FAIR has a new action alert about CBS Face the Nation and Michele Bachmann. Read it here, and if you write a letter to CBS please post it in the comments section below.
Peter Hart
Peter Hart was the activist director of FAIR for 15 years, as well as the co-host of FAIR's radio show CounterSpin. He is now the senior field communications officer for Food & Water Watch.
◄ Previous Post CBS Skips Bachmann Factcheck
► Next Post Hugo Chavez’s Diabolical Conspiracies
Comments
You asked to post our email comments here, so here goes:
“For credibility sake, Bob Schieffer needs to set the record straight, clearly, about the supposed 800,000 jobs Bachmann says the CBO states will be lost because of Obama’s health care plan. My husband and I (both 60 and from Minneapolis) love Bob Schieffer and think Bachmann is frightening. Please set the record straight! Thank you.”
As this report indicates, Michele Bachmann is also having trouble with American film history, getting the name of the town right but describing the wrong John Wayne.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/national/la-pn-bachmann-wayne-20110627,0,3988598.story
You asked us to post our emails to ftn so here it is.
Hello,
Recently on Face The Nation Republican Presidential Candidate Michelle Bachmann LIED and the host Bob Schieffer did basically nothing to call her out on her lie. Your website does a wonderful job of disputing her lie but the problem is that the same people who watch your show do not surf your website. It’s two completely different audiences. I would say that there is a strong likelihood that your tv audience is bigger. So why not tell the complete facts on your television broadcast and not just on your website. The truth is that the CBO was talking about jobs that are currently held by people who hold them solely because they get health benefits not because they need the work or that they can’t find better work. If they had a better option for health benefits they could leave that job and either stay home with their families or take a better paying job that just doesn’t have health benefits. This would open up those 800,000 jobs to people who are currently unemployed so in reality health care reform would GROW the economy by putting 800,000 people back to work. But your tv audience didn’t get to hear that because your tv host failed to make that clear. In the future when your guests make statements that are patently false don’t just call them once, not correct it, and put something on your website. Stand up, call them out for the liars they are.
Stephen Schofield
Mr. Schieffer’s interview with Michelle Bachmann was very disappointing, and did a disservice to the American people. It was also an example of poor journalism.
Mr. Schieffer had no follow-up to his question on Bachmann’s family benefitting from government programs and subsidies. While I was glad to see he asked the question, without follow-up it just allowed her to twist the facts and dodge the responsibility of the truth. When I called FTN to register this complaint, I was told that the 28-minute format meant that follow-up was frequently impossible. Without follow-up (when obviously called for), this just means that the guest will always be allowed to spin an answer, and end up with what is basically a 28-minute campaign video.
Further, Mr. Schieffer allowed Bachmann’s incorrect statement about â┚¬Ã…“Obamacareâ┚¬Ã‚ costing 800,000 to stand with only the weak counter that it was data that other people would question. Why didn’t he explain why it would be â┚¬Ã…“questionedâ┚¬Ã‚Â? The facts exist as to exactly what that 800,000 number refers to. It isn’t a loss of jobs. CBS should make that clear to its viewers.
We are talking about selecting a president. I sincerely hope CBS and FTN step up its game in the future.
PLEASE share your website’s factcheck of Michele Bachmann with your TV audience. As a recent poll showed, the age group that depends mostly on television news and news print is senior citizens. This segment of the population depends on YOU, in the media, to inform them with the truth, and not to allow candidates such as Michele Bachmann to get away with comments that include misrepresentations, spreading falsehoods, and only a minority of seniors depend on the internet for corrections.
CBS Face the Nation must share its website factcheck of Michele Bachmann with its TV audience. She is getting away with stating many lies and not being challenged on her misinformation.
Dik Hedlund
Minneapolis
Bob Schieffer did not make an effort to point out Republican Presidential Candidate Michelle Bachmann’s “credibility gap” on the June 26th interview during the program Face The Nation. While Schieffer did point out that “A lot of your critics say you have been very fast and loose with the truth. You know, PolitiFact, which is a website that won a Pulitzer, did an analysis of 23 statements that you made recently. Of these 23, only one they said was completely true.”
Still Bachmann made misleading statements without Schieffer challenging her. Your website features a fact-check of Bachmann’s Face the Nation appearance that says:
Bachmann uses the 800,000 number to suggest that employers would trim 800,000 jobs as a result of health reform. The CBO is not suggesting that at all, and in fact, the report does not make any projection on the effect of health reform on the unemployment rate.
CBS should share this correction with the millions of viewers who were exposed to Bachmann’s misinformed comment.
This is not the first time that Bachmann has made incorrect statements that were not properly refuted. Bachmann appeared on Face the Nation last year (3/28/10) and touted a non-existent New England Journal of Medicine survey to criticize the Obama health care plan. Schieffer didn’t challenge Bachmann, but a story on the CBS website attempted to set the record straight.
It is not right for incorrect information to be spread because of whatever bizarre editorial policy allows for this to remain unchallenged.
Hello,
The interview with Michelle Bachmann was atrocious. Bob Schieffer let her make the statement that the healthcare bill would cost 800,000 jobs, and she used the CBO to legitimze that claim. It is not true that 800,000 jobs will be lost due to the healthcare law, the CBS website even checked this and corrected her.
BACHMANN: The Congressional Budget Office estimated Obamacare will cost economy 800,000 jobs, probably the–
SCHIEFFER: Again, that is data that other people would question.
BACHMANN: Well, that’s the Congressional Budget Office, that’s not Michele Bachmann, that’s Congressional Budget Office figures saying that we’re–we have the potential of losing 800,000 jobs.
Bachmann’s comment is highly misleading. The jobs figure in question relates to a segment of the workforce that, according to the CBO, is continuing to work solely for the sake of employer-provided healthcare. The CBO analysis is that these workers will leave their jobs, or work fewer hours, thanks to more attractive options available as a result of the law. Most if not all of these jobs could be refilled by other workers who need them. That is nothing like Bachmann’s claim that the law will “cost” the country 800,000 jobs.
Bob Schieffer just let her slide on this without pointing out the facts, though he did make a feeble attempt by saying that it is data that others would question.
The CBS website (6/26/11), meanwhile, features a fact-check of Bachmann’s Face the Nation appearance:
Bachmann uses the 800,000 number to suggest that employers would trim 800,000 jobs as a result of health reform. The CBO is not suggesting that at all, and in fact, the report does not make any projection on the effect of health reform on the unemployment rate.
CBS should share this with the millions of viewers who were exposed to Bachmann’s misinformation.
This has happened before. Bachmann appeared on Face the Nation last year (3/28/10) and touted a non-existent New England Journal of Medicine survey to criticize the Obama health care plan. Schieffer didn’t challenge Bachmann, but a story on the CBS website attempted to set the record straight (FAIR Action Alert, 4/1/10).
Those efforts are, of course, laudable–and valuable to those surfing the network’s website. But why not warn your much larger television audience as well when your guest is trying to convince them of known inaccuracies?
You need to get your CBS website to mesh with the Face the Nation broadcast, for there is more than likely a bigger audience at the TV show.
Thank you,
Raymond Nash
An assault on one woman is an assault on all women, and should infuriate all men as well.
I, for one, am sincerely trying to help the world to be a better place for all of us, especially and including animals.
All hail to Astroturf TeaBparty Queen (ATQ), Michele Bachmann. Isn’t she the one that who rails against the Federal Government while every year she benefits from farm subsidies and adopts kids to work them on same farm. Oh yeah she is also a self-proclaimed historian on the US Founding Fathers and US history. The sad truth she will lie to get her way, what honor is there in that? But if you manipulate our US history and double down when you are found out, well don’t go crying to Fake News when you lose. Kind of like the Former half-term Alaska Gov. “Bitter Quitter” Sarah Palin (Most recent quitter of her Bus Tour to restore America). We remember what happen when after â┚¬Ã…“Wâ┚¬Ã‚ manipulate Florida (w/ the help of brother Jebb) to win the presidency and his failure to win any of the two wars he started that devastated our treasury and ruined our economy for the next 50 years. If the GOP thinks that Michele Bachmann is the answer, good luck with that. After her “John Wayne” mishap and Tom Petty, calling her a thief, well you know, same old Bachmann, you have a winner GOP.
Dear CBS Face the Nation,
Michele Bachmann’s appearance on Face the Nation June 26th was not fact checked thoroughly enough on the television side. Bob Schieffer showed some promise in questioning statements (not facts) made by Bachmann. However, what could have been clarified by Scheffer (ie. Bachmann’s statement, “…Obamacare will cost economy 800,000 jobs…” statement) was not done on television. Rather, it was corrected on the CBS website. I think that it’s great that CBS has included the fact check but it needs to be brought to the attention of the television audience so they can be made aware of the misinformation. I hope CBS starts to question their guests’ statements up front and includes any misinformation they may have missed during the segment on their website AND television, as the audience for each of these are different.
Sincerely,
Justin
I want to support FAIR’s request that CBS acknowledge the dishonest claim Michele Bachmann made on Face the Nation regarding the President’s health care plan and its effect on jobs. News organizations need to help the public separate the facts from the fibs, especially regarding matters of such controversy and importance.
To the Editor of Face the Nation:
In a recent episode of Face the Nation correspondent Bob Schieffer interviewed Presidential candidate Michelle Bachman. During that interview Ms. Bachman made what was clearly a false statement about the effect of the Obama administration’s health care law on unemployment rates in the US. Although Mr. Schieffer did state that the facts Ms. Bachman was stating were “disputed” he still let her make her point almost unchallenged. To most viewers who are not informed on these issues, Ms. Bachman’s statement, left as is, would be seen as truthful.
In my opinion, it is the noble duty of the press to strive for completeness and accuracy in their reporting. Too often press organizations, including CBS, play a dance of trying to balance viewpoints of both sides by simply allowing those on each “side” of an issue to make their points without challenging them directly on the facts they are using to shore up that talking point. Two clear examples spring to mind:
Death Panels as a result of the Obama health care law when this idea clearly came from the imagination of a someone whose intent was to derail the debate about health care costs in our country.
Global climate change apologists who are allowed to put forward the “science” behind their scientifically unsupported claim that global climate change is not happening as a result of human influence.
Although it is laudable that CBS would correct this error on it’s website that is NOT enough. Although many people now get their news from websites such as CBS.com the majority of Americans get their news from television outlets who are chartered with providing news to inform the public on issues of importance.
I urge you to set aside a few minutes of each show to highlight the factual misstatements made by your guests each week and to do so as soon as possible after each show. Ignoring these corrections or burying them on your website does nothing to move our country out of the morass of finger pointing and partisanship and toward a more civil discourse and sane debate about the important issues facing our nation and our world.
Please take your responsibility as arbiters of truth more seriously. Dig a little deeper before hand, review more afterward and respect the intelligence of your audience and your responsibility as a new organization.
Respectfully
I thank you for producing wonderful news programs such as Face the Nation. However, I implore you to re-instill the highest journalistic standards when it comes to vetting the top candidates for the 2012 presidential election. Republican Michelle Bachmann implies during a 6/26 FTN segment with Bob Schieffer that 800k jobs would altogether disappear because of 2010 health care reform. While Schieffer initially gives her pause on this false claim, he ultimately allows it to continue by not challenging her on what the actual CBO figure means.
It is through these very same twists of fact that candidates use to propel their legitimacy with our distracted and passive electorate. CBS must play re-engage in its proper role in our democracy and not relent to such lazy interview strategies.
Bachmann’s personal theme song may be “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” …
But let’s hope she’s shooting herself in the foot with it.
That is, if the corpress would cease deflecting the bullets.
CBS Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer seemed well-prepared for his June 26 interview with Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. But he didn’t go nearly far enough in challenging Bachmann’s misinformation.
The CBS website (6/26/11), meanwhile, features a fact-check of Bachmann’s Face the Nation appearance:
Bachmann uses the 800,000 number to suggest that employers would trim 800,000 jobs as a result of health reform. The CBO is not suggesting that at all, and in fact, the report does not make any projection on the effect of health reform on the unemployment rate.
CBS should share this with the millions of viewers who were exposed to Bachmann’s misinformation.
The woman is a Member of Congress and a major candidate (leading the polls in Iowa) for President. She is bound to continue to spread falsehoods unless the media expose her. That is the purpose of the Fourth Estate.
Sincerely,
Michael Nolan, Illinois
Bob Schieffer, FTN, et all:
I know you have rebutted Michele Bachmann’s televised statements on your web-site, but please also display/mention, on your next FTN episode, the website where the information can be found so that television viewers will know that there is follow-up/fact-checking available online. This should be common policy for all guests/reports on your show.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Please share your website factcheck of Michele Bachmann with its TV audience.
Accuracy in reporting is what gains expect for your news.
Here we see the inane congresswoman and how poorly she has a grip on facts! My gosh, how much does her staff get paid? They should be sued for malfeasance.
Messaged CBS earlier this week already, for all the good it will do. And let us not forget the tons of interviews with a lot of other fact-challenged Republicans that all of MSM does with a straight face. How to speak to that is a problem indeed. I think a good homespun effort on this one would be to wear tee shirts and slap on bumper stickers with Bill Adair’s quote on it: “Never researched a Bachmann quote and found it to be true”.
You know what this current crowd of GOP liars want is to turn the United Sates into China, where only a few giant corporations run things, they own the factories, the apartments, the grocery stores, the gas stations, the newspaper and magazine publications, the radio stations, the television stations and you pay them and they get all the benefits, and if you do not like it go jump off cliff. Well some Chinese workers seeing that as individuals that they cannot progress have done just that by committing suicide. The current crowd of GOP liars want to abolish Medicare from the elderly, they want to abolish a woman’s right to choose and have control over her own body, they want to abolish collective bargaining rights for our Unions, and on top of it all they want to blame the poor, the middle class and the public sector workers for a recession that the GOP created (Thanks to the Dullard â┚¬Ã…“Wâ┚¬Ã‚Â), while their beloved â┚¬Ã…“Fat catsâ┚¬Ã‚ continue to pay themselves exorbitant salaries, bonuses, fringe benefits. Yes this is the GOP â┚¬Ã…“Radical Right-Wing Social Engineeringâ┚¬Ã‚ that they dream about. The win in New York was the beginning but the next will be Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and later the other states of our nation, watch out we are coming for you!
I am sure this article has touched all the internet viewers, its really really pleasant paragraph on building up new blog.