Fox News offered readers comprehensive coverage of Kathy Griffin’s recent topless dancing tweet, crediting no fewer than seven reporters on a 272-word writeup of the comedian’s tweet.
That amounts to roughly 39 words per reporter, if divided evenly.
While Fox News’ Kathleen Joyce is the only name on the byline of “Kathy Griffin dances topless in video while ‘celebrating the Manafort and Cohen verdicts,” the piece also required the efforts of Samuel Chamberlain, Julius Young, Adam Shaw, John Roberts, Alex Pappas and Peter Doocy — all of whom are credited at the bottom as having “contributed to this report.”
John Roberts is currently the channel’s chief White House correspondent.
Griffin, who mocked the network on Twitter, was the first to flag the Fox story’s many contributors.
Hey @FoxNews, it took seven reporters to write this story? Wow. pic.twitter.com/3YTETYBRcr
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) August 22, 2018
It’s unclear why Fox devoted a kitchen sink of their talent to the story. A rep for the network did not immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap.
The number reporters assigned to Griffin — seven — is the same number the network devoted to news of Paul Manafort’s conviction on eight counts of bank fraud, two more than the five reporters they put on the news of Michael Cohen’s plea deal with federal prosecutors and three more than the number assigned to the news of Mollie Tibbetts’ murder suspect being identified.
The original tweet — which sparked no shortage of memes and mockery online — showed Griffin dancing topless in front of a window.
“Celebrating the Manafort and Cohen verdicts…topless, naturally,” she said.
Celebrating the Manafort and Cohen verdicts…topless, naturally pic.twitter.com/o0AO7rXFHb
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) August 21, 2018
Griffin has become a lightning rod for Fox News’ audience after images emerged of her holding a mockup of President Trump’s severed head covered in blood. The photos earned broad condemnation, including a rebuke from Trump, and her career promptly imploded. She has since returned to comedy and is currently on a worldwide “Laugh Your Head Off” tour, which makes light of the incident.