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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Rise and Fall of a Fox News Fraud
Wayne Simmons used CIA credentials to get on TV and work with the Pentagon, but prosecutors say it was all a lieBy the time Wayne Simmons went on Fox News last March for what would end up being his final appearance, viewers knew what to expect. "This president clearly has absolutely no idea what he is talking about," Simmons said of President Obama's handling of ISIS. Simmons had made guest appearances on Fox more than a hundred times as a "former CIA operative," and certainly looked the part: white mustache, neck bulging out of his dress shirt, a handshake "so hard, he can crush you with it," as one Fox host put it. Beyond offering his expertise as an intelligence officer, he had become particularly adept at serving up hawkish red meat to the network's audience. "We could end this in a week," he went on, suggesting that the United States run "thousands of sorties" against ISIS. "They would all be dead."
Simmons was largely anonymous when he first appeared on Fox, in 2002, but he soon became a regular face on the network, alongside a cast of retired military officers who, like Simmons, had been recruited into the Pentagon's "military-analysts program." The initiative invited retired officers who had made names for themselves as television-news commentators to attend regular briefings from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and to make trips to Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. In 2009, The New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize for its report on how the Pentagon used the analysts to build public support for the war in Iraq. The program disbanded, and many of those involved tried to distance themselves from it. But Simmons boasted of his connection as a way to bolster his bona fides, even mentioning it in his Amazon author biography. In 2012, Simmons co-wrote The Natanz Directive, a novel about a retired CIA agent called back for one last op. When the book was published, Rumsfeld contributed a blurb: "Wayne Simmons doesn't just write it. He's lived it."
But according to prosecutors, Simmons was living a lie. Last October, the government charged him with multiple counts of fraud, saying he had never worked for the CIA at all. Prosecutors alleged that Simmons used his supposed intelligence experience not only to secure time on Fox and an audience with Rumsfeld, but also to obtain work with defense contractors, including deployment to a military base in Afghanistan. He was also charged with bilking $125,000 from a woman, with whom prosecutors say he was romantically involved, in a real-estate investment that did not exist. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his trial is scheduled to begin February 23rd. If convicted, he will likely face several years in prison.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-fox-news-fraud-20160126#ixzz3yZBlnAZ4
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The Rise and Fall of a Fox News Fraud (Original Post)
Katashi_itto
Jan 2016
OP
With the producers back screen whispering leading questions into the Blond Bimbos ear
Jim Beard
Jan 2016
#6
Kingofalldems
(38,444 posts)1. Fox news is filled with lies and liars.
11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)3. At Fox, lying is referred to as "credential building".
Atman
(31,464 posts)2. There are many articles stating that all of mainstream media is CIA.
I mean, really, how tough is is. Get through some journalism class, have big tits and blonde hair, BINGO, you're a Fox "News" anchor. Even on CNN, MSNBC, the major broadcast news shows...how hard would it be to get CIA or government operatives into the positions of power? The producers, the editors, the comely girls with blond hair and ample cleavage. The teleprompter readers. How tough would it be?
Nothing on our national news stations is real. Don't believe a word of it.
Faux pas
(14,664 posts)4. K N R
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)5. It's Sport, folks.
Jim Beard
(2,535 posts)6. With the producers back screen whispering leading questions into the Blond Bimbos ear