Fox sued for airing fake ‘ham sandwich’ story.
Fox sued for airing fake ‘ham sandwich’ story.
In April, Think Progress noted that Fox News morning show “Fox & Friends” aired at least eight segments about a fake news story claiming a school in Maine had formed “an anti-ham ‘response plan’” after a Muslim student complained of being harassed with a ham steak. After the Fox report, the school’s superintendent received threatening calls and hate mail. He’s now suing Fox News:
Lewiston School Superintendent Leon Levesque is seeking $75,000 in federal court in Portland to deter what his attorney Bernard J. Kubetz characterized as irresponsible reporting by Fox News Channel. […]
“It appears to me that Fox News acted in a grossly irresponsible way and took some information that was really not very plausible, did not do any substantial fact-checking, and put it out as hard news,” Kubetz said. […]
Fox did a brief on-air retraction, but Levesque called it unsatisfactory. A Fox News spokesman in New York said the company does not comment on pending lawsuits.
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A Fox News spokesman in New York said the company does not comment on pending lawsuits
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I wonder where they got that line?
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:41 pmEven if the guy wins, no skin off of Rupert’s back.
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:45 pmCountdown till wingnut trolls mention Dan Rather… 10…9…8…
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:46 pmHmmmm.
Well, I couldn’t claim FOX to be know-it-alls when it comes to reporting ethics and structure.
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:48 pmWas there any cheese involved here?
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:49 pmHeh. That’s really funny. :D
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:53 pmWas there any cheese involved here?
Comment by dbadass
And rye bread, cuz ham & cheese on rye is soooo yummy.
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:54 pmFox News […] did not do any substantial fact-checking, and put it out as hard news
Wait, does Faux News ever do any fact-checking at all, substantial or otherwise?
On the upside, that’s one less Faux News watcher.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:01 pmI suspect that they’re not suing for 75k. They probably had to claim that the minimum amount is present for diversity jurisdiction (at least 75k) for federal court diversity jurisdiction. I saw Jon Stewart mock such a small amount for some other case. But that’s not what they’re asking for in the end.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:02 pmI am so upset with Fox News. What channel are they on?
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:09 pmLOL FOX news is notorious for spewing bald-faced lies regularly!
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:10 pmJay,
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:18 pmthis is just too funny.
I expect the FauxNews watching Bush cultists to start spewing nonsense about them “liberals” who are a threat to the freedom of speech any minute now.
Never mind that the story was a flat out lie.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:21 pmBlame everything on Roger Ailes.
Most of us have all kinds of dreams in our sleep. Not Roger. His only dreams are Big Macs, ham sandwiches, ice cream, and candy.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:24 pmSue? They should be tried and hung for inciting the people to violence in the build-up to the Iraq War.
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:53 pmCome on TP, this is not news!!!!!
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:55 pmNope, Fox Noise lying sure isn’t news. We’ve known it for a long time.
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:58 pmI wonder if the Amtrak employees that Olberman accused of dumping a “drunk” in a national forest will sue? He hasn’t retracted the story or apologized yet.
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:28 pm“Never mind that the story was a flat out lie.”
Faux Noise never lies. They only “mispeak” or someone made a “mistake”.
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:38 pm“I wonder if the Amtrak employees that Olberman accused of dumping a “drunk†in a national forest will sue? He hasn’t retracted the story or apologized yet.”
Well, I guess that the Amtrak employees will also have to sue Faux Noise:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,287459,00.html
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:41 pm…and the Kansas City Star
“But somewhere around Williams, Amtrak officials decided Sims was too intoxicated to remain on the train.”
…and KUTV
Sims reportedly was forced off the train because train personnel believed he was drunk, although family members say he was likely in a diabetic shock.
and on and on.
Do a Google search for “amtrak drunk diabetes” and see how many news organizations reported that the people on the train thought he was drunk.
I guess the employees of Amtrak are going to have a field day suing all those news organizations.
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:45 pmI guess the employees of Amtrak are going to have a field day suing all those news organizations.
Comment by Katie — July 2, 2007 @ 11:45 pm
Sure, but in one of the threads that we had at DummieLand the Dummies kept using Olbermann as the source because he’s GOD doncha know.
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:05 amIf I were on that jury, I’d award the principal between $5 million and $10 million in punitive damages.
Maybe, just maybe, if Faux News is hit hard with a large-enough financial penalty they might think twice about lying and endangering the lives of people caught in their partisan cross-hairs. Maybe, just maybe, they’d repent and try to act like real journalists instead of just being partisan whackjobs for that Chinese Communist-kissing Rupert Murdoch. Maybe, just maybe, they’d stop looking (and smellng) like right-wing on-line sites like Sludge and Little Green Goofballs.
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 amBetween this and the Mama Cass urban myth, the ham sandwich is one severely maligned foodstuff.
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:35 amFaux Snooze is blocked at my house….is it still on the air?
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:36 amThese are outright lies and fabrications. It’s slander. I may be wrong, but isn’t that criminal and not just civil?
Fox entertainment can make up anything they want about anybody and it’s ok. They can air hatemonders like Coulter who want to frag senators and kill civilians, and it’s all ok.
But let a legitimate journalist like Dan Rather get sucked into a mistake about a forged letter, after they checked the facts out and truly believed it to be authentic…..and they want his head. They forced him off the air, and I believe the neocons were behind that letter to begin with. In any case, that was an honest mistake.
How on earth Fox, on the other hand, get away with not honest mistakes but outright lies, I’ll never understand.
I guess it’s about who owns the airwaves.
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:59 amClinton did it too.
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:13 amsee, THIS is how perverse and cynical the whole industry has become.when we need the media to come through for us with USEFUL information and facts that help Americans make informed choices about our fading democracy…the murdochs are doing far worse damage to this country and the industry i grew up to depend on and respect and “illegal aliens” because they’ve got us by the throat with their sick vision of how Americans should read, process and discuss the news.
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:22 amTHAN “illegal aliens.” i don’t think the so-called “aliens” should be deported. i DO think murdoch would be just great reading paris hilton hardcopy to the kangaroos.
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:25 amWait a minute. Where is our daily Paris Hilton story? Come-on TP give us more tripe!
ROTFL
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:18 am#30 Crappy Guy,
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:28 amI’m sure you can find the Paris story you’re longing for on Faux News
FOX news…taking the word doublethink to a whole new level.
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:37 amFox is sure having fun with the terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow. It’s as if they’d like nothing better than another 9/11.
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:07 pmLMAO i remember that fox picked that story for The Onion
July 3rd, 2007 at 5:29 pmfox never ceases to amaze
FOX & Friends buffoons…they can take time to cover the story 8 times, put together graphics, chyrons and an actual ham sandwich to have on the set yet they can’t fact check the source or call the school to see if it’s actually true or not.
There’s FOX news journalism at its best!
July 4th, 2007 at 5:07 pmTo no. 27, Bush and company have done it and is continuing to do it every week since he’s been in office… or did you not notice? Of course, thousands have been injured or killed due to the lies of the latter, so I guess there’s the difference.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:20 pmWhat’s hysterical is that just the idea of being “harassed by a ham steak” would spark hate mail or phone calls, or than a company or institution would institute an “anti-ham response plan” to accommodate the childish minded people that were (and potentially) offended.
The only perk to the frightening state of affairs cause by the perceived need to maintain political correctness is the fact that it’s so amazingly funny!
What a bunch’a’ maroooons! All of them … including FAUX News.
July 5th, 2007 at 5:18 pm