Fox News was caught deceptively editing a chant calling for dead cops into a speech by Rev. Al Sharpton, making it seem as if demonstrators were advocating murder against police officers.
The segment was aired on the morning show Fox & Friends , which showed a clip of some protesters in Manhattan chanting “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!” The video then immediately cut to Sharpton leading a rally , making it seem as if Sharpton was leading the calls to kill police officers.
“We’re not saying all police are bad. We’re not even saying most are bad,” Sharpton said in the speech. “We’re not anti-police, but we’re anti-brutality. And the federal government must have a threshold to protect that.”
The tricky editing was picked up by many news outlets , which noted that the two clips were taken at different times of day and were clearly not related, despite the efforts by Fox News to tie them together.
The members of the Fox News show also appeared to tie the two events together.
“What they were doing was making this into a racial issue,” said co-host Tucker Carlson. “What I don’t think this is about is race, I don’t think these are examples of racism. And I think it’s totally unhelpful to make this a conversation about white vs. black. And it’s ridiculous to have it led by Al Sharpton who has zero credibility at all, he’s a hustler, and I think a criminal.”
Al Sharpton has been a leader in nationwide protests against police brutality, including the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice.
“You thought you’d sweep it under the rug. You thought there’d be no limelight,” Sharpton wrote in an op-ed . “We are going to keep the light on Michael Brown, on Eric Garner, on Tamir Rice, on all of these victims because the only way — I’m sorry, I come out of the ‘hood — the only way you make roaches run, you got to cut the light on.”
Video of the Fox News segment that deceptively edits the “dead cops” chant together with the Al Sharpton speech can be seen here .
[Image via Politicfact]
