Alex has written about how CNN got it wrong this morning in reporting the Supreme Court health care ruling. Now Fox News has issued a statement of its error, or more accurately, its inaccurate report.
As we reported in our first post on this mess, FNC’s Bill Hemmer reported at 10:07, “The individual mandate has been ruled unconstitutional.”
Shannon Bream then reported that news further from the steps of the Supreme Court.
At 10:09, Megyn Kelly jumped in: “Wait we are getting conflicting information, we are getting conflicting information. If you follow SCOTUSBlog.com which covers the high court they say that despite what Shannon just read that the individual mandate is surviving as a tax. This is not confirmed by us yet this is according to SCOTUSBlog which also has the opinion…”
Instead of admitting the network’s error, Michael Clemente, EVP of News for Fox News, took a shot at other networks:
“We gave our viewers the news as it happened. When Justice Roberts said, and we read, that the mandate was not valid under the Commerce clause, we reported it. Bill Hemmer even added, be patient as we work through this. Then when we heard and read, that the mandate could be upheld under the government’s power to tax, we reported that as well — all within two minutes.
By contrast, one other cable network was unable to get their Supreme Court reporter to the camera, and said as much. Another said it was a big setback for the President. Fox reported the facts, as they came in.”
Unlike CNN, which misreported the news on air, online and through social media for about six minutes before a clarification, FNC’s two minutes of inaccurate reporting was solely on TV. Here’s how it played out on air: