"Deliberate Misinformation": Fox Host Juan Williams Debunks His Own Network On Libya Attack

[highplainsdem]

From Media Matters:

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/22/deliberate-misinformation-fox-host-juan-william/190827

In a blow to his own network, Fox News host Juan Williams debunked false narratives that Fox News has frequently pushed since the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

In an opinion piece for The Hill, Williams offered three "corrections" for what he describes as "deliberate misinformation" from Republicans (and their conservative media mouthpieces) about the Benghazi attack.

Misinformation #1: "U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice lied to the American people in the days after the attack" when she suggested that a viral anti-Islam video sparked violence and wide-spread protests. Fox News has repeatedly pushed this narrative to make it seem like the administration was deliberately misleading the American people.

Correction: Williams debunked this false narrative, pointing to the "simple fact" that James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, "confirmed that Rice told the truth in describing the assessment of the intelligence community at the time of her remarks." Williams went on to explain that CIA Director David Petraes briefed the House Intelligence Committee with the same intel Rice used, as did Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy in testimony before Congress earlier in October. Furthermore, as Media Matters has previously exposed, Williams noted that Rice "stressed that there was an ongoing investigation where conclusions were subject to change." Indeed, Rice appeared on all major networks and repeatedly stressed that there was an ongoing investigation into the attacks.

-snip-

[Lucinda]

1. Thanks! knr

[dorkzilla]

2. And it won't make a damn bit of difference at that network

They still think of Juan as "that guy from NPR". There is nothing between the collective ears of their viewers.

[Liberalagogo]

3. If he had any ethics

He would quit over this.

[Cha]

4. Good for Juan Williams. There were posters

on DU dissing Susan Rice but she was understandably defended by those who weren't fooled by propaganda.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

5. So everyone top-to-bottom knew that

Rice was telling it exactly as everyone else had been briefed.

So, why the theatrics that have infused every Libya discussion, the right inferring some cover-up and Democrats failing to effectively defend against the charge?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

6. Juan, you were so hard up for attention and the big bucks that you're just know figuring

this out about Faux News? Forgive me if I have no sympathy for you!

[LoisB]

7. Instead of writing an opinion piece for The Hill (which I'm sure most Fake News watchers have

never heard of let alone read), why doesn't he have have the guts to say this on air? He's just another tool.

[skip fox]

8. But Juan _will_ say these things on the air. He just gets

cut short most of the time or pushed into simplistic agreement on a minor, often adjacent, issue before the host "moves on."

Just to be fair to Juan.