Fox News Correction: False Claims About Kevin Jennings

As Greg Sargent reported yesterday, Fox News ended up having to issue an "online correction of the false claims the outlet had been making while waging a high-profile assault on Kevin Jennings," the Department of Education official currently being targeted by the right wing. The specific claim involved an accusation that Jennings had covered up "statutory rape," based on an incident when Jennings was a teacher, when a "teenager confided in him about having sex with a stranger and Jennings didn't report it to authorities." Media Matters ended up proving there was no basis to the claim. Via The Plum Line:

On Friday Media Matters produced what it said was the kid's drivers license, showing that the kid was 16, legal age of consent in Massachuttes, and also produced a Facebook exchange that seemed to show that a Fox News reporter had been informed directly by the kid himself that they'd misrepresented his age.

An interesting sidenote, picked up by eagle-eyed tipster Josh Glasstetter: Fox News was supportive of Jennings before they started trumping up crimes to pin on him! Here's video from a year ago, where Fox's Bill O'Reilly praises pop star Hilary Duff for participating in an anti-homophobia campaign:

WATCH:

That PSA was commissioned by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which Jennings founded. Naturally, Michelle Malkin is terribly upset that this message of tolerance is still running on Fox News, as is her wont.

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Comments

[T2inDC]

Even your favorite source of lies has retracted the statements.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/05/fox-news-corrects-false-c_n_309769.html

[PedaltheWorld]

What kind of research do you guys do...? The age of consent in "Massachusetts" is 18, the age you posted is for labor (16) not sex...! BTW you spelled Massachusetts wrong...

http://www.ageofconsent.com/massachusetts.htm

[rollingdivision]

Failure to report what appeared to be a case of statuatory rape of a child may be the least of Jennings' worries. There are statements by Jennings a decade or so ago when he praised Harry Hay of the North American Association for Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), which promotes the legalization of sexual abuse of young boys by older men.

For anyone who spends even an hour on the internet looking into Jennings’ speeches and writings, his nonchalant attitude about an older homosexual man having sex with a boy should not be a surprise. What is surprising is that no one is mentioning reports that Jennings publicly stated that he was inspired by one of the biggest promoters of pedophilia in the country—Harry Hay. Hay actively promoted sex between men and boys and supported the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). Transcripts of a GLSEN conference in NYC on October 25, 1997 indicate that Jennings said, “one of the people that always inspired me is Harry Hay.” Jennings also edited a book called Becoming Visible: A Reader in Gay and Lesbian History for High School and College Students which included a biographical sketch on Harry Hay. One of GLSEN’s Education Department resources also lists a work on Harry Hay.

[NeoConsAreFinished]

rolling you are so full of repube BS/
Repeating Faux News lies is all you cons have.

Why do repubes hate America? Why are they criticizing our leaders during time of 2 wars?
I suspect it is because they hate themselves. You notice how often repube men comment on gay marriage and gays in general?
I wonder why they are thinking of other mens p*nis's so much. Probably they have a sexual ID issue. Confusion of some sort. They should just come out of the closet and be happy.

[Lark817]

You are skirting very close to defamation of character, and morally, there is just no excuse for you. Are you never ashamed?

[dukeuch]

Yeah, and the National Republican Campaign Committee made Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari an Inner Circle Member for Life, one of "an impressive cross-section of American society – community leaders, business executives, entrepreneurs, retirees, and sports and entertainment celebrities – all of whom hold a deep interest in our nation's prosperity and security."

So what is your point, that praise is often extended to people without the speaker knowing of all the person's beliefs and affilitations?

[Prakosh]

Media Matters nails another FoxNews lie. Good for them. Fox hates them as much as they hate Obama.

[AllShookUp]

Caught telling another Fox Fairy Tale.

[ImissBush]

loofah

[AMTHEONE0999]

Has Mr. Insannity apologized yet?

[bygollymissmolly]

And people wonder why President Obama is having such a tough time filling vacant appointments in his Administration. Who in their right mind wants to come up against the Republican Slime Machine?

[meede]

I'd rather watch_vomit dry than Malkin

[emrogers]

Unfortunately, I saw her last night so it was my vomit.

[lipstickonapigs]

the Daily show said it best;
Fox News: "We only report the news that supports the narrative that we have worked so hard to construct".

[SCrae]

Has Hannity apologized yet?? He was the main person driving this story.

[rjohnson7]

Kevin Jennings? is he the best the Dims can come up with? LOL, where oh where do we find these clowns? Oh, yeah, the Dims have a market on quality, Acorn, Vince, Al Gore, Pelosi, Joe Biden, etc, etc.

R.

[emrogers]

Whoa - hold your johnson. Try to stay on topic.

[bygollymissmolly]

How does it feel to be a member of a political party that can only claim 18% of the voting public?

[drlouise]

Online correction? How about an "on air" correction? Oh, no, I forgot they were "fair and balanced."

[Raster]

But that's what Faux Noise is all about, misrepresentation of their "news" every which way they can

[madcat007]

One admission over thousands of lies really isn't going to put a dent in this propaganda channel. They have a die hard base that will believe anything they say. Think about this; no one watched Beck on CNN and he's now one of the most watched talk shows. What does that say about the intelligence, conscience and integrity of their loyal viewers?

[SimianNation]

yEA...SO WHAT. tHEY STILL NEED TO BURN. aNYONE OUT THERE FEEL THE SAME WAY? bURN?