Fox News invents the possibility of a U.S.-Ireland bailout

The cable channel speculates, without any basis, about whether Obama will support a U.S.-funded bailout of Ireland

Published May 23, 2011 8:02PM (EDT)

U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama drink Guinness beer as they meet with local residents at Ollie Hayes pub in Moneygall, Ireland, the ancestral homeland of his great-great-great grandfather, Monday, May 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (AP)
U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama drink Guinness beer as they meet with local residents at Ollie Hayes pub in Moneygall, Ireland, the ancestral homeland of his great-great-great grandfather, Monday, May 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (AP)

In an exemplary instance of getting the story just plain wrong, Fox News Monday reported on the possibility of a U.S.-funded bailout for Ireland, which supposedly President Barack Obama will discuss with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. As Media Matters pointed out, these claims are baseless.

No U.S. bailouts are on the table at all. The Irish P.M. does hope to make Obama an ally in Ireland's push for more favorable terms in an EU/IMF-funded bailout, which we assume -- or at least hope -- Fox knows to be a different thing from a U.S.-funded bailout.


By Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.

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