The Georgia town hall, where Trump took questions on reproductive laws, transgender rights and other issues, aired Wednesday morning. But Fox News did not disclose that the female audience it selected for the event was packed with local Republican supporters and the network edited its broadcast to remove some of their vocal advocacy of Trump.
The Georgia Federation of Republican Women wrote on its Facebook page Wednesday that the group helped host the event, posting photos from the venue and writing they were “Super excited for the opportunity of hosting this event right here in Georgia!”
Shortly after CNN reached out to the group and Fox News about their role, the post was edited to state they were “excited for the opportunity of attending this event right here in Georgia!”
. . . The first question posed to Trump at the town hall came from a woman identified as Lisa, who asked the former president a question about the economy. The network did not disclose that Lisa is also the president of the Fulton County Republican Women group.
. . . “I want to thank you for coming to a room full of women the current administration would consider domestic terrorists,” a woman named Alicia said to laughter from the audience before a question about foreign policy.
But a portion of Alicia’s question was edited by Fox News to remove her admission that she was voting for Trump.
Yeah, I don’t see why this is news.
Journalistic ethics means disclosing this sort of thing. It probably is good to point out, just so that norms don’t get completely forgotten, but, yeah, this shouldn’t surprise anyone.