This is One Of the Worst Things Fox News Has Ever Done

Thought Fox News couldn't stoop any lower? Think again. 

Monday morning, Fox — always looking for an excuse to attack Democrats — selectively edited a video in order to attack an Obama administration education initiative. Thankfully, they didn't get away with it because Media Matters called them out.

According to Media Matters, Fox & Friends edited a video of Amanda August, a curriculum coordinator in a suburb of Chicago, detailing how Common Core works. 

In the video that aired on Fox, August says: "Even if [students] said, '3 x 4 was 11,' if they were able to explain their reasoning and explain how they came up with their answer really in words and in oral explanations, and they showed it in the picture but they just got the final number wrong, we're really more focusing on the how."

Based on this incomplete clip, Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy sarcastically poked fun at August, saying, "If you get the wrong answer, you're going to get it right because you know, if you can explain it to the the teacher, 'ok, three four times equals eleven right?' The teacher goes, 'That's not right, but because you have the right reasoning, I'm going to give you the credit.'" Doocy's co-hosts joined in. 

The problem is that nowhere in the unedited clip did Amanda August say that students would receive credit for incorrect answers. Rather, watching the full video reveals that August's statement was meant to explain how Common Core wants students to focus not only on the answer to a question, but also on the logical process involved in getting the right answer. As Opposing Views reported, "There's no mention of giving credit for a wrong answer." 

In fact, in the full clip, an off-screen voice says, "You're going to be correcting [the students], right?" August's response to this completely negates Fox's take on the story. "Absolutely, absolutely. We want our students to compute correctly," she says. 

In addition to attacking Common Core based off a selectively edited video, the Fox report included numerous other inaccuracies. As reported by Media Matters, "While Doocy described the program as 'a new national curriculum the Obama administration is imposing on schools,' Common Core is not a curriculum, but a set of standards that delineates what skills students should acquire at each grade level. States have the option to decide whether or not to adopt the Common Core standards, and school districts determine their own curricula to comply. Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have adopted the program. Many private and religious schools have opted-out."  

The fact that Fox attacked Obama over a falsity is troubling not only because it demonstrates the depths Fox is willing to go to score points against the Democrats, but also because what it says about the dismal state of American media. 

You can watch the full Fox clip below: