Fox Nation Distorts News Story To Suggest Obama Is Anti-Traditional Marriage
Reported by Ellen - May 29, 2009 -
The Fox Nation is trumpeting a story about an unruly reporter ejected from a press area near Air Force 1 to baselessly suggest that the ejection was due to her stance against gay marriage.
The Fox Nation headline (currently on the home page) shrieks, Was Reporter Dragged from Press Pool for Supporting Traditional Marriage? The text on Fox Nation states, "A reporter for a small newspaper was forcibly removed from a press area near Air Force One shortly before President Barack Obama arrived at Los Angeles International Airport to depart California early Thursday."
It's not until you click through to the story on nbclosangeles.com that you discover the incident had nothing to do with marriage - traditional or otherwise.
Brenda Lee, the ejected journalist, told the Associated Press, that she wanted to hand Obama a letter urging him "to take a stand for traditional marriage." A Secret Service agent refused to give the president her letter and referred her to a White House staffer. Lee refused to give her letter to the staffer and, after what seemed to be a bit of an argument, was escorted out. She was allowed to return "when she promised she would not yell or wave," strongly suggesting that she had been unruly.
Later, however, other security officers asked her to leave. She refused and was eventually picked up and carried out.
You can read the complete report here. Nowhere in the story does Lee suggest that her ejection was due to her views about traditional marriage.
(H/T reader Michael N. for the tip)
