Daily Show discovers Fox News manipulated footage while Fox News fact checks Sarah Palin

I'm not sure what's more amazing: That Fox News exposed a falsehood spread by conservative darling Sarah Palin, or that the Daily Show dug up footage suggesting the channel should be fact checking its own programs, too.

(UPDATE: Sean Hannity admitted on his show Wednesday that he used "incorrect video" in his interview with a lawmaker who attended an anti-health care change rally in the nation's capital last week. What he didn't do, was speak on the effect of what he called an "inadvertent mistake" -- which essentially suggested the rally last week drew crowds the size of a much larger rally in September.)

On Tuesday, the right-leaning cable channel presented a short report on a Palin speech last week where she groused about the phrase "in God we trust" being moved to a subordinate position on the $1 coin, implying that the current Democratic administration must have had something to do with it.

This is the kind of malarkey which normally rockets around the conservative media echo chamber for weeks, fed by pundits who have a vested interest in spreading misinformation. But Fox News offered a brief report echoing a story Saturday in Politico noting the change in the dollar coin was developed and approved under GOP president George W. Bush and reversed by Congress in 2007.

You can debate why Fox News took the time to debunk this relatively unimportant item; it's a handy response to people who accuse the channel of favoring the right, while knocking down a story which ultimately might have made Republicans look worse once the truth was known.

But the Daily Show presented footage Tuesday suggesting that pundit Sean Hannity may have cribbed images of the large Glenn Beck-inspired Sept. 12 rally in Washington D.C. and led his audience to believe it was footage of the much smaller anti-health care change rally held Thursday.

Host Jon Stewart aired a clip from Hannity's interview with a legislator who was at last week's protest, pointing out that the footage of the rally begins with a sparse crowd milling under trees with golden leaves in fall, then seems to show a much bigger crowd standing under green trees.

Comparing Hannity's footage to images of the September protests Beck aired on his show, Stewart said "If I didn't know any better, I would think they just put two different days together and acted like they didn't."

Here's Hannity admitting his "mistake":

Here's the Daily Show's original report, followed by a clip of Fox News taking Palin down a peg:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
www.thedailyshow.com
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Comments

[Caroline]

so the people that find this sort of misrepresentation by FOXnews appalling, are you also checking the numbers that obama and biden use?

OBAMA/BIDEN say:
- there are 40 million uninsured (actually less than 20 million)
- we'll tax only those making above $250,000 (soon became $225,000 then $200,000)

how can those that require a news organization to be honest then not require it of the politicians they elect to represent them? I would think that the politician elected would be held to an even higher standard as he/she is directly representing the views of the people.

which is worse? lying for more money from advertisers? or lying for more money from the taxpayers?

not everyone watches the news, not everyone votes, but everyone (more or less) pays taxes.

[ken]

wow..... am i supposed to be surprised that there are white trash that get there "news" from fox....

[lolzer]

Jackson, that you level such accusations at only FoxNews tells us much more about your own bias than it does Fox's.

[lolzer]

Nobody is beyond criticism and credit to Stewart for also exposing CNN for allowing guests to present false statistics on their program without checking them. I have numerous complaints about Fox's way of doing things, but of the cable news networks, they remain the most palatable by far.

I could stomach CNN until the presidential primaries when the O-gasms went on full steam with nearly endless gushing coverage of Obama. CNN pretty blatantly pushes its liberal social agenda under a very thin veneer of journalism. MSNBC doesn't even seem to attempt journalism at all while they wet their pants on air.

[John]

Get a grip Lee

[John]

How come no one is mentioning Maddow or Ober, always accurate always fair. Yeah riight.

[Lee]

Eric,
What is truly disturbing is the Daily Show is the best news show on TV.
They pick apart lies from politicians, confront them on issues in person (when they come in for interviews)and show instances like this of the news being ridiculously fabricated.
I'd take the DS over nearly all news shows because they cut through the BS. The news shows just take it and give it to us.

[Bill]

What's sad/funny is that Fox News keeps blindsiding the other media outlets by beating them on major stories

[wayne]

What do you expect from the right wing. They have been blindsiding the American people for the last eight years. We just just turn a deaf ear, stick our head in the dirt, and pretend they really have our best interest at heart. Wake Up America. This clip proves they are not a reliable organization, but once again we do not want to admit it. I can hear Limbaugh now "Please say it's not True, Fox News".

[Tarzan]

No thinking person could ever consider MSNBC News, actual news.

Also, Wow, you might want to brush up on your spelling skills.

Correct spellings: "simpleton" + "contributor"

[wow]

No thinking person could ever consider Fox news, actual news.

They interpret, spin then present... And you (Jane and others) can't decide b/c you are too much of a simplton to realize they are not reporting news.

Let me help-- if they ever refer to someone as a "fox news contributer" they are spewing lies.

[Super Scribbler]

Dateline NBC installed blasting caps under GM SUV's in rollover tests to prove the vehicles were dangerous... I'll stick with FOX News Channel - fair, balanced and unafraid for sure.

[beltwaybandit]

It would be consistent for Fox News "talking heads" to attack Palin. She was a major drag on the recent ticket and of course has not acquitted herself to the glory of the GOP.

It is actually decent journalism for the news side of the network to report as they did on her faux pas (pun intended).

Fox News is actually little dfferent than MSNBC...marketing machines for political views. Just so happens oneis left and one is right.

Their respective news divisions sometimes get caught up in that editorial positioning, and no doubt both are guilty of slanting at times.

Ironically, the cable news net with the least amount of "slant" these days is CNN...and they are getting killed in the ratings.

[Becca]

Why do some here call THE PARTY OF HATE conservatives?? Sheesh, Eddie Izzard is more CONSERVATIVE than the PARTY OF HATE.

Fox News is basicaly run by GEORGE BUSH'S cousin........so YEAH, they are a mouthpiece for the PARTY OF HATE. There, settled.

Power to the Peaceful.

[Dan]

Jane,

You are delusional.

[Mike]

Fox News is right-leaning?! Come on, man. Fox News is State Media for the Republikan Party! They are pure (g)OP apparatchik and nothing more.

[Mak]

@Scott:
How about you just show us the picture of Barney kissing a girl anyway?

[Mak]

@RatsTTiger:
Sorry, WRONG about that, too. Fittingly, it was also the Daily Show who laid that silly argument to rest, as you can see here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/30/jon-stewart-takes-on-war_n_339788.html

And what does "Perhaps if Jackson ever took a journalism" even mean?

[david]

Perhaps if Jane had a brain she would realize that Fox News is really not much different from the Fox "pundits,'' only slightly more sophisticated. Slightly. Offering commentary, as clown Hanity does, does not give you the right to just make crap up, edit film for obscenely distorted presentation, etc. These "entertainers'' are not doing the country a service. They feed the red meat eaters who do little but hate, offering NOTHING reasonable, much less constructive. Journalism training not needed to see any of this! Just a functioning brain stem.

[Scott]

Show me a news organization that isn't slanted ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, and I'll show you a picture of Barney Frank kissing a woman.

[RagsTTiger]

Perhaps if Jackson ever took a journalism he would know the difference between news and commentary?

During the news block 9 AM to 5 PM, I challenge you to find any time when the news is presented without both sides of a story being shared. The only exception I recall was when Democratic operatives refused to appear, under orders from their White House handlers.

[Kara]

Not only do they make the news up,
the classify themselves as "entertainers" so they don't have to be responsible for telling the truth.
And then they hire an ex-rodeo clown
to deliver the lies! It is amazing how many Americans fall for this "Saturday Night Live" version of the news.

[Jackson]

Perhaps if Jane had ever had a class in journalism she would know that Fox is NOT news. It makes it up.

[Jane]

Could it be that FOX NEWS reported the NEWS! Say it isn't so, that way all these liberal ignorants can't keep bashing FOX. I'm neither Republican or Democrat, Liberal or Conservative; I am a thinker that looks at all sides. Thank goodness FOX delivers the news and not just some pundits opinions.