The Aerie
Bloggers are complaining about the editing of Katie Couric's interview with Senator John McCain, during which the answer to a different question was edited into place make McCain look better, and an embarassing gaffe was omitted entirely.
However, these bloggers with complaints are referencing an out-of-date set of standards. Since I has mad investigative skillz, I have unearthed a copy of the current journalistic standards that CBS employs. It is clear upon reviewing these standards that CBS did nothing wrong whatsoever.
CBS EDITING STANDARDS
As CBS journalists, you represent the interest of Viacom, the corporation that owns your news bureau. You have two tasks: support the goals of the corporation, and present the truth in a manner that presents the corporation in the best light.
EDITING: When presenting opposing viewpoints, keep in mind which viewpoint best supports the goals of the corporation. Sometimes corporate spokespeople, such as Administration personnel or members of Congress, may have trouble clearly and succinctly expressing the corporation’s goals. If you hear an obvious error, offer the spokesperson the chance to correct their statement by re-filming the response.
However, you won’t always be able to catch errors in the field. That’s where editing comes in. As a journalistic editor, you can enhance the corporation’s message by clarifying those statements with your editing tools. Remove hesitations, pauses, and ‘um’s to make the message more succinct. If the answer to another question is clearer, rearrange the answer to support your spokesperson.
Contrariwise, you will frequently be forced to add “tension” and “controversy” to your interviews, in order to infotain your audience. You may find yourself interviewing persons whose interests are contrary to the corporation’s goals, such as environmentalists, Federal regulators, or Liberals. These people are very concerned that their messages be conveyed in full, and are very sensitive to editing; therefore, do not correct their statements, and do not edit their answers. If this means that you leave in footage of the subject picking their nose, or muttering obscenities and threats when they believe they are off camera, so be it.
It is as important to maintain the viewers’ interest as it is to convey the entire message that these subjects wish to convey. If a subject’s statements are boring, try adding a little whimsy by using post-production techniques to enhance the subject’s features. A boring interview can be salvaged by enlarging ears and noses, erasing lapel pins, or adding a “Yakkety Sax” soundtrack.
Remember, as a journalist, your job is to convey the truth from Viacom's point of view in an informative and entertaining fashion. Editing is your tool to help you maintain the high journalistic standards that Viacom and the Administration have come to expect.
I am under an incredible amount of pressure at work, so much so that I almost had to cancel our vacation to the Black Hills this weekend. Almost.
So of course when I'm under all of this pressure, I focus like a laser on the tasks at hand, I dedicate my self to the unrelenting pursuit of quality, I invest all my...
...Okay, I get distracted and create de-motivational posters.
Here's the latest.
The poster is emblematic of what I deal with in the information security field. This morning a pen-tester was showing our group that he'd discovered a hole in a newly developed, not yet released application so large that it allowed him to intercept all communications between a customer and the server. He could step into the middle of the communication and take over completely: if a product was sold on the server for $10, he could change the price to $12. The customer wouldn't know the price wasn't $12, that what he'd see and he'd pay it - the server wouldn't know the customer had paid $12, because the pentester could take out the $2 for himself, and send the $10 along to the server.
Everyone would be happy - the customer would get the product, the server would make the sale, and the pentester would walk away $2 richer.
Meanwhile the majority of effort in the organization is to squelch the findings, remove the ability of the pentesters to examine the application, and assign blame to other parties.
Hence the poster. I took me fifteen minutes to find the image and create the poster. Time well spent, I say!
Hey y'all. Life and work continue to conspire to consume my time and leave me only crumbs with which to work, but I've managed to assemble my Convergence 2008 book list using Goodreads.com. No account is necessary in order to view my book list and read the recommendations.
I am very happy that I have figured out this tool, as this gives me the opportunity to undertake another of my endless, partially-completed projects, that of inventorying all of my books on my blog, as well as listing what I am presently reading. As a matter of fact, let's do that now...
There, now that's a pretty useful tool. I bet they have some kind of widget I could install that would always show my Currently Reading shelf from Goodreads... have to look into that.
Anwyay, Convergence was a blast about which I ought to blog, but I'm out of time. The whole family had fun, though, and I was on several book-recommending panels, so I promised to post my list online. Only one person actually has asked to see it, but at least now I can point them the right way.
Okay, off to bed, hopefully to keep my job tomorrow... cross your fingers!
I've been spending my blogging-time playing with Facebook, which for some reason has not yet been added to the prohibited list on the firewall at work. When I need to distract myself from productive work, Facebook is there.
Meanwhile it only took half the summer, but we finally got our summer schedule figured out. In order to save money (for next year's double-college) we're taking two extended weekends, and the resulting series of four-day work-weeks will hopefully help me retain my sanity at work.
Our first trip, next weekend is to the Black Hills. Now, I've been to the Black Hills several times and didn't think much of it. On the other hand, this visit ought to take place in daylight for the first time, so presumably it will be more interesting...
In August, coincidentally for my birthday, we'll travel to Iowa to visit my birthmother's new home. She moved to Iowa to be closer to her daughter, my half-sister, but mostly just to get away from her Tennessee trailer court, which has become a bit of a barrio.
And then we'll be mostly done with summer! It will be State Fair time, and then it will be time for the kids to go back to school. And then the @#%*! Republicans will be coming to town for their convention, and I'll probably end up getting arrested in a protest...
Meanwhile work is getting crazy intense, so if the fit is going to hit the shan that will probably be when it happens. But if I can make it through September then I will be in pretty good shape.