On Thursday, Fox News' Shep Smith corrected on-air colleague Melissa Frances, for misreporting G20 protests as 'riots."
After another Fox News pundit declared,"this is a riot, this is not a protest," Melissa ended the 4 O'clock hour EST that leads into Smith's program by saying, "Protests are good and they exit and are being drowned out by the violent riot that we're seeing right here."
Francis continued, "We have been watching police, who have been in control for now, spraying water on the crowd, a very violent crowd that came out that came out en masse carrying sticks, and trying to cause havoc at the G20 which still continues inside. I'm Melissa Francis, here's Shep."
Melissa's description irked Shep Smith, and as he signed on to his shift, he corrected his colleague's misrepresentation of what the Fox News audience were viewing.
Smith said, "Well, it's three o'clock in New York and Washington. It's 9 p.m. here in Hamburg. I think we've all been watching this together. We have seen a lot of riots, I've been involved covering riots. This is not a riot."
He continued, "If you look, there are many people standing around. There certainly have been some skirmishes, police and some violent demonstrators have clashed, there's no doubt about this. Remember seeing this in Seattle back in the day. There are those that are anarchists who come from around the world and cause havoc, it's what they do. But, This is decidedly not a riot. These are protests."
During the 2016 presidential election, "professional protesters" became a right wing meme from the Trump camp to blunt real protesters against the Donald and Francis continued its use here.
This segment is also an indicator of the way Fox News and other conservative personalities spread misinformation as fact to throw shade on Donald Trump.
(h/t MMFA)
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