Since at least early 2022, social media users have claimed that Fox News is the default or one of the default television stations on U.S. military bases.
The Lincoln Project, a conservative political action committee critical of U.S. President Donald Trump, made the claim in a Feb. 25, 2022, X post that amassed more than 51,000 likes. The group also started a petition called "Ban Fox on Base," which as of this writing had received more than 35,000 signatures. On the petition's webpage, the organization claimed that Fox News is "one of the default stations on all U.S. military bases."
Similar claims have appeared on Facebook, Bluesky and Threads, while posts on Quora, a Q&A site, asking about Fox News on military bases span years. Snopes readers have also written in since February 2022 to ask if Fox News was the default or "only" station available on military bases both on land and at sea. In early 2025, Trump nominated former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to run the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), leading some social media users to bring up the claim again.
Speaking via email, an unnamed Pentagon spokesperson directed our inquiries about the rumor to the branches of the military (which the DOD oversees). While the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force did not return a request to confirm or deny the claim, the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army both said the two agencies do not direct or mandate viewership of any specific news channel. Therefore, this indicates that Fox News is not the default or official channel on military bases; however, until the Navy and Air Force provide comments, it is not possible to rate this claim.
The Lincoln Project did not return a request for more information on how it determined that Fox News was a default television station on U.S. military bases.
History of claim
A year after the Lincoln Project's 2022 post and petition, VoteVets, a "progressive veterans" advocacy group, launched its own campaign to ban the conservative news station on military bases. VoteVets' March 2023 advertisement did not explicitly claim that Fox News was a default station on military bases, but it did quote an anonymous former Marine who reportedly said that "if you walk the Pentagon halls there will be not one TV tuned to anything but Fox."
The ad attributed this quote to a Feb. 10, 2021, article from "progressive" news outlet Common Dreams. However, VoteVets appeared to get the publication date wrong, as the only Common Dreams article featuring this quote was an Op-Ed (archived) published on Feb. 10, 2022, titled: "It's Time the Pentagon Pulled the Plug on Fox News." The full paragraph featuring the quote reads:
As to the seriousness of the problem, a former Marine has told the authors: "Right-wing society has captured the military . . . If you walk the Pentagon halls there will be not one TV tuned to anything but Fox." Another source told us that at their Air Force facility, Fox News is always blaring in common spaces during duty hours. Far from always being a service member's choice, the situation is often as at an airport lounge, where everyone is subjected to it like it or not.
Statements provided by the Army and Marines contradicted
Similarly, Joshua C. Benson, a spokesperson for the Marines, said via email that the military branch's televisions "have a range of media programming options from local, national, and international agencies with the ability to change the channel at will."
"Across the Marine Corps, a multitude of contracts exist with providers to supply bases and units with cable television," Benson wrote. "Individual commands aboard installations have the ability to purchase cable contracts on their own, with their own budgets. Members of base housing are free to purchase individual accounts with local providers as they see fit."
Benson said he checked with "many outstations around the Marine Corps to figure out how each one does the contracting for television services" in order to arrive at the information he provided in his emailed response.
US military and Fox News
While the military branches that responded may not require or set a default television station, it is likely that Fox News often plays on U.S. military bases across the world. Fox
Active-duty military members are expressly prohibited from engaging in partisan political activity, which may explain why there are no legitimate surveys of their political leanings. However, surveys of veterans by Gallup and Pew Research found that veterans have long been more likely to lean Republican. In 2024, a Pew Research survey found that 61% of military veterans backed Trump.
It is also worth noting that the VoteVets advertisement cited the George Washington University Program on Extremism database to claim that one in seven of the people (roughly 14%) charged over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol had U.S. military backgrounds. However, as of this writing, that number is actually 16.2
Given Fox News' popularity among Republicans — as well as reports that the television station's work amplified Trump's election-fraud theories that motivated many Jan. 6 participants to riot — it is not surprising that personnel stationed at military bases may choose to tune into Fox News when given the option, even if it is not the default station on military bases.
Snopes reached out to various veterans' organizations asking if they could connect us with anyone currently or formerly in the military who would publicly speak to how often they see Fox News playing on military bases. Some organizations declined our request and we await responses from others.