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Fox Apologizes -- Again -- For Using The Wrong Footage

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Yesterday afternoon, Fox News used footage from 2008 McCain-Palin rallies when talking about the "crowds" coming out to see Sarah Palin on her book tour, which started yesterday.

Today, they issued an on-air apology for the mistake.

"We mistakenly aired what's called file tape of Sarah Palin. We didn't mean to mislead anybody in that tease. It was a mistake, and for that we apologize," said a host of Happening Now.

Watch after the jump.

Fox has been having a lot of such troubles lately. Last week, Sean Hannity apologized after using misleading footage during a segment about Rep. Michele Bachmann's Capitol Hill tea party. Just today, they mistakenly showed the cover of a Palin satire called Going Rouge when talking about her actual memoir, Going Rogue.

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15 comments

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November 19, 2009 2:02 PM   

I love it. Every time they make mistakes now, and are getting called on it, they are "correcting" their mistakes and apologizing...and making themselves look pretty damn incompetent in the process. Anytime Faux news shows it's stupidity I am a happy camper.

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November 19, 2009 4:39 PM    in reply to LindyLou

Some people say that pointing out FNC's rampant misinformation is not a worthy battle. Granted, it's a huge target, but a behemoth can be brought down by multiple arrows. Or perhaps the advice from a once-battered woman is appropriate: "If he beats you, wait until he's asleep. Then hit him with a baseball bat. Tell him that every time he beats you, you'll wait until he's asleep and do the same. Consistency is the key."

Keep the arrows flying. There will be many targets.

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November 19, 2009 5:42 PM    in reply to bracken

Or, as the story goes, one well slung rock right between the eyes.

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November 29, 2009 2:05 AM    in reply to bracken

This strikes me as a gutsy tactic, but... after you hit him with the baseball bat, run away (unless you actually knocked him out).

On second thought, do knock him out, and be there when he wakes up groaning and maybe throwing up. Tell him the next time he hits you, he's not going to wake up at all. I think you would have to instill quite a bit of fear.

On the other hand, what will happen when YOU go to sleep? I really think the best choice is to get the hell out of there and never go back.

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November 19, 2009 2:08 PM   

The brilliance of the White House brawl with FOX. No one paid much attention to their "mistakes" before now and once the station went on the record delineating their News from their Opinion, they were suddenly held to that standard. People who defended them in this battle are going to be forced to back off if they wish to retain any credibility. Well played.

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November 19, 2009 2:39 PM    in reply to MKSinSA

I think you might be right. The bully pulpit could have a lot to do with it.

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November 19, 2009 2:15 PM   

Fox, tomorrow: Video of Nazi tanks streaming through North Africa labeled as Obama attacking Oklahoma.

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November 19, 2009 2:36 PM   

Nah this was just a siren call to the crazed Fox news viewer. I think that Fox meant to get caught on this one. It will highlight a satire book (that would probably been obscure) and hold it up as proof positive of media bias. It is not as if they grabbed the wrong book off the shelf at Amazon since it is only sold through the authors website here:
http://www.orbooks.com/

Fox purposefully copied the cover and pasted in their production department. It is the only way. Hmmmmmm.....

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November 19, 2009 2:45 PM    in reply to mageduley

From the publisher, OR Books, on the order page for satire book Going Rouge:

ORDER NOW!
AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE SHIPPING!
ONLY FROM OR BOOKS. NOT FOR SALE IN BOOKSTORES OR AT OTHER ON-LINE RETAILERS.

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November 19, 2009 2:59 PM   

What did Jon Stewart say last night - Fox News is to News what The Special Oluympics is to Sports - at Fox News you get credit for just showing up.

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November 19, 2009 3:29 PM   

who believes this shit is not intentional, like they don't know the difference between footage shot one day and footage shot a year ago, like there's no discussion between copywriters and video people? same thing with them putting Ds behind names of republicans caught in scandals. not intentional?!? I'm calling BS on that one

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November 19, 2009 4:43 PM   

Ten Thousand Fox News Anchors could write apologies on ten thousand typewriters for ten thousand years, and still never cover the apologies needed for all of the false information that they've pushed out onto their viewers.

They might end up with "To be or not to be, that is the gazorninplatz", but that's about it.

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November 19, 2009 7:50 PM   

like they don't know the difference between footage shot one day and footage shot a year ago,

The year ago stuff is in an archive someplace. You have to actively go find it.....locate the specific footage you want to use. The files have dates on them, the files have the names of what the video depicts. It is absolutely, totally, and utterly impossible to claim that this kind of thing happens because of some sort of inadvertent error. It just doesn't work that way.

In the old days this stuff was stored on reels of tape. Today, it's hard drives or other storage media, but if you send someone out to photograph the "crowds" at a Palin book signing yesterday, the footage IS going to include shots of Palin and shots of the crowd.

Why, for any possible reason except total deception, would you NEED to go find some other footage of a crowd? WHERE would footage of a political rally from a year ago be kept that is so proximate to the footage sent into the production room from yesterday's event that it would possibly be plausible that an editor somehow confused the two?

Malice aforethought.....and constantly so.

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November 19, 2009 9:14 PM    in reply to dweb823

You guys act like msnbc or cnn is so innocent here lol. At least fox has the balls to come out and say, hey we screwed up, we played the wrong video, we were wrong. Msnbc rarely admits there wrong, same goes with cnn, and all of the other media groups. You act as if its impossible to make mistakes, the mistakes that fox made are very possible to make, there human just like everyone else, the only difference is that they are willing to admit it, and thats why there beating everyone else in the ratings, because they can be trusted. Another thing too, Gov. Palin's crowds are huge, and she is selling books like crazy, so fox didn't lie when they said the crowds are big.

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November 29, 2009 1:43 AM   

The presenter doing the apologizing can barely keep herself from laughing as she claims it was not intentional!

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