Jon Stewart Rips Fox News, Should They Apologize For Benghazi Reporting?
Jon Stewart ripped Fox News last night, this time pointing out a pattern of hypocrisy between the news channel’s coverage of Ferguson and Benghazi. In the end, Fox News might owe their viewers an apology, so might other media outlets.
As previously reported by Inquisitr, the Department of Justice recently released a report exonerating Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri. The document seemed to justify Fox News reporting on the case, and in the past few weeks they have gone in for the kill.
They’ve called other media outlets’ coverage of Ferguson a “tsunami of misinformation,” at times shouting that the “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative that came to symbolize the case did not happen, a fact proved in the department’s report. Fox News pundits are now calling for an apology from the media outlets that shared in the fictional rhetoric behind the shooting.
Jon Stewart doesn’t deny any of this. The report is out, and Darren Wilson has now been exonerated for a second time. But, what about the federal documents that disprove Fox News’ false, often times hot-blooded, narratives surrounding other major news stories? Particularly, their coverage of the Benghazi incident?
As Jon Stewart points out, a federal report from the House intelligence committee – which is run by Republicans – exonerated Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton, and the White House of any incompetence or wrongdoing in the Benghazi incident that killed four Americans. The report also directly refutes many of facts that appeared on the cable news channel.
Jon Stewart summed up all of Fox News inaccuracies.
“Did Susan Rice go on TV and try to deceive anyone? Report says ‘no.’ Did the administration ignore credible warnings about that day’s attack? Report says ‘no.’ Was there a stand-down order, or failure to rescue those individuals and send rescue planes? Reports says ‘no.’ Was there a massive intelligence cover-up? Report says ‘no,’ not CIA, not FBI, none of them.”
Jon Stewart goes on to say, with the help of pundit Megyn Kelly, the elements in Fox News’ Benghazi coverage were “a tsunami of misinformation, bone-headed non-fact based rhetoric.”
Yet, despite Fox News’ journalistic integrity in calling out other media outlets for inaccuracies on Ferguson, they’ve been conspicuously silent about the Benghazi report. Aside from a few attempts to poke holes in the House Intelligence paper, they’ve declined to really address it all.
Jon Stewart’s conclusion: Fox News owes its viewers an apology. According to Stewart’s logic, if liberal media outlets need to apologize for misinformation surrounding Ferguson, conservative media outlets should do the same for Benghazi, it’s only fair.
The Daily Show host is likely waiting for Fox News to officially present the House report and apologize for any inaccuracies on Benghazi, prompting liberal media outlets to do the same with Ferguson. But, Jon Stewart might be waiting for a long, long time.
[Image Credit: Getty Images]
