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Right-Wing Media Distort Study To Blame Obama For Poverty

August 18, 2011 4:11 pm ET
Fox Nation, The Drudge Report, and Rush Limbaugh all mischaracterized a new study showing an increase in child poverty, blaming President Obama for the increase, despite the fact that George W. Bush was president during almost the entire period covered by the study. Limbaugh went on to falsely claim that food stamps are ineffective.



Daily Mail Reports On Study That Found One In Five American Children Is Living In Poverty

Across the nation, the research by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that child poverty increased in 38 states from 2000 to 2009. As a result, 14.7 million children, 20 per cent, were poor in 2009.
That represents a 2.5 million increase from 2000, when 17 per cent of the nation's youth lived in low-income homes. [Daily Mail, 8/17/11]

Fox Nation, Drudge Link To Article Under Headline "Poverty Soars Under Obama..."

Original Fox Nation Headline: "Poverty Soars Under Obama..." The Fox Nation printed highlights from the study, linking to the Daily Mail article but changing the headline to blame Obama:

[Fox Nation, accessed 8/18/11]
Revised Fox Nation Headline: "Study: One In Five American Children Living In Poverty." Fox Nation later revised its headline:

[Fox Nation, accessed 8/18/11]
Drudge Report: "Poverty Soars Under Obama..." The Drudge Report used the same headline as Fox Nation, linking to the Daily Mail article:

[Drudge Report, accessed 8/18/11]
In Fact, Study Found Increase In Poverty From 2000 To 2009 -- Eight Years Of Which Bush Was President

Obama Was President In Only One Year Cited By Study. From the Daily Mail article:

Across the nation, the research by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that child poverty increased in 38 states from 2000 to 2009. As a result, 14.7 million children, 20 per cent, were poor in 2009. [Daily Mail, 8/17/11, emphasis added]

Limbaugh Uses Article To Suggest Food Stamps Are Ineffective

Limbaugh: "One In Five American Children Now Living In Poverty, Despite Food Stamps." From The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: From The Daily Mail, U.K.: One in five American children now living in poverty, despite food stamps. Desp-- so he's not there yet. He's on the way. One in five American children now living in poverty, according to a new report. U.K. Daily Mail. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 8/18/11]

But Article Itself Contains Quote Pointing Out That Food Stamps Have Been "A Dam Against The Flood Of Poverty"

Daily Mail Quotes Head Of Study's Sponsor Noting Benefits Of Social Safety Net Programs. From the Daily Mail article:

Programmes such as food stamps, unemployment insurance and foreclosure meditation have acted like a dam against the flood of poverty, [Annie E. Casey Foundation president Patrick] McCarthy said, but that assistance has been threatened by federal and state government budget cuts. [Daily Mail, 8/17/11]

Study Cites Food Stamps As Among Programs That "Helped Families Meet Their Children's Most Basic Needs At Home, While Pumping Money Into The Economy." From the Annie E. Casey Foundation study referenced by the Daily Mail:

The effects of the economic crisis on children's well-being would have been far worse had it not been for federal extensions of Unemployment Insurance (UI). UI benefits not only stabilize families financially during job searches, but they also stimulate the economy by boosting consumer spending. At the low point of the recession, an estimated 1.8 million job losses were averted because of the stimulative effects of unemployment benefits, which kept the unemployment rate approximately 1.2 percentage points lower than it would have been.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) also mitigated the effects of the recession on children by temporarily expanding Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits (SNAP, formerly food stamps); creating a temporary tax credit for working families (the Making Work Pay Credit); and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit. These benefits helped families meet their children's most basic needs at home, while pumping money into the economy. [2011 Kids Count Data Book, Annie E. Casey Foundation, accessed 8/18/11]

CBPP: "The Poverty Rate Would Double Without" Public Assistance Programs. From a post on the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' blog Off the Charts, commenting on a National Bureau of Economic Research study on social safety net programs:

With anti-poverty programs under serious attack in Washington, here's something to keep in mind: a major new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) finds that public programs keep one in six Americans out of poverty -- primarily the elderly, disabled, and working poor -- and that the poverty rate would double without these programs.
Without the cash and non-cash income provided by programs such as Social Security, SNAP (formerly food stamps), and the Earned Income Tax Credit:

• The share of Americans below the poverty line in 2004 ($19,307 for a family of four) would have more than doubled, from 13.5 percent to 29 percent. That is, 45 million more Americans would have been poor.
• The share of Americans in "deep poverty," with incomes below half the poverty line, would have more than tripled, to 21 percent.
• The share of Americans who are poor or near-poor, with incomes below one-and-a-half-times the poverty line, would have risen to about 40 percent.

[Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Off the Charts, 5/18/11]

— K.B.F.