The Trump campaign's egregious editing of a CNN clip

[Zorro]

Regular readers know that The Fact Checker has been keeping close tabs on misleading or manipulated campaign videos. We have faulted both the Biden campaign and the Trump campaign for using snippets of quotes in misleading ways or out of context.

But this Trump ad, called “American Comeback,” is unusual because CNN has written a cease-and-desist letter to President Trump’s reelection campaign, saying that remarks of two of its stars have been edited to give a false impression. The network said it would refuse to air the ad. The campaign rejected the complaint, saying the ad was “demonstrably accurate.”

That’s wrong. This is yet another clear example of how campaign ad-makers twist quotes and images to leave a false impression. The ad suggests that Trump’s move to restrict travel by non-U.S. citizens from China is a key factor in the United States avoiding as many as 2 million deaths during the coronavirus outbreak.

Under the Fact Checker’s standards for manipulated video, we have three broad categories: Some video is taken out of context, other content is deceptively edited; in the worst instances, it is deliberately altered. This ad clearly qualifies as deceptive editing.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/06/trump-campaigns-egregious-editing-cnn-clip/

[alp227]

1. "The media is such an enemy of the people,"

"I have to twist their words to make the point!"