Fox News Uses Doctored Video to Smear Al Gore

Laura Ingraham was guest hosting The O’Reilly Factor last night, and she went on the attack against Al Gore. She claimed that Gore’s climate change position has been very profitable for him. To make her point, Ingraham used doctored video of Gore’s recent congressional testimony that omitted Gore saying that he donates all of his profits back to the cause.

Ingraham said, “It seems that being green does pay big time — just ask Al Gore. Mr. Global Warming was worth about $2 million or so when he left office in 2001, but after eight years of tirelessly working to save the world, the planet, he’s now reportedly — get this — worth a whopping $100 million. His financial windfall came up at last week’s Capitol Hill hearing.”

Here is the doctored video courtesy of Media Matters:

Here is the full exchange:

Of course, Fox News video left out, “I believe that the transition to a green economy is good for our economy and good for all of us, and I have invested in it. But every penny that I have made, I have put right into a nonprofit, the Alliance for Climate Protection, to spread awareness of why we have to take on this challenge.”

The doctored video also omitted this exchange:

BLACKBURN: And, well — you know, are you willing to divest yourself of any profit? Does all of it go to a not-for-profit that is an educational not-for-profit —

GORE: Every penny that I have made —

BLACKBURN: Every penny —

GORE: — has gone to it. Every penny from the movie, from the book, from any investments in renewable energy.

Is anyone surprised that The O’Reilly Factor would doctor video? This is why FNC can’t be taken seriously as a news organization. Doctored video is their idea of fair and balanced. I know the network likes to separate their primetime shows from their reporting, but when video is doctored, it proves their ideological bias.

I am curious to see how all defenders of Fox News explain away this one. If Ingraham would have showed the video unedited, then expressed the opinion that Gore was profiting from his work, that would have been fine, but to edit the video to give a false impression is dishonest journalism. Doctored video is propaganda, which is what Fox News was spreading last night.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association