Trump Sues Wall Street Journal, Fox News Has Limited Coverage

Fox News, the network home to Trump's go-to opinion hosts, barely covered the president's lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, the network's corporate relative, over a July 17 story alleging he sent a "bawdy" letter to financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. Despite the report's explosive claims, Fox's coverage of the story was limited to a few mentions on its Sunday shows and its 6 p.m. news program, while other networks gave the story more attention.

Key Takeaways:

The lawsuit, filed on July 17, claims the Wall Street Journal's story about Trump sending a "bawdy" letter to Epstein was defamatory and an attempt to malign Trump's character and integrity.
The Journal's story, which alleged Trump sent the letter to mark his 50th birthday, was mentioned only twice on Fox News, most thoroughly in a segment on the media-focused Sunday show hosted by Howard Kurtz.
Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Rich Edson briefly discussed the lawsuit on Friday's 6 p.m. news program, but the network did not confirm the Journal's reporting and noted that the Journal shares ownership with Fox News.
The New York Post, another Murdoch-owned outlet, wrote a straightforward story on Saturday morning about the lawsuit, noting the company's response.
Outside of Baier's "Special Report," the original Journal story received scant attention on Fox News, in contrast with the widespread coverage it received elsewhere.
Between July 14 and July 20, the word "Epstein" was used 617 times on CNN and 751 times on MSNBC, but only 160 times on Fox News, according to a Washington Post search using the media monitoring service Shadow TV.
Fox host Maria Bartiromo opened her "Sunday Morning Futures" program by saying she would begin with "the biggest political scandal of all," referring to allegations from Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats of a "treasonous conspiracy" to hurt Trump after the 2016 election, rather than the Epstein revelations.
Fox host Mark Levin said Sunday that he's had it with the "stuff" surrounding Epstein and other controversies, wanting to focus on the Republican Party's priorities.

Statistics:

Between July 14 and July 20, the word "Epstein" was used 617 times on CNN, 751 times on MSNBC, and 160 times on Fox News.
The Wall Street Journal's story about Trump's alleged "bawdy" letter to Epstein was filed on July 17 and is still pending in court.

Sources:

Barr, Jeremy. "Trump Sues Wall Street Journal, Fox News Has Limited Coverage". Fox News.
Washington Post. "Between July 14 and July 20, the word 'Epstein' was used 617 times on CNN, 751 times on MSNBC, and 160 times on Fox News."
Shadow TV. Media monitoring service.
The New York Post. "Trump Sues Wall Street Journal Over Epstein Story".
The Wall Street Journal. "Trump Sues Wall Street Journal Over Epstein Story".