Fox Business host and informal adviser to Donald Trump retracted but offered no apology or explanation for gushing over Trump’s “soaring” approval rating of 55% when he was actually under water by double digits. But the public is owed more than just a mere correction of what was really a grievous, inexcusable mistake.
Dobbs and his Fox Business staff should have known the 55% number was wrong
In case you missed it yesterday, Dobbs raved about Trump’s “55%” approval rating as a graphic on the screen touted “TRUMP’S SOARING APPROVAL.”
Unfortunately for Dobbs – and Trump TV – 55% was actually the disapproval number in the poll. Trump’s actual approval was 41%.
This was not just a minor slip up, as I wrote yesterday:
Given Trump’s consistently low-40’s approval ratings (his highest, as per FiveThirtyEight.com, was 45.5%, four days after taking office), you’d think somebody on Dobbs’ staff might have thought to double check the statistic. In fact, the director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics & Public Service is Mo Elleithee, who also happens to be a Fox News contributor. But in their zeal to paint Trump as victorious, the Dobbs staff couldn’t be bothered.
Greg Sargent noted another big red flag Dobbs and co. should have noticed: Fox’s own polling has found Trump “below 50 percent in at least 20 Fox polls throughout Trump’s presidency, mostly bouncing around near the 45 percent mark throughout.”
This was no slip of a tongue but a major falsehood that Dobbs ballyhooed three times. Forethought (and staff work) was also required to prepare the accompanying false graphic.
In other words, there was no excuse. Especially when Dobbs knows the Fan in Chief is too busy with his TV schedule and Twitter feed to do his own fact checking. Indeed, Trump regurgitated the fake news approvingly. As I write this, the Self-Avowed Enemy of Fake News has not corrected the record.
Dobbs' Bare Bones And Unapologetic Retraction Doesn't Cut It
Nobody at Fox deserves much credit for their minimal and even misleading retractions. Yesterday, FBN’s Blake Burman corrected the record at the end of a brief news update on Varney & Co. Instead of an apology, Burman downplayed the error and suggested the problem was Trump's fault:
BURMAN: It’s been a quiet start to the day for President Trump, though he did send out a tweet this morning from the Lou Dobbs show last night on Fox Business. That tweet featured a poll that was not entirely accurate, which Fox Business would like to correct. According to a poll from Georgetown University, 58% of respondents approved of the president’s handling of the economy. That portion of the graphic was right. However, the graphic also showed that 55% of the respondents approve of the president. That number is not correct. The 55% number was those, Stuart [Varney], who have an unfavorable impression of President Trump.
FNC's White House correspondent Kevin Corke was even worse. According to The Daily Beast, he “delivered an on-air correction, claiming there was a ‘typo in that graphic’ while ignoring Dobbs’ remarks about the poll.”
Then there was Dobbs’ completely inadequate “repair” last night. His retraction, which lasted less than 20 seconds, was bookended with swipes at Democrats:
DOBBS: We have new poll numbers tonight on a growing issue, at least among the radical Dems, we’d like to share with you tonight. But before we get to those numbers, I’d like to repair something I got wrong last night, incorrectly reporting that a Georgetown poll showed the president had an overall approval rating of 55%. The number, in fact, is 43%. That same poll found that President Trump has a 58% approval rating for the handling of the economy,
Now to those numbers on reparations and I assure you, at least most of these numbers are correct. Just kidding.
Sorry, guys, but you owe the public more than that. The fact that you didn’t apologize or explain suggests there is no decent explanation. And if you can’t explain why a host and his staff promoted fake news to cheerlead for a head of state – especially when said host moonlights as an adviser to said head of state – then he should be suspended or fired.
Thus, I join with Karoli Kuns, at Crooks and Liars. She wrote earlier today, “This last infraction is a bridge too far. It isn't enough for Fox News and Fox Business to say, ‘Oopsie.’ … Agree? Let's share this and get some others to agree. Maybe we can make enough noise for someone to notice.”
Agreed and shared.
Watch Dobbs try to sweep his malpractice under the rug below, from the April 11, 2019 Lou Dobbs Tonight, via Contemptor.
Unlike other mainstream media outlets, Fox News is loath to admit to obvious mistakes or bias. It’s more than just corporate narcissism. It goes hand in glove with their propaganda that only the mainstream media is “fake news” and/or politically biased. Who can forget Fox’s often mocked slogan “fair and balanced” which Bret Baier still uses despite his larger network dropping it over the embarrassing hypocrisy it represents?
Fox News has a long history of making obscure references to retractions or stories that don’t fit its right-wing memes. The purpose of which is to fight off the inevitable liberal complaint Fox never mentioned the same. Fox can respond with the obscure, few second mention of the same as proof their asses are covered without confusing their loyal viewers with any contrary truth. Their base will hear the message liberals are ‘lying’ again about Fox News, not the underlying story Fox hopes to bury.
