A day after Daily Show host Jon Stewart accused Sean Hannity of swapping protest footage to make a Nov. 5 anti-health reform rally look larger, Hannity conceded that his program used an "incorrect video" during the segment. "It pains me to say it: Jon Stewart was right," Hannity said, according to the New York Times' Media Decoder blog. Hannity called the incident an "inadvertent mistake" and did not explain how it had happened.
On Tuesday night, Stewart joined a number of media watchdog organizations in claiming that Hannity had dramatically exaggerated the numbers of last week's protest. Stewart said footage shown on Hannity's program while he was interviewing the rally's organizer, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), looked markedly different than footage that had been seen earlier in the program. A closer comparison revealed that the majority of the footage rolling during the segment with Bachmann was from September's "9/12" protest, which had been a much larger event. A small notation on the screen said "earlier," but Hannity referred to the visuals as "Thursday," implying that the footage was of the Nov. 5 rally.
Hannity is not the only Fox News host to be accused of using misleading video footage recently. While criticizing White House communications director Anita Dunn for her alleged love of Mao Zedong, Glenn Beck chopped off a clip of Dunn's speech that altered the context of her statement, according to the Web site Media Matters for America. The "doctored" clip was used on several Fox programs.
Video: Sean Hannity Apologizes for Video Swap, Nov. 11, 1009
Video: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Nov. 10, 2009
Who wants to bet that Hannity tries to blame Stewart and the “liberal media” for catching this. He’ll say Stewart is obsessed with him, call it “gotcha journalism” and wonder why The Daily Show doesn’t have anything better to do. If he’s feeling bold, he’ll say Stewart is disrespecting our troops by spending time on this and not on Veteran’s Day-related news.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (7)
Ashley
4:43PM Nov 11th 2009
Exactly. Fair and balanced my ass.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-3)
Rheinhart Moxon
4:44PM Nov 11th 2009
I'm sure it was an honest mistake made by a simple unpaid intern who grabbed the wrong tape.
Or the cameraman accidentally left footage of the 9/12 gathering to celebrate America going without a terrorist attack for longer under Obama than under Shrub in his camera, and added the Thursday footage to it... which a simple unpaid intern used by mistake....
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-23)
moderate
5:01PM Nov 11th 2009
I betcha hannity is going to doctor the doctor film....lol
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-10)
jgb662
7:03PM Nov 11th 2009
Yeah, those interns get it wrong almost everytime. As does the hosts and the guests.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-5)
joran111
11:26PM Nov 11th 2009
Wow, it WAS just an honest mistake! How did you know??
RATE THIS COMMENT: (8)
Pundit
1:11AM Nov 12th 2009
Of the hundreds in attendance to an illegally sponsored Bachman RALLY (Not a press conference as claimed), perhaps totaling 3,500
* 25/40 BUSES were from Pennsylvania ! * 7 buses were from Delaware * 5 people were treated by what cons now refer to as 'Socialist' Paramedics * 10 were arrested for violently YELLING in the halls of CONGRESS, despite all kinds of wild, unsubstantiated rumors
Crazy Queen Bachman performs: ALL ABOOOOOAAAARRD HAHAHAHAHAHA... AY AY AY AY AY...
Crazy Queen, but that's how it goes.. Millions of people living as foes! Maybe... its not to late ? To learn how to love And forget how to hate.. Teabaggers Mental wounds may start healing... http://vodpod.com/watch/476557-ozzy-osbourne-crazy-train
The loss of NY-23 delivered via 2:1 registered repub advantage proves they are perceived as far RW extremest Nuts, even in the few remaining repub strongholds!
Dems did pass Health Care Reform... Despite the crazy train busloads totaling a mere 3,500, whipped up by "Crazy Queen" as Bachman is known in DC and whose chief of staff Just resigned! Crazy Queen Bachman Teabagger theme song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYeWTA9s3F8&feature=related
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-1)
Pundit
1:16AM Nov 12th 2009
Following Beck's 9/12/09 Rally attended by 70,000, someone told a real whopper.
ABC News, citing the DC fire department, reported that between 60,000 and 70,000 people had attended the tea party rally at the Capitol.
By the time this figure reached Michelle Malkin, however, it had been blown up to 2,000,000.
There is a big difference, obviously, between 70,000 and 2,000,000. That's not a twofold or threefold exaggeration -- it's roughly a thirtyfold exaggeration.
The way this false estimate came into being is relatively simple:
* Matt Kibbe, the president of FreedomWorks, lied, claiming that ABC News had reported numbers of between 1.0 and 1.5 million when they never did anything of the sort.
A few tweets later, the numbers had been exaggerated still further to 2 million.
* Kibbe wasn't "in error", as Malkin gently puts it. He lied. He did the equivalent of poser truf's telling people that his penis is really 53 inches long!
Malkin, who to her credit later corrected the error, frets that it might be used to by liberals to "discredit the undeniably massive turnout".
It's double Pants on Fire! day at PolitiFact.com: We check a chain e-mail on illegal immigrants and comments from TV and radio personality Glenn Beck.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
hairhofla
5:49AM Nov 12th 2009
Makes You Wonder How Many OTHER "Mistakes" Go Unchecked At Fox......Hannity Was Forced To Concede By The Realizaion That Not Doing So Would Have Further Impared Fox's Credibility...It Also Substantiates The Claim That Both The Demonstrations On 11/5 AND 9/12 Did NOT Have As High An Attendance As The Supporters Have Claimed
RATE THIS COMMENT: (4)
webcommoner
9:22AM Nov 12th 2009
You can't be serious. The denial must be killing you.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-3)
Merritt
7:22PM Nov 11th 2009
Hannity has made a fool of himself so many times, it's amazing he is still on FOX, but then again these Fox Commentators .like Hannity, a two time college dropout and Glenn Beck, who barely finished high school, have neither the education berains or mentality to convince anyone but the low mental morons who watch them.
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.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (5)
T
4:58PM Nov 11th 2009
Astroturf?
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-8)
THEMEDIA
5:07PM Nov 11th 2009
If by "astroturf" you mean that you think my post isn't genuine, I assure you it is.
I'm not part of any political organization and I was outraged when I saw this last night. As I looked at blogs/comments about this today I saw several posts saying things like "surely this is punishable in some way," so I looked into what it would take to file an FCC complaint. Turns out, it's incredibly easy, so I posted it here and on other news/blog pages.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
politicalsanity
6:12PM Nov 11th 2009
Ummm... Fox went to court for the right to claim that their commentators' opinions NOT be labeled as legitimate news, but as 'entertainment'.
As such, they don't fall under the 'news' category.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (10)
MattKuma
6:47PM Nov 11th 2009
Themedia. I want to thank you for the information. I have used it and will use it against Glenn Beck as well, who really deserves what he get....along with Fix News
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-1)
Gunny
7:04PM Nov 11th 2009
It would be nice if you would also try and get the media that is being told to surpress any negitive reporting on the current admin. to do their jobs in reporting what is going on in this Country now. It is a shame that you continue to try and split this Country apart to insure you get their agenda through, continuing the conflicts between us. Your a jerk, is there some web address you can be reported to. It is a shame that most people are brain washed by losers like this as well as what is going on in this Country today. You people better wake up or pretty soon you won't be able to even write to a bolg.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-3)
oxbow99
8:20PM Nov 11th 2009
Are you kidding? Are you freakin people completely insane? How's about you doing some actual reporting instead of this sickening Jones-like love affair you have with BO. You people are weird!
RATE THIS COMMENT: (3)
snallygaster
11:12PM Nov 11th 2009
If Fox isn't news but rather entertainment, then how can they call the network "Fox News" - and display the Fox News logo in the chiron throughout the entire day?
RATE THIS COMMENT: (2)
CUGI3
4:54PM Nov 11th 2009
Who is Jon Stewart, and why would anyone care what he thinks