Right-wing media outlets are echoing and defending Mitt Romney's false claim that Chrysler is sending a Jeep production line from the United States to China. In fact, as numerous media outlets have pointed out, Jeep is not sending any U.S. jobs to China; rather, the U.S. is opening a new production line in China for the Chinese domestic market.

At a rally in Ohio on October 26, Romney said that he “saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep -- now owned by the Italians -- is thinking of moving all production to China.” The Detroit News reported that Romney “was apparently responding to reports Thursday on right-leaning blogs that misinterpreted a recent Bloomberg News story earlier this week that said Chrysler, owned by Italian automaker Fiat SpA, is thinking of building Jeeps in China for sale in the Chinese market.”

Indeed, the Washington Examiner claimed the previous day that Jeep “is considering giving up on the United States and shifting production to China.” The Examiner's Paul Bedard also wrote that Jeep is “shifting production of all Jeeps to China, which has a strong desire for Jeeps.” The Drudge Report also hyped the Examiner post.

On his October 27 Fox Business show, host Neil Cavuto echoed Romney's claim, saying (via Nexis) that Jeep is “apparently shifting gears and its production plan, moving a lot of manufacturing out of Michigan and right into China.”

On October 29, NewsBusters smeared MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, likening her to Saddam Hussein's propaganda minister “Baghdad Bob” after she said that Romney was wrong. NewsBusters claimed “it's still unclear” how Romney was wrong when he said Jeep is thinking of moving its production to China:

Chrysler is majority-owned by Fiat and hence it is within Fiat's power to move Jeep production wherever it wants. Since the company “may eventually” make all its Jeeps in China, as Bloomberg reported, citing a company executive as its source, one can only conclude that Romney's lying about this, as far as Maddow is concerned, stems from him not actually reading a story about it as he claimed, but getting his information elsewhere.

Also on October 29, the Drudge Report linked to a Romney ad on the auto rescue with the headline: “Romney hits auto bailout as Chrysler moves Jeep production to China.” But this ad has been criticized for its inaccuracy. A Boston Globe post titled “Mitt Romney ad suggests US auto jobs headed to China” said that while the ad “does not state explicitly” that jobs are moving to China, “it connects Jeep's manufacturing in China to Romney's fighting for American jobs.” The Hill said that Romney's ad “references a report that Chrysler is outsourcing its U.S. Jeep production,” despite Chrysler's statements to the contrary. And National Journal wrote that Romney “is running a new TV ad that implies Chrysler is planning to move U.S. auto jobs to China, though that is not the case.”

These claims and NewsBusters' defense of Romney are completely wrong. The Bloomberg article that NewsBusters references to prove Romney is right also includes this line that the right-wing media watchdog organization left out (emphasis added):

Chrysler currently builds all Jeep SUV models at plants in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. [Fiat and Chrysler executive] Manley referred to adding Jeep production sites rather than shifting output from North America to China.

Chrysler, which owns the Jeep brand, quickly denied claims that it was considering moving Jeep production from the United States to China. The Toledo Blade reported:

Chrysler is strongly denying a report the company was considering moving all of its Jeep production to China.

The company has not been shy about wanting to build Jeeps in China, but Chrysler says it won't quit building them in the United States.

“Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China,” Gualberto Ranieri, the company's senior vice president for corporate communications, wrote Thursday in a blog posted on Chrysler's Web site.

“It is simply reviewing the opportunities to return Jeep output to China for the world's largest auto market.”

[...]

Mr. Ranieri said in his blog that some people misinterpreted the Bloomberg story.

“Despite clear and accurate reporting, the take has given birth to a number of stories making readers believe that Chrysler plans to shift all Jeep production to China from North America ... . It is a leap that would be difficult even for circus acrobats.”

In addition, The Detroit News called Romney's claim “false” and CBS News repeatedly called the claim “inaccurate.”