CLASSIC: Fox News Spins False Story, Then Spins Retraction

Posted: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 | Posted by Chico Brisbane | Labels: , ,

Fox News runs a report with chyron test reading REPORT: GOVT BURIED INFO ON HC OVERHAUL INCREASING COST.

Megyn Kelly spins a false narrative about healthcare cost, but then sources an anonymous blog post on The American Spectator's Washington Prowler Blog which claimed that the Department of Health and Human Services had a CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) report a full week before the healthcare vote, but "buried" the info until after the vote.

Megyn Kelly and Brett Baier reported on what was as best a "What If?" scenario as if it were breaking news. The first video sets the scene for the second. In the first video, Kelly and Baier pause as few times to report that what they are reporting is "an unconfirmed report" from an anonymous blogger.

Once that's out of the way, they proceede to speculate on whom knew what and when they knew it. By the end of the "report" the average viewer would be left with the impression that everything they had just speculated upon had already happened and that a trail of bread crumbs seems to be heading in the direction of The White House.

The second video is of Megyn Kelly and Brett Baier reporting that the American Spectator report was incorrect and untrue. However, Megyn Kelly misleads once again by introducing Brett Beir into the segment by saying that he has "just gotten off the phone with the man who wrote that report" leading viewers to believe she is referring to the anonymous blogger. Brett Baier then recounts his conversation with the chief actuary of CMS, Richard S. Foster, who wrote the actual CMS report, not the B.S. blog post that Fox News sourced in it's original story inspite of The Washington Prowler's history of printing dubious, anonymously sourced claims.

It's a classic Fox News M.O. of shaping the news even if they have to latch onto an unsubstantiated source to get the narrative rolling in the minds of Americans. It's just one more example how Fox is as ligitimate of a news source as Joe is a licensed plumber.

VIDEO ONE: "An Uncomfirmed Source Says..."




VIDEO TWO: "Unconfirmed Source Incorrect - Oops, Our Bad!"

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