Fox, MSNBC air NY Times' cropped video of Sotomayor's affirmative action comments

Written by Sarah Pavlus

Published

MSNBC and Fox News aired portions of a New York Times video package that cropped remarks Sonia Sotomayor made regarding affirmative action. The editing omitted her statement that she is “from what is traditionally described as a socio-economically poor background.”

On June 11, MSNBC and Fox News aired portions of a New York Times video package that cropped remarks Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor made regarding affirmative action during a panel discussion with female judges in the early 1990s. The cropped video featured the following remarks by Sotomayor, but omitted the portion in italics: “I am a product of affirmative action. I am the perfect affirmative action baby. I am a Puerto Rican, born and raised in the South Bronx, and from what is traditionally described as a socio-economically poor background. My test scores were not comparable to that of my colleagues at Princeton or Yale -- not so far off the mark that I wasn't able to succeed at those institutions” (42:00). The cropping of Sotomayor's comments in this way allows conservatives, such as Sean Hannity, to distort Sotomayor's remarks by suggesting that Sotomayor said her ethnicity was the only reason she was admitted to Princeton and Yale.

The Times video package that aired on Fox News and MSNBC included the following comments, with no indication that they had been cropped:

SOTOMAYOR: I am a product of affirmative action. I am the perfect affirmative action baby. I am a Puerto Rican, born and raised in the South Bronx. My test scores were not comparable to that of my colleagues at Princeton or Yale -- not so far off the mark that I wasn't able to succeed at those institutions.

SHIRA SCHEINDLIN (moderator): Didn't it say editor of The Yale Law Journal?

While the Times did post a video of the entire 55-minute panel discussion in which Sotomayor made her comments, the shorter video package the Times produced, called "The Sotomayor Tapes," omitted her statement that she was “from what is traditionally described as a socio-economically poor background.

On the June 11 edition of his show, Hannity aired the Times' cropped video and said: ”Well, so much for Dr. King's aspiration that future generations would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Judge Sotomayor -- she seems to disagree." Contrary to Hannity's lament, Sotomayor did not say that she was “judged” solely “by the color of [her] skin,” as her omitted comment makes clear. In addition to Hannity's program, the Times' cropped video also aired on MSNBC Live.

The June 11 Times article on the video footage of Sotomayor did note that Sotomayor referenced her “poor circumstances” when describing herself as a beneficiary of affirmative action. The article reported: “The clips include lengthy remarks about her experiences as an 'affirmative action baby' whose lower test scores were overlooked by admissions committees at Princeton University and Yale Law School because, she said, she is Hispanic and had grown up in poor circumstances.”