“Katie Couric asked a key question during an interview of some members of our organization,†he said. “She then intentionally removed their answers and spliced in nine seconds of some prior video of our members sitting quietly and not responding. Viewers are left with the misunderstanding that the members had no answer to her question.â€
I’m shocked! PJ Media has more to say about it here, noting:
The documentary’s director, Stephanie Soechtig, said in a statement: “I never intended to make anyone look bad and I apologize if anyone felt that way.†Of course not.
Yeah, I don’t believe that for a minute. Couric is no better than Dan Rather or Brian Williams. There is no integrity left in journalism anymore. The fact that they did this begs the question of how often they do this to others?
UPDATE from Bitter: Last night NPR reported on this controversy and said flatly:
“This manipulation — and that’s what it was — would not pass muster at NPR under its principles for fairness in handling interviews.”
This is getting real traction across many, many outlets. And they are frequently laying the blame at the feet of Katie Couric. From NPR:
“The deception reflects poorly on Couric, too. She conducted the interviews, serves as the movie’s executive producer and has promoted it extensively. She saw a polished cut of the documentary before its release.”
Just like the frauds at 60 minutes and the exploding gas tank
Didn’t we have a mantra many moons ago “Don’t talk to the press, they are not your friend.”
We need to emphasize that again.
In this case, it was important that they recorded it. It may end up doing more good for the overall cause if this really continues to blow up in Katie Couric’s face on the ethics front.
Good point!
No, the press is not your friend. That’s why if you must talk to the press, make sure you have an independent, unedited recording. Then, if your comments (or your pauses, as in this case) are taken out of context, you have proof of what actually happened.
It’s that unedited recording that’s serving as the catalyst for this entire backlash. A deception only works if you don’t get caught.
Exactly. Hopefully, this will be the end of her career? One can hope.
VCDL is very experienced working withe press They do take precautions In this case it exploded Couric fraud. But it only heard on FOX and conservative websites
I posted the update with the link to NPR’s coverage well before this comment, and that’s hardly considered conservative.
Add HuffPo to the list: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/katie-couric-under-the-gun_us_5747245de4b0dacf7ad42f59
They are not opponents, they are enemies. They are out to destroy us.
Yeah, but that’s kind of hard to fit in a headline.
She broke the 11th commandment – Don’t Get Caught.
Which is the greatest sin of journalism, because they know the only reason journalism works is because of the Amnesia part of the Murray Gell-mann Amnesia bit (which I want to say I first saw described in RAH’s Expanded Universe, but obviously not under that name).