Another example of fake news from the liberal media? ABC late on Tuesday night apologized for deceptively editing former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer. In a segment from Monday on current press secretary Sean Spicer, Nightline’s Juju Chang featured a quote of Fleischer apparently trashing Spicer's press event: “His briefing made me uncomfortable. It was too truculent, too tough. It looks to me if the ball was dropped on Saturday — ”
On Twitter, Fleischer corrected: “Nightline proves Spicer right about MSM’s dedication to negativity.” Left out of his original comment from Monday? Fleischer's tweeted his full quote: “It looks to me if the ball was dropped on Saturday, Sean recovered it and ran for a 1st down on Monday.”
Fleischer added, “If this is how the press reports, Trump is right to go after them.” He concluded, “When the press distorts someone's quote and twists their words, we all have a problem.”
On Tuesday's show, at 1:05am ET, Chang issued a correction:
Finally tonight, a note on last night's broadcast. In our segment about the new administration, we interviewed former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. In editing the piece, his quote was shortened and as a result his comments mischaracterized. We corrected the piece online to include his full quote and context. We apologize and regret the error.
In fact, if one goes online, ABCNews.com has a correction notice that says “We are fixing the piece online to include his full quote and context.” But the corrected version doesn’t appear to be up yet.
Here are some of Fleischer’s tweets slamming ABC:
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Transcripts from Monday’s show and the correction on Tuesday can be found below:
NL
1/24/17 (1/23/17 on west coast)
12:41JUJU CHANG: In fact, he got it wrong, repeatedly. Ridership, for example, was not bigger for Trump’s inauguration. But that didn't stop Kellyanne Conway from doubling down on Sunday morning's Meet the Press.
KELLYANNE CONWAY: You're saying it's a falsehood, and they're giving, Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that.
CHUCK TODD: Look, alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods.
CHANG: The internet had a field day. Alternative facts and Spicer facts trending throughout the weekend. Merriam-Webster tweeting the definition of "”fact.” George W. Bush's press secretary Ari Fleischer says Spicer shouldn't have delivered provable falsehoods.
FLEISCHER: His briefing made me uncomfortable. It was too truculent, too tough. It looks to me if the ball was dropped on Saturday.
1/25/17 (1/24/17 on west coast)
1:05am
JUJU CHANG: Finally tonight, a note on last night's broadcast. In our segment about the new administration, we interviewed former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. In editing the piece, his quote was shortened and as a result his comments mischaracterized. We corrected the piece online to include his full quote and context. We apologize and regret the error.
