Fox Nation Fabricates Story To Blame Green Activists

The usual suspects then pick up the story without fact checking due to failure in reading comprehension
Wingnuts • Views: 21,872

Fox Nation reported that green activists supposedly trashed Fort Mason park on Earth Day (this past Sunday). Does it surprise anyone that the story was picked up by right wingers without actually checking the veracity of the story?

Fact was that there wasn’t any Earth Day activities scheduled for the park, but there was a party at the park the day before.

Fact checking, my ass.

SFist’s photos of a messier-than-usual aftermath at Fort Mason last Saturday got the right wingers frothing at the mouth, apparently. After the story was picked up by the Huffington Post, conservative bloggers from the Gateway Pundit and Fox Nation seized the opportunity to repurpose a couple photos along with an entirely fabricated story pinning the blame on Earth Day partiers and “Green Activists.” Here’s how the story appeared on Fox Nation:

Green Activists Trash Park on Earth Day
Happy Earthday everybody! This was the scene at Fort Mason park in San Francisco after Earth Day activists were through partying ….CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS

The click-through link leads you right to our original post. In case you were wondering where the scores of Tea Party commenters came from. Meanwhile, over at Gateway Pundit, they’ve got even more headshaking for San Francisco, which if these folks are to be believed is a city 100% composed of irresponsible and hypocritical Green Activists (emphasis, theirs):

It Figures… Green Activists Completely Trash Park on Earth Day
Leftists will be leftists…
It doesn’t matter if they’re at an inauguration or an annual event praising Mom Earth, they will trash the place and expect YOU to pick up after them.
And this was on Earth Day. Unreal.

To set the record straight here, the people partying on Fort Mason Green last Saturday would hardly identify themselves as part of any particular group that promoted anything other than getting drunk on cheap beer. There was no organized Earth Day celebration, and (perhaps more to the point) the partying occurred on April 21st. Which would be the day before Earth Day, for those keeping score at home. [emphasis added

Let’s recap. The trash wasn’t necessarily from any Earth Day activities at the park, but was from events the day before - as sfist reported when it came upon the trash piles.

If anything, sfist was doing its own impression of the crying Native American by noting the juxtaposition of the trash piles with Earth Day. And sfist made it abundantly clear that the trash was from the day before when they posted this story on April 22:

Just when we thought our faith in the drunkards had been restored, we spotted this disaster area left behind after throngs of Marina District revelers took their overconsumption outdoors yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon in this case is Saturday, April 21 - not Earth Day.

Other parks in San Francisco were trashed the night before, but volunteers came out on Earth Day to help clean them up.

That’s a reading comprehension fail.

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32 comments
1 HappyWarrior  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:29:34am

No agenda there huh Fox Nation. How about you actually report the news instead of being water carriers for right wing talking points. Oh wait that's too hard but I know you're fighting the lamestream media.

2 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:29:39am

Fake News sells!

3 dragonfire1981  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:29:57am

What we have to realize is that, to a lot of these people, ANYONE who does not self identify as a Christian, Patriotic, Freedom-loving, Obama-hating American is considered a "Leftist".

4 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:30:49am

re: #3 dragonfire1981

What we have to realize is that, to a lot of these people, ANYONE who does not self identify as a Christian, Patriotic, Freedom-loving, Obama-hating American is considered a "Leftist".

TRUTH!

5 dragonfire1981  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:31:48am

You know, I'm a decent writer. I have a journalism degree. I know how to make a story look legit and plausible even if it is fabricated.

I've thought many times before about doing a "social experiment" in which I deliberately plant fake news stories around the web, track who picks them up and how much traction they'd get.

I believe the results would be...sobering.

6 HappyWarrior  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:33:37am

re: #5 dragonfire1981

You know, I'm a decent writer. I have a journalism degree. I know how to make a story look legit and plausible even if it is fabricated.

I've thought many times before about doing a "social experiment" in which I deliberately plant fake news stories around the web, track who picks them up and how much traction they'd get.

I believe the results would be...sobering.

Hmmm that sounds interesting. I bet you could get Fox Nation by making anything crazy about Obama or anyone left of center.

7 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:35:28am

I'm going to repost this from the previous thread-because it seems sooo appropriate.

Image: 534936_293433554064206_199720273435535_678554_1328850872_n.jpg

8 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:35:53am

re: #6 HappyWarrior

Hmmm that sounds interesting. I bet you could get Fox Nation by making anything crazy about Obama or anyone left of center.

They sing to the choir.

9 HappyWarrior  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:36:46am

re: #8 ggt

They sing to the choir.

"Obama gives speech praising Eugene Debs."

10 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:41:05am

Has Fox reported on any of this?

Fair and Balanced --right?

11 lawhawk  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:41:37am

Should it surprise anyone that Gateway Pundit also picked up on this nonsense, though HuffPo also ran with it.

12 AK-47%  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:42:58am

We still suffer from the delusion that the news is the "product" these broadcasters offer and that we viewers are the "customers".

Their business is to sell advertising time. That is their product. Their customers are the advertisers who buy time during thier broadcasts.

Their content is just window dressing to attract viewers to the advertising so they can charge higher rates. Anything that keeps their target audience glued to the screen is fair game.

And "Tree-Hugging Hippies Trash Public Park" is just the sort of thing that keeps them tuned in.

13 Lidane  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:45:05am

Faux News creates news while the POTUS slow jams it:

President Obama ‘Slow Jams the News’ With Jimmy Fallon [VIDEO]

Heh.

14 Randall Gross  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:45:10am

It's possible that this trash could be left over from 4/20, and 4/20 parties in the Marina district were notoriously large when I was there a few Springs back...

15 allegro  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:45:19am

re: #12 Expand Your Ground

And "Tree-Hugging Hippies Trash Public Park" is just the sort of thing that keeps them tuned in.

Since there are no reports of rapey stabbers I guess we at least know they weren't OWS.

16 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:45:59am

re: #12 Expand Your Ground

We still suffer from the delusion that the news is the "product" these broadcasters offer and that we viewers are the "customers".

Their business is to sell advertising time. That is their product. Their customers are the advertisers who buy time during thier broadcasts.

Their content is just window dressing to attract viewers to the advertising so they can charge higher rates. Anything that keeps their target audience glued to the screen is fair game.

And "Tree-Hugging Hippies Trash Public Park" is just the sort of thing that keeps them tuned in.

Isn't there a infamous Wolf Blitzer quote about that?

17 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:48:14am

I'll be standing in line --won't you?

/gah

18 AK-47%  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:55:10am

re: #15 allegro

Since there are no reports of rapey stabbers I guess we at least know they weren't OWS.

But certainly OWS sympathizers.

19 allegro  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:56:22am

re: #18 Expand Your Ground

But certainly OWS sympathizers.

Since they left a mess behind that must certainly be true.

//

20 nines09  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:59:33am

Fox News dumps and Fox Nation collects. Think of it as a completely self contained cesspool.

21 allegro  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 9:00:58am

re: #20 Jerkin' Crocus

Fox News dumps and Fox Nation collects. Think of it as a completely self contained cesspool.

Oh yeah, they've got that down. Like their pundits making shit up so their news reporters can claim that "some say" and call it real news.

22 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 9:01:11am

Good morning lizards!

The Devils won in overtime and the Cubs beat St Louis last night. It's a great way to start the day.

:)

23 lawhawk  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 9:02:50am

re: #14 Randall Gross

More than possible - that's what sfist found when they first reported the story. It was leftovers from unrelated partying the day before:

Just when we thought our faith in the drunkards had been restored, we spotted this disaster area left behind after throngs of Marina District revelers took their overconsumption outdoors yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon in this case is Saturday, April 21 - not Earth Day.

24 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 9:03:04am

Whoever posted this earlier --kudos!

It's great.

25 Mostly sane, most of the time.  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 9:03:54am

Setting aside the sloppy journalism, that mess represents some heavy-duty public irresponsibility on the part of those who were at the park.

This is why most parks close at dusk, actually. Crap like this. What kind of adults do this?

26 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 9:06:41am

re: #25 Mostly sane, most of the time.

Setting aside the sloppy journalism, that mess represents some heavy-duty public irresponsibility on the part of those who were at the park.

This is why most parks close at dusk, actually. Crap like this. What kind of adults do this?

Those who cannot control their alcohol intake?

27 Simply Sarah  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 9:07:29am

re: #25 Mostly sane, most of the time.

Setting aside the sloppy journalism, that mess represents some heavy-duty public irresponsibility on the part of those who were at the park.

This is why most parks close at dusk, actually. Crap like this. What kind of adults do this?

I'm going to go with spoiled, entitled idiots that don't understand the concepts of civic responsibility and moderation. Sadly, that seems to describe a lot of people.

28 Patricia Kayden  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 9:11:46am

A reading comprehension fail or a deliberate attempt to spread misinformation against their enemies.

29 allegro  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 9:12:51am

re: #24 ggt

Whoever posted this earlier --kudos!

It's great.

That is excellent! What a fantastic way to get a message to low-info voters and help get our younger citizens out to vote.

30 nines09  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 9:17:59am

re: #21 allegro

Oh yeah, they've got that down. Like their pundits making shit up so their news reporters can claim that "some say" and call it real news.

Then people walk around saying "I heard that too!" It's reprehensible and it is neither reporting nor is it journalism. Hate and lies sell on the right. In fact they need it to function.

31 Eventual Carrion  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 9:22:11am

re: #3 dragonfire1981

What we have to realize is that, to a lot of these people, ANYONE who does not self identify as a Christian, Patriotic, Freedom-loving, Obama-hating American is considered a "Leftist".

I know, I get it all the time. From the time I could start voting (and I am 51 this year) I have registered as independent (well now "not affiliated" because of that independent party). I have voted for Repubs before, but lately I have nothing good to say about them. So right off I am called a liberal or lefty or whatever they decide. I lean economically towards the middle but socially towards the left (so I do walk a little funny). When asked what party I am, I just say I am American.

32 (I Stand By What I Said Whatever It Was)  Wed, Apr 25, 2012 10:59:36am

lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie


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