6th January Committee’s Initial First Prime-Time Hearing, twisted by both Fox and Newsmax. Here is how!

Prime-time hearings begin at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Fox News host Tucker Carlson ignored Republican Bennie Thompson when he gaveled the hearing to order. As Carlson put it, the ruling class was delivering "again a lecture about January 6." He called the hearing "propaganda" and reveled in his refusal to air it. "They are lying," he said, "and we are not going to help them do it."

Carlson then lied himself: He said "if something noteworthy happens" at the hearing, "obviously we will bring it to you immediately." But ofcourse his show failed to do that.

Carlson questioned why the news media cared when Thompson called the coup "the culmination of an attempted coup." Although Trump's plot to undermine American democracy was the focus of the hearing, Thompson barely mentioned him. Instead, he criticized other networks for televising the hearing in "collusion" with the House. According to his guest, Jason Whitlock, the Democrats and the left are desperate.


Fox downplayed the violence of January 6 and dismissed the revelations about Trump's behavior all evening. In addition, the network neglected to address its own role in promoting false claims about the election and the publication of some of its hosts' private messages prior to the riot.

Rather than show Cheney's remarks in full, Newsmax cut away to pro-Trump commentators' analysis. Trump's talking points and Newsmax's app were also promoted in the network's banners.

Carlson's producers showed sterile live shots of the hearing room while the committee showed never-seen-before video of the Capitol being attacked, but not the video itself. "TODAY'S HEARING IS POLITICAL THEATER," read one of his banners.