How do Fox News's fact-checking scores compare to other major U.S. cable networks from 2020 to 2025?
Executive summary
Publicly available network "truth" scorecards in the sources provided do not offer a comprehensive, year-by-year fact‑checking ranking for 2020–2025; historical PolitiFact reporting shows network scorecards have long been used to compare pundit accuracy but the specific 2020–2025 tallies are not present in the materials supplied [1] [2]. Independent assessments and media commentary suggest Fox News programs emphasize opinion and have often fared worse on truth‑meter compilations than rivals in earlier analyses, but the dataset needed to assert precise Fox‑versus‑CNN/MSNBC fact‑check scores across 2020–2025 is absent from the reporting provided [3] [2].
1. What the available fact‑check tools measure — and their limits
PolitiFact’s network scorecards measure the accuracy of claims made by pundits and hosts on a network and have been used historically to compare cable channels, but the methodology is selective — the outlet chooses which statements to check and does not sample evenly across networks — so scorecards can indicate trends but cannot be treated as exhaustive audits of every network’s output [1] [2].
2. Historical signal: Fox’s prior performance on network scorecards
Past PolitiFact reporting and bundle scorecards have at times shown Fox News moving “in the opposite direction” from CNN and MSNBC on the Truth‑O‑Meter and that, in earlier compilations, some cable outlets (one cited instance) had higher rates of claims rated “Half True or better,” implying Fox’s record was comparatively weaker in those snapshots — but that reporting dates to earlier years and does not provide continuous 2020–2025 scoring in the provided sources [2].
3. The content mix matters: news versus opinion
Independent description of Fox’s programming notes that several of its most popular shows are opinion‑driven and “do not make any claims to be accurate or fact‑checked,” with little distinction between news and commentary on those programs; that programming mix creates an environment where more verifiable claims (and therefore more fact‑checks) can arise, complicating direct score comparisons with competitors whose schedules differ [3].
4. Ratings growth does not equal factual reliability
Between 2020 and 2025 Fox News markedly strengthened viewership, posting high primetime and total‑day audiences and even its best non‑election year in 2025 according to Nielsen summaries cited by trade outlets and Fox’s own press release — those metrics speak to reach and influence, not accuracy, and the sources do not connect higher ratings to better or worse fact‑checking outcomes [4] [5] [6].
5. What the supplied reporting does not show (a crucial caveat)
None of the articles and excerpts provided contain a systematic, source‑by‑source table of fact‑check scores for Fox, CNN and MSNBC covering 2020–2025; therefore it is not possible from these sources to state definitively how Fox’s fact‑checking scores compared numerically to other major cable networks across that full period [1] [2].
6. Interpreting the partial evidence and alternative views
Taken together, the available material implies a pattern: outlets that blend opinion and commentary more heavily (a category that includes top Fox programs, per Wikipedia’s summary) generate more contested claims and have attracted critical fact‑checking attention, and prior PolitiFact compilations have suggested Fox’s network scorecards trailed competitors in accuracy in sampled years — yet without the 2020–2025 scorecard data in these sources, an authoritative comparative ranking for those years cannot be asserted [3] [2]. Pro‑Fox stakeholders might counter that selective fact‑checks and editorial choices bias scorecards, while critics point to documented episodes where commentators on opinion shows made demonstrably false claims that were later rated by fact‑checkers; both perspectives are reflected in the nature of the sources provided [1] [3].
7. How to get a definitive answer
A verifiable comparison would require obtaining the raw, year‑by‑year network scorecard tallies from primary fact‑checking projects (PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, Washington Post Fact Checker, etc.) for 2020–2025, plus clear rules for inclusion (hosts vs. reporters, statements sampled, and edition weighting); those datasets are not included among the supplied materials, and thus the present analysis cannot produce an exact numeric comparison from 2020–2025 using only the reporting provided [1] [2].