White House under fire for 'censoring' video of French president's speech by eliminating interpreter's translation of the words 'Islamist terrorism' (but don't worry – it's just a 'technical issue'!)
- Francois Hollande said Thursday in Washington that nations must understand the roots of 'Islamist terrorism,' a phrase the Obama administration refuses to use
- White House transcript including English translation went out to reporters 90 minutes later
- Official White House video initially erased that part of the interpreter's English audio overlay
- Administration played clean-up on Friday by putting up both versions and blaming a 'technical issue'
he Obama administration is under fire for briefly censoring a portion of video footage in which French president Francois Hollande uttered the phrase 'Islamist terrorism' – a pairing of words that the president has consistently cut out of its homeland security lexicon.
Calling the omission the result of 'a technical issue with the audio,' a red-faced White House re-posted an unedited version of the footage late on Friday.
Hollande's remarks Thursday in Washington, following a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama, urged continued cooperation between European nations and the United States to fight what the White House refers to as 'violent extremism.'
'But we're also well aware that the roots of terrorism – Islamist terrorism – are in Syria and in Iraq,' Hollande said, according to the official translation. 'We therefore have to act both in Syria and in Iraq, and this is what we're doing within the framework of the coalition.'
'ISLAMIST TERRORISM': Francois Hollande referred to 'the roots of terrorism – Islamist terrorism,' but the second part initially vanished from the translator's voice-over in the White House's version of video
This highlighted screen capture from the White House's website shows the English-translated words omitted from official video of Hollande's March 31, 2016 remarks in Washington
The White House's English transcript retained the complete text.
Its original video did not: It erased all the words in English after the phrase 'But we're also well aware that the roots of terrorism.'
The initial footage, uncut, was restored hours later with a message from the White House. Both versions remain on YouTube at different locations.
'A technical issue with the audio during the recording of President Hollande's remarks led to a brief drop in the audio recording of the English interpretation,' the message read.
'As soon as this was brought to our attention, we posted an updated video online here with the complete audio, which is consistent with the written transcript we released yesterday.'
Any changes to the website's text would have been even more easily noticed because the interpreter's full translation was distributed to the White House press corps at 6:40 p.m. on Thursday, just 90 minutes after Hollande spoke.
The video switch was first noticed by the Media Research Center, a conservative nonprofit that monitors thousands of hours of news broadcasts every year in search of liberal biases.
MISSING IN ACTION: The White House briefly removed the video on Friday before restoring it and also uploading the uncut version
NODS: Obama is seen nodding along with Hollande after the translator says Hollande believes the roots of 'Islamist terrorism are in Syria and in Iraq'
Its researchers captured a screen-shot of the YouTube channel with the warning that the video 'has been removed by the user,' before it reappeared along with the unretouched original.
It's not clear how a technical glitch could explain the White House seamlessly integrating raw video footage with an English translator's voice until it included a phrase that has been proscribed from the Obama administration's official communications.
But at least one other version of video from the event had similar problems.
Rumble, a media company that redistributes licensed video with ads and shares revenue with online publishers, offered a version of Reuters video footage on Friday that eliminated just one word in the translator's voice.
It was 'Islamist.'
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