On Monday, CBS News tried to claim that buying a gun is easier in Florida than purchasing several household items, obtaining a marriage license, or getting medical marijuana. Glaring errors in its comparisons rendered its effort a fake-news failure.
CBS's tweet concentrated on cold medicine (HT Twitchy):
The title of the network's video is "Three things harder to obtain than a gun in Florida." After catching some grief, the related unbylined article now frames its comparisons as "things that are more complicated than buying a gun in Florida," and the count is up to five.
The video is really a low-rent Wochit presentation with gloomy music:
Transcript (partial):
... the ease of obtaining firearms in Florida has come into question.
Some posts on social media are alleging that guns are easier to buy in Florida than some household products.
Here's what's more difficult to purchase than a gun in Florida.
Sudafed contains pseudoephedrine, which can be used to illegally manufacture methamphetamines.
Federal regulations require it be sold behind the pharmacy or service counter, and customers need to show they're over 18 years of age.
Customers are limited to purchases of 9 grams per month — about ... six 24-dose boxes of Sudafed.
In Florida, you can buy as many guns as you want at one time, according to the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action.
You also don't need a permit to purchase a rifle or shotgun.
There are restrictions on the amount of fertilizer one can purchase ...
Anyone buying more than 25 pounds of fertilizer is required to register and be screened against a known terrorist list.
Purchasing large amounts of anti-diarrhea medicine has recently come under scrutiny by the FDA ... (because of) the opioid epidemic. ...
The video never mentions the background check required to buy a gun, nor does the 800-word article.
CBS later posted an "Editor's Note" at the article's end which it should have labeled a "correction": "This piece was edited to add details about the waiting periods required for handgun purchases and some rifle purchases, which were absent in earlier versions." CBS did not identify a waiting-period requirement for any of the three products mentioned in the video. None of the three products requires a "permit."
The other two items said to be more difficult:
- A marriage license — A couple can get one on the spot, but it takes three days to take effect. How easy is that?
- Medical marijuana — A doctor's permission is required, and why should this be breeze?
Recently, former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson detailed how the establishment press tried to weaponize the term "fake news" in 2016.
It didn't work. The term boomeranged back on their work, and has stuck to it like glue. Now they want to banish it.
As long as the media produces garbage like this CBS report, the "fake news" tag as applied to their output isn't going anywhere — nor should it.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
