NYT Editorial Board: Congress Must Be Clear: No Doctored Videos

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

Congress Must Be Clear: No Doctored Videos

A congressman posted a manipulated video. That ought to be taken seriously.

By The Editorial Board
The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.

Sept. 3, 2020

It is disturbing enough that American democracy is being threatened by disinformation, the proliferation of which is facilitated by the shadier side of modern technology — phony websites, social-media bots, manipulated video and audio, digitally fabricated “deepfakes.” How painful to be reminded that among the bad actors spreading such chaos and division are prominent elected officials sworn to serve the public.

Last weekend, Representative Steve Scalise, the Louisiana Republican, shared a video clip featuring Ady Barkan, a progressive activist, asking Joe Biden, “Do we agree that we can redirect some of the funding for police?” To which Mr. Biden responded, “Yes, absolutely.”

Except that Mr. Barkan, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and communicates with the aid of a computerized voice, had not included the words “for police” in his question. Those were spliced in by Mr. Scalise’s team, making it seem as though Mr. Biden was expressing direct support for defunding the police — something he explicitly opposes, no matter how loudly Republicans claim otherwise. Mr. Biden’s criminal justice plan, in fact, includes $300 million in additional funding for police departments.

Outraged by the violation, Mr. Barkan called out the congressman. “@SteveScalise, These are not my words,” he tweeted on Sunday afternoon. “I have lost my ability to speak, but not my agency or my thoughts. You and your team have doctored my words for your own political gain. Please remove this video immediately. You owe the entire disability community an apology.”

It is one thing for Russian trolls or shadowy political groups to manipulate videos with an eye toward misleading American voters. For a sitting lawmaker — the No. 2 Republican in the House, no less — to do so is inexcusable.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/03/opinion/steve-scalise-ady-barkan-video.html

[SheltieLover]

1. Voters must be empowered to recall elected officials

Based on POPULAR vote. For all positions.

No accountability is what got us here.

[tblue37]

2. There's also the faked video where Biden's face is inserted into a video interview with

Harry Belafonte, to make it look like Biden dozed off during the interview.

[lagomorph777]

3. Scalise needs to be brought up on ethics charges and censured.

[debsy]

4. THE REPUBLICANS ARE WORKING WITH RUSSIA! HOW MUCH MORE EVIDENCE DO WE NEED??

THEY HAVE BEEN AT LEAST SINCE THE 2016 CAMPAIGN, MAYBE EVEN EARLIER! THEY ARE NOT SEPARATE! NYT, YOU CAN'T SAY, "IT IS ONE THING FOR RUSSIA BUT ENTIRELY ANOTHER FOR REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS"! MSM COULD HAVE REPORTED ON ALL THIS BACK THEN BUT CHOSE TO SHOW US EMPTY PODIUMS WAITING FOR THE ORANGE BLOVIATOR TO SHOW UP...

GEES!