Fox News’ coverage of the U.S. Army 250th Parade drew over 5 million viewers between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 14. This made Fox News the most-watched network in primetime, even surpassing broadcast networks. It was the network’s highest-rated Saturday primetime since July 2024, when it covered the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
CNN and MSNBC also saw increased viewership on Saturday, fueled by major events like the murder of a Minnesota lawmaker, nationwide No Kings protests, and the Army parade. In the key 25-54 demographic, Fox News led with 315,000 viewers, followed by CNN with 151,000 and MSNBC with 98,000. In total viewers, Fox News reached 2.2 million, CNN 820,000, and MSNBC 851,000.
Online users shared a video titled “PBS vs FOX,” claiming that Fox News added cheering sound effects before President Donald Trump’s June 14, 2025 speech at the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary in Washington. The viral video compared broadcasts by PBS News and Fox News, alleging that Fox News added “fake cheering.”
However, the posts lacked important context.
fox tops ratings for Army parade
PBS News and other major media outlets also hosted YouTube videos featuring the loud cheers. A Fox News spokesperson explained that their network used two audio-video feeds for the event: a “network pool feed” with less audible cheering and another feed labeled “America250,” which had louder cheering. “This is a blatantly false smear, and nothing was altered whatsoever,” the Fox News spokesperson said.
PBS NewsHour’s director of communications, Ella Richardson, also confirmed that PBS used both feeds without altering them, except for adding their PBS News logo. The video comparison contrasted a PBS News broadcast using the “network pool feed” against the “America250” feed from FOX 5 New York, not the national U.S. cable news network Fox News. Users attributed the issue specifically to Fox News, but Fox News did not broadcast the “America250” feed live and instead aired the quieter “network pool feed.”
Several media outlets, including PBS NewsHour, also hosted videos of the “America250” feed with the louder cheering.
One PBS NewsHour YouTube clip showed the quiet feed, while another included the louder cheering. In conclusion, the claim that Fox News added fake cheering sounds to its broadcast is inaccurate. The broadcast used a standard audio feed with genuine cheering, as did many other media outlets.
