Fact checkers at PolitiFact have named their annual “Lie of the Year” and credited Fox News and Republican lawmakers in Congress with its spread.
Every year PolitiFact dredges through the lies told by politicians and pundits and determines a winner, so to speak, “based on how broadly a myth or falsehood infiltrates conventional thinking. Last year, though many on the left disagreed, the Tampa-based fact-checkers chose Barack Obama’s “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.”
What’s the 2014 Lie of the Year? “Exaggerations about Ebola.”
And who are the ones to blame for spreading lies and stretching the truth about an issue that plagued only a handful of people in the U.S., but the minds of millions thanks to their relentless fear-mongering? Fox News and Republican politicians.
Yes, specifically, Fox News, and Republican politicians Rand Paul, John McCain, Darrell Issa, Phil Gingrey, Ted Cruz, Tim Murphy, and Cory Gardner, along with conservative right-wing pundits like Glenn Beck, Allen West, Brit Hume, and some nameless bloggers were all cited as spreading mostly false, false or “pants on fire” false statements on the “Truth-O-Meter.” PolitiFact noted iberal pundit Tavis Smiley’s incorrect statement, one that seemed to minimize the danger, and Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor’s use of the issue as a political weapon.
Some examples via PolitiFact:
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.
“The problem is the original assumption, said with great certitude if not certainty, was that you need to have direct contact, meaning with bodily fluids from someone, because it’s not airborne,” Will said. “There are doctors who are saying that in a sneeze or some cough, some of the airborne particles can be infectious.” False.
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., described Ebola as “incredibly contagious,” “very transmissible” and “easy to catch.” Mostly False.
Internet conspirators claimed President Obama intended to detain people who had signs of illness. Pants on Fire. Bloggers also said the outbreak was started in a bioweapons lab funded by George Soros and Bill Gates. Pants on Fire.   Â
A Georgia congressman claimed there were reports of people carrying diseases including Ebola across the southern border. Pants on Fire. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Americans were told the country would be Ebola-free. False.
PolitiFact also indirectly scolded the news media in general, noting that as soon as the Ebola scare subsided in the U.S., “mentions on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC dropped 82 percent, according to a review of closed caption transcripts. Mentions on the three cable networks dipped another 35 percent in the first week of December.”
“At the same time, at least 3,578 more people contracted Ebola, according to the World Health Organization, and another 1,119 people died. Overall, the death toll has crept near 6,400.”
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