MSNBC host and other media outlets slammed for running story later deemed fake
Fox News contributor Joe Concha on major news outlets catching heat for running a story later deemed fake.
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was excoriated on social media this week after failing to delete a tweet containing false information about hospitals in Oklahoma being overrun with coronavirus patients overdosing on Ivermectin, a parasite-fighting medication that can also be sold over the counter as a veterinary drug.
Maddow was previously criticized over the Thursday tweet, along with a number of other media figures, for spreading the false story without verifying it's authenticity after the hospital system in question denied the source's claim that people were being treated for the overdoses.
The story, which was originally reported at Oklahoma's KFOR-TV news, quoted testimony from Dr. Jason McElyea claiming that hospitals in a rural part of Oklahoma were being overrun with patients overdosing on the drug, causing gunshot victims to have to wait to be treated.
It was later deemed false after the Northeastern Hospital System denied any patients were treated for overdoses from the drug and that McElyea hadn't actually worked at one of the hospitals in question for two months.
Critics blasted Maddow on Twitter and questioned why her tweet still existed despite the claims in the article she referenced being debunked.
"Why haven’t you issued a retraction Rachel? It’s one thing to make a mistake, it’s quite another to purposefully keep a lie alive," wrote Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha expressed urgency to remove the inaccurate post by pointing out the number of likes and retweets it had already received.
In addition to questioning why Maddow's tweet was still up and hadn't been removed by Twitter, journalist Glenn Greenwald suggested it was actually dangerous to her followers because a person needing urgent care could read it and inaccurately believe emergency rooms near them were full.
Another critic referred to Maddow as "the queen of misinformation," while another, who claimed to be one of her fans, called on her to issue a retraction because it was undermining her credibility to leave up the tweet.
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The CDC has warned against the use of Ivermectin to treat the coronavirus, issuing a statement cautioning Americans that it is not an approved drug for its treatment or prevention.
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