How Right-Wing Lies Become Mainstream News

The Fox Cycle, Explained
Media Matters

The Fox Cycle is the process by which Fox News pushes right-wing fringe stories into the mainstream news. Fox distorts facts, spreads myths as truths and devotes heavy, one-sided coverage to make viewers believe in baseless, manufactured stories -- and, worse, to convince mainstream media outlets to cover these lies.

The Fox Cycle occurs in six steps: 

Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rule – Lies Are the New Truth

Who Is the Biggest Liar in the 2016 Election?

By Tessa Stuart

Rolling Stone

 December 15, 2015

George Orwell once said politicians' words are "designed to make lies sound truthful and murder sound respectable." PolitiFact, founded by the Tampa Bay Times in 2007, was designed to examine those truthful sounding lies – and some outrageous sounding truths – and to determine the actual facts underlying both.

The website doesn't check every politician's or candidate's statements, just the ones likely to provoke the most debate. But even by that scattershot standard, the website has had its work cut out for it this election cycle, as PolitiFact editor Angie Drobnic Holan discussed in a recent piece for the New York Times.

Carson Campaign Admits West Point Claim Untrue

Republican Presidential Candidate Ben Carson’s campaign was forced to admit to Politico’s Kyle Cheney that he lied about ar key detail in his autobiography — his application and acceptance to West Point.

Earlier today, Ben Carson exploded at host Alisyn Camerota for a CNN report that accused the retired neurosurgeon of lying about key details about his life in his autobiography, “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story.” 

The "Mo' Spin" Zone

Ken O'Brien

This week on Real Time with Bill Maher the host rather succinctly summed up the case regarding the journalistic integrity of one Bill O'Reilly and his employer Fox News.

The Birth Of, And Truth About, The Newest Right Wing Lie

Ken O’Brien

If you are one of the followers of the widely discredited Fox “News” Network, you’ve probably heard the latest distortion of fact.

For those who don’t follow this particular propaganda outlet, the latest exercise in myth making goes like this:

 “Welfare spending per day per household in poverty is $168, which is higher than the $137 median income per day. When broken down per hour, welfare spending per hour per household in poverty is $30.60, which is higher than the $25.03 median income per hour.”

Mitt Romney Debates Mitt Romney

The First Debate: Mitt Romney's Five Biggest Lies

Ken O’Brien

Mitt Romney turned in a polished performance in the presidential debate – and revealed himself to be an accomplished and unapologetic liar. In an evening where he sought to slice and dice the president with statistics, Romney baldly misrepresented his own policy prescriptions, made up numbers to fit his attacks and buried clear contrasts with the president under a heaping pile of BS.

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Here are Mittens’ five most mendacious statements: 

Romney’s Lies II

Ken O’Brien

I was motivated to put this piece on The O’Zone by a recent exchange I had with a commenter on the article “What Happened To Republican Gas Attacks?”

The exchange went as follows:

stop the spinJune 7, 2012 9:36 PM

IQ Sounds like your undies are in a knot because you know im right stop the spin. The country is tired of four years of spending, high gasoline, solyndra ,bailouts gm, chrysler and any other buddy this dope of a president has bailed out at our expense and where still with high unemployment. Just wait november is coming and i will buy you a new pair of underwear IQ!!

Romney's Lies

Ken O’Brien

Rachel Maddow 

Rarely do journalists have the courage to use the term liar when referring to a candidate for public office.

It is even more unusual for a journalist with a national forum to use the term in reference to a candidate for President of the United States.

On Thursday, May 31, Massachusetts' own Rachel Maddow did this on her nightly program.

Regardless of whether you agree with her political leanings or not, one aspect of Ms. Maddow's reporting is her devotion to verifiable facts. She has assembled one of the best research staffs in the cable news business.