ProPublica: Reverse Ferret! When Stories Bite Back.
If you’re going public with a rant based on a piece of edited video devoid of context, you’re a fool.
We used to teach school kids to not trust ‘jump cut’ interviews ... interviewing their friends over common cultural themes, and cutting them in with a replacement interviewer asking questions about Hitler or other controversial figures ("So, do you think Hitler was a great dancer?” “Oh YEAH. He’s TOTALLY sexy.” Kids were shocked, completely speechless that anyone might do such a thing. When first introduced to it, they found it unfair and a form of unwritten rule-breaking. Yet it’s done every day on newscasts all over the US. This is why sources such as C-Span are treasures. You can see all the video, in one long go.
That being said, a knee-jerk reaction is usually the wrong reaction. Most of us who have weblogged for a decade or more know this (and, speaking for myself, still keep learning it at times). Speed does not preclude the ethic of ‘not damaging truth in the process.’ The rush to post so often results in mountains of time dealing with retractions and angered readers.
For every controversial article I post, I probably throw a dozen away for lack of good reinforcing sources ... and with all of that back-end invisible work, I still end up with some dogs, real woofers at times.
This is why I argue for a ‘corrections’ category on every news-oriented weblog.
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