Fox News recently removed racial context from President Joe Biden's remarks on baseball legend Satchel Paige, making the comments appear to be racially insensitive.
On Friday, November 12, Fox News' Rachel Campos Duffy claimed Biden was facing backlash for parts of the speech he delivered on Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery.
During his speech, Biden spoke of Paige who was a legendary pitcher in the Negro Leagues more than a decade before Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball (MLB) color barriers. In his comments, Biden said he had "adopted the attitude of the great Negro, at the time pitcher in the Negro Leagues, went on to become a great pitcher in the pros in Major League baseball after Jackie Robinson, his name was Satchel Paige."
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However, HuffPost notes that when Fox News played the clip, "it was edited so Biden was heard saying he had 'adopted the attitude of the great Negro at the time, pitcher, name was Satchel Paige.'"
Duffy falsely claimed "Biden's remarks were 'landing him in hot water.' While 'Negro' was once a common way to refer to Black people and still appears in organization names, the terms 'Black' and 'African American' are more widely used today."
Then this morning Fox & Friends opted for full-frontal dishonesty, deceptively editing Biden's remarks to exclude his mention of the negro leagues and make what he said seem racially insensitive. Shameless lying. pic.twitter.com/dbbTtPhFnR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 12, 2021
Despite Duffy's claim, Fox News is actually on the receiving end of criticism for the way the clip was edited. According to Al Tompkins, faculty member at the journalism think tank, Poynter Institute, journalists have "an obligation to keep statements in the context they were delivered or explain to viewers why a change was made."
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In response to the backlash, a Fox News spokesperson reportedly claimed "time constraints" were the reason for the clip being played incorrectly the first time. When it aired again, it was properly edited. However, the alleged time constraints offer no explanation for the context Duffy presented.
Twitter users have also shared their reaction to the deceptively presented clip. Vox reporter Aaron Rupar tweeted, "This morning Fox & Friends opted for full-frontal dishonesty, deceptively editing Biden's remarks to exclude his mention of the negro leagues and make what he said seem racially insensitive. Shameless lying."
The edit is so bad you can see Biden's hand disappear in the middle of what he supposedly said. As bad as Fox News is, there was a time when passing off an obviously doctored video would still be a (minor) scandal at that network. I guess they're competing with Newsmax and OANN.
— snow🗽 (@snowmanomics) November 12, 2021
It’s an opportunity to take a dishonest shot at Biden and to divert attention from the GOP mostly voting against the Infrastructure Bill. https://t.co/o2lWOyuvwn
— TheValuesVoter (@TheValuesVoter) November 12, 2021
They’re really reaching. Negro though an antiquated racial category used until the mid to late 60s to identify Black Americans, it is not the n-word.
— DC Diva 🇺🇸 (@4diva63) November 13, 2021
I don't think they've thought this through.
— EVIE (@eviedogpuppy) November 12, 2021
Making a president seem racially insensitive to Fox viewers could have unintended consequences.
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