it was published. Even Sean Hannity, who was the most vocal supporter of the conspiracies, had moved on to other things. 

But in March 2018, Rich's family filed a lawsuit against the network, claiming the network, Malia Zimmerman, and commenter Ed Butowsky, "aided and abetted the intentional infliction of emotional distress" with their coverage of the conspiracy. The case was eventually dismissed by a judge in August.

Still, it continued to make headlines in 2018, a year after it originally bubbled up, keeping the conspiracy front of mind for critics who have claimed the network's pundits were treading dangerously close to such territory for some time. 

2. Commentator hits his "propaganda" limit

Frequent Fox News contributor Ralph Peters hit his limit in March 2018, when, in an email, he said he was "ashamed" of his association with the network, adding that it had "degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration."

Of course, this wouldn't be a Fox News story without a twist. Peters previously had caused a lot of consternation due to anti-Barack Obama comments he made on the network, including calling Obama "a pussy" and saying Obama was "date raped" by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

So much for shame.

3. A polling self-own

In this politically divisive time, it's not unusual to hear media outlets being criticized for not being trustworthy. But it's a bit unusual to see an outlet openly share a poll that paints them as the least trustworthy. Yet here we are! 

During a segment between host Howard Kurtz and guest Frank Lutz about the president and the media, poll results were shared showing trust in media versus trust in the president. Those results wound up being an inadvertent slam on Fox News itself, as the network had the lowest percentage of trust as compared to the president than two of its biggest competitors. (You can read the full results here.)

Still, it's doubtful this had much impact on the network. After all, it's still a ratings juggernaut compared to CNN and MSNBC, which probably means more to the executives than any single poll result. 

4. Laura Ingraham's very bad year

While Sean Hannity may be the most recognizable name on Fox News, it was Laura Ingraham who made a lot of headlines for all the wrong reasons. Whether it was telling LeBron James to "shut up and dribble" or comparing child detention centers along the United States-Mexico border to "summer camps," Ingraham managed some highly visible missteps. But perhaps the one that will linger longest is her feud with David Hogg, one of the teenage survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting in February of 2018. 

As Hogg emerged as one of the leading voices of the Parkland kids' efforts on gun control, Ingraham singled him out, mocking his rejection from multiple colleges. This quickly backfired, prompting Hogg to lead a rather successful campaign targeting Ingraham's leading advertisers. 

Ingraham was even mocked by one guest on her show over the advertising boycott. The host managed to hold onto her program despite the boycott and survived to continue stepping in it again and again, most recently comparing protesters demanding the take-down of Confederate statues to ISIS, because time is a flat circle.

5. Dictator Trump

Trump is a dictator, according to Fox News.

Okay, not really. Fox News is, after all, an incredibly pro-Trump outlet. But with Trump signaling a rise in authoritarianism across the globe, the words "Trump" and "dictator" are mentioned in the same breath by critics more than most previous presidents, even when it's a mistake — like this incident from June ahead of Trump's summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

The anchor who committed the slip-up, Fox & Friends host Abby Huntsman, later apologized for the on-air whoops. But the moment lives on.

6. Covering Mueller (or not)

Being a largely pro-Trump outlet means defending Trump against those who would do him political harm, like Robert Mueller, whose investigation into the potential collaboration between Russia and the Trump campaign has been a main storyline for the Trump presidency thus far.  

So what happened on that fateful day in August 2018, when Paul Manafort was found guilty of eight counts of tax and bank fraud, and Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to campaign finance crimes while also admitting Trump ordered hush money payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with him? 

Well, if you were watching Fox News, nothing much. To be fair, it seemed all of conservative media reacted the same way, but Fox is, by far, the largest of those outlets making their aversion to the actual news all the more noticeable.  

7. Tucker Carlson steps in it. Again.

It's been nearly 15 years since Tucker Carlson was obliterated by Jon Stewart on Carlson's old CNN show, "Crossfire," and yet not much has changed: Carlson still insists on opening his mouth and saying bad things.

Having already uttered disturbing words in June about how "the ruling class" of America (aka "The Left") was more concerned about migrants than American families, a rant filled with inaccuracies and hypocrisy, he one-upped his rhetoric with a September rant against ... diversity.

Apparently, being different is bad for cohesion, according to Carlson. It's a bizarre line of argument, suggesting that people of different backgrounds have no way of meeting in the middle. It's such a cynical hot take that you'd be forgiven for mistaking it as satire if you ignored the ongoing build of bad takes from Carlson over the years. 

Even Carlson is beginning to show signs of souring on Trump, levying some criticism at the president in a recent interview. Chances are that will do little to slow the flow of bad thoughts that Carlson's internal filter just can't catch.

8. Eric Trump's anti-semitic comment

In September, while appearing on Fox News, presidential son Eric Trump took a shot at legendary journalist Bob Woodward and his Trump-related book by saying it was just an effort "to make three extra shekels." No one in the Fox News studio batted an eyelash. 

Why was this such a big deal? As Mashable's Morgan Sung wrote at the time about Trump's use of "shekel":

If it was just a blind spot for everyone involved, then that is one hell of a shared blind spot. The comments are even worse given the that a month later, a gunman killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue while shouting anti-semitic slurs. 

9. Fox News versus Jamie Lee Curtis

You'd think by now no one would mess with the actress who has gone head-to-head with one of horror's biggest villains, but then you don't know Fox News. In early October, the site published the story "Jamie Lee Curtis wields firearms in new 'Halloween' movie despite advocating for gun control."

The story tries to paint Curtis as a hypocrite over the hot-button topic of gun control without ever positing that one can be a legal, safe user of firearms while also supporting gun control efforts like banning assault rifles. 

What's more, according to Curtis, Fox never reached out to her to chat about her real-life views on gun control versus those of the fictional characters she portrays in movies. If they had, they would have found out that Curtis supports "people owning firearms if they have been trained, licensed, a background check has been conducted, a pause button has been pushed to give time for that process to take place."

10. Fear-mongering on the border

Heading into the midterm elections, Fox News was the top perpetrator in fear-mongering about the reported migrant caravan winding its way through Mexico to the U.S. border, a pattern of coverage by FOX that has continued as the situation along the border devolved into chaos over Thanksgiving weekend. 

But perhaps nothing the network has done in covering the story is as egregious as what Griff Jenkins did during a report from the border in October, crouching in the bushes and ambushing migrants as they attempted to cross the border.

Fox heralded Jenkins as something of a hero while ignoring the context of why those migrants were making the trek (or twisting that context) to the United States. And they were seemingly okay with Jenkins performing work closer to that of a border agent — aggressively confronting migrants at the border — as opposed to, say, a reporter.

11. Hannity further blurs the line

Fox News has fought criticism by stressing that the channel is a mix of real journalists and opinion-based figures. Yet that argument is completely disingenuous when its most popular (and most promoted) stars are the likes of Ingraham, Carlson, and, yes, Sean Hannity, who has fully embraced Trump to the point of bedtime phone chats with the man. 

It looks even worse when Hannity, by far the network's biggest star, strolls up on stage alongside a politically divisive president and then slams the present media, which included Fox News reporters, as "fake news." 

The appearance, which Hannity said was unplanned, sparked outrage, and some of Hannity's Fox news coworkers expressed deep anger about his appearance, claiming that "a new line was crossed." Even the network chastised Hannity and another host, Jeanine Pirro, for their appearance onstage.

Hannity, of course, apologized and said that when he blasted the reporters as being "fake news," he didn't mean to include the Fox News reporters. Just every other reporter there who reports things that neither he or Trump like.

12. An Ocasio-Cortez infatuation

Congratulations, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez! Not since Obama wore a tan suit has there been this much pearl-clutching by conservative media over the fashion choices of a liberal. But Fox News seems happy to have a new left-wing villain coming to Washington.

That Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, is a Democratic Socialist only set off more alarm bells within Fox News HQ. Whether it's painting her as a liberal media darling, eyeing her Capitol Hill ambitions with suspicion, or taking every opportunity to put the word "socialist" in a headline, the network is a bit, well, focused.

That's led to an obsession over Ocasio-Cortez's wardrobe, from jackets to, recently, her shoes in a rather eye-rolling Fox News segment.

Ocasio-Cortez has taken it all in stride, trolling Fox News right back. She hasn't even been sworn in yet, and all signs point to things picking up in 2019, meaning we'll know right where to start when putting together the list of Fox News goofs for next year.

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