Rinse, repeat: Right-wing media just can’t stop pushing fake stories | Media Matters for America
Rinse, repeat: Right-wing media just can’t stop pushing fake stories | Media Matters for America
After their smear of Shirley Sherrod dissolved, the right-wing media moved on to two new fake stories: that Mexican gangs had “invade[d]” Texas and taken over two ranches, and that President Obama “backed the release” of the Lockerbie bomber. Indeed, the right-wing media regularly embarrass themselves by running with entirely fabricated stories.
Days after fake Sherrod story dissolves, RW blogs run with fake “invasion” story
Bloggers Amato, Dvorak invent story that Mexican gangs have “taken over” two ranches near Laredo, TX. In a July 24 post on his “Diggers Realm” blog, Dan Amato wrote that “word is coming in that Los Zetas, the highly trained killers formerly with the Gulf Cartel, have crossed into the United States and taken over at least two ranches in the Laredo, Texas area.” He reported that San Diego Minutemen founder Jeff Schwilk had “tipped me off to this story.” Similarly, in a July 24 Examiner.com post, Kimberly Dvorak reported that “In what could be deemed an act of war against the sovereign borders of the United States, Mexican drug cartels have seized control of at least two American ranches inside the U.S. territory near Laredo, Texas.” She added that “Two sources inside the Laredo Police Department confirmed the incident is unfolding.” Amato subsequently updated his post, linking to Dvorak’s post and writing that the story “is now 100% confirmed by second source within the Laredo Police Department.”
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After fake “invasion” story implodes, conservative media move on to fake Lockerbie story
Sunday Times: “[T]he United States wanted Megrahi to remain imprisoned.” On July 25, The United Kingdom’s Sunday Times reported on a letter Richard LeBaron, deputy head of the London US embassy, sent to British officials stating that the Obama administration supported keeping Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi imprisoned, but that in the event he was released, they preferred to release him in Scotland rather than send him to Libya. From the Sunday Times (accessed via Factiva):
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Right-wing media regularly promote absurd, entirely fabricated stories
Right-wing media eagerly spread absurd claim that Obama plans to “ban sport fishing.” On March 9,Robert Montgomery reported for ESPNOutdoors.com that President Obama’s Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force “could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation’s oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.” Montgomery cited no evidence for his claim, and the task force in question issued a report seeking to “better manage,” not ban, recreational fishing. Right-wing media, including Glenn Beck, Fox Business’s Eric Bolling, Limbaugh, Malkin, RedState, Fox Nation, and Jim Hoft quickly forwarded his report. ESPNOutdoors.com executive editor Steve Bowman subsequently acknowledged “several errors in the editing and presentation” of the article, and noted that the column “was not properly balanced and failed to represent contrary points of view.” In a March 17 post calling Limbaugh’s claims about fishing “Pants on Fire” false, Politifact noted that “the draft framework says nothing about banning fishing.”
Fox, right-wing blogs snared by satire post about a global warming activist freezing to death. Fox Nation, Hoft, Ace of Spades, and JammieWearingFool all hyped a March 29 EcoEnquirer.com report that “Famed global warming activist James Schneider and a journalist friend were both found frozen to death on Saturday, about 90 miles from South Pole Station.” EcoEnquirer.com is a satire site, which at the time featured “Breaking News” about the successful 2027 Bali global warming conference. Other EcoEnquirer.com stories include “U.S.-Canada Border Conflict Continues” and “EPA to Mandate Reductions in Emissions from Volcanoes.”
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