PolitiFact: Ebola statements by George Will, Rand Paul et al. add up to ‘Lie of the Year’
Source: Washington Post
By Erik Wemple December 16 at 11:58 AM @ErikWemple
George Will, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) and various bloggers can now take their place alongside President Obama, Sarah Palin and other luminaries: Their work constitutes the “Lie of the Year,” the annual award given out by fact-checking outlet PolitiFact. “Exaggerations” about the risks of Ebola, says PolitiFact, distinguished themselves in terms of the 2014 field of untruths.
More Americans have died from the flu than from Ebola this fall, notes PolitiFact, “Yet fear of the disease stretched to every corner of America this fall, stoked by exaggerated claims from politicians and pundits. They said Ebola was easy to catch, that illegal immigrants may be carrying the virus across the southern border, that it was all part of a government or corporate conspiracy.” Together, PolitiFact and cousin PunditFact “rated 16 separate claims about Ebola as Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire” in 2014.
Example from George Will, who said on Fox News Sunday on Oct. 19: “There are doctors who are saying that in a sneeze or some cough, some of the airborne particles can be infectious.” False, said PunditFact. “Mostly false” were the statements by Paul that Ebola was “incredibly contagious,” “very transmissible” and “easy to catch.” And Gingrey earned a “Pants on Fire” for citing in a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “reports of illegal migrants carrying deadly diseases such as . . . Ebola virus.”
Drop those statements in a blender with ’round-the-clock coverage on cable news networks, calls by Undisputed King of Cable News Bill O’Reilly for travel bans from West Africa and the public’s inclination to believe the worst, and you have a genuine American autumn health uproar.
....
erik.wemple@washpost.com
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/12/16/politifact-ebola-statements-by-george-will-rand-paul-et-al-add-up-to-lie-of-the-year/
ETA, after reading the first few comments:
Well, gosh, there certainly are some unhappy people out there. Awwww, look, it's a picture of baby cheetahs at the Richmond Zoo:
= new reply since forum marked as read
I like this headline....
#Republicans & @FoxNews Win PolitiFact's Lie Of The Year Award For 2014-lying about #Ebola http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/16/republicans-fox-news-win-politifacts-lie-year-award-2014.html … #wipolitics @TheDemocrats
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/16/republicans-fox-news-win-politifacts-lie-year-award-2014.html
Republicans And Fox News Win PolitiFact’s Lie Of The Year Award For 2014
By: Jason Easley more from Jason Easley
Tuesday, December, 16th, 2014, 12:42 pm
Republicans and Fox News have won PolitiFact’s lie of the year award for spreading inaccurate information and hysteria about Ebola.
PolitiFact explained why they chose the right’s Ebola hysteria as the lie of the year.
PolitiFact and PunditFact rated 16 separate claims about Ebola as Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire on our Truth-O-Meter in 2014. Ten of those claims came in October, as Duncan’s case came to the fore and as voters went to the polls to select a new Congress.
Fox News analyst George Will claimed Ebola could be spread into the general population through a sneeze or a cough, saying the conventional wisdom that Ebola spreads only through direct contact with bodily fluids was wrong...............
