Does Fox News require vaccinations for all employees? No, that's not true: A Fox News spokesperson shared with Lead Stories an internal memo that was sent out companywide in August 2021, stating that "all employees must enter their vaccine status" and wear masks in some situations. Subsequently, Kevin Lord, executive vice president of human resources at Fox News parent Fox Corp., was reported to have said in a memo in September 2021 that the company requires unvaccinated employees who work in company facilities to be tested daily.
The claim appeared in a Twitter post (archived here), where it was published by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on October 8, 2021. A 15-second video clip featured President Joe Biden addressing an audience, saying:
Fox News requires vaccinations for all of their employees.
The caption of the post read:
PSA: Even Fox News requires their employees to be vaccinated. Protect yourself and your family, go to http://vaccines.gov to find a provider near you.
This is what the Twitter post looked like on October 11, 2021:
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Mon October 11 23:36:56 2021 UTC)
Biden made the remark on October 7, 2021, as he spoke to a group in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. The DNC picked up the snippet of his remarks regarding Fox News and tweeted it a PSA (public service announcement) that Fox News "requires their employees to be vaccinated."
However, when Lead Stories reached out to Fox News via email on October 11, 2021, to inquire about the vaccination policy for employees and any options that unvaccinated employees may have, a spokesperson sent this August 17, 2021, memo that was distributed companywide by Fox News Media CEO Suzanna Scott. While the memo says "all employees must enter their vaccine status," it does not require vaccination.
On September 14, 2021, CNN reported on a memo to employees from Fox Corporation Human Resources Chief Kevin Lord. In the memo, Lord said that although 90% of full-time employees reported that they are fully vaccinated, there would be daily COVID testing for the small group of employees who are not vaccinated or did not provide their vaccination status.
