Fox News host falsifies footage to make GOP protest look bigger

By John Byrne
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 -- 9:02 am
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Fox+News+Hannity Fox News host falsifies footage to make GOP protest look biggerHow many protesters were in attendance at Republican congresswoman Michelle Bachmann's tea party healthcare protest?

"I climbed the Capitol steps just before the event started so that I could get a good view of the whole crowd," the Washington Post's onetime White House reporter and columnist Dana Milbank wrote Friday. "I divided it into sections and counted. That's where I came up with 5,000. It's possible more came after I did my count, but nothing near 10,000."

A few dozen Republican House members attended, aimed at stirring up a crowd against Democrats' healthcare reform bill. Fox News' Sean Hannity interviewed Bachmann following the event.

"20,000+ people showed up," Hannity said. "Were you as surprised as I was?"

Bachmann smiled and replied.

Story continues below...

After showing the clip, Stewart said: "Anywhere between 20 and 40,000 people. Or, as the Washington Post put it, 10,000."

Stewart then showed two clips Fox News employed to underscore the size of the event. He pointed out that the clips appeared to have been from two entirely different protests.

"I'm sorry, can we get back again," Stewart remarked. "That was weird. Because when that clip started, it was a clear fall day in Washington, D.C. Not a cloud in the sky, the leaves have changed.

"All of a sudden, the trees turn green again, and it's cloudy, and it looks like thousands and thousands of more people arrived," he continued. "If I didn't know any better, I would think they just put two different days together and acted like they didn't."

The bogus footage, Stewart found, actually came from a Sept. 12 protest two months ago, and was used on Fox News' Glenn Beck program two months ago.

This video is from Comedy Central's The Daily Show, broadcast Nov. 10, 2009.

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Story comments are below...
  • thelonegunman
    the sad fact is this was uncovered by the Daily Show... a parody on the daily news programmes...

    on a comedy channel...
  • jamesseller
    If you are as outraged about this as I am, I strongly encourage you to file a complaint to the FCC here:
    http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm
  • The REALLY sad thing, is that their viewers don't care that it's False News.
  • Independentgal
    I sometimes frequent a site that is RULED by people who consider themselves "conservatives" but are obviously completely out of touch with reality. I had copied a link from Raw Story for a couple of stories, and since I used Raw Story as my source, I therefore have no credibility, according to them, and I'm "trying to start trouble". As much as I want to post the link to this story, it just isn't worth the personal insults and harassment that would ensue. Nothing like trying to educate a person with the mentality of a two-year-old. (They have the same retort if I post anything from HuffPo or MSNBC. Fox, on the other hand, is their GOSPEL.)
  • Income Tax
    We do care! Exaggerations like this don't reflect the pulse of the county, and lead to false conclusions. For the record, Hannity did apologize:

    http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/...
  • If you DO care, why do you watch it?
  • Salem_guy
    Fox is Guilty of false information!
    Destroys their "Fair and Balanced" facade.
  • thepoliticalcat
    That's all they've done from day one. Spewed out misinformation and disinformation in an attempt to make even more billions for Murdoch, who doesn't care if this democracy rots from the inside and falls apart because he's got his.
  • DougI
    How does Fox even have a license to pretend to be a news channel?
  • Savantster
    .
    because you only need a license to use the public airwaves.. "cable" is a for-profit, private system.

    Though, I'd bet that if they dig deep, they will find that this stuff is moving over an IP network now.. and the IP backbone is UUNET, which was built on government dollars.. if that's the case, perhaps they can latch on to the growing trend of IP based services and use the "publicly funded" angle to regulate cable shows. Sure would be nice! THEN they could do something about "fox news".

    As it is, the courts have said that having "news" in your name doesn't mean you have to tell the truth... lying to the public is free speech, apparently.
    .
  • leathersmith
    you need a license??
  • No, you can just go onto television and spew any kind of information true or false, left or right, right or wrong! DUHHHHhh, they can get shut down if they continue to pull shit like this!
  • Savantster
    .
    I guess you didn't read my post, that one just below here.. Yes, they CAN just lie, no, they do NOT need a "license" on cable. The FCC only regulates the public airwaves, as I understand it.. so they can't "pull a license" from FOX NEWS because they don't use public airwaves.

    If you're aware of a statute that refutes my understanding, let me know.
    .
  • missskeptic
    I am not at all surprised - but why did it take a self-professed comedian to do the work of an actual journalist? Is Stewart the only one to catch this? If he is, it speaks poorly for the state of American journalism.
  • darin29
    Does it surpsise anyone FOX used stock footage to lie? Rememebr when hundreds of thousands showed up to anti-war activities and they'd say "a few thousand showed...". Now a few thousand neoconfederate, Hitler-happy, anti-black teabaggers show and it's "2 million showed and filled the Mall..." When FOX DISTORTS WE CAN'T DECIDE.
  • Anais
    I heart Jon Stewart and the Daily Show staff. They are the modern equivalent of the medieval court jesters, who used humor to speak truth to power. Where else can we see truth these days? The mainstream media are not doing their jobs, and Fixed News is a blatant propaganda machine. Oh, and I counted about 1,000 people LESS than Milbank, based on a telescopic lens shot of the meager crowd.
  • WilyArmadilla
    No shame. These people have absolutely, positively no shame at all.
  • Savantster
    .
    If not for Stewart (and RAW, on occasion) I would never know about things like this.. And FOX wonders why people laugh at them and say they aren't a "real news channel"? When they LIE like this? Most people probably never even noticed what they did, you get caught up in all the moving images and camera changes and all that "noise" on the screen (which is why it's there, by the way, to keep your brain too distracted to concentrate on what's being said.. information overload)..
    .
  • THEMEDIA
    If you are as outraged about this as I am, I strongly encourage you to file a complaint to the FCC here:
    http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm

    The appropriate Complaint Type is "Broadcast (TV and Radio), Cable, and Satellite Issues" and the Complaint Category is "Unauthorized, unfair, biased, illegal broadcasts" (the form states that this includes "Biased or distorted news stories by the media"). The original show aired on Fox News at 9:00 pm Eastern on November 5th 2009.

    We have an avenue to correct this type of falsification and to make change we must make a complaint.
  • christopherlaw
    OMG! Busted by a comedy show, it's no wonder young people trust The Daily Show for their news! Truthiness prevails :-)
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