MSNBC plays racial politics with deceptive editing, says SAF

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today accused MSNBC of using deceptively-edited video from a Phoenix, Arizona anti-tax rally on Monday to invent a racial stereotype in its on-going effort to demonize and marginalize American firearms owners as "racists."

The MSNBC video, narrated by reporter Contessa Brewer, appearing with "Morning Meeting" host Dylan Ratigan, shows an AR-15 rifle being carried over a man's shoulder. The man is part of a crowd protesting near the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, where President Barack Obama spoke. Brewer notes on camera, "Yes, there are Second Amendment rights, for sure, but also there are questions about whether this has a racial overtone. I mean, here you have a man of color in the presidency and white people showing up with guns strapped to their waist.."

"What MSNBC purposely did not reveal with the deliberately doctored video is that the man carrying that sport-utility rifle was an African-American," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb.

"MSNBC knows the man was black , yet all they showed in a brief film clip was a close-up of the rifle against the man's neatly-pressed dress shirt. It was impossible to tell the man’s race.

"This is a detestable attempt to manipulate public sentiment," he continued, "in MSNBC's continuing effort to perpetuate a stereotype of gun owners as white racists. It was even suggested during the segment by MSNBC culture critic Toure that it would not be surprising 'if we see somebody get a chance and take a chance and really try to hurt' the president.

"By irresponsibly fomenting this kind of racial divisiveness through the use of carefully-edited video," Gottlieb stated, "MSNBC is not simply reporting news, it is provoking a reaction. If any harm comes to the president, MSNBC's hate-mongering should be blamed.

"I wonder," Gottlieb concluded, "if Keith Olbermann is going to name MSNBC as the worst news network in the world."