Fox News apologized Saturday to a Gold Star family for publishing a false story last month claiming that the family had to pay $60,000 to ship the remains of their fallen relative back from Afghanistan because the Pentagon refused to pay.

  • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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    1 year ago

    Doesn’t matter. They got their expected political result out of their false narrative at the time. Anything afterwards is a half-measure. Don’t let the people in your lives watch Fox News, people! It’s literal propaganda…

    • sebinspace@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Me: “Hey, family, please stop watching Fox News, it’s literal propaganda”

      and a finger curled on the monkey’s hand

      Them: “oh, that’s why it’s woke now. I’ll watch Newsmax, then”

    • demlet@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This is exactly how it works. Put your lies on the front page, then apologize in a tiny sentence buried somewhere no one sees. They know their audience has already heard what it wanted to hear, the apology won’t change a thing.

      • squiblet@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Yep, 5x as many people hear the lies as the refutation or correction. What they changed it to was basically the same, anyway - instead of saying “something happened” it became “congress member says something happened”.

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    How much time did the false story get on air? That should be the amount of time spent on the apology. If you can’t correct what you did wrong as prominently and actively as what you did wrong then it’s not a real apology.

  • TheBananaKing@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    What kind of dystopian hellscape do you guys live in that ‘gold star families’ is a concept?

    Good little proles, you threw your child in the belly of Moloch for our profits, you get a gold fucking star.

    • Peppycito@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I’m only guessing from reading the caption, but ‘pentagon’ leads me to believe the gold star is an award given to a soldier and not the family.

      -so much for giving the benefit of the doubt. It is some weird shit after all.

      • wrecking7416@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Your guess is incorrect. When people lose a loved one, they are grieving and will choose to put up a flag if they want. It’s not mandatory, it’s not an award, and not given by the Pentagon.

      • There is also a Gold Star Medal that can be awarded for soldiers who acted in valor.

        That’s not where the term comes from though. The term comes from slang from a tradition where families would put a blue star on their home. If they had a soldier who has been deployed. They would change the star to gold if the soldier was killed in service.

  • magnetosphere@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    While unethical, the behavior is typical for Fox News. The outlet often breaks traditional news ethics and traffics in dishonest reporting and commentary.

    Even though CNN is their competitor, I’m pleasantly surprised by their bluntness here.

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        1 year ago

        Nope. CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, and was founded by Ted Turner. Fox News is owned by Fox Corporation, and was founded by Rupert Murdock.

        Understandable mistake. It’s easy to forget those people aren’t the same guy.

  • TacoButtPlug@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Idk what is worse - Rupert or all the dumb motherfuckers out there who voluntarily watch his trash. The whole network and it’s methodology need to be outlawed.

    • magnetosphere@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Personally, I think Rupert is definitely worse. SOME of those viewers are otherwise good people, but they’ve been fed too much of Rupert’s propaganda.

  • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    No one that matters watches that shit anyway. It’s a non-issue.

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Uh… The public kinda matters. Republicans aren’t exactly fans of democracy, but the GOP definitely needs their voter base. Channels like Fox news are instrumental to expanding and maintaining that voter base.