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

[DonViejo]

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]

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?

[sarah FAILIN]

9. is this a retraction or doubling down?

To go from 70 million to 853 million doesn't seem like an improvement. Maybe I didn't understand it right.

[marybourg]

10. I'm having trouble with that part of the

story also. Perhaps another retraction is needed?

[Thinkingabout]

2. The same people who is very antiabortion also pushed fraud in the food stamp program,

they want to stop the abortions but do not want to see make sure these babies born has a chance of survival, have shelter, food, and health care, they are not pro-life, they are pro-birth. The same department provides money to farmers not to farm their property, they pay them not to produce and cut food to needy children.

[Wellstone ruled]

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.

[pkdu]

5. This "correction" was given whilst standing in front of a Christmas Tree

good gawd do they have no shame?

No - of course not.

[Atman]

6. What about defense spending fraud?

Or the fraud of paying our Congressmen $147k a year to work fewer hours than a Walmart greeter? But fuck no...we have to go after those people who want to EAT!

[gratuitous]

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?

[progressoid]

8. Whaaa?

[raging moderate]

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

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

[DawgHouse]

13. Well, yeah, but so should "News"

[raging moderate]

14. Very true!

Good catch!

[handmade34]

12. of course they apologized...

big money interests, corporations, banks, agribusiness, are the true big beneficiaries of the food stamp program....