While on-air personalities continue to promote vaccine skepticism, Fox News required its employees to forgo their privacy and reveal their vaccination status.
Several new agencies are reporting on an internal memo sent to employees at the Fox News Network. On Tuesday, August 17, Fox News Media chief executive Suzanne Scott asked all employees to upload their vaccination status to an internal database.
This isn’t news in itself – Fox News has been asking employees to upload their vaccination status to the database since July. Instead, it’s the tone and adamancy of the memo that has raised ire.
In the Tuesday memo – obtained by the media company Adweek– Scott made sure everyone read one line in particular. In a bolded font, she wrote, “all employees must enter their status no later than today, August 17th, by close of business.” 
Given the persistent lambasting of all things vaccine on Fox News, the requirement to disclose one’s vaccination status is being seen as hypocritical – at best.
Fox News has allowed open questioning of vaccines and their effectiveness on-air, particularly on shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight. During one show, Carlson described asking someone if they’re vaccinated as “a super vulgar personal question.”
On the one hand, one employee sowing doubt in vaccinations might not be a problem. But, on the other hand, Tucker Carlson Tonight is Fox News’ most popular show, and Carlson is the most prominent employee.
Newsweek cites a July 16 study from the media watchdog group Media Matters. The study tallied each time any speaker either said that vaccines were unnecessary or dangerous. The study found that 60 percent of Fox News’ vaccination segments from June 28 through July 11 pushed “anti-vaccine propaganda.”
In reality, Fox News is enforcing precautions that its own on-air personalities might decry. For example, employees are still required to wear masks in the office if they are unvaccinated. Also, all employees are required to undergo daily screenings before coming to the Fox News offices.
Any of the practices currently in-place in the Fox News offices have been thoroughly denounced by Fox News on-air personalities when enacted by other companies.
There is no indication that vaccination will become mandatory for employees – another trend heavily scrutinized on the network.
Fox News personalities have openly criticized “vaccine passports” that would allow public venues, like stadiums and airlines, to check someone’s vaccination status. The network also criticizes the growing trend of companies requiring employees to get vaccinated. These measures have been categorized as “an invasion of privacy.”
The internal memo doesn’t say what it will do with the internal database collecting its employees’ vaccination status. There is no indication the media company is planning on a “vaccine passport,” but it’s within the realm of possibility.
As of Thursday, August 19, Fox News has yet to acknowledge the memo or release a public statement on the issue.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently have nearly every U.S. state showing a high community transmission of COVID-19. This includes every county in Wyoming except Niobrara County.
