The offending graphic was broadcast during a discussion on Sunday morning – and removed seconds later on the orders of host Frank Luntz (Picture: Fox News/Twitter)

Fox News broadcast a graphic showing people trust them more than Donald Trump.

The broadcaster displayed the Monmouth University poll results during its Tight Shot show Sunday, 30 per cent of Americans trusting the broadcaster, versus a fifth of those polled considering Trump more reliable.

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By comparison, almost half of Americans trusted CNN – more than him.

And 45 per cent of people questioned said they trusted CNBC more than the Commander-in-Chief.


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The card caused a minor commotion in the studio, with presenter Howard Kurtz saying: ‘That is not the graphic we are looking for.

‘Hold off. Take that down please.’

He had been expecting to see statistics showing that over three quarters of the public thought that the media reports ‘fake news’ ‘regularly or occasionally.’



The Rupert Murdoch-owned network is famous for its right-wing stance, and support for President Trump.

And he has returned the favor, regularly tweeting his respect for the network, and hailing its commentators insights while denouncing other points made by rivals.

Fox News and Kurtz said they had always planned to run the graphic, but that he asked for it to be taken down only because it appeared at the wrong point of his show.

Reffering to the original AP story, Kurtz wrote on Facebook: ‘The Associated Press should be embarrassed by a story that utterly distorts what happened yesterday on my program “Media Buzz.”

‘And its dishonest piece was made worse by the fact that the wire service didn’t bother to contact me or Fox News for comment.

‘I designed a segment in part around a Monmouth University poll that asked people about so-called “fake news” as well as who they trusted more, President Trump or each of the three major cable news networks.

‘I found the latter comparison so striking that I told my staff to make that poll question into a graphic to be shown on the air. The whole point was to share it with viewers.

‘During the segment, the control room mistakenly posted the graphic early, while I was dealing with the fake news questions.

‘So I calmly asked that it be taken down. About a minute later, I asked for the graphic to be put back on the screen and discussed the finding with my guest, pollster Frank Luntz.

‘The AP reported my request to take down the graphic and ended the story there, creating a false impression by not mentioning that I called for the very same graphic shortly afterward.

‘This echoed partisan chatter online that I had somehow panicked or didn’t want to show the poll graphic, which is flatly contradicted by reality.

‘For the record, the Monmouth poll found that 30 percent of those surveyed said they trusted Fox more and 20 percent said they trusted Trump more. Another 37 percent said they trusted both equally.



‘The poll found that respondents trusted CNN more than Trump by 48 to 35 percent, but only 13 percent trusted both equally.



‘The survey said those questioned trusted MSNBC more than Trump by a 45-32 margin, but only 16 percent trust both equally.



‘I felt viewers deserved all the facts. That’s more than I can say for the AP, which owes me a correction.

‘UPDATE: Mashable and MassLive also ran with the false narrative that I had “accidentally” posted the poll when that was my plan all along.

‘Mashable adds the additional error that I inflated Fox’s number for being trusted over Trump, when I simply added–accurately–a third figure from the poll that was left out of the graphic, showing that 37 percent trusted both equally.



’12:23 ET UPDATE: The AP has now run a correction, which I appreciate.

‘Though it’s odd that the correction indicated I SAID the poll graphic ran moments later, as if it’s a claim. It’s a verifiable fact. There’s video!’