Filled pauses and faked audio
28th December 2008
I was only mildly suprised, a few weeks ago, when I found ABC News peddling a fake video Q&A with President Bush, in which segments of his answers to two different questions were spliced together, out of order and out of context, with no indication that this surgery had been performed (“In president, out president, fake president”, 12/5/2008). Perhaps I should have been more indignant, but I’ve learned not to expect much in the way of journalistic ethics from broadcast news organizations.
I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked.
And I accepted, years ago, that even first-rank newspapers like the New York Times routinely fabricate virtual quotations in textual form, by splicing together out-of-context fragments from widely separated parts of an interview.
My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.