Fox News Apologizes For Misleading Viewers With Old Clip Of Joe Biden (Video)

Martha MacCallum, co-anchor of the Fox News program "The Live Desk," apologized today after Fox News "inadvertently" used a six-month-old clip of Joe Biden talking about the economy.

The misleading segment featured splices of recent interviews with Obama administration officials discussing the state of the economy. One clip showed Joe Biden saying that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong." The Huffington Post reported yesterday that the clip of Biden was taken from a much earlier stump speech, and that he was repeating a statement John McCain made on the campaign trail.

WATCH:

Comments

[osusana]

Inadvertent? Riiiiight.

[Millie Lencioni]

Is this a first for Fox? I didn't think they knew how to apologize. The damage is done, or so they hope. They work they same way as The Enquirer, throw out something misleading and the morons that watch will believe anything.

[leeannethethird]

MSM is in the process of circling the American public with propaganda and lies to complete the fascist coup d'état currently in place.

Bernanke is dictator. Congress is the circus.

Continue to be vigilant.

[moveleft]

What are you talking about???

[DBtv]

The fascist coup d'etat happened in 2000. The People are in the process of taking back our country.

If you can't help, get out of the way.

[StevenevetS]

Well said!

[Opygollopy]

The constitution that was circumvented by the Bush Administration created Fascism in the U. S. The work that the Obama Administration is doing now is cleaning up all the dastardly deeds that Bush, Cheney, the Generals and the Republicans in general did during 8 years of dictatorship.

You are probably too uninformed to know the difference. Look up Fascism, Socialism and Dictatorship in the dictionary and you will learn the difference. Until then, stop wasting our time with non-sensical mutterings here.

[leeannethethird]

you'd have to pay me a CEOs breakfast tab to watch Fox

[joceeco]

An apology from Fox News is like an apology from a husband who beats his wife or an apology from Chris Brown to Rihanna. The abuser apologizes for doing wrong, knowing that if the chance presents itself to further abuse, he or Fox News in this case, will mislead (abuse) its viewers again.

[joev11]

White House: Economy Fundamentals Are 'Sound,' Despite Campaign Rhetoric
Obama mocked his opponent, Sen. John McCain, for declaring, 'The fundamentals of our economy are strong,' during the campaign. Now a key adviser seems to agree with McCain.

AP

Sunday, March 15, 2009

-- The economy is fundamentally sound despite the temporary "mess" it's in, the White House said
FOX NEWS, to the great chagrin of the liberals has tripled it's viewership lead over the sorry CNN and all but obliterated MSNBC in the ratings. The big hub bub made over this clip belies the fcats which are evident. below is a grab from FOX detailing the OTHER DEMOCRATS who on Sunday 3.15 said the same thing Biden said. In fact if you would take the time to do a search (Democrats claim economy basically sound) you would have found this to be evident.

During the fall campaign, Obama relentlessly criticized his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, for declaring, "The fundamentals of our economy are strong." Obama's team painted the veteran senator as out of touch and failing to grasp the challenges facing the country.

But on Sunday(3/15) , that optimistic message came from economic adviser Christina Romer. When asked during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" if the fundamentals of the economy were sound, she replied: "Of course they are sound."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/15/obama-adviser-says-economy-fundamentals-strong-despite-campaign-rhetoric/

[Principaldad]

This is the same kind of dishonest word twisting of which Fox is guilty.

First there is a HUGE difference between "sound" and "strong". "Sound" implies that the country isn't going to completely collapse. "Strong" implies that the every thing is fine.

Second, here is the real quote, which even FoxNews.com had the guts to print but you so conventiently omitted: [The fundamentals are sound in the sense that the American workers are sound, we have a good capital stock, we have good technology," she said. "We know that -- that temporarily we're in a mess, right? We've seen huge job loss, we've seen very large falls in GDP. So certainly in the short run we're in a -- in a bad situation."]

[slithymonster]

Nice.

[StevenevetS]

Are you related to Rupert or are you just on his payroll.
You clip and edit the quotes with the same dishonesty as Fox does.

Now, if you want to truly contribute, go back and re-post with the entire statements that you so conveniently (and dishonestly) modified.

[SparkyDash]

Thanks to Jason Linkin for publicizing this whole thing initially, and to people who contacted Fox and/or FCC and raised a stink, and for providing direct links to the rest of us to the FCC.

Fox News was not truthful when they said the whole incident was done inadvertently...BS, it would be quite difficult to spend time in archives, searching for old clips of VP Biden, then splice it together with newer clips, etc. I'm not greatly techno savvy, but I'm far from stupid.

The incident of splicing the clips and cutting the sound took planning, time, and indent.

Quite appalling; I'm glad they got their hands whacked by someone or a lot of people who are tired of such things. I also agree with other posters on this thread who state that Fox News should be apologizing to Vice President Joe Biden, not just the camera.

[Principaldad]

What is infuriating is that in addition to doing it intentionally they came off trying to sound magnanimous - "When we get something wrong, we admit it" - Yeah right.

[StevenevetS]

Even their apology is full of poison.

A more honest statement would have been: "When we get caught lying and deceiving, we misdirect by claiming inadvertence. (It covers our legal a--!)"

[sleeper414]

if they realy wanted to apologize they would just end their broadcast all together.

[joyhamliton38]

The Republicans hate Obama with a passion. I pray for him every day.

[rasputin999]

Martha is really bulking up, she looks like Hulk Hogan!
My advice is, keep your eyes off the doughnuts and on the truth sweetie.

[Hannah Jones]

Correction: Some Republicans hate Obama. That is wrong. But others of us (like myself) hate his policies with a passion, but not the man himself. There is quite a difference!! :)

[Tammie]

Did you hate Bush's policies that got us into this economic mess? Did you hate Bush/Cheney policies of sending sooo many people off to an unnecessary war that got MANY KILLED?

[srhMayheM]

If only they apologized for the 100 other misleading segments they do daily.

[lena22]

No problem "FIX" news anyone with a brain, realize this a republican network. The only conservative cheerleaders you need to be complete is CNBC and morning joe

[WABJR]

Martha MacCallum, co-anchor of the Fox News program "The Live Desk," apologized today after Fox News "inadvertently" used a six-month-old clip of Joe Biden talking about the economy.

The misleading segment featured splices of recent interviews with Obama administration officials discussing the state of the economy. One clip showed Joe Biden saying that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong."

PEOPLE! C'mon! GIVE FOX NEWS A BREAK. You know and I know that this is the first time they have ever misrepresented a Democrat. They've never done it before and now they apologize. Fox constantly presents the news in a "fair and balanced" manner. It's what they do. Don't believe me? Follow the link below and you will take back every negative point you've EVER made about them and replace it with understanding and support.

The Digital Politic
http://www.digitalpolitical.com/?p=22

[brief candle]

They should be sued. Let a judge decide whether or not it was an "accident". They lied about what the Vice President of the United Sates said and reported it as news.

[GlenRast]

Nice try but what she should have said was "when we get caught doing something wrong we apologize".

[Hannah Jones]

Reading these comments is cracking me up. Fox News is the only network that is not completely liberal biased and worships President Obama and Joe Biden, so they are attacked. Imagine if articles like this were written every time one of the other networks used fabricated facts or old/out of context footage. There would be no time left to write about news stories!! :) But that's not what they want you to hear about. ALL media is biased. Fox just happens to be more right-biased than left-biased, so they are vehemently hated by all left-wingers.

[GlenRast]

Nice regurgitation of GOP bull. Obviously you've never watched the other networks.

[Hannah Jones]

Oh, but I have. That's how I know, and that's what brings me back to Fox. :) If you are a liberal, then I can understand why you like to watch the other networks. I am a traditional conservative, and that's why I like to watch Fox News. It's only natural.

[Scornful]

Pitiful defense of Fox. Let's spell it out for you.

Fox took a 6 month old clip of Biden, who was actually referencing McCain's 'economy is strong' line and they brazenly made up the facts about it, claiming Biden said it last week.

Please give us all the examples of CNN and MSNBC doing this, taking something a politician said months ago, then editing it to make it seem like they said it last week.

Now, any other channel that did that would be in serious hot water, but if it's Fox, we know that they are Murdoch's vanity tabloid network, so actually getting their facts straight when trying to smear someone is an afterthought. Fox is a complete joke and the people who watch it are dumber than dirt.

I've never heard one self professed liberal claim that CNN or MSN is THE TRUTH, but the Fox cultists do it all the time..."Oh, the media is SO biased, except for Fox who is 100% fair and balanced"

[Hannah Jones]

Well, I would like to point out first that I never defended the incident the article refers to. Lying and/or misleading is wrong. They admitted it and apologized for it. They were wrong. Plus, if you notice my earlier post, I don't totally agree with Fox News that they are not biased. They ARE biased, the same direction I am, which is why I like them. I believe conservative Republicans are NOT perfect (they are human beings, NONE of which are anywhere close to perfect). They are, however, headed a lot more in the right direction. But we could argue republican/democrat all day long and it wouldn't mean much of anything. It's the issues themselves that are important. The issues are why I claim to be a Republican. I don't claim to be perfect or right all the time (far from it!!!!!!!) and I would hope that no one else would be foolish enough to do so.
I have some things to do, as I'm sure you do as well, so I will briefly share an example or two of smearing in the media. September 2007, CNN attempted to smear Bill O'Reilly and portray him as a racist based on an article by Media Matters that twisted his words and made him deliberately sound racist though he did not mean anything of the sort.

[Hannah Jones]

Sorry I know that's vague but I really don't have room to type out the whole thing. A link might help. http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/013978.phpOn the MSNBC show "The Verdict," Dan Abrams took some John McCain comments and twisted them in an effort to defend now-First Lady Michelle Obama's comment about being proud of her country for the first time in her life. Link for more details. http://exposingliberallies.blogspot.com/2008/06/msnbc-dan-abrams-claims-mccain-doesnt.htmlThere are so many more but not practical to type much more than this right now. I don't mind at all being referred to as "dumber than dirt" or a "cultist" but I do want to be clear about something. My loyalty lies with Jesus Christ. It's only because of my stance on issues as I believe from the Bible that I choose to be a Republican and watch Fox News. Only the Bible is perfect; no human institution. I will defend the Republican party and Fox News, etc. only to the extent that their stance does not defy the Bible's. If you call me a cultist, let it be because I'm a proud Christian! :) Have a great day.

[blkcat x lady]

Why are you tr0lling this site anyway? There are so many other sites where you can vent and get total agreement on everything that you say. In this instance we don't and your rhetoric is poisonous. Why don't you go away..far, far away? We are trying to be positive here, to support each other, our country, our President and the administration that is trying to unfurl the mess your president created and to restore our good standing on the world stage.

[Hannah Jones]

So, anyone who doesn't agree with you is poisonous and unwelcome? How very patriotic of you. :) And you only claim a President is yours if he agrees with you too? Wow. I am reading comments and not seeing much positive....I enjoy reading other opinions and welcome friendly debate. We can learn from each other and say our opinions openly. That's a privilege we have as Americans that so many in the world do not have. I'm grateful for it and for the many who have sacrificed and died to give us that privilege. :)