Edits of videos of the presidential candidates by Fox News and CBS News have sparked a debate: Where’s the line between fair editing and misleading the audience?
Last week, former President Donald Trump visited a barbershop in the Bronx with “Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones. Trump and Jones sat down in front of a flag draped over a beverage cooler and took questions from patrons and staff who had gathered to speak with the former president. Fox News aired segments of that conversation on “Fox & Friends” earlier this week.
On Thursday morning, CNN reported on new footage that revealed Fox News’ edit of Trump’s responses was heavy-handed.
One of the barbers had recorded a large portion of Trump’s Q&A section with people in the shop. The more raw, complete footage shows Trump taking one of his customary circuitous and anecdote-filled routes to answer one of the patron’s questions.
From that footage, which the barber posted to Instagram, CNN found that “Fox and Friends” aired clips that avoided unrelated stories and exaggerations by Trump.
“Participants had to repeatedly follow up when Trump meandered away from the original point of their questions,” CNN’s Brian Stelter and Liam Reilly wrote.
Notably, when an audience member asked whether Trump would consider eliminating federal taxes altogether, the “Fox and Friends” edit showed an immediate response: “There is a way.”
But the found footage shows that the former president had more of a meandering path to that answer, one that included mentions of the “death tax” and its implication for small businesses, as well as — CNN mentions — “the Keystone Pipeline, Ronald Reagan, Russia, and transgender sports players.”
This comes in sharp contrast to recent claims by Trump that a CBS “60 Minutes” interview of his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris may be “a major Campaign Finance Violation.” (PolitiFact rated that False.)
Trump pointed to Harris’ answers in clips CBS shared on social media to promote the appearance, which differed from what aired as part of the broadcast. Trump took specific aim at Harris’ response to a question about U.S.-Israel relations.
He said this disparity was evidence that CBS edited the interview to make Harris look “more presidential.”
Some social media users claimed the interview was an "in-kind contribution,” which is a nonmonetary donation to a political candidate. Dan Weiner, the director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s elections and government program, told PolitiFact that argument is far-fetched.
CBS News said the full interview took 45 minutes, and it was edited down to 20 minutes.
Kelly McBride, senior vice president at Poynter and chair of its Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, told PolitiFact that this type of editing is typical for broadcast news, and is often due to time constraints.
In fact, news outlets across all mediums — print, digital, video, and more — routinely edit for brevity, clarity, and a host of other factors. It’s a standard, long-accepted practice. Raw, unedited video or transcripts of conversations rarely make it to publication outside of places like C-Span, in part because audiences simply expect a more polished product.
In that light, some of the outrage reflects a broader trend of vilifying standard journalistic practices. In 2022, for example, social media users erupted when journalist Taylor Lorenz knocked on doors to track down an anonymous TikTok user who had spread hate against LGBTQ+ people. Door-knocking to verify facts or gather information is one of the most fundamental methods in journalism, yet it was portrayed as invasive or unethical by critics who were either unfamiliar with the practice or theatrically pearl-clutching to denigrate reporters.
In most cases, McBride told PolitiFact, broadcast news outlets edit video “to make the production more digestible for the audience, not to deceive, by either making a candidate look better or worse.”
It certainly seems like the edits “60 Minutes” made fall into that category, at least based on what CBS released that didn’t air on television. It’s not as clear cut for “Fox & Friends.”
Though Fox News’ edits certainly helped with brevity and digestibility, Trump’s serpentine statements have become a major focus in the election. With President Joe Biden out of the race, the 78-year-old Trump, if elected, would be the oldest president to take the oath in U.S. history. That has put renewed interest in his health and wellbeing — and a spotlight on his meandering method of public speaking.
Even if Fox News aimed to make a smoother news report, the “Fox & Friends” audience was left with a misleading picture of Trump’s sharpness.
Because CBS News hasn’t released the unedited, full interview with Harris, either in video or transcript form, Trump has been able to question the network’s integrity. “Once you cast doubt on something, it’s really on the news organization to explain and demonstrate why it’s trustworthy, and that shouldn’t be hard to do,” McBride told PolitiFact.
So while CBS News may have been in the clear to cut the interview down to fit TV, it may be in the network’s best interest to release the video or transcript to put this issue to rest.
Meanwhile, Fox News doesn’t really have that luxury. The full video of Trump’s barbershop interview on Instagram makes it clear that the network’s edits changed the tenor of Trump’s responses in a way that made him look more cogent. That’s deceptive.
By Ren LaForme, Poynter’s managing editor; and Josie Hollingsworth, PolitiFact’s audience director
