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On Saturday, President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, went to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to honor six service members who were killed in the war with Iran. The six were transported back home, and Trump greeted them with a salute as their caskets were carried off the plane.

Some were upset that Trump never removed his white “USA” baseball cap. Not removing one’s hat, unless you’re in military attire, could be considered disrespectful.

What’s interesting is that if you were watching “Fox & Friends” at one point over the weekend, Trump was not wearing a hat. That’s because the program actually used footage from another time Trump attended a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base. The clip that Fox ran on Sunday was actually from Dec. 17, 2025, for two members of the Iowa National Guard and an interpreter who were killed in Syria.

The wrong footage drew enough backlash on social media and elsewhere that Fox issued an on-air apology.

On Sunday, Fox’s Griff Jenkins said on air, “Before we move on, we want to acknowledge a mistake made earlier on our program during our coverage of yesterday’s dignified transfer. We inadvertently aired video from an older dignified transfer instead of the ceremony that took place yesterday. We deeply regret the error and extend our respected condolences to the service members’ families. We honor the sacrifice of those six American heroes.”

Jenkins then read the names of the service members.

Turns out, “Fox & Friends” wasn’t the only Fox News program over the weekend that used the wrong footage. Saturday night’s “The Big Weekend Show” and Sunday morning’s “Fox News Sunday” also used the incorrect footage. Another report on Fox removed video of Trump entirely. And, it should be noted, the correct video also aired at times, including on Lara Trump’s show Saturday night.

As far as the wrong video, was it an honest mistake, or was the network trying to protect Trump?

A Fox spokesperson told The Guardian, “Fox News Media programs inadvertently aired file footage from a previous dignified transfer while discussing yesterday’s ceremony at Dover Air Force Base. The archival footage was mistakenly used during the video sourcing process. We regret the error and apologize for the incorrect footage.”

Seeing how it’s Fox News — a conservative network that is often sympathetic and supportive of Trump — there are going to be doubts that it, to use Jenkins’ words, “inadvertently” aired the wrong footage. After all, they used footage that was nearly three months old.

Look, mistakes happen. Sometimes the wrong photos are published by news outlets. Sometimes the wrong video is aired. I’m sure this newsletter has run the wrong photo at some point. So maybe it was all just an honest mistake.

But …

When it comes to coverage of Trump, it’s hard to give Fox News the benefit of the doubt.

Journalist Mehdi Hasan of Zeteo tweeted, “If any other network did this it would be a huge scandal, Fox would lead the chorus of criticisms and faux-outrage, and people would lose their jobs. But not at Fox. It’s not a news network. It’s a state propaganda channel.”

Author Bill Carter, a former longtime chief TV correspondent for The New York Times, tweeted, “No ‘news’ org would ever make this ‘mistake.’ This was clearly a deliberate choice to try to protect Trump from criticism they knew would rain down on him. Only serves as latest, and one of clearest, examples of Fox being in the full-on PROPAGANDA business, not the news business.”

Tapper’s strong words

Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth criticized the “fake news” and said, “The press only wants to make the president look bad” when covering tragic events involving Iran, including the deaths of American service members.

The American media has always emphasized covering the death of service members — partly out of respect for those who lost their lives fighting for our country, and partly to inform citizens of the cost of war. Hegseth was roundly admonished by those in the media and military for making the news about him and Trump as opposed to where it should have been — on those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

On Sunday’s “State of the Union,” Jake Tapper also reminded Hegseth of the media’s purpose in these times.

Tapper said, “Let’s be clear: It is the news media’s responsibility to cover this war, not to cheerlead for it. It is our responsibility to ask questions of government officials, especially when the lives of American service members are on the line, especially when civilians abroad — whether in Iran or Israel or anywhere else — are being killed.”

Tapper continued, “See, we remember what happened the last time not enough reporters challenged an administration launching a war in the Middle East. And now this administration is attempting to grab the same tired playbook. They’re attacking CNN for reporting inside Iran, showing what life looks like there. They’re attacking the news media for asking questions of the president or the secretary of defense. They’re attacking us for covering — covering — troop deaths. Guess what? We’re not going to stop. It doesn’t matter how many times the propaganda campaign that accompanies any war is deployed against us. So, get used to it.”

Well said.

Judge knocks down Lake

Kari Lake, shown here in 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

When former local news anchor Kari Lake, the twice-failed political candidate and election conspiracy theorist from Arizona, was picked by Trump (without Senate confirmation) to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media — the parent company of Voice of America — many rolled their eyes. She seemed way underqualified and appeared to get the job only because she would do what Trump wanted, which was to essentially gut VOA.

She tried to do just that, instituting mass layoffs and attempting to pretty much eliminate the broadcaster.

Well, over the weekend, a federal judge ruled that Lake’s appointment was invalid. That’s not all. The judge also voided all those layoffs.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth granted summary judgment to a group of VOA employees who sued Lake last year.

The New York Times’ Minho Kim wrote, “If upheld by higher courts, Judge Lamberth’s ruling would allow more than 1,000 journalists and support staff members at the news group to return to their jobs. Ms. Lake, who had been leading the U.S. Agency for Global Media, V.O.A.’s parent agency, said that she would appeal the decision.”

In a statement, Lake lashed out at the judge, saying, “The American people gave President Trump a mandate to cut bloated bureaucracy, eliminate waste, and restore accountability to government. An activist judge is trying to stand in the way of those efforts at USAGM. … We strongly disagree with this decision and will appeal.”

The Washington Post’s Scott Nover noted that Lamberth was nominated to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan, adding that Lamberth “has repeatedly stymied Lake’s efforts to shut down the agency, ordering her to uphold her statutory obligations for broadcasting as set forth by Congress. The judge has on multiple occasions threatened to hold Lake in contempt of court for not cooperating with his orders, and ordered her and two other officials to be deposed last fall. Lake said in that eight-hour deposition that she learned of Trump’s executive order shrinking the agency the same day it was issued.”

Trump tried to circumvent the process by which Lake took over USAGM. Lake was named senior adviser to acting chief executive Victor Morales, who then delegated his authorities to her.

Kim wrote in the Times, “Ms. Lake claimed that she had not assumed the official title of the acting chief executive of the media agency, but rather, that the authority of its chief executive position had been delegated to her. That allowed her to exercise sweeping power over layoffs, funding cuts and contract terminations at the news agency, she said. But the judge rejected her argument, writing that ‘allowing the president to circumvent Congress’s carefully crafted limitations’ through delegations would violate the spirit of the Constitution.”

Three of the plaintiffs in the case — Patsy Widakuswara, Kate Neeper, and Jessica Jerreat — said in a statement, “The judge’s ruling that Kari Lake’s actions shall have no force or effect is a powerful step toward undoing the damage she has inflicted on this American institution that we love. Even as we work through what this ruling means for colleagues harmed by her actions, it brings renewed hope and momentum to the next phase of our fight: restoring VOA’s global operations and ensuring we continue to produce journalism, not propaganda.”

Watch this now

If there is any question about whether CBS’s “60 Minutes” can still report with the best in the business, check out this jaw-dropping piece from Sunday night: correspondent Scott Pelley with “Targeting Americans: U.S. military tested device that may be tied to Havana Syndrome on rats, sheep, confidential sources say.”

You can also watch the report here.

Media tidbits

• CNN’s Elise Hammond, Caroll Alvarado and Alaa Elassar with “A reporter in Nashville has been covering ICE arrests in her community. Then she was detained herself.” - FX is currently showing a miniseries called “Love Story” — a dramatic account inspired by the relationship between John Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette. The two were killed, along with Bessette’s sister Lauren Bessette, when a plane piloted by Kennedy crashed near Martha’s Vineyard in 1999. In the miniseries, actress Daryl Hannah, who dated JFK Jr., is portrayed in an unflattering manner. Hannah responded with a scathing piece in The New York Times: “How Can ‘Love Story’ Get Away With This?” - After all the layoffs at The Washington Post, Semafor’s Max Tani reports, “Politico founder plots new Washington newspaper war.” - Poynter’s Jennifer Orsi with “Neil Brown named new chairman of Poynter Institute Board of Trustees.”

Hot type

• For “CBS News Sunday Morning,” David Pogue — author of the new history book “Apple: The First 50 Years” — with “Apple: The first 50 years.” - The New York Times’ Kim Bhasin with “24 Hours With Nike’s C.E.O. as He Races to Win Back the Sports World.” - Also in The New York Times, J. David Goodman, Shane Goldmacher and Reid J. Epstein with “How Talarico Won Texas Democrats With Love, Luck and a Little Restraint.”

More resources for journalists

• Get the tools, mentorship and peer community to turn your non-fiction book idea into a publishable proposal. Apply for our workshop today. - Great Lakes journalists: Work on coverage strategies, gain reporting tools and spark regional connections in our free election coverage workshops. Apply by March 16. - New editors: Get guidance from industry veterans and build the skills you need to become indispensable to your newsroom. Apply now. - Audit your crime coverage, implement a sustainable newsroom policy and learn to do more meaningful work with fewer resources. Limited time left to apply.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].

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