A FOX News affiliate in Baltimore (FOX 45) aired a video Monday night on its broadcast that was edited to make it appear that anti-brutality protesters in DC were chanting "Kill A Cop". Today they've issued a statement apologizing for the "error" and invited the woman who was featured in the video to appear on their broadcast. From their website...
We here at Fox45 work hard every day to earn your trust and bring you fair and comprehensive news from around the country. Although last night's report reflected an honest misunderstanding of what the protesters were saying, we apologize for the error.
What was actually being chanted was "We won't stop….We can't stop…. 'til killer cops…. are in cell blocks". This is clear at first glance from watching the full video. Yet somehow the part about "...are in cell blocks" was conveniently chopped off, and the narrative was created to make it appear that the protesters were inciting people to kill police officers. This is the narrative that the right wing media wants to push now since the deaths of two New York police officers ("assassinated" is the word being pushed by the media for greater effect) at the hands of a mentally unstable individual who had nothing to do with the protests. (What is being conveniently left out of this part of the story is that said individual prior to killing the police officers also shot his girlfriend.) You can view the full apology on their website, featuring the unedited video showing what was really said.
I find it very hard to believe that this was an "honest misunderstanding" on the part of the FOX affiliate. Especially since it is well known that their parent network, FOX News, actively directs its affiliates to report their local news from the same conservative perspective as the national network. Plus, lets consider what goes on in a news studio when examining footage for airing. What you see on the air has probably gone through about 10 to 15 sets of eyes before being broadcast. You mean to tell me that no one in that studio realized that what was being said was not what is being reported? In a word...BULLSHIT.
But let's say, for the sake of argument, that the woman in the video was actually saying "kill a cop". Remember when Sarah Palin depicted various politicians that she didn't like in crosshairs (including congresswoman Gabby Giffords)? Remember when Sharon Angle spoke of "second amendment remedies"? Remember when Glenn Beck said that Barack Obama hates White people? The right-wing didn't seem quite so worried about backlash from so-called hate-speech back when they were the ones doing it, even when it resulted in violence. Yet now they're worried that "hate-speech" in all these protest (a.k.a. the acknowledgement that police racism actually exists) may possibly result in violence against cops. Funny how that works.
The bottom line is FOX News tried to spin a false narrative and got caught. Now they're doing damage control trying to cover their asses and calling it "apologizing".
Apology not accepted.
1:10 PM PT: Correction: The girlfriend of the NYPD cop shooter is still alive. At last check she was in critical condition. My apologies for the error, and thanks to Attack Gardner for pointing it out.
5:51 PM PT: Just for clarification. The shooter's girlfriend, Shaneka Thompson, is expected to survive.