Fox News didn’t ignore Kentucky mass shooting to report on chicken sandwich

An alleged screengrab of a Fox News broadcast was widely shared on social media as “evidence” that the network chose not to cover the April 10 mass shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, and reported instead on a new chicken sandwich from Popeyes. But this claim is false. Let’s look at the facts.

Quick Look

No
Fox News did not report on a new Popeyes chicken sandwich instead of the April 10 mass shooting at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky.
Yes
Fox News covered the shooting as breaking news throughout the day on April 10 and reported on the aftermath.
No
Fox News and other media outlets have published and broadcast several reports on the “chicken sandwich wars” going back to 2019.
No
Popeyes did not recently announce a new sandwich.

The Takeaway

Breaking news events provide a window of opportunity for engagement grifters to spread controversial and politicized content, and the mass shooting in Kentucky was no exception. The falsehood that Fox ignored it to report on a new chicken sandwich was almost certainly helped along by affirming the biases of those who hold negative opinions about Fox. The post also serves as a reminder for how easy it is for opportunists, trolls and other bad actors to misrepresent or alter an authentic screenshot of broadcast news.

The 5 Factors

We’ve determined that this viral rumor is misleading or false based on its failure to pass the following credibility factors. Please note that these factors do not represent degrees of falsehood. A post that fails a single factor is generally just as false as a post that fails all five.

Snapshot

Source
Evidence
Context
Authenticity
Reasoning

Source

Has it been posted or confirmed by a credible source?

No.

This post received widespread attention after it was shared by a partisan social media account. Searches of Fox News’ website and social media feeds turned up no recent results for this screenshot, but it appears to be from 2019.

Evidence

Is there evidence that proves the claim?

No.

Fact-checkers for the Associated Press found that the news ticker at the bottom of this screenshot refers to events from 2019.

Context

Is the context accurate?

No.

No, the underlying image in this post comes from an old broadcast. It was removed from its original context, altered and then shared as if it were an April 2023 segment on Fox News.

Authenticity