Landing Under Sniper Fire
A senator described running for cover from gunfire on a 1996 trip. The network news video of that exact landing shows her calmly greeted by a child with flowers.
- First reportSenator Hillary Clinton, foreign policy speech
"I remember landing under sniper fire"
Describing a 1996 trip to Bosnia as first lady, Clinton said there was "supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."
The Washington Post, "Recalling Hillary Clinton's claim of 'landing under sniper fire' in Bosnia" ↗ - CorrectionCBS News / PolitiFact
The network's own video shows no sniper fire, no running
CBS video from the actual 1996 landing showed Clinton walking calmly across the tarmac and stopping to greet a child who read her a poem. A review of more than 100 contemporaneous news stories from the trip found no record of any security threat.
PolitiFact, "Video shows tarmac welcome, no snipers" ↗ - CorrectionHillary Clinton, to the Philadelphia Daily News editorial board
"I misspoke"
A week after first telling the story, Clinton said she had "misspoke[n]," revising her account to say she had merely been told there was a sniper threat in the area — a claim itself not supported by the contemporaneous reporting from the trip.
CNN, "Clinton says she 'misspoke' about sniper fire" ↗
What it teaches
No case here sits closer to Brian Williams' than this one: a public figure's own account, retold enough times to harden into something the actual footage doesn't support. The difference is how fast the correction landed — days here, twelve years there, because a network happened to still have the tape.