General Discussion

ashling

(25,771 posts) Sat Oct 19, 2013, 02:30 AM Oct 2013

Fox's Obamacare Victims Aren't Victims At All

A recent Obamacare special on Fox News' Hannity illuminated the network's political bias, pattern of misinformation, and questionable use of anecdotal evidence, brought to light when a former adviser to Montana's governor fact-checked the special and found that not one of the show's guests--who lamented the horrors of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on air--had directly suffered from the law or even visited the insurance exchange. Hannity's reliance on guests who condemned Obamacare due to existing political bias demonstrates Fox News' habit of misinforming on the ACA and raises serious questions about the credibility of other guests that have recounted the "consequences" of the law.

On October 11, Fox News aired a Hannity special, which attempted to misinform on the ACA by hosting six guests who recounted their alleged "'Obamacare' horror stories." After watching the special, Eric Stern, former senior adviser to Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana, tracked down the guests and found that not one of them had been negatively impacted by the new health care law.

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Fox's reliance on questionable anecdotal evidence to smear the ACA fits with the network's ongoing campaign of falsehoods to undermine the health care law.

10 replies

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Highlight:

Fox's Obamacare Victims Aren't Victims At All (Original Post) ashling Oct 2013 OP

Why did they allow themselves to be used by Hannity? Boomerproud Oct 2013 #1

Why did they allow themselves to be used by Hannity? hadrons Oct 2013 #6

An article link below with additional info... Tx4obama Oct 2013 #2

I always think back to Dan Rather and the outrage of his story "falsifying" Bush's chelsea0011 Oct 2013 #3

I think should sue Fox B Calm Oct 2013 #4

I don't know if there is any sort of legal precedence for that. PotatoChip Oct 2013 #8

We need a law stating that if a program is labeled "news" it must be factual. bullimiami Oct 2013 #9

I agree. (nt) PotatoChip Oct 2013 #10

How can you tell if a Faux News talking head is lying? hobbit709 Oct 2013 #5

Oh man John Stewart must be like a kid on Christmas morning right now. Egnever Oct 2013 #7

Boomerproud

(7,955 posts)

1. Why did they allow themselves to be used by Hannity?

Reply to ashling (Original post)

Sat Oct 19, 2013, 02:33 AM

Oct 2013

Did anyone answer that question if and when posed to them by Eric Stern?

hadrons

(4,170 posts)

6. Why did they allow themselves to be used by Hannity?

Reply to Boomerproud (Reply #1)

Sat Oct 19, 2013, 07:27 AM

Oct 2013

Because they believe the nonsense told to them on FauxNews (their answers to this reporter supports this, sadly)

Tx4obama

(36,974 posts)

2. An article link below with additional info...

Reply to ashling (Original post)

Sat Oct 19, 2013, 02:40 AM

Oct 2013

Sean Hannity Gets Fact-Checked Hard On Obamacare Claims

Here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/18/sean-hannity-fact-checked-obamacare_n_4124699.html

chelsea0011

(10,115 posts)

3. I always think back to Dan Rather and the outrage of his story "falsifying" Bush's

Reply to ashling (Original post)

Sat Oct 19, 2013, 06:10 AM

Oct 2013

military record and how it became a huge media story which ended with Rather and others losing their jobs. But this Faux "news" station is never held accountable. This story will be ignored by the media and Faux continues to exist.

B Calm

(28,762 posts)

4. I think should sue Fox

Reply to ashling (Original post)

Sat Oct 19, 2013, 06:19 AM

Oct 2013

PotatoChip

(3,186 posts)

8. I don't know if there is any sort of legal precedence for that.

Reply to B Calm (Reply #4)

Sat Oct 19, 2013, 08:05 AM

Oct 2013

But there certainly ought to be.

Imo, purposely mis-informing people on matters of significant importance to them, is similar to yelling "fire" in a crowded movie theater. Perhaps not nearly as dire, but still enough to potentially cause harm.

Some seniors are genuinely very distressed and frightened by all of this propaganda. I've seen it w/my MIL, and it's very hard to set the record straight once they've heard this kind of stuff.

bullimiami

(13,099 posts)

9. We need a law stating that if a program is labeled "news" it must be factual.

Reply to PotatoChip (Reply #8)

Sat Oct 19, 2013, 08:10 AM

Oct 2013

Otherwise it would need to be clearly labeled "opinion" or "entertainment".

This would clearly separate Fox "Opinion and Entertainment" from ABC Evening "News" or BBC "News"