In the space of a few months, one of the simpler jobs in journalism – editing broadcast tapes – has been behind a $16 million legal settlement, the network’s changes to the way it presents interviews on its news programmes, and now the resignation of two of the BBC’s top leaders.
Another commonality is President Donald Trump.
Britain’s BBC is reeling from the incident this week. Resignation He criticized the bureau’s executive director, Tim Davie, and news director, Deborah Turness, amid accusations of bias in the editing of last year’s documentary “Trump: A Second Chance.” The BBC has admitted that the filmmakers spliced together quotes from various parts of a speech President Trump gave before the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, to make it appear as if he was directly encouraging violence.
President Trump sues CBS’s parent company over “60 Minutes” editing of Kamala Harris interview; This summer’s financial resultsand Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s complaints about her “Face the Nation” interview in August prompted the policy change.
In another era, he said, the BBC episode would have quickly acknowledged its mistake, corrected it, apologized and everyone moved on. Mark Lukasiewicza former NBC News executive and current dean of the Hofstra University School of Communication.
“But in an era when every editorial decision made in a newsroom is under a microscope and can be weaponized for political purposes, it must be something that is causing serious alarm in newsrooms around the world right now,” he said.
Editorial decisions used to be made primarily behind the scenes
Questioning editorial content is another way for the president to hit back at journalists he displeases. he has restricted access The Associated Press sued the following news organizations after they decided not to follow his lead on renaming the Gulf of Mexico: new york times Wall Street Journal and stolen funds He joined public broadcasting because he didn’t like the news coverage.
Just like print reporters searching their notebooks for the perfect quote, video editors often struggle to identify the footage that moves a story forward.
In some cases, the perfect picture may not exist, or the quote may not be as concise or crisp as required by media with certain time constraints. That can lead to temptations to relocate or manipulate.
More than a decade ago, NBC News took issue with an article about George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, a young man in a gated community in Florida. that Quote from Zimmerman He told a police dispatcher about Martin and said, “This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.”
In reality, Zimmerman’s explanation of Martin’s activities went on even longer, and his speculation about Martin’s race was a direct response to a police dispatcher’s question about it. Zimmerman sued NBC News for defamation, but the suit was later dismissed by a judge. NBC I apologized To the viewers.
Katie Couric was apologized to in 2016 by the editor of her documentary “Under the Gun.” Inserted 8 second pause After footage of Couric asking gun rights activists about background checks. Indeed, activists were quick to react.
Artificially compressed quotes in BBC documentary
In the BBC’s edit, various parts of President Trump’s 2021 Capitol Hill speech have been edited to appear as a single quote: “We’ll walk to the Capitol, and I’ll be there with you. And we’ll fight. We’ll fight like hell.”
However, the last two sentences of the quote were actually uttered nearly an hour later than the first, and the portion of the speech in which he wanted his supporters to demonstrate peacefully was omitted.
While teaching video editing to students at Syracuse University, jamie hoskins He reiterated the need to avoid misunderstandings. She is a former news producer who worked in New York City, Washington, DC, and Buffalo, New York.
“I talk about it in every class, at every level,” she said. “You don’t want people to misinterpret what they’re saying or string things together to change the meaning.”
The proliferation of videos (increasingly shorter and snappier) on TikTok and Instagram has increased the pressure on journalists. Further complicating matters is that AI can create videos that are completely false. fake racist video The percentage of Black food aid recipients complaining about not receiving benefits due to the government shutdown went viral online. Earlier this month, a Fox News digital article linked to some videos, requiring a fix.
“We now live in a world where people can get content from anywhere,” Hoskins said. “There’s a difference between content and journalism.”
A new way to protect against complaints
At the root of Trump’s complaints about “60 Minutes” was an exchange between correspondent Bill Whitaker and Kamala Harris, the president’s opponent in last year’s election. CBS aired two different reports: “60 Minutes” and “Face the Nation.” I drew Harris He gave two different answers to Whitaker’s question about the Middle East war.
CBS News said both answers were part of Harris’ lengthy response to the same question. But for those who watched both broadcasts, the impact was jarring. Other news organizations say they have a strict policy of immediately broadcasting a direct response if an interviewer is seen asking a question.
CBS News defended it as a routine editorial. But it also gave President Trump an opportunity to charge that it was done to benefit the Harris campaign.
“I don’t think the practices and standards today are worse than they were a few years ago,” Lukashevich said. “I think the consequences of mistakes are probably more severe than they used to be because of politicians’ ability and willingness to make mistakes,” he said.
In a prerecorded conversation this summer with Noem and “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan, the Homeland Security secretary complained that CBS News “shamefully edited the interview to obfuscate the truth.” The department cut the interview short and deleted some of the accusations Noem made. Kilmer Abrego Garciaimmigrants deported by the Trump administration.
In response, the network said “Face the Nation” would only air interviews such as: performed live Or, if it was pre-recorded, it should be broadcast in full.
Lukashevich said networks often defuse potential editing disputes by posting complete, unedited transcripts of key interviews online. CBS News did it right away On Nov. 2, a pre-recorded and edited interview with President Trump was aired along with a video. The station withheld the transcript of Harris’ interview for more than three months, until Trump filed a lawsuit and the FCC launched an investigation into its news division.
The release of President Trump’s transcript caused its own problems, with dozens of amateur editors comparing the recording to a shortened and edited interview aired on “60 Minutes” to see what producers had decided to omit.
But this time, President Trump had no complaints.
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press. please follow him http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social
