An F on Ethics for CBS

I read today on mediamatters.org about the editing of an interview Katie Couric had with John McCain on July 22, which spliced answers from a different question to a question related to the surge of U.S. troops in Iraq, leaving out an error McCain made in the response. The discrepancy was outed on Countdown with Keith Olbermann.



According to Media Matters, no mention was made during the broadcast that the interview was edited or that McCain's recollection of events were inaccurate. However, CBS later did post the full interview and transcript on their web site.



This really bothers me. It may not seem like a huge deal, McCain messed up on some facts about the surge in Iraq and the Anbar Awakening. What's all the fuss? Everyone makes mistakes.



My concern is not so much that McCain mispoke. Well, that does bother me a bit. But, my bigger concern is that one of the major television stations, CBS, purposely edits the interview to remove the error and doesn't disclose their actions to the viewing audience. It is this type of behavior that gives journalists and mass media a bad reputation.



The Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics states journalists should, "Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible." CBS failed miserably on this one.