Watch a video of today’s Full Measure television news segment highlighting a selection of media mistakes and misses in the era of Trump, from the New York Times to CNN, the Washington Post, NBC, and CBS.
http://fullmeasure.news/news/shows/slanted-12-28-2020
Transcript below:
Taking a moment out now for a page from my new book “SLANTED: How the news media taught us to love censorship and hate journalism.” It traces the devolution of the news as we once knew it. Exhibit One is the historic trend of major media mistakes in the era of Trump forming a disturbing pattern.
Announcer: And now, the President and First Lady of the United States will take their first dance.
Sharyl: The tone was set on President Trump’s first official day in office
CNN claimed Nancy Sinatra was
“not happy” about her father Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way” being used at Trump’s inauguration.
Music: I did it my way.
Nancy Sinatra responded on Twitter, “That’s not true. I never said that. Why do you lie, CNN? Actually I’m wishing him the best.”
Meantime, Time incorrectly reported that President Trump had removed the bust statue of Martin Luther King, Jr., from the Oval Office.
That false news went viral.
In February, TMZ reported Trump had changed the name Black History Month to African American History Month, implying the change was racist.
Please show Obama, Bush and Clinton
In fact, it turns out Presidents Obama, George W. Bush, and Clinton all called Black History Month African American History Month.
Also, The Washington Post reported on the “Cabinet Battle over Trump’s Immigration Order.” The article was repeatedly “updated” to note that one of the reported meetings did not actually occur, a conference call did not happen as described in the article and actions attributed to Trump were actually carried out by his chief of staff.
And The New York Times reported on supposed contacts between Trump campaign staff and “senior Russian intelligence officials.”
FBI director James Comey later testified, it “was not true.”
Sen. Jim Risch: That report by the NYT was not true. Is that a fair statement?
James Comey: In the main it was not true.
In May, the BBC and The Guardian reported because Trump wasn’t wearing headsets, he didn’t bother to listen to the translation of a speech by Italy’s prime minister.
But Trump was wearing his earpiece in his right ear, as always, said the White House.
June 2017, NBC News reported that Russian President Putin said he had compromising information about Trump. Actually, Putin said the opposite.
Megyn Kelly: Do you have something damaging on our President?
President Putin: Well, this is just another load of nonsense. Where would we get this information from?
CNN and ABC falsely reported that FBI director Comey was going to refute Donald Trump’s claim that Comey told Trump three times he wasn’t under investigation. Instead, Comey confirmed Trump’s claim under oath.
Sen. Susan Collins: It appears you actually volunteered that assurance. Is that correct?
Comey: That’s correct.
CNN retracted a report claiming Congress was investigating a “Russian investment fund with ties to Trump officials.”
Newsweek reported Poland’s first lady refused to shake Trump’s hand, but later acknowledged she did.
CNN edited a video to make it appear as though Trump impatiently dumped a box of fish food into the water in Japan. The full video showed Trump had simply followed the lead of Japan’s prime minister.
Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal falsely reported Special Counsel Robert Mueller had subpoenaed Trump’s bank records.
AP reported a new survey showed trust in the media had fallen during the Trump presidency.
But the survey was actually conducted under President Obama.
The New York Times said a hypothetical family’s tax bill would rise nearly $4,000 under Trump’s tax plan. It turns out their taxes would actually go down $43.
The New York Times and CNN shared a story with photos of immigrant children in cages. It turns out the photos were from 2014 during the Obama administration.
In December 2018, NBC reported Trump was the first president since 2002 not to visit the troops at Christmastime.
But Trump actually left the White House on Christmas to visit troops in Iraq.
ABC aired video purportedly showing a “slaughter” and “horrific report of atrocities” against Kurds by Turkey after President Trump withdrew US troops.
ABC News: This video right here appearing to show Turkey’s military bombing Kurd civilians in a Syrian border town.
But the video was file tape of a training video in the US.
In November 2019, Newsweek falsely reported that President Trump was spending Thanksgiving golfing in Florida.
He was actually in Afghanistan serving dinner to US troops.
CBS aired a story in March of 2020 supposedly showing a New York hospital crowded with coronavirus patients.
CBS News: It’s all hands on deck in America’s hospitals.
It was actually file tape from Italy. A week later, CBS News mistakenly used the Italy video again.
Sharyl (on camera): Those are just a few examples. SLANTED, examines what’s behind this trend and also takes a deep dive into the very public devolution of the New York Times and CNN where I used to work. SLANTED is available today.
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