Fox News Fractures as Van Susteren Debunks Bogus Obama Photo

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:13 pm

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Apparently Greta Van Susteren didn’t get the memo about how everyone at Fox News is supposed to be criticizing Barack Obama for the photo that supposedly shows the President checking out a young lady’s backside. Van Susteren went on her show and debunked the photo by showing the video of the event. This hasn’t stopped FNC from continuing the attack.

In case you haven’t seen it, here is the photo as first released by Reuters:

Of course, this sent the right wing into a tizzy, and even supposedly reputable journalists like ABC’s Jake Tapper jumped on board without checking to see if the photo was the real deal. Though to his credit, Tapper later corrected himself, by posting on his blog that, “On first glance, the snapshot appears to show President Obama caught in a moment of less than lofty analysis. But upon looking at the video, the moment might seem to appear quite innocent — one of those times when a picture can be misleading…”

This hasn’t stopped Fox News from running wild. On his show last night Sean Hannity claimed that Obama was checking out her backside, but in the next hour on her show On the Record, Greta Van Susteren aired the video to debunk what she called, “that lying photo going around the web.”

Here is the video courtesy of Media Matters:

Greta said, “Take a look at this video, it all looks pretty innocent right? President Obama in Italy posing for a photo with members of the Junior G8, well there is a photo of this going around the Web that paints a very different picture. Yes, a still picture can lie, and this one does. The president was not well, we’ll let you see for yourself. The lying picture that is going around the Web is posted on our blog…”

You would think that this might stop FNC, but the attacks continued on Fox and Friends this morning.

Here is the video:

Fox and Friends claimed that Obama was checking out a 17 year old. It is amazing that Fox and Friends is still playing that photo off as real. Despite the efforts of Greta Van Susteren in this case, and Shep Smith in other instances, this is why Fox News can’t be taken seriously as a non partisan news organization. As a network, they subjectively ignore facts, or make up their own.

I think Van Susteren got in touch with her inner attorney last night. This kind of thing hasn’t been seen from her since she was at CNN. She had better watch it though. She saw what happened to Shep Smith when he went off the reservation. FNC viewers called for everything short of his being shot at sunrise.

Once again, FNC serves as the perfect microcosm for the civil war with in the GOP, as even their on air personalities can’t stick to the company line. Even after a member of their own organization takes the time to disprove the photo, the network keeps selling it as fact. This is the very definition of a propaganda machine.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association