Media top headlines February 10
In media news today, NPR gets mocked for an article on ‘white privilege’ emoji’s, an MSNBC contributor criticizes his own network for comparing Alabama congressional maps to Jim Crow, and a Washington Post columnist mocks CNN anchors for ‘whimpering’ over Jeff Zucker’s exit.
Snopes, a liberal fact-checking site, was mocked by critics this week for rating reporting on the Biden administration’s alleged funding of crack pipe distribution to drug users as “mostly false,” while also admitting that “safer smoking kits” were required to be distributed as part of a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grant.
In a Tuesday piece claiming news reports “grossly misrepresented” details about the substance abuse harm reduction program, Snopes stuck with its “mostly false” rating by arguing it was inaccurate to say that the distribution of the “smoking kits” was intended to “advance racial equity,” but admitted that the pipes would be distributed with race as “a secondary consideration.”
Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing, Sept. 30, 2021, on Capitol Hill.
(Shawn Thew/Pool via AP, File)
HHS SEC. BECERRA SAYS CRACK PIPES WON’T BE DISTRIBUTED USING FEDERAL FUNDS IN SMOKING KITS
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the grant program, overseen by HHS, would help make drug use safer for addicts by providing funds to nonprofits and local governments. The grant includes funds for “smoking kits/supplies,” and, according to a spokesman for the agency speaking with the Free Beacon, the kits “will provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and ‘any illicit substance.’”
The Free Beacon added that, “Applicants for the grants are prioritized if they treat a majority of ‘underserved communities,’ including African Americans and ‘LGBTQ+ persons,’ as established under President Joe Biden’s executive order on ‘advancing racial equity.’”
“In 2022, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services substance abuse harm reduction grant did require recipients to provide safer smoking kits to existing drug users. In distributing grants, priority would be given to applicants serving historically underserved communities,” Snopes wrote in its fact-check.
“This was just one of around 20 components of the grant program and far from its most prominent or important one, despite being the primary focus of outraged news reports. The purpose of the program was to reduce harm and the risk of infection among drug users, not to advance racial equity, although that was a secondary consideration,” it added, essentially disproving its own fact-check.
A pipe for crack cocaine use, a needle for heroin use, and a pipe for methamphetamine use are shown at the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance, the nation’s largest needle-exchange program, in Seattle, Washington, April 30, 2015.
(Reuters/David Ryder)
SENATOR RIPS WHITE HOUSE FOR FAILING TO BE ‘CANDID’ ON ALLEGED CRACK PIPE DISTRIBUTION
Critics took to social media to mock Snopes for proving the Free Beacon’s reporting on the crack pipes accurate, despite it’s “mostly false” rating.
“I don’t understand why fact-checking sites twist themselves into rhetorical pretzels like this,” wrote one critic, while another joked that one needed to “read the fine print” when it came to Snopes’ fact-checking.
BLACKBURN DEMANDS ANSWERS REGARDING REPORTS OF BIDEN’S TAXPAYER-FUNDED CRACK PIPE DISTRIBUTION
After being pilloried by critics, Snopes oddly updated its fact-check from “mostly false” to “outdated.” It also updated the piece with an explanation to reflect the change.
“After a wave of grossly misleading news coverage in February 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stipulated that federal funding would not be used to include pipes in safe smoking kits, as part of a substance abuse harm reduction grant program. This newly-stipulated detail was not originally available, meaning the assertions made in a first wave of coverage had become outdated,” it adjusted its original fact-checking piece to read.
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Snopes’s updated piece appeared to reflect HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra’s Wednesday statement that no pipes would be put into “safe smoking kits.”
In a press release, Becerra and Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Dr. Rahul Gupta said the administration was “focused on using our resources smartly to reduce harm and save lives. Accordingly, no federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits.”
Fox News’ Sam Dorman contributed to this report.
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