‘I wasn’t saying that Russia hides NUKES’ – Fox News guest rebuts network synopsis of interview
A guest on a Fox News show took to Twitter to refute the network’s summary of his interview, which had falsely stated that he’d said that Russia was storing nuclear weapons in Venezuela.
After Florida Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Tuesday, the network summarized his appearance with a noticeably misleading headline.
During the broadcast, Carlson and Diaz-Balart discussed at length the geopolitical implications of the ongoing situation in Venezuela, after the failed US-backed coup attempt by Juan Guaido to oust President Nicolás Maduro.
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The Florida representative offered all the expected hawkish exaggerations, of the potential threats emanating from alleged Russian and Chinese involvement in Caracas, and even of the presence of Iran and Hezbollah.
However, Fox’s web editors took his statements one step further, subtly manipulating his words to imply that Diaz-Balart believed with certainty that Moscow had placed nuclear missiles in the South American country.
On Wednesday, Diaz-Balart tweeted clarification of his comments, that, while he believed Russia posed a threat, Fox had misinterpreted his words.
The points I was making was that Russia’s undue influence at our doorstep is a threat, but I was not indicating that Russia had placed nuclear weapons in Venezuela.
— Mario Diaz-Balart (@MarioDB) May 1, 2019
As of now, the Fox story summarizing his appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight is still up with the click-bait headline and without correction. And it looks like for other outlets the story was too good to set those boring facts straight.
I’m trying very hard not to retweet something that may be worse than clickbait by Daily Mail, the Sun and Fox News but APPARENTLY Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida went on record suggesting Russia has installed nuclear weapons in Venezuela. I have virtually no confidence in this.
— INTELLIPUS (@intellipus) May 1, 2019
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