Fox News insiders are concerned that the network could face "potential legal action" from viewers over its misleading coverage of the new coronavirus, according to Vanity Fair's Gabe Sherman, though experts say a "viable claim" against the network is unlikely. 

Sherman, the author of the Fox News exposé "The Loudest Voice in the Room" who frequently covers the conservative network, told MSNBC on Sunday that "there's a real concern inside the network that their early downplaying of the coronavirus actually exposes Fox News to potential legal action by viewers who maybe were misled and actually have died from this."

Sherman noted that polls show Republican views on issues like the coronavirus are "completely different" than "people who gather their news from a wide array of sources."

"Fox News tried to do their original playbook — which was dismiss it as a hoax, say that this is another partisan attempt by Democrats to hurt Donald Trump — and this was the case where they could not prevent reality," he said.

Sherman added that Fox viewers are only now "confronting what the rest of us have known since February and early March — is that this is a global pandemic that is unprecedented in American history."