The misinformation machine really kicked off with the founding of Fox News in 1996 by Australian billionaire Rupert Murdoch. His goal? To counter what he saw as liberal bias in mainstream media. And to be fair, he wasn’t entirely wrong—many traditional outlets did lean left. But unlike Fox, they had ethical standards, and journalists who crossed the line faced real consequences. Take Jayson Blair at The New York Times—when he was caught fabricating stories, he was fired. Fox News, on the other hand, wasn’t about balance; it was an overcorrection that quickly turned into a full-blown propaganda machine disguised as a news network.

By the 1990s, conservative politicians were struggling to sell their increasingly unpopular policies to the American public. After losing twice to Bill Clinton, they realized their best path to victory wasn’t coming up with better ideas—it was discrediting the media that held them accountable. That’s where Fox News came in, providing an alternate reality where facts took a backseat to political loyalty. Viewers were trained to distrust traditional media, believing that only right-wing sources told the "real" truth.

Imagine baseball umpires before Fox News. Sure, they weren’t perfect—sometimes they leaned in favor of pitchers or hitters—but they aimed for fairness. When an umpire was caught blatantly rigging the game, they were fired.

Then, a group of pitchers, angry about close losses, demanded a second umpire to "balance out" the supposed bias. The problem? This second umpire wasn’t neutral—he always called pitches in favor of the pitcher, even when they were obviously balls. Sometimes, both umpires agreed on clear strikes, but more often, they clashed, confusing players and fans alike. Over time, even more biased umpires entered the game, each with their own agenda. The result? Chaos, where once there was order.

That’s exactly what Fox News, OANN, Newsmax, and platforms like Truth Social have done to journalism. Despite conservative claims, there’s no true liberal equivalent of these outlets. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, often accused of left-wing bias, still attempt some form of moderation. If a liberal politician lies or gets caught in a scandal, mainstream media—The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, even MSNBC—will investigate. But when a far-right politician is exposed, these radical-right outlets twist the narrative, convincing their audiences that the truth is just another liberal attack. They’ll call a blatant "strike" a "ball," muddying reality until nothing feels certain.

If you only consume news from these sources, you’re led to believe that liberals hate America and that only extreme conservatives can save the country. Anyone who disagrees is a liar, a traitor, or part of the so-called "deep state." That’s the dangerous power of the misinformation machine.

The 2020 Election & the Misinformation Tipping Point

This all came to a head after the 2020 election with the "Stop the Steal" movement. It might seem ridiculous now, but for those who only consumed conservative media, Trump’s loss was genuinely shocking. Fox News and its counterparts had spent months shielding viewers from reality, downplaying Trump’s disastrous COVID response and hyping up his chances of winning.

Throughout the election cycle, Fox featured a range of coverage—from optimistic takes on Trump’s chances to more cautious analyses. Hosts like Sean Hannity pushed a confident narrative, focusing on Trump’s massive rallies and Biden’s supposed weaknesses. But they conveniently ignored or dismissed poll after poll showing Trump behind, especially in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Instead of preparing their audience for a possible loss, they kept feeding them false hope, leaning on crowd sizes and anecdotal "enthusiasm" instead of hard data. (NPR.com)

So when Trump lost, Fox viewers were primed to believe something nefarious had happened. The network had built an ecosystem where election fraud was the only plausible explanation for a Biden victory. This lie was so pervasive that it led directly to the January 6 insurrection—and it cost Fox dearly.

The Consequences

Fox News has since been sued—and successfully taken to court—by Dominion Voting Systems for spreading false election claims. The result? A $787.5 million defamation settlement, one of the largest in history. The case exposed internal messages showing that even Fox’s own hosts knew the fraud claims were bogus but pushed them anyway to keep their audience happy.

And that’s the real takeaway here: This isn’t just about bias; it’s about deliberately misleading an audience for profit and power. Fox News didn’t just report the news—they helped create an alternate reality, one where truth is whatever benefits the right-wing agenda. And as long as that machine keeps running, American democracy will keep paying the price.