A Fox News contributor who appeared on Sean Hannity’s show on Wednesday faced significant backlash for donning a tactical vest at the southern U.S. border with Mexico.
Lawrence Jones III shared multiple images of himself alongside U.S. Border Protection agents, wearing what many criticized as a bulletproof vest during his appearance on Hannity’s program. The vest, which appeared ill-fitting and lacked any contents in its pouches, was not worn by other legitimate border patrol agents in the vicinity. Critics quickly condemned Jones for sporting the military-style jacket adorned with a U.S. Customs and Border Protection badge, although he later asserted that agents had insisted he wear the tactical vest for safety reasons. Jones and Fox News’ ongoing coverage of the “border crisis” faced scrutiny for attempting to depict the area as a domestic “war zone.”
In a prior image, Jones was seen in a black t-shirt, jeans, and Vans sneakers while standing next to two border agents.
On Thursday morning, Jones spent several hours defending his actions on Twitter as veterans, war correspondents, and other prominent journalists, including Roland Martin, commented on the tactical vest issue. While some critics on social media humorously edited images of Jones with Mexican ponchos and Elmo backpacks, others defended the practice of journalists “playing dress-up” as a widespread issue across all cable news networks. NBC News producer and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Mac William Bishop remarked, “I’ve previously criticized journos for playing dress-up in PPE. Last time it was someone who worked for MSNBC. This time it’s someone who works for Fox. Being a poseur with no respect for journalistic integrity and lacking common sense about how PPE works is a non-partisan flaw.”While Jones received some minimal support from colleagues in the media, he faced significant backlash for contributing to Fox News’ depiction of disorder, violence, and an urgent demand for increased security.
