CBS defends McCain interview

[ErinBerin84]

Ok, I don't really get this. We all understand editing for time constraints, but didn't they completely REPLACE his answer with a different one? Or did they just edit out the first part of his answer? I'm pretty sure it was a DELETE AND REPLACE, which is obviously not adressed in the "statement". Hacks.


http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0708/CBS_defends...


CBS defends McCain interview

CBS News, which is under fire for its editing of Katie Couric's interview with Senator John McCain last night, defended the editing in a statement to Politico.

In the version of the interview that aired, an apparent McCain error reversing of the surge and the Sunni awakening was edited out, and a different answer was shown in response to the same question, drawing criticism from Huffington Post and from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, among others.

CBS also made the full interview available online.

"As all news organizations do with extended interviews, last night’s Obama and McCain interviews were edited to fit the available time and to give viewers a fair expression of the candidates' major differences," CBS spokeswoman Jennifer Farley emailed. "The full transcript and video were and still are available at cbsnews.com."

[endarkenment]

1. COUGH (*bullshit*) COUGH nt

[AzDar]

2. Time constraints my ass. They are BUSTED, and somewhere Dan Rather is laughing his ass off.

[Whisp]

7. I'm guessing they played the Rev. Wright vid as much as anyone else.

time constraints, sure.

[trumad]

3. So if McCain said he ate little babies for lunch

would they edit that because of er time constraints?

[KittyWampus]

13. and replace that segment with some bullshit about something else?

[kevinmc]

4. They need to run the real piece tonight on the news ....

and explain why they cut it and replaced it with a fake answer.

[DogPoundPup]

5. They editied out his major gaffe on “the surge” and inserted his partial answer to question #1

CBS probably violated its own rules (Standards and Practice) by altering the video of Katie Couric’s interview with McCain that left out his major blunder on this issue and then broadcast it on our airwaves. CBS should not paste together separate answers from different questions to make it appear like an answer was fluid. It was completely taken out of context. I understand that a fair amount of editing has to be done, but you can’t cut and paste different responses.

Here’s what happened. ON CBS Nightly News, Katie Couric started off the segment with question #3 of her interview:

Couric QUESTION #3: Senator McCain, Sen. Obama says, while the increased number of U.S. troops contributed to increased security in Iraq, he also credits the Sunni awakening and the Shiite government going after militias. And says that there might have been improved security even without the surge. What’s your response to that?

They then editied out his major gaffe on “the surge” and inserted his partial answer to question #1 and slipiced in a partial answer to question # 3

Q1 Sen. Obama has indicated that by his failure to acknowledge the success of the surge, that he would rather lose a war than lose a campaign.

Q3 Thanks to General Petraeus, our leadership, and the sacrifice of brave young Americans. I mean, to deny that their sacrifice didn’t make possible the success of the surge in Iraq, I think, does a great disservice to young men and women who are serving and have sacrificed.

There will still be attacks. Al Qaeda’s not defeated. But the progress has been immense. And to not recognize that, and why it happened, and how it happened, I think is really quite a commentary.

Here’s part of his answer from question # 3 that they left on the cutting room floor and which exposes John McCain as not knowing what he’s talking about once again about the war in Iraq.

I don’t know how you respond to something that is such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel McFarlane (phonetic) was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening. I mean, that’s just a matter of history. Thanks to General Petraeus, our leadership, and the sacrifice of brave young Americans. I mean, to deny that their sacrifice didn’t make possible the success of the surge in Iraq, I think, does a great disservice to young men and women who are serving and have sacrificed. They were out there. They were protecting these sheiks. We had the Anbar awakening. We now have a government that’s effective…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/23/cbs-violates-i...

[AlCzervik]

6. holy carp and how many other times has cbs and other networks done this?

[ErinBerin84]

8. where's Andrea Mitchell and her "concern" for "authentic journalism"?

[JamesA1102]

29. She's in the tank for McCain

Just look at her negative reports on Obama's trip. The woman has no journalistic integrity. I hope whomever takes over NBC's Washington bureau cleans out the swamp of GOP bias that Tim Russert created.

[JaneQPublic]

9. Time constraints have nothing to do with swapping out one answer for another.

To edit for time constraints, they would cut a sentence where the interviewee goes off on a tangent.

To edit to protect the interviewee from his own gaffes and lies, they swap out that answer with an entirely different one, like Katie did.

Nowhere in REAL journalism do they teach you to mix and match answers and questions from an interview.

[Kber]

10. I honestly dont see the big deal

I mean, doesn't Steven Colbert do it all the time?

[World Citizen]

11. only one possible interpretation

CBS thinks we are that stupid.

[DevonRex]

12. I just submitted a comment on their website and told them

it was nothing short of a lie and was essentially campaigning for McCain and that they could not be trusted with any news story after this.

[Cha]

19. Especially katy..

thank you, Jennifer!

[DevonRex]

31. I can't believe how awful Katy is. Or is it Katie? I have no clue.

And she sure ain't worth looking up just to see how she spells it.

She's god awful as a reporter, asks the most stupid questions. And it appears as though she wants McAnal to win. Either that or she's following corporate orders. But any person of integrity would quit before ruining their reputation like that. Okay, it's not like she had a reputation of being a wonderful journalist but I used to think she was honest. Now, not so much.

[nc4bo]

14. Had to add a comment. do they monitor responses? mine may not make it :S

What news networks do to the "news" in the U.S. is no different than if we lived in under a dictator.

[Barack_America]

15. There's no defense for what they did.

I don't care if they did it for McCain's benefit or his detriment, you don't mess around with somebody's words.

I just wish there were some sort of legal course of action that could be taken. Obviously McCain wouldn't initiate it, but shameful behavior like that should allow repurcussions from the FCC. They've taken the journalistic code and shit on it.

[nc4bo]

16. Don't blame the FCC, blame the shrub. nt

[Barack_America]

20. I don't recall blaming anybody, except CBS.

I just wish there were some kind of legal recourse for the piss-poor journalism we're seeing from big networks that have been graced with their status by the FCC.

Edited: spelling

[nc4bo]

21. It won't happen until we get Obama elected. Bush practically dismantled the FCC, FDA, USDA ,

the free press - you name it - all gutted to a shell or filled with his cronies or neocons.

We need Obama in the WH to get our government agencies back in order - he promised this will be on his A list, until then, we can complain, moan and groan and it will go absolutely no where.

We can't even get our concerns aired on television because there is no liberal voice for us there.

It's maddening.

But for the record, I feel exactly the same way Kristi.

[Cha]

17. They still look like the political propagandists they

are no matter how much they try to squirm out of their highly unprofessional actions.

After all cbs fired Dan Rather and hired katy couric.

[TwilightGardener]

18. If they cut and pasted and rearranged his answers, that's not fucking editing--

that's a journalistic lie. That's called a work of fiction.

[uponit7771]

22. BULLSHIT!!! They're calling everyone else stupid OR they are stupid enough to believe their own shit

[grantcart]

23. Bad Andrea calls it "message management" just a little help for the old guy

[high density]

24. Yeah edit the news right out of the interview

That's such a great idea.

[glitch]

25. "Hacks"? They don't qualify. "Kiddies" is their speed. And that goes for ABC, NBC, Fox, CNN etc. nt

[truebrit71]

26. "to give viewers a fair expression of the candidates' major differences" as decided by whom? CBS?

I don't think so...

Editting for time is NOT the same thing as using a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ANSWER in response to a posed question which is what CBS did..That is called DECEPTION...

I know of NO reputable news organisation that allows that sort of editting...

[Political Heretic]

27. It's not time constraints when you REPLACE the edited section with a DIFFERENT answer

[truebrit71]

28. Exactly...methinks KO will hammer them YET AGAIN on their shabby journalistic practices tonight...

...can't wait!!

[hvn_nbr_2]

30. All your news are belong to us.

MSMPravda controls all your information. You have been assimilated by the BFB (Bushco Fascist Borg).

[nc4bo]

32. This needs to go viral as hell........

so how do we get "the google" to pick up this story - so far I get no hits.

[Supersedeas]

33. so now they DECIDE the candidates MAJOR differences by EDITING responses???

[Cha]

34. A contributor at buzzflash asks if couric should be fired over

substituing an answer for the surge guy.

"Does Katie Couric deserve to be fired for substituting a John McCain answer?"

Regular readers know I'm not a fan of the brand of journalism Katie Couric practices. But even if you are a Katie Couric fan, you have to be appalled at her latest "journalism" escapade: censoring an interview with John McCain, removing an answer that made McCain look extremely foolish on Iraq and substituting a different answer.

If the speculation is true, Couric will be replaced around the beginning of the year as anchor of the CBS Evening News. But she will still be doing journalism in some form for CBS, most likely "60 Minutes."

The network of Edward R. Murrow, Douglas Edwards, Walter Cronkite, and Dan Rather has been replaced by the network of Les Moonves, Rick Kaplan, and Katie Couric. This is the same newscast that fired a producer for plagiarism for one of Couric's "essays."

At least that producer got fired. Who will get the boot for this blatant violation of basic journalism?

If a network has protected Obama in such a fashion, we would be hearing huge outcries for firings. Just because a network protected a Republican candidate (again) doesn't mean the outcome should be any different.

I'm sure they will try to find a lackey to take the fall this time. But Couric has the title of managing editor, and Kaplan is the executive producer, and that should count for something. Is anyone willing to admit they are in charge of the news department at CBS?"

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http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/election08/259