NBC Airs Edited Clip of William Barr; Trump Calls for Host's Firing

Chuck Todd, host of NBC's "Meet the Press", criticized Attorney General William Barr's decision Sunday to drop charges against former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn. Todd played a clip of a CBS interview in which Barr was asked about the decision, and followed the clip by criticizing Barr's statements. However, it was later revealed that the audio of Barr had been shortened, rendering his statement out of context. The removed portion of Barr's quote would have immediately undermined Todd's criticism. NBC later apologized, acknowledging that the clip was not Barr's full answer. As of midday Monday, some center-rated and few left-rated outlets have covered the story; right-rated outlets have covered it prominently. Right-rated outlets called the edited clip "deceptive"; conversely, some left-rated outlets describe the quote as "abbreviated" and focused more on President Trump's calls for Todd to be fired. Some center-rated journalism ethicists were critical of NBC for supposedly misleading audiences.