Fox News National Security "Expert" Shown To Be A Complete Fraud

[zephyrWiccan]

Literally. He's pled guilty to fraud. A frequent (appearing over 100 times) Fox (Faux) News guest got caught lying and claiming he was formerly a CIA operative, and used that lie to gain employment.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slat...yne_simmons_pleads_guilty_in_fraud_cases.html
A few choice bits:

In October 2015, a frequent Fox News guest named Wayne Simmons was charged with fraud for misrepresenting himself as a former CIA operative and using this fake biography to try to obtain work as a defense contractor. (Simmons, who appeared on Fox at least 76 times, also identified himself as a national-security veteran on TV, as you can see above.) Simmons subsequently argued in a highly entertaining New York Times Magazine article that the reason there's no record of his work for the CIA is that it had simply been too top-secret to document.

From a Department of Justice press release:
“Wayne Simmons is a convicted felon with no military or intelligence experience,” said Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Simmons admitted he attempted to con his way into a position where he would have been called on to give real intelligence advice in a war zone."

Simmons also pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and a fraud charge related to a real estate scheme. His sentence will be determined by a judge.

Another more detailed article:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-fox-news-fraud-20160126
A few snippets of that one:

All the while, Simmons continued to get himself guest slots on Fox. The Pentagon's military-analysts program had helped boost his profile, along with that of others who made extreme proclamations on air: Last year, retired Adm. James Lyons said the Muslim Brotherhood had "carte-blanche entry into the White House," and retired Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney supported Donald Trump's freeze on Muslim immigrants. All three men helped push right-wing theories about Benghazi into the mainstream. "If you have two generals and a former CIA officer saying these things, they give legitimacy and heft to what would have been a partisan attack," says Angelo Carusone of Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog. "It has an effect on the way voters behave."

And yet, for years, Simmons' radical positions, his allegedly fabricated credentials and his off-camera behavior never got him thrown off the air. Just a week after the incident with the cabbie, Simmons received a note of congratulations from the Pentagon ("Saw you on Fox yesterday. Impressive, as always") and was invited to join a conference call with Gen. David Petraeus. "He's always using this supposed CIA affiliation as a trump card," Nathanson said. "Frankly, it often works."

And my favorite part:

But as the FBI began looking into Simmons, he made little effort to lower his profile. (The government declined to say what prompted its investigation.) Last February, the same month in which Simmons' lawyer says he and Simmons met with government attorneys to discuss his client's alleged CIA past, Simmons appeared on Fox three times. In one segment, he repeated a spurious claim that there were "at least 19 paramilitary Muslim training facilities in the United States."

"Wow," replied the host Neil Cavuto, without challenging Simmons.

"They're using paramilitary exercises to plan and execute these types of operations all over the United States," Simmons said. "And when it happens, it will just be you and I saying, 'We told you so.'"

And my favorite part:

If only someone had listened to Simmons in 2007, when he went on Fox to criticize the hiring of a CIA agent who had entered the United States illegally. "Without knowing who we're hiring and who we are employing to protect our nation, we are in big, big trouble," Simmons said. "Somewhere along the line ... whoever was responsible for the background check at the FBI really fell down."

 

[Armoured]

Watch the Usual Suspects avoid this thread like they would a gay Mexican terrorist!

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Apparently Fox wasn't the only one who bought the lie...apparently at least one defense contracting company bought the lie as well.

...but I detect that you're telling this story, so that you can highlight your distaste for Fox news. Which is fine, but we shouldn't pretend that other news outlets haven't fallen for the same types of things before.

There's the obvious Brian Williams incident...not to mention, all US media outlets have been shown to have a sketchy win loss record in terms fact checking.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/jan/29/punditfact-checks-cable-news-channels/

It's very telling that the outlet with the highest rating only has 57% "Mostly True" or "True".

The "good" media outlet only gets it right barely over half the time...

 

[Armoured]

Apparently Fox wasn't the only one who bought the lie...apparently at least one defense contracting company bought the lie as well.

...but I detect that you're telling this story, so that you can highlight your distaste for Fox news. Which is fine, but we shouldn't pretend that other news outlets haven't fallen for the same types of things before.

There's the obvious Brian Williams incident...not to mention, all US media outlets have been shown to have a sketchy win loss record in terms fact checking.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/jan/29/punditfact-checks-cable-news-channels/

It's very telling that the outlet with the highest rating only has 57% "Mostly True" or "True".

The "good" media outlet only gets it right barely over half the time...

While I agree that the current state of journalism is shockingly bad, I'm going to have to say that given Fox's hawkish tendencies, and their use of this guy as justification, well...

 

[AvilaSurfer]

As are many other "experts" on other networks.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

While I agree that the current state of journalism is shockingly bad, I'm going to have to say that given Fox's hawkish tendencies, and their use of this guy as justification, well...

There's no doubt that Fox news is garbage and shouldn't even be considered journalism...

My objection to what most people say on CF is centered around the fact that they seem to get "high & mighty" about their media preferences and will cite articles from Salon, MSNBC (the Fox of the left), Slate, etc... yet, trash Fox as if their outlets of choice are soooo much better.

The reality is, we don't have news outlets, we have political commentary channels (in terms of the big outlets). Very little, unbiased, news gets reported from any of them.

In studies that were done, loyal audiences of NPR and PBS had more accurate information and better understanding of current events and political aspects than audiences of any of the cable & broadcast TV outlets...yet, those 2 rank at the bottom in terms of popularity among the US population.

To me, that seems indicative of the growing sentiment of:
"I don't want to learn anything new, I want someone to publicly agree with what I already believe so I can use it as ammo (figuratively) against someone who disagrees with me"

 

[Armoured]

There's no doubt that Fox news is garbage and shouldn't even be considered journalism...

My objection to what most people say on CF is centered around the fact that they seem to get "high & mighty" about their media preferences and will cite articles from Salon, MSNBC (the Fox of the left), Slate, etc... yet, trash Fox as if their outlets of choice are soooo much better.

The reality is, we don't have news outlets, we have political commentary channels (in terms of the big outlets). Very little, unbiased, news gets reported from any of them.

In studies that were done, loyal audiences of NPR and PBS had more accurate information and better understanding of current events and political aspects than audiences of any of the cable & broadcast TV outlets...yet, those 2 rank at the bottom in terms of popularity among the US population.

To me, that seems indicative of the growing sentiment of:
"I don't want to learn anything new, I want someone to publicly agree with what I already believe so I can use it as ammo (figuratively) against someone who disagrees with me"

Fair enough.

 

[Armoured]

As are many other "experts" on other networks.

Can you name any others that helped convince people that military action was necessary?

 

[HannahT]

Never heard of the guy. Hmm.

 

[SummerMadness]

If he'd just pull up his pants and take responsibility, he wouldn't be in the position he is in today. Let's not forget the wayward culture on Fox News that allow people like this to flourish.

 

[wing2000]

To me, that seems indicative of the growing sentiment of:
"I don't want to learn anything new, I want someone to publicly agree with what I already believe so I can use it as ammo (figuratively) against someone who disagrees with me"

The "news" media business model is based on -- tell people what they believe already.

 

[DaisyDay]

What a surprise.