Ari Fleischer during a 2008 White House press briefing. (Credit: US Gov/Wikipedia)
ABC News apologized after editing an Ari Fleischer comment about new White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Fleischer, the White House press secretary under George W. Bush, complained on Twitter about his Spicer comments being edited out of context.
In a correction published on its website, ABC News said:
“Nightline aired a segment Monday night about the first three days of the new administration including Sean Spicer’s statement to the press on Saturday. As part of the report, we interviewed former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. In editing the piece for air, his quote was shortened and as a result his opinions mischaracterized. We are fixing the piece online to include his full quote and context. We apologize and regret the error.”
An ABC News spokesperson told iMediaEthics by e-mail last night, “We apologized for the error on last night’s broadcast.”
Fleischer complained Jan. 24 on Twitter.
"It looks to me if the ball was dropped on Saturday, Sean recovered it and ran for a 1st down on Monday." 2/4
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) January 24, 2017
https://twitter.com/AriFleischer/status/82392764069229363
If this is how the press reports, Trump is right to go after them. 4/4
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) January 24, 2017
When the press distorts someone's quote and twists their words, we all have a problem. 5/5
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) January 24, 2017
iMediaEthics has written to Fleischer’s office for comment.
That wasn’t ABC News’ only problem this week related to reporting on the new Trump administration.
Ad Week‘s TV Newser reported that ABC News used a doctored photo of Trump looking outside of the Oval Office to promote its interview with Trump. The image was briefly on ABC News’ air.
The fake Trump photo. (Credit: ABC News via TV Newser)
“When the marketing team created the promo, they included the wrong image by mistake. They updated it with a new photo as soon as they realized the error. We regret the mistake,” an ABC News spokesperson told iMediaEthics by e-mail.
TV Newser noted that the doctored image was used by the New Yorker last fall, but it was appropriately labeled a “photo illustration.”
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