Fox News Ditches Obama Speech Suicide Story

Piece implied link between student death, deficit chat
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 15, 2011 5:57 AM CDT
Fox News Ditches Obama Speech Suicide Story
President Barack Obama outlines his fiscal policy during an address at George Washington University in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2011.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Fox News has wiped from its website a report on a George Washington University student's suicide whose timing may have coincided with President Obama’s speech on the school's campus—and that seemed to suggest the two events were linked. "GWU officials tell Fox that police were notified about the incident around 2pm, which happens to be at the same time that President Obama was speaking,” it read. "As of this writing, Fox has not been able to obtain reaction from the White House."

The article prompted a wave of criticism at Reddit, the Daily Kos, and Gawker, notes the Atlantic Wire; a GWU Facebook group railing against the piece quickly gained 600 members, the Huffington Post reports. Fox News told Politico that “we were contacted by the university and decided it would be best to take down the story, although nothing was factually inaccurate.” For a line-by-line analysis of the piece, click through to Mediaite. (More President Obama stories.)

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