Today In Dishonest Fox News Charts

It looks like Fox is trying to mislead its viewers on the unemployment rate. Again.

On Monday, Fox News displayed a chart illustrating changes to the unemployment rate during 2011:

Note how the 8.6 percent unemployment rate in November looks higher than March's 8.8 percent rate, and about the same as the 9 percent unemployment rate in October.

Here's how an honest chart of changes to the unemployment rate during 2011 looks:

The pattern of dishonesty is alarming.

A few weeks ago, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics first reported that the unemployment rate had dropped to 8.6 percent in November -- the lowest rate in more than 2 years -- a Fox News graphic rounded up to 9 percent. In 2010, Fox News aired a staggeringly misleading chart suggesting that 15 million jobs were lost in three months. Three months.

In 2009, Fox reportedly sent an email to staff announcing “zero tolerance for on-screen errors.” The memo hasn't stuck.