A FOX affiliate in Seattle has fired a staffer after the station aired what appeared to be a doctored video of President Donald Trump's Tuesday night address from the White House.
Trump's speech on border security from the Oval Office was televised live by all of the major broadcast and cable networks.
A clip of the speech aired on Q13, a Seattle-area FOX affiliate, was altered to make it appear that Trump's tongue was lolling out of his mouth between sentences. It also appeared to distort the shape of Trump's face and make his skin appear more orange.
The editor responsible for the clip was initially placed on leave and then fired after an internal investigation, according to Q13 news director Erica Hill. It was not immediately clear if the editor created the doctored video or just allowed it to air.
"This does not meet our editorial standards and we regret if it is seen as portraying the president in a negative light," Hill said in a statement early Thursday, according to the Seattle Times.
"We've completed our investigation into this incident and determined that the actions were the result of an individual editor whose employment has been terminated," she added in a second statement later Thursday.
A local conservative talk radio station, 770 KTTH, posted a side-by-side comparison between the Q13 clip and the unaltered video. In the normal clip, Trump says "Hopefully, we can rise above partisan politics in order to support national security," before briefly licking his lips and resuming the address.
The altered video shows Trump sticking his tongue out and letting it rest between his lips for an abnormally long time before speaking again.
Tools for digitally altering photos and videos have become more advanced in recent years, making it possible to create forgeries that appear just a real as undoctored versions. Many of them are posted to social media in order to stir up political controversy.
In a recent example, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted a video clip that showed CNN reporter Jim Acosta chopping a White House intern's arm with his hand when she moved to take away his microphone at a press conference.
Digital video experts later noted that the clip, which was created by a third party, had been distorted to make Acosta's movements appear more forceful than they really were.
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