Bartiromo believed he was interviewing Dennis Organ, the president and CEO of Smithfield Foods, the world’s self-proclaimed largest pork producer. In fact, he had been interviewing Matt Johnson, press coordinator for the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere. For six minutes.
Shame is hardly the first time Bartiromo has reached the headlines of the behavior that scratched his head on his show. Wednesday’s incident follows several segments of Bartiromo’s program in recent weeks, expanding conspiracy theories about elections without any setbacks.
Bartiromo’s repeated mistakes and misinformation suggest a lack of editorial standards and a basic fact-checking. A quick internet search of Smithfield’s CEO points to the company’s official leadership position, including a photograph of Organ, which bears no resemblance to Johnson (the organ is a bald redhead; Johnson, well, it is not).
In response to a request for comment, a Fox News spokeswoman noted Bartiromo’s live correction, where he promised more vigilance.
“Fox Business aired a segment that was a complete hoax,” Keira Lombardo, chief executive of Smithfield Foods, said in a statement. “A simple Google search for a photo of our CEO would have prevented this from happening. This allowed false information to be leaked and Fox has apologized for this complete lapse.”
A fun pretentious interview
Wednesday’s interview began innocently enough. Bartiromo asked his guest about a Covid-19 outbreak at a Smithfield Foods plant in South Dakota and about the company’s plans for vaccine distribution. Johnson (posing as Organ) responded as a CEO would, with corporate words and outrage about the company’s “dedicated and resilient” staff, “brave” workers and a commitment to providing “extensive personal protective equipment.” “to employees. Nothing to see here. However.
Two minutes after the interview, however, things changed.
“As the new CEO and President of Smithfield, I personally promise that we will do better, and the first change under my leadership is transparency and sometimes brutal honesty.”
Johnson went on to say that the food industry could contribute to the upcoming pandemic, arguing that farms are “Petri dishes” for infectious diseases. Smiling, pausing, “annoying” and “knowing” throughout the rambling interview, Johnson certainly did many things to make it clear to Bartiromo and his staff that he was not who he claimed to be.
At the end of his show, Bartiromo issued a correction.
“We want to apologize to Dennis Organ, Smithfield Foods and our audience for making this mistake,” he said. “We will, of course, be more vigilant.”
A story of misinformation
On November 29, Bartiromo gave President Donald Trump his first television interview since the election, and the conversation was full of lies and conspiracy theories that were out of control. Bartiromo opened the interview by saying, “The facts are on your side.” After the president falsely said election fraud had occurred, Bartiromo said, “This is disgusting and we cannot allow the US election to be corrupted.”
Last week, Bartiromo said “a source of information” told me “President Trump won the election,” even though Fox called the election for Biden. Election officials, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security have said there has been no widespread election fraud.
It also often amplified conspiracy theories and the false information that prevailed on Fox News about alleged irregularities in voting machines, including the fact that software was used to manipulate elections and that there was a direct connection between companies that manufacture voting machines in America and the philanthropic liberal billionaire George. Soros. Fox programs hosted by Bartiromo, as well as hosts Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs, later published a news packet that discredited these claims after voting technology company Smartmatic sent Fox News a legal threat accusing it. the network to participate in a “disinformation campaign” against her.
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