Beacon Street Journal

In order to demonstrate that he is manifestly unqualified to own an NFL franchise, some members of the media have been attributing racist remarks to Limbaugh which he never made. In the words of Toby Harnden of the Telegraph:

From CNN to MSNBC to ABC, it’s been put about that Limbaugh said this:

I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.

It’s also been spread around that he said this, about the death of the man who assassinated Martin Luther King:

You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honour? James Earl Ray. We miss you, James. Godspeed.

Of course Limbaugh never made any of these statements, but why should that matter? These statements allegedly made by Limbaugh were reported as facts by several media outlets who didn’t bother to verify their veracity.

Here is CNN’s Rich Sanchez bandying about the malicious falsehood:

Is it any wonder that some of these broadcast outlets such as CNN continually register at the bottom of the ratings barrel? Apparently for CNN, it is much more important to fact-check a SNL comedy skit on the lackluster performance of the Obama Administration than it is to verify the accuracy of one of its own broadcasts.