On Monday’s edition of “Martin Bashir,” MSNBC ran footage of the testimony of Neil Heslin, the father of a Sandy Hook victim, in which it appears he is heckled by gun rights activists. MSNBC’s accompanying graphics box read “Mocked and Loaded. Sandy Hook Victim’s Father Heckled by Gun Rights Advocates.” In reality, Heslin was not heckled. He posed a challenge to the audience, and the audience responded. The MSNBC version deliberately cut out Heslin’s challenge to make it appear as though he was interrupted by heckling gun advocates.
"This is not how a legitimate, professional news organization operates," NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell complained in a statement released today. "MSNBC’s relentless anti-gun advocacy is bad enough, but this is downright dishonest. Time and time again NBC News has demonstrated why the American people can’t trust a single thing they say."
This is the third time in the past year in which NBC News has been caught dishonestly editing footage in order to push their liberal political agenda. Last March they edited the Trayvon Martin 911 call to make George Zimmerman appear racist. A few months later, Andrea Mitchell presented a dishonestly edited clip of Mitt Romney apparently being wowed by a sandwich ordering machine.
Read the full press release here.
Below is a side-by-side comparison by MRCTV's Bob Parks of the video in context with how Bashir's show edited the video deceptively:
