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crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
Fox News has just released its list of “stories that the mainstream media missed.”
There are nine of them. All have the central theme of demonizing President Obama and implying that the “mainstream media” are in cahoots with him
Naturally the situation involving Obama appointee Kevin Jennings is on the list:
President Obama's “safe schools czar,” Kevin Jennings, is a former schoolteacher who advocated promoting homosexuality in schools and was forced to admit he had poorly handled an incident in which a student told him he was having sex with older men. Jennings has since been tied to a pornographic suggested reading list for 7th graders that was designed by the organization he founded and directed for over a decade, and dozens of members of Congress have called for his ouster.
And that, my friends, is a clever lie.
Fox News is referring to the recent psuedo controversies put together by the webpage Big Government, the anti-gay hate group Mass Resistance, and several other “entities” (I'm being nice) to smear Jennings.
Bear in mind, I said “recent.”
You see the media did cover Jennings earlier last year, although I doubt Fox News would want anyone to remember this coverage. It was when the network and other entities were falsely claiming that Jennings contributed to the statutory rape of a child.
I am referring to the so-called Brewster incident in which a student confided in Jennings about an encounter he had with an older male. Fox News and its cohorts, hungry for more Obama appointee blood after the resignation of Van Jones, went after this tip with a huge amount of fervor, claiming that Jennings broke the law by not reporting what the student told him.
And their claims blew up in their faces.
The young man, Brewster, was of legal age at the time of the incident.
He provided a statement to Media Matters praising Jennings for his advice during that time of his life. He also provided Media Matters with his I.D. proving that he was 16 at the time of the incident. Sixteen is the legal age of consent in Massachusetts, the state where the incident took place.
By the way, Brewster also said that he did not have sex with the older male; a statement that everyone seems to forget.
Brewster's statement proved that Jennings did not contribute to any statutory rape of any form or type.
And the media did cover the entire brouhaha, including CNN:
and (wait for it) . . . Fox News.
Fox News even corrected the claim that Brewster was underaged:
Fox News corrects inaccurate Jennings article. Politico does the same
Fox News Corrects False Claims About Gay Obama Education Adviser — Will Hannity Do The Same?
But after this acknowledgement by the network, one of its talk show hosts, Sean Hannity, continue to smear Jennings:
Hannity “not convinced” of timeline conclusively debunking his smears of Jennings
After statutory rape smear disintegrates, Hannity attacks Jennings with fabricated NAMBLA link
Hannity continued to push “statutory rape” smear even after Fox reporter questioned story's accuracy
So basically when Fox News says that the “mainstream media” missed covering Kevin Jennings, the news organization is lying. The media, including Fox, did cover the lies lodged against Jennings and found them to be lacking.
Just because members of the media (except for Fox News) took later attempts to smear Jennings for the nonsense they were and ignored them is not a bad thing.
It's good journalism.
Perhaps Fox News should take the hint.
7 Comments
Tell me it’s a typoAlvin, you clearly didn’t mean to call Mass Resistance an ANTI-hate group, did you? They’re the most hateful people I can imagine.
ooooh typo! thanks for catching that, red ;p
Oooh, you’re welcome.(relief. sigh.)
That is the reason…That it is sometimes referred to as Faux News.
Recall their little fact based quest. Yet as soon as the edict came down from on high, they went right back to telling fibs.
Fox News Lies?What’s new? I don’t watch programs that purport to be “news” when what they really are is infotainment sold as something else. The whole premise of that program is a lie.
I have to disagree with you on a big noteThe attacks on Kevin Jennings and GLSEN are not being taken seriously – at least not as much as they were before the truth came out about Brewster. And that is simply because they are getting more obviously shriller and more outrageous.
GLSEN has not lost any funders and Jennings still has his job. On a certain part of the blogsphere, attacks on Jennings are having some weight but these are the same folks who believe that either Obama is not a U.S. citizen or that Jesus is coming back next week.
Will Hannity Do The Same? Do you even have to ask? Hannity would argue with a wooden fence post telling the wooden fence post it was not made of wood.
Where I work I deal with customers who used to buy into the right wing talk blow-hards, a lot of elderly people and they are getting tired of the off-the-wall garbage they keep pumping out. Sure they are a bit worried about their SSI, but they also know that any politician that would even suggest taking it away would be a goner. Even though the right wing keeps claiming (lying) none of these elderly people will see it disappear.
They are also seeing the right wingers for the obstructionist they are. None of this looks good for republicans. But the Democrats being spineless pols isn’t doing them any good either.
But Hannity will still lie through his teeth, and the birthers/deathers will still buy that junk, but not enough to have an impact.