Reading through material from the “Turn Off Fox” campaign, one gets the very clear impression that the folks at the Fox News Channel are bold-faced liars. They have “no regard for the truth,” and uses “half-truths” to push a “stream of misinformation” and “distortions of the truth.” Turn Off Fox is a project started by Color of Change, the far-left political organization founded by neo-Marxist and black liberation theologist Van Jones. Despite Turn Off Fox’s righteous indignation, the same document making the above accusations pushes blatant misinformation about both Fox and the Tea Party movement. Got that? The Turn Off Fox campaign wants FNC to tell the truth, and uses demonstrable falsehoods to bolster its case. The document accusing Fox of pushing misinformation claims that Bill O’Reilly got former USDA official Shirley Sherrod fired, and claims that Tea Party protesters shouted racial slurs and spit on black congressmen outside the Capitol. Both claims have been thoroughly debunked. Turn Off Fox claims that “Fox News hosts Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity were the first to air maliciously edited video of Shirley Sherrod’s speech to the Georgia NAACP – video that cost Sherrod her job with the USDA.” Clearly, the implication is that Fox was responsible for Sherrod’s ouster. Granted, the document doesn’t actually say that Sherrod was fired because of O’Reilly’s or Hannity’s work, only that they were the first to air the video, which is true. But the document is an attempt to single out Fox News for supposed wrongdoing. So if other cable networks did the same thing Fox did, there would be no reason to mention it in this document. And as Howard Kurtz wrote , Fox did not air the video in question until after Sherrod resigned. Fox was joined by numerous other television news shows, which all aired the viral clip. In other words, the role Fox News played in Sherrod’s resignation was no larger than any other cable news channel. Call Turn Off Fox’s claim a lie, call it a half truth, call it what you like. But the fact is, the document pushes the false notion that Fox was uniquely responsible (among television news channels) for the Sherrod controversy. That claim is nothing short of false. The document goes on to offer flimsy evidence linking Fox News to the Tea Party movement. It says the following about the latter: “As the House of Representatives deliberated over health care legislation this past spring, some Tea Party members gathered outside the Capitol shouted ‘Ni**er!’ at black congressmen.” The document also claims that “One of the protesters spat on Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver.” Both of those claims are false. Or, at the very least, there is no evidence to support either claim. Numerous videos of the protest in question give no indication that any racial slur was uttered, or that any protester spit on Congressman Cleaver. The New York Times recently issued a retraction to that effect, noting the lack of evidence for a claim that most media outlets – but not Fox! – were willing to unquestionably parrot for so long. The “Turn Off Fox” campaign is the latest effort in Color of Change’s continuing vendetta against Fox News. This is the same organization that tried to get Glenn Beck taken off the air by targeting Fox’s advertisers. These blatant factual inaccuracies raise serious questions regarding Color of Change’s credibility. How can it accuse Fox of spreading misinformation, while using misinformation to bolster its case? This document suggests that, contrary to Color of Change’s claims, this is little more than a political effort designed to stifle speech the group’s far-left members don’t like. A request for comment from Color of Change was not returned by deadline.
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Group Founded by Van Jones Claims FNC Lies, Proceeds to Lie About Fox, Tea Party
