An article published on Fox News’ website incorrectly stated former President Jimmy Carter died at the age of 93 in a story about George H.W. Bush becoming the longest living president in U.S. history.
The article originally claimed Carter and Ronald Reagan died at the same age, according to Snopes. As much as some Fox News fans might wish that alternative history were the case, Carter is still alive and celebrated his 93rd birthday Oct. 1.
To be fair, gross factual errors are an inexcusable and unfortunate part of reporting and handling multiple facts — I’ve probably already made several of them in this article — but this particular gem seems to suggest a more over-eager attitude from Fox News. The Fox News article wasn’t even an inaccurate death story about Carter, but a casual error that someone should have easily avoided when looking up his age. No one knows how old Jimmy Carter is off the top of their head.
These strange slips aren’t uncommon to Fox News’ cable channel either. Sean Hannity referred to Hillary as “President Clinton” during a monologue on his show in October.
Fox News has since corrected the article and apologized for the error.
Image: Mark Turner
