In a turn of events that will shock no one, \u201cfair and balanced\u201d news source, Fox News, was discovered to be using incorrect data on a graphic during one of its regular news shows. The image in question reported that unemployment in 2009 was 7.8% and that in 2012 it was now 14.7%. It\u2019s a shocking change in numbers, particularly because it\u2019s false.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Media Matters called Fox out on the deception by pulling up the old national employment rate (7.8% in January 2009) and the current national unemployment rate, which is 8.1%. So where did the other number come from? As Media Matters reports<\/a>,<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 14.7 percent figure is a completely different measurement of the unemployed, which in addition to those who are actively looking for work, also counts people who are unemployed and discouraged from looking for a new job, part-time workers who prefer full-time employment, and more. This alternative measure of unemployment<\/a>, which conservatives often call the “real” unemployment rate, was 14.2 percent in January 2009<\/a> — 0.5 percentage points lower than it is today<\/a>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s one thing to have a typo. It\u2019s another to mix together two different sets of numbers to create a misleading statistic. That\u2019s not reporting the news, it\u2019s lying. And Fox has fudged the numbers on employment numerous<\/a> times<\/a> before<\/a>. A day later, Fox and Friends issued a correction for the graphic. If they are serious about making amends, they should stop their pattern of spreading misinformation and trying to pass it off as the truth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a turn of events that will shock no one, \u201cfair and balanced\u201d news source, Fox News, was discovered to be using incorrect data<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,77],"tags":[627,1455],"yoast_head":"\n