Fox News chyron called University of North Carolina shooting suspect “mostly white Asian.”
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Image of Fox News chyron calling UNC shooting suspect a ‘mostly white Asian’ is fabricated
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- Images showing a Fox News chyron calling the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shooting suspect a "mostly white Asian male," are fabricated.
As details unfolded about an Aug. 28 fatal shooting on the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus, social media users shared an image that supposedly came from Fox News containing details about the person charged in the shooting.
An Aug. 29 Instagram post shared an image that looked like a Fox News chyron and read, "Shooter described as ‘mostly white Asian male,’ with a red circle around those words.
The Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
We found several other social media posts sharing the image of the Fox News chyron. But the image is fabricated.
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A Fox News spokesperson told PolitiFact the chyron is "fake and never aired."
The Instagram post also includes an image of a hand holding a cellphone displaying a photo of Tailei Qi, who is charged in the shooting, which killed Zijie Yan, a UNC associate professor. The photo was used in Aug. 28 Fox News coverage of the shooting, but when the image appeared in the newscast, the actual chyron read, "UNC police release picture of person of interest."
Later in the newscast, the chyron read, "Police: If you see this person, keep your distance."
We rate the claim that a Fox News chyron called the University of North Carolina shooting suspect a ‘mostly white Asian’ False.
Our Sources
Fox News spokesperson, email exchange, Aug. 30, 2023
Fox News, Police release picture of person of interest in college lockdown situation, Aug. 28, 2023
Internet Archive, America Reports FOX News, August 28, 2023, 11:00am-12:00pm PDT
UNC-Chapel Hill, press briefing, Aug. 29, 2023
UNC-Chapel Hill, press briefing, Aug. 28, 2023
The Associated Press, University of North Carolina graduate student left building right after killing adviser, police say, Aug. 29, 2023
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Image of Fox News chyron calling UNC shooting suspect a ‘mostly white Asian’ is fabricated
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