Fox News apologizes for getting a report on food stamp fraud so very, very wrong

[Texacon]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028414745

DUmmies don't read the articles they post.  They are such idiots.

 

 

Fri Dec 30, 2016, 01:07 PM

Star Member DonViejo (21,440 posts)





Fox News apologizes for getting a report on food stamp fraud so very, very wrong
 
 
 

   
 Fox News took its war on the hungry to new lows by presenting false statistics about food stamp fraud as fact
 
MATTHEW ROZSA

Fox News has pulled a Tuesday morning story in which they claimed that food stamp fraud is rampant and replaced it with a retraction.

“We reported that back in 2016 $70 million were wasted on food stamp fraud,” Fox News contributor Abby Huntsman said. “That was actually incorrect. The latest information from 2009 to 2011 shows the fraud at 1.3 percent, which is approximately $853 million for each of those three years. Nationally food stamp trafficking is on the decline. So sorry about that mistake.”

On Tuesday, Huntsman said that: “Food Stamp fraud is at an all-time high and some of the worst offenders this year have included a state lawmaker and a millionaire. This year it is estimated $70 million in taxpayer money was wasted on food stamp fraud. Is it time to end the program altogether?”

There are two aspects to this story that are almost too strange to believe. The first is the cruel logic of arguing that a program which feeds millions of people who might otherwise go hungry should be cut because less than 1 percent of its budget is used fraudulently. After all, food stamps cost $70.8 billion in the 2016 fiscal year, so $70 million would be a remarkably low figure.

In fact, it’s unrealistically low, which brings us to the second problem, as identified by Kevin Drum of Mother Jones on Wednesday.

more
http://www.salon.com/2016/12/30/fox-news-apologizes-for-getting-a-report-on-food-stamp-fraud-so-very-very-wrong/

napi21 (41,994 posts)

1. I'm surprised FOX actually appologized, but glad the did. I wonder how many of theiwr fans


who read the original report really read the retraction?

Stupid

Wellstone ruled (8,351 posts)

3. Fox touched one of the


third rails in Politics and the push back must have been enormous other wise this so called correction would not have happened. They slapped their Viewing Audience big time. Playing the Stupid Card has consequences.

Stupid

gratuitous (54,494 posts)

7. Gee, maybe Fox should have checked before going with the story on air?
 




But that would what a responsible journalist would do, and Fox has a very stringent screening process to keep that sort of thing to a minimum. Which leads to the obvious question, considering the fraudulent stories Fox peddles, way above the percentage of alleged food stamp fraud, should Fox end its programming altogether? After all, if a miniscule 1.3% is enough for Fox to call for ending SNAP, the far higher rate of errors on Fox should be more than enough to justify calls for its shutdown.

Right?

Stupider

raging moderate (1,384 posts)

11. The word "apologizes" should be in quotes.

Fox News has, in fact, doubled down and then some.

I wonder how long it will take for these idiots to realize they should've read the article...

KC

[freedumb2003b]

After all, food stamps cost $70.8 billion in the 2016 fiscal year, so $70 million would be a remarkably low figure. [/size]In fact, it’s unrealistically low, which brings us to the second problem, as identified by Kevin Drum of Mother Jones on Wednesday.

Reading is FUNdamental DUMMIES!!!

[Carl]

We don`t call them DUmbasses for nothing.

[SVPete]

Yeah the (excuse the pun) "money quote" in the Salon article is:

For what it’s worth, Wemple calculates that if food stamp fraud is at the same rate as 2011, it would equal roughly $910 million — 13 times more than Fox News claimed in its story, as well as $67 million more than Huntsman claimed in her retraction.

IOW, Fox's apology is for having vastly understated the magnitude of the fraud/waste.

But all DU-folk can see is "Fox News ... very, very wrong".

[Texacon]

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!

He's posting ANOTHER one, and they STILL don't get it!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028415303

DonViejo (21,444 posts)

Fox News runs incorrect correction of food-stamp fraud report, then corrects correction

   
By Erik Wemple December 30 at 11:48 AM

-snip-

Here’s how Huntsman presented the correction at around 6:45 a.m. today:


An update to a story that we brought to you earlier this week regarding fraud in the food-stamp program: So we reported that in 2016, $70 million was wasted on food-stamp fraud. That was incorrect. The latest information, from 2009 to 2011, shows the fraud at 1.3 percent, which is approximately $853 million for those three years combined. Nationally food-stamp trafficking is on the decline.


With that presentation, Fox News came closer to reality, though there was still some work to do. As the USDA report makes clear, the food-stamp trafficking numbers are actually $858 million annually from 2009 to 2011, not combined, as Huntsman said. So once again, Fox News appeared determined to under-represent actual food-stamp trafficking, even in a segment clearly designed to hammer SNAP.

So Huntsman tried again an hour later:


An update to a story that we brought you earlier this week regarding fraud in the food-stamp program. We reported that back in 2016, $70 million were wasted on food-stamp fraud. That was actually incorrect. The latest information from 2009 to 2011 shows the fraud at 1.3 percent, which is approximately $853 million for each of those three years and nationally food-stamp trafficking is on the decline.


Better! Though still not 100 percent: Food-stamp trafficking is actually on the rise — to 1.3 percent in the 2009-2011 study, from 1.0 percent in the USDA’s 2006-2008 study. The trafficking rate, however, is indeed down from its levels in the 1990s.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2016/12/30/fox-news-runs-incorrect-correction-of-food-stamp-fraud-report-then-corrects-correction/?utm_term=.0a7183448bb0&wpisrc=nl_popns&wpmm=1

KC

[Bad Dog]

Is it too early to start blaming this rampant corruption on Trump?

[Patriot Guard Rider]

Is it too early to start blaming this rampant corruption on Trump?

Get with the program. Everything bad that's happened in the U.S.A. and worldwide is Trumps fault going back to when he originally announced he was running.

 

[SVPete]

Get with the program. Everything bad that's happened in the U.S.A. and worldwide is Trumps fault going back to when he originally announced he was running.

 

But not the dinosaurs. Bush extincted the dinosaurs.

[DUmpDiver]

Is it too early to start blaming this rampant corruption on Trump?

Silly wabbit. It's obviously the Russians hacking Fox.

[YupItsMe]

If Abby Huntsman got something wrong, I'm all for her getting a good spanking.  And I know just the man for the job. 

[BlueStateSaint]

If Abby Huntsman got something wrong, I'm all for her getting a good spanking.  And I know just the man for the job. 

You might face some 'opposition' for that privilege . . .