Fox & Friends, the conservative morning show, purposely used false statistics to make Obama look bad. They claimed that the so-called “real unemployment rate” in 2009 was 7.8% compared to a current rate of 14.7%. Graphic seen below:

That is simply untrue, and the way in which it is untrue shows that Fox distorted those figures on purpose. 7.8% was the official unemployment rate in 2009 — it only included unemployed people looking for a job. 14.7%, however, includes those looking for a job, people who are not working and aren’t looking, and part-time workers that would rather work full-time.

Here’s the video on Fox  & Friends where the graphic is shown and discussed:

Fox News of course failed to mention that congressional Republicans have repeatedly blocked Obama’s jobs bill. In the video above, Laura Ingraham stated, “Other than Fox News, where are you really seeing those statistics?” Nowhere, Laura. They’re blatantly incorrect.

Media Matters reports:

But in order to make the claim that unemployment had increased from 7.8% to 14.7% during Obama’s time in office, Fox had to conflate two different statistics and completely distort Obama’s jobs record.

The 7.8 percent figure is the official unemployment rate from January 2009. This statistic reports on people who are unemployed and actively looking for a job. But as of the latest report, the official unemployment rateis 8.1 percent (0.3 percent higher than it was in January 2009), not 14.7 percent.

The 14.7 percent figure is a completely different measurement of the unemployed, which in addition to those who are actively looking for work, also counts people who are unemployed and discouraged from looking for a new job, part-time workers who prefer full-time employment, and more. This alternative measure of unemployment, which conservatives often call the “real” unemployment rate, was 14.2 percent in January 2009 – 0.5 percentage points lower than it is today.

Fox & Friends did apologize, albeit rather lazily, as shown in the video below, after being confronted with the facts of the situation:

Fox is not well-known for telling the truth, though, no matter how many times they profess that they are “fair and balanced.”

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Written by: Justin Acuff on September 12, 2012.
Last revised by: Matthew Desmond