By Erik Wemple
George Will, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) and various bloggers can now take their place alongside President Obama, Sarah Palin and other luminaries: Their work constitutes the “Lie of the Year,” the annual award given out by fact-checking outlet PolitiFact. “Exaggerations” about the risks of Ebola, says PolitiFact, distinguished themselves in terms of the 2014 field of untruths.
More Americans have died from the flu than from Ebola this fall, notes PolitiFact, “Yet fear of the disease stretched to every corner of America this fall, stoked by exaggerated claims from politicians and pundits. They said Ebola was easy to catch, that illegal immigrants may be carrying the virus across the southern border, that it was all part of a government or corporate conspiracy.” Together, PolitiFact and cousin PunditFact “rated 16 separate claims about Ebola as Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire” in 2014.
Example from George Will, who said on Fox News Sunday on Oct. 19: “There are doctors who are saying that in a sneeze or some cough, some of the airborne particles can be infectious.” False, said PunditFact. “Mostly false” were the statements by Paul that Ebola was “incredibly contagious,” “very transmissible” and “easy to catch.” And Gingrey earned a “Pants on Fire” for citing in a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “reports of illegal migrants carrying deadly diseases such as . . . Ebola virus.”
Drop those statements in a blender with ’round-the-clock coverage on cable news networks, calls by Undisputed King of Cable News Bill O’Reilly for travel bans from West Africa and the public’s inclination to believe the worst, and you have a genuine American autumn health uproar.
UDPATE 5:45 p.m.: Rand Paul’s senior communications director passes along this statement:
More Americans have died from the flu than from Ebola this fall, notes PolitiFact, “Yet fear of the disease stretched to every corner of America this fall, stoked by exaggerated claims from politicians and pundits. They said Ebola was easy to catch, that illegal immigrants may be carrying the virus across the southern border, that it was all part of a government or corporate conspiracy.” Together, PolitiFact and cousin PunditFact “rated 16 separate claims about Ebola as Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire” in 2014.
Example from George Will, who said on Fox News Sunday on Oct. 19: “There are doctors who are saying that in a sneeze or some cough, some of the airborne particles can be infectious.” False, said PunditFact. “Mostly false” were the statements by Paul that Ebola was “incredibly contagious,” “very transmissible” and “easy to catch.” And Gingrey earned a “Pants on Fire” for citing in a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “reports of illegal migrants carrying deadly diseases such as . . . Ebola virus.”
Drop those statements in a blender with ’round-the-clock coverage on cable news networks, calls by Undisputed King of Cable News Bill O’Reilly for travel bans from West Africa and the public’s inclination to believe the worst, and you have a genuine American autumn health uproar.
UDPATE 5:45 p.m.: Rand Paul’s senior communications director passes along this statement:
Senator Paul’s statement was based in fact. Ebola is ‘incredibly contagious’ as evidenced by the fact that workers need masks, goggles, gowns, gloves and a chlorine bath when treating people thought to be infected with the virus. The fact that people are supposed to stay 3 feet away from infected individuals is something recommended by the CDC. Politifacts deserves a ‘Pants on Fire’ for lumping in Senator Paul with those other pronouncements.
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