Newsweek, Kurtz uncritically repeated false fuel efficiency accusation against Obama

SUMMARY: In a recent column, Newsweek's Keith Naughton stated as fact that Sen. Barack Obama's "assertion that Japanese cars average 45mpg, when the actual mileage is closer [to] 30mpg" was a "factual gaffe," echoing the Chicago Tribune's Jim Mateja. Likewise, The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz uncritically reprinted part of a Power Line post that highlighted Mateja's claim. However, a report from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change stated that the 2002 average fleet fuel economy value in Japan was 46.3 miles per gallon when converted to the U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard.

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