Yikes: Fox News Regular Doug Wead Thought Obama CIA Was Having ‘Political Correctness’ Meetings

Caleb EcarmaNov 6th, 2019, 12:28 pm
 
US President Barack Obama watches as US Vice President Joe Biden speaks during signing ceremony for the 21st Century Cures Act in the South Court Auditorium, next to the White House on December 13, 2016 in Washington, DC. The bill speeds up the approval process for new drugs and medical devices and expands funding for medical research, including the cancer moonshot initiative led by Vice President Joe Biden. The funding will also aid research on opioid abuse and brain diseases, including Alzheimers. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Mandel Ngan/Getty Images.

Fox News published a story on Tuesday, based on a book from a regular guest of the network, alleging that the Obama administration held regular “political correctness meetings” that infuriated CIA employees.

The claims in the book appear to be based on a complete misunderstanding of the national security acronym “PC”, which, in the context of a presidential administration, actually stands for “Principals Committee.”

“A new book claims that top CIA employees have compared President Trump favorably to his predecessor, indicating that former President Barack Obama’s administration micromanaged intelligence matters and was too concerned with political correctness,” wrote FoxNews.com reporter Sam Dorman.

The article quoted from presidential historian and Fox News regular Doug Wead, who wrote in his upcoming book, Inside Trump’s White House: The Real Story of His Presidency, that a source complained about “PC [political correctness] meetings.”

“Next thing they said was that, in the previous administration, they spent a lot of time in the White House doing nonstop PC [political correctness] meetings,” Wead wrote.

The “Principals Committee” is a group of top cabinet-level officials who meet regularly to discuss notable security issues. The Principals Committee forum ranks just below the National Security Council in the U.S. security hierarchy.

Hours after publication, FoxNews.com added an update at the top of the article pinning the mistake on Wead’s publisher:

“The book that is the subject of this story is accurately quoted below in describing ‘PC’ as ‘politically correct’ in brackets. Fox News is aware that ‘PC’ may instead stand for ‘Principals Committee’ and has reached out to the author for further explanation. The story has been updated and will be further revised if necessary.”

Shortly afterwards, Wead got back to Fox and informed the outlet that his erroneous reporting was based on a misunderstanding with a source. The editor’s note now reads:

“An earlier version of this story accurately quoted the book as describing ‘PC’ as standing for ‘politically correct’ in characterizing certain Obama administration meetings. The author has since informed Fox News this was due to a misunderstanding between him and his source and that the initials referred to ‘Principals Committee.'”

The network was mocked on Twitter for the comically wrong report:

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Caleb Ecarma

Caleb Ecarma was a reporter at Mediaite. Email him here: caleb@mediaite.com Follow him on Twitter here: @calebecarma