As the MRC's Matt Philbin noted here, the recent ruling against Planned Parenthood by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court "puts the lie to the Planned Parenthood/media talking points about the infamous 2015 undercover 'baby parts' videos being deceptively edited." But this ruling has ramifications for more than just Planned Parenthood; it's also bad news for their enablers in the media.
It's never been disputed that the "baby parts" videos were edited. The individuals behind the camera chose when to press record, when to stop, and what bits of recorded conversation to leave out of their finished product. The question is, and always has been, did any of the edits give viewers a false impression of what the raw footage actually showed – for example, by stringing together unrelated or out-of-context statements? According to the 5th Circuit Court's decision and based in part on a forensic analysis that compared the raw footage to the edited videos, the answer is no.
Thus the claim that the Planned Parenthood videos were "deceptively edited" is no longer accurate. That's a problem for the organizations and news outlets who published celebratory articles containing that talking point back when the now-vacated ruling was first issued.
Here's list of organizations and news outlets who have repeated the now-disproven line about "deceptive edits." It's anybody's guess as to how many of them will issue updates or corrections:
ACLU - ACLU Stands With Planned Parenthood, July 30, 2015.
FAIR - Credulous Reporting of Deceptive Propaganda Made Planned Parenthood Attack Inevitable, December 12, 2015.
ThinkProgress - Everything You Need To Know About The Anti-Abortion Groups Trying To Discredit Planned Parenthood, July 21, 2015.
The Arkansas Times - Planned Parenthood analysis: Videos deceptively edited, August 27, 2015.
The Baltimore Sun - For Planned Parenthood, justice seldom gets more poetic, January 31, 2016.
BuzzFeed News - Planned Parenthood: Activists Committed “Fraud” By Heavily Editing Sting Videos, August 28, 2015.
CNN - The real story behind those Planned Parenthood videos, October 19, 2015.
Columbia Journalism Review - Why the undercover Planned Parenthood videos aren’t journalism, May 12, 2016.
FactCheck.org - Unspinning the Planned Parenthood Video, July 21, 2015.
The Hill - On Planned Parenthood, Congress needs to do its homework, September 24, 2015 (Opinion piece by Dawn Laguens).
Huffington Post - Editor of Planned Parenthood Videos Worked On Them For At Least 11 Months, October 12, 2015.
Mother Jones - Planned Parenthood Sues “Complex Criminal Enterprise” Behind Deceptive Videos, January 14, 2016.
The Nation - Defend Planned Parenthood Against Republican Attacks, August 20, 2015.
The New Yorker - Making Sense of Robert Dear, December 1, 2015.
The New York Times - Planned Parenthood Videos Were Altered, Analysis Finds, August 27, 2015.
NPR - Planned Parenthood Says Experts Found Misleading Edits In Videos, August 27, 2015.
Politico - Report for Planned Parenthood finds sting videos manipulated, August 27, 2015.
Salon - What the Planned Parenthood hoax really proves: Right-wing extremists have no qualms about destroying peoples' lives, July 16, 2015.
Slate - Second Heavily Edited Planned Parenthood Attack Video Is Also a Big Bust, July 21, 2015.
Vice - Planned Parenthood Versus a Bizarre Web of Deceit, September 1, 2015.
Vox - I thought I saw all the Planned Parenthood sting footage. Turns out the tapes were edited., August 28, 2015.
The Washington Post - Videos deceptively edited, Planned Parenthood tells Congress, August 27, 2015.
USA Today - The great deception behind the anti-Planned Parenthood videos: Column, February 3, 2016.
It should be noted that this is not an exhaustive list. The organizations listed here are those still missing retractions as of 2:00 p.m. Eastern on January 18, 2019.
