Really glad you are digging Saltcast and HowSound. Thanks for listening. And, many thanks for writing.

I think I could sleep at night if I had asked the ice cream seller to re-do the plopping of the coin in the cash register. 🙂

I suspect, though, I would have hesitated asking him to do it. And, knowing me, I probably would have mulled for a ridiculously long time before putting it in the piece.

Perhaps I just need to get over it. (Wouldn’t be the first time.)

But, I’m concerned about slippery slopes. And, if am willing to draw the line there, what next step might I take?

Maybe the answer is “it depends” which means there’s not a one-size-fits all answer.

Your analogy is a good one — what’s the difference between asking someone to repeat something vs. asking someone to re-plop a coin in a cash register? Probably not much. Though, asking someone to repeat something doesn’t feel performative whereas asking someone to repeat an action feels performative. My job as a reporter is to capture life as it is, not life as I’ve directed it to be.

That said, I’ve asked people to answer a question after I’ve given them the first few words, something like: “When I milk cows, I think about….”

In those very rare instances, I’ve been very cautious about what I say to the interviewee. I’ll say things like “This is going to be weird, but I think I may need to put words in your mouth. If this doesn’t work for you, just say so….”

Anyway, for me, I’m most comfortable staying away from that edge — the start of the slippery slope where I’m asking people to perform. But, I also realize there’s the reality of working in the field and the need to “get the tape.”

There. Is that answer muddled enough for you? 🙂

Thanks again for writing.

Cheers ,
Rob

He made some simple changes to the script, and was generally excited about narrating the piece.

Do I feel dishonest about this process?
Hard to say. To be truthful, I feel pretty twisted about the entire thing, both the film and the radio piece we made about it.

…for the film, I wanted to document an event so beautifully that the event itself could die. It’s sort of like the science fiction scenario where people choose a simulated reality once it’s more beautiful than the real one. The more I disliked the thing I was documenting, the more of an incentive I had to document it well… how’s that for a work ethic?

One word to summarize: complex.

I’m not so much drawn to that sort of thing anymore, and that feels good.

Thanks so much for doing what you do, Rob. And thanks also to your editor.

When I was a news journalist working in print, the grey area was easy to define: the words had to be true.

When I moved in photojournalism it began to get blurred. I worked with a photographer who had little cardboard discs of different sizes next to the photographic enlarger in the darkroom.

If his photo of a goal being scored at a soccer match didn’t have the crucial “ball in the frame”, he would place a cardboard disc onto the paper when he printed, showing the white “ball” just beyond the goalkeeper’s outstretched hand.

Now Photoshop has taken the possibility for deception to new levels. The blurring of the line between editorial, advertising and other commercial activity (where manipulation is the name of the game) only adds to the problem.

Sound manipulation is very interesting. Adding in sound from nearby and relevant locations wouldn’t trouble me. It’s no different to cutting continuous speech into shorter bits and mixing them with edited comments from other people.

Sequencing is changed and editing techniques are employed because most times the raw ‘tape’ is just too dull. Editing is an essential part of what we do and with editing comes a degree of manipulation.

I also have no problem with the story of the coin dropped into cash box. It was an acceptable re-creation of the actual event and hurt no-one.

But I’d like to throw in another hypothetical.

Imagine that piece featuring the coin falling into the cash box won an award.

In the judge’s comments one remarked: “The attention to detail was wonderful, and the presence of mind that enabled the producer to capture the VERY MOMENT the coin rattled so poignantly into the empty cash box was superb. A lesser producer might have missed that moment and, for me, that’s what set this work apart and made this feature a winner.”

Could be an interesting acceptance speech…