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🗞️ Story file #238

U.S. military reports 81 aircraft lost or damaged in Iran war

Oct 8, 1 PM ET to Oct 9, 1 PM ET · 1 outlet not rated for lean

👣 How this story traveled: from the front pages that broke it, out through TV, radio and the shows, into what people retold and what fact-checkers examined, and on into the saga it is part of. Everything here is matched to the story by our tools, so a link can be wrong; the trackers' pages say how each is made.

  1. Oct 8, 1 PM ETfirst on a front page: Business Insider
  2. Oct 8, 1 PM ETpeak: on 8 front pages
  3. Oct 8, 3 PM ETfirst on TV: BBC News
  4. Oct 9, 6 AM ETretold online by 12 people

📰 Spread

the front pages that ran it, hour by hour

Oct 8, 6 PMOct 96 AM12 PM48leftcenterrightnot rated
Front pages carrying it at each hourly run, Oct 8, 1 PM to Oct 9, 1 PM ET (peak 8), by the outlets' lean: left · center · right · not rated
Oct 812 PMOct 912 PMFox NewsFox NewsFox News, Oct 7, 3:00 PM ET: Cost of Iran war explodes as toll on US air fleet nearly doublesFox News, Oct 7, 4:00 PM ET: Cost of Iran war exposed as US aircraft losses explode in month 8 of conflictThe HillThe HillThe Hill, Oct 7, 4:00 PM ET: 81 US military aircraft, drones damaged during Iran war: ReportThe Epoch TimesThe Epoch TimesThe Epoch Times, Oct 7, 5:00 PM ET: US Military Totals 81 Aircraft and Drones Lost or Damaged in Iran War, Report ShowsYahoo NewsYahoo NewsYahoo News, Oct 8, 6:00 AM ET: U.S. aircraft losses in Iran war include some of the military's most prized jetsThe Washington TimesThe Washington TimesThe Washington Times, Oct 8, 7:00 AM ET: 81 U.S. aircraft lost or damaged in Iran war, report showsRFE/RLRadio Free Europe Radio LibertyRadio Free Europe Radio Liberty, Oct 8, 8:00 AM ET: LIVE US Reports 81 US Aircraft Lost Or Damaged In Iran WarRadio Free Europe Radio Liberty, Oct 8, 9:00 PM ET: 5 US Reports 81 US Aircraft Lost Or Damaged In Iran WarMilitary.comMilitary.comMilitary.com, Oct 8, 1:00 PM ET: US Has Lost or Damaged Up to $3.3 Billion Worth of Aircraft in Iran War: Report Read MoreMilitary.com, Oct 8, 1:00 PM ET: US Has Lost or Damaged Up to $3.3 Billion Worth of Aircraft in Iran War: ReportBusiness InsiderBusiness InsiderBusiness Insider, Oct 8, 1:00 PM ET: More than 80 US military aircraft have been damaged so far in the Iran war. Equipment losses could be over $3.3 billion.📺 TVBBC News, 3:33 PM ET: Record carrier deployment due to war with IranBBC News, 3:37 PM ET: Record carrier deployment due to war with IranBBC News, 3:38 PM ET: Record carrier deployment due to war with IranBBC News, 3:42 PM ET: Record carrier deployment due to war with IranBBC News, 3:43 PM ET: Record carrier deployment due to war with IranMSNOW, 4:09 PM ET: NEW VIDEOS SHOW IRANIAN ATTACKS ON U.S. MILITARY BASEMSNOW, 4:09 PM ET: NEW VIDEOS SHOW IRANIAN ATTACKS ON U.S. MILITARY BASEMSNOW, 4:09 PM ET: NEW VIDEOS SHOW IRANIAN ATTACKS ON U.S. MILITARY BASEMSNOW, 4:10 PM ET: NEW VIDEOS SHOW IRANIAN ATTACKS ON U.S. MILITARY BASEMSNOW, 4:12 PM ET: NEW VIDEOS SHOW IRANIAN ATTACKS ON U.S. MILITARY BASEMSNOW, 4:14 PM ET: NEW VIDEOS SHOW IRANIAN ATTACKS ON U.S. MILITARY BASECNN, 1:27 AM ET: CONGRESSIONAL REPORT: 81 U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT, VALUED UP TO $3.3B, DAMAGED OR LOST IN IRAN WARCNN, 5:22 AM ET: Report: U.S. Aircraft Lost Or Sustained DamageCNN, 5:22 AM ET: To 81 Military Aircraft Worth Up To $3.3BCNN, 5:23 AM ET: Report: U.S. Air Lost Or Sustained Damage To 81 Military Aircraft Worth Up To $3.3BCNN, 5:23 AM ET: Report: U.S. Air Lost Or Sustained Damage To 81 Military Aircraft Worth Up To $3.3B🧶 online🧶found retold online (the day's report)
Who carried it and when: each outlet in the order it picked the story up, a bar for each headline from when we first saw it on the front page to when we last did, in the outlet's lean color (dashed: not rated); a dot marks a new headline. Beneath, its captions on TV, the radio newscasts that carried it (bigger: the lead) and when people were found retelling it. Hover for details.

🗣️ only one side says: 🫏 3 3 billion

✏️ 3 outlets ran more than one headline on it (reworded, or a follow-up)
  • Fox News (2 wordings): “Cost of Iran war explodes as toll on US air fleet nearly doubles” → “Cost of Iran war exposed as US aircraft losses explode in month 8 of conflict”
  • Military.com (2 wordings): “US Has Lost or Damaged Up to $3.3 Billion Worth of Aircraft in Iran War: Report Read More” → “US Has Lost or Damaged Up to $3.3 Billion Worth of Aircraft in Iran War: Report”
  • Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (2 wordings): “LIVE US Reports 81 US Aircraft Lost Or Damaged In Iran War” → “5 US Reports 81 US Aircraft Lost Or Damaged In Iran War”
Every outlet's first headline (8), left to right by AllSides rating

📡 Broadcast

TV, radio, and the shows that talked about it

📺 On TV

BBC News3 min
MSNOW2 min
CNN78 s
  • Record carrier deployment due to war with Iran BBC News, 3 min
  • NEW VIDEOS SHOW IRANIAN ATTACKS ON U.S. MILITARY BASE MSNOW, 2 min
  • Report: U.S. Air Lost Or Sustained Damage To 81 Military Aircraft Worth Up To $3.3B CNN, 42 s
  • CONGRESSIONAL REPORT: 81 U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT, VALUED UP TO $3.3B, DAMAGED OR LOST IN IRAN WAR CNN, 26 s
  • Report: U.S. Aircraft Lost Or Sustained Damage CNN, 5 s
  • To 81 Military Aircraft Worth Up To $3.3B CNN, 5 s

🎙️ Shows, investigators, satire

🎙️ 📺 The Young Turks 🎙️ Breaking Points

🧶 Retelling

what people online made of it

🧶 Retold online

  • The U.S. military has lost or sustained damage to 81 aircraft in the Iran war, with replacement costs reaching up to $3.3 billion. Oct 9: told by 12 people; told before on Oct 10

    🦋 a post on Bluesky · 137 likes, 79 reposts

    🦋 a post on Bluesky · 17 likes, 6 reposts


    🧩 Forever war

On Folklore: the latest in full, with their motifs and who is telling them.

🗣️ names in it: Iran U.S. military U.S. Air Force U.S. aircraft

🔎 Checking

what the fact-checkers looked into

🧐 No fact-checker has taken it on yet.

🧵 Persistence

the running story it belongs to

🌱 A story of its own so far: no saga yet.