Image of supposed Fox News chyron from North Carolina shooting is altered | Fact check
The claim: Fox News labeled the UNC shooting suspect a ‘mostly white Asian male’
An Aug. 28 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) appears to show a screenshot from Fox News's coverage of a shooting on the University of North Carolina campus at Chapel Hill.
“Shooter described as ‘mostly white Asian male,’” reads the chyron in the image. The image includes a photo of an Asian man.
The post was liked more than 10,000 times in less than a day.
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Our rating: Altered
The image is altered. The network displayed a different chyron during its coverage of the shooting.
On-screen graphic altered
Connor Smith, a Fox News spokesperson, told Paste BN in an email that the network did not air the chyron featured in the Instagram post.
The Instagram image is an altered version of a screenshot from Fox News coverage of an Aug. 28 shooting on the UNC Chapel Hill campus.
Zijie Yan, an associate professor in the department of applied physical sciences, was killed in the shooting. Tailei Qi, a graduate student, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and having a gun on an educational property.
At one point, the Fox broadcast showed the same image of Qi, but the chyron beneath the image read, “UNC police release picture of person of interest.”
The broadcast made no mention of a "mostly white Asian male."
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Paste BN reached out to the social media user who shared the image for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
The Associated Press, Reuters and Check Your Fact also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- Connor Smith, Aug. 29, Email exchange with Paste BN
- Fox News (YouTube), Aug. 28, Police release picture of person of interest in college lockdown situation
- Paste BN, Aug. 29, Grad student charged with murder in shooting of University of North Carolina faculty member
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