The Planned Parenthood scandal has collapsed as expert analysis of the videos has revealed that they were edited, manipulated, and have no legal value.
The Fusion GPS analysis commissioned by Planned Parenthood concluded:
Fusion GPS analysts reviewed all four of the “full footage” videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, totaling more than 12 hours of tape. This analysis did not reveal widespread evidence of substantive video manipulation, but we did identify cuts, skips, missing tape, and changes in camera angle. A forensic video expert, Grant Fredericks, reviewed segments of tape identified as suspicious during this preliminary review. This professional analysis revealed that the full footage videos contained numerous intentional post-production edits.
A thorough review of these videos in consultation with qualified experts found that they do not present a complete or accurate record of the events they purport to depict. Each release by CMP contained a short edited video, between eight and fifteen minutes in length, that intercuts clips from the undercover recordings with other content, and a “full footage” video that claims to provide the raw, unedited footage of each interview.
A video forensics expert, a television producer, an independent transcription agency, and Fusion GPS staff reviewed this material. While these analysts found no evidence that CMP inserted dialogue not spoken by Planned Parenthood staff, their review did conclude that CMP edited content out of the alleged “full footage” videos, and heavily edited the short videos so as to misrepresent statements made by Planned Parenthood representatives.
In addition, the CMP transcript for the “full footage” video shot at Planned Parenthood’s Gulf Coast facility in Texas differs substantially from the content of the tape. At this point, it is impossible to characterize the extent to which CMP’s undisclosed edits and cuts distort the meaning of the encounters the videos purport to document.
However, The manipulation of the videos does mean they have no evidentiary value in a legal context and cannot be relied upon for any official inquiries unless supplemented by CMP’s original material and forensic authentication that this material is supplied in unaltered form. The videos also lack credibility as journalistic products.
In other words, the videos are partisan junk. It is telling that CMP has not made the original source material available for independent forensic evaluation. Republicans will still proceed with their “investigations” into Planned Parenthood, but just like every other Republican-led Congressional investigation in recent years, the motive will be to score political points not reveal the truth.
Sen. Ted Cruz still repeats widely debunked Obamacare lies on a daily basis, so he will continue to push for a government shutdown over Planned Parenthood, but the scandal is dead. Mainstream media outlets are reporting that the videos were edited and were not accurate.
Reality has defeated the conservative attempts to distort and reshape it. The political drama will continue, but those who still stand by the edited videos have lost all credibility.
Here is the full 11-page analysis that was completed by the firm Fusion GPS:
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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