Fox news lies about employment rates (again)

In a turn of events that will shock no one, “fair and balanced” 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’s a shocking change in numbers, particularly because it’s false.

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,


It’s one thing to have a typo. It’s another to mix together two different sets of numbers to create a misleading statistic. That’s not reporting the news, it’s lying. And Fox has fudged the numbers on employment numerous times before. 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.