Fox News apologises for '3 Mexican countries' headline

The three Central American countries the president plans to cut foreign aid to are: Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala

Fox News apologised for airing an on-screen graphic inaccurately reporting Donald Trump was planning to reduce aid to “three Mexican countries” last week.

While airing a segment on the early morning “Fox & Friends” on Sunday, a full-width headline at the bottom of the screen read: “Trump Cuts Aid to 3 Mexican Countries,” rather than President Trump’s actual statement announcing cutting foreign aid to three countries in South America: Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala in response to migrants crossing the US border with Mexico.

Ed Henry, a co-host for Sunday’s program, corrected and apologised for the error on-air.

“We want to clarify and correct something that happened earlier in the show,” Mr Henry said. “We had an inaccurate graphic on-screen while talking about this very story. We just want to be clear, the funding is being cut off to the three Central American countries. We apologize for the error — it never should’ve happened.”

Several people on Twitter jumped on the glaring on-air error.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has been a frequent target by the network, criticised the geographical error. “These are the same folks who assert their superiority by belittling the intelligence and good faith of others,” she tweeted.

Others believe the error signals the lack of diversity and inclusion among the Fox News network.

“Newsrooms make mistakes all the time and Fox News issued a correction,” Camilo Montoya-Galvez, a CBS journalist, tweeted. “But this highlights an underlying problem in the news business. Did a Latino write that chyron? I would be surprised if that was the case. How about someone with a basic understating of geography?”