Fox News apologizes to Gold Star family after facing backlash over false story | CNN Business

stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to News@lemmy.world – 363 points –
cnn.com

Fox News apologized Saturday to a Gold Star family for publishing a false story last month claiming that the family had to pay $60,000 to ship the remains of their fallen relative back from Afghanistan because the Pentagon refused to pay.

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Doesn't matter. They got their expected political result out of their false narrative at the time. Anything afterwards is a half-measure. Don't let the people in your lives watch Fox News, people! It's literal propaganda...

Me: “Hey, family, please stop watching Fox News, it’s literal propaganda”

and a finger curled on the monkey’s hand

Them: “oh, that’s why it’s woke now. I’ll watch Newsmax, then”

This is exactly how it works. Put your lies on the front page, then apologize in a tiny sentence buried somewhere no one sees. They know their audience has already heard what it wanted to hear, the apology won't change a thing.

Yep, 5x as many people hear the lies as the refutation or correction. What they changed it to was basically the same, anyway - instead of saying "something happened" it became "congress member says something happened".

How much time did the false story get on air? That should be the amount of time spent on the apology. If you can't correct what you did wrong as prominently and actively as what you did wrong then it's not a real apology.

What kind of dystopian hellscape do you guys live in that 'gold star families' is a concept?

Good little proles, you threw your child in the belly of Moloch for our profits, you get a gold fucking star.

It's slang. Families used to put a blue star on their house. If they had a member who was deployed. The star would be changed to gold if the family member was killed in service.

I'm only guessing from reading the caption, but 'pentagon' leads me to believe the gold star is an award given to a soldier and not the family.

-so much for giving the benefit of the doubt. It is some weird shit after all.

Your guess is incorrect. When people lose a loved one, they are grieving and will choose to put up a flag if they want. It's not mandatory, it's not an award, and not given by the Pentagon.

There is also a Gold Star Medal that can be awarded for soldiers who acted in valor.

That's not where the term comes from though. The term comes from slang from a tradition where families would put a blue star on their home. If they had a soldier who has been deployed. They would change the star to gold if the soldier was killed in service.

While unethical, the behavior is typical for Fox News. The outlet often breaks traditional news ethics and traffics in dishonest reporting and commentary.

Even though CNN is their competitor, I’m pleasantly surprised by their bluntness here.

Aren't they both owned by the same person?

Nope. CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, and was founded by Ted Turner. Fox News is owned by Fox Corporation, and was founded by Rupert Murdock.

Understandable mistake. It’s easy to forget those people aren’t the same guy.

Ummm, no....

Warner Bros Discovery owns CNN, Rupert Murdoch owns Fox (and does not own Warner Bros Discovery).

Idk what is worse - Rupert or all the dumb motherfuckers out there who voluntarily watch his trash. The whole network and it's methodology need to be outlawed.

Personally, I think Rupert is definitely worse. SOME of those viewers are otherwise good people, but they’ve been fed too much of Rupert’s propaganda.

they havent learned their lesson after dominion?

Yeah sure. They won't lie about any big corporations with lawyers.

I wouldn’t even go that far. They likely just do more to avoid a paper trail, especially one that shows they‘re knowingly spreading false information.

Manipulating people by misleading them with half-truths is their business… what else would they do?

I wonder if this family will have lawyers asking to help them sue Fox for liable? It's been proven that it can be done.

Hurt people all you want, it's corporations that get protected by us law.

Not sure i want to know what a "gold star family" is.

It's a flag families put up when someone in the military, in their family, dies while deployed. A flag with a blue star means they are deployed, but alive.

they can shove their apologies right up Rupert's ass with a hammer

No one that matters watches that shit anyway. It’s a non-issue.

WTF no. The public do, and that's how you get ever more extreme republican voters.

I didn’t say no one watches it- I said no one that matters.

Uh... The public kinda matters. Republicans aren't exactly fans of democracy, but the GOP definitely needs their voter base. Channels like Fox news are instrumental to expanding and maintaining that voter base.