Friday, October 20, 2017

Fake News

Fox News ran a story on Oct. 8 about a decorated Vietnam War Navy SEAL and glass artist who created an enormous presidential glass seal he hoped to give to President Trump.

[...]

In the segment, John Garafalo said he served in the Vietnam War with the U.S. Navy SEAL team. Fox News reported that he also received two Purple Hearts and about two dozen other medals for his service.

[...]

On Thursday, 11 days later, the network retracted the story after being told the Trump supporter never served in the SEALs or in Vietnam, much less earned commendations for his service.

[...]

“All of Garofalo’s claims turned out to be untrue,” Fox’s correction stated. “The fact is that he did not serve in Vietnam. He was never a U.S. Navy SEAL. Even though he showed us medals, Garofalo was not awarded two Purple Hearts or any of the other nearly two dozen commendations he claimed to have received, except for the National Defense Service Medal.”

[...]

Don Shipley, a retired SEAL, told the Navy Times that he contacted Fox on Oct. 9, the day after the story ran.

But the story was still on the news outlet’s Facebook page on Oct. 19. By then it had amassed 1.5 million views.

  
Who never saw the retractions, right?
Garofalo served in the Navy from Sept. 6, 1963, to Sept. 6, 1967, according to military records obtained by the Navy Times. He told the newspaper he’s been lying about being a Vietnam veteran and a Navy SEAL for years.

“It got bigger and bigger,” Garofalo told the newspaper in a telephone interview. “What I did I‘m ashamed of, and I didn’t mean to cause so much disgrace to the SEALs.”

  WaPo
Just what DID you mean to cause?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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