Opinion

BROADCAST BIAS: Networks show France burning but highlight ‘peaceful’ protesters

Networks cited declining 'public services' while warning of the 'French far right'

By Tim Graham Fox News

Published October 24, 2026 9:00am EDT

Comments Facebook Twitter Threads Flipboard Print Email Add Fox News on Google

close

Video

Businesses board up ahead of next wave of France protests

CEO of Argil AI Brivael Le Pogam discusses the widespread unrest, business damages and arrests ahead of upcoming demonstrations in Paris.

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

For decades, American broadcast news networks have touted the benefits of socialism in France, from government-funded day care to healthcare to a mandated five weeks of vacation. Then-NBC host Katie Couric summed it up in 2001: "The French, they’ve got it right, don’t they?"

Socialism is always a warm, comforting blanket. It can’t ever fail. So, when violent rioting recently broke out in Paris and other cities, the preferred TV term was failing "public services."

On Oct. 19, ABC foreign correspondent Tom Soufi-Burridge said: "The protest Saturday, involving hundreds of thousands of people, were supposed to be about the cost of living, and the state of France’s public services, but the situation quickly spiraled out of control in multiple French cities."

REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: FRANCE BRACES FOR MORE UNREST AFTER PARTS OF PARIS SPUN OUT OF CONTROL

"CBS Mornings" star Gayle King echoed it: "The demonstrations began to protest the rising costs of living and declining public services." CBS reporter Aidan Stretch also cited a "ballooning government deficit," which is code for overspending. The socialists would blame undertaxing.

A fire burns and destroys the Limoges city hall after a group of individuals forced entry........

© Fox News