Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Contradicting O'Reilly, Cavuto acknowledges Fox pushed health care jail-time falsehood

Neil Cavuto admitted that Fox News has pushed the false claim that under the health care reform legislation individuals can be sent to jail for not having health insurance, saying: "I've researched this and a number of Fox personalities had made that comment." Cavuto's acknowledgment contradicts Bill O'Reilly's false claim that "[n]obody" on Fox advanced the assertion.

Cavuto "researched this," admits "a number of Fox personalities" made the false claim

Cavuto: "I've researched this, and a number of Fox personalities had made that comment." On the April 14 edition of Your World, Cavuto responded to Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) prior statement during a town hall meeting that contrary to a constituent's claim, the idea that individuals could be put in jail for not having health insurance under the recently-passed health care legislation "makes for good TV news on Fox but that isn't the intention." Cavuto admitted to Coburn regarding the jail-time falsehood: "You're quite right, I've researched this and a number of Fox personalities had made that comment."

Indeed, Fox has relentlessly pushed the jail-time falsehood. As Cavuto noted, several Fox News personalities made the claim. These personalities include Glenn Beck, Dick Morris, Sean Hannity, Andrew Napolitano, and Greta Van Susteren, as well as Fox News' website Fox Nation and a Fox & Friends on-screen caption.............................http://mediamatters.org/items/201004140065

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