+ Reply to thread
Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: The Noble Truth?

  1. #1
    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Coulsdon Cat Basket
    Posts
    10,342

    Default The Noble Truth?

    An interesting case has occured in Britain over a journalist using a certain amount of artistic licence in several interviews he had.

    Instead of putting down the spoken words of the interviewee, he instead replaced what they had said with pieces of their work instead saying that it is easier to get the point across in this way. But as a result he stands accused of plagiarism by using quotes from other interviews.

    As a journalist what he is writing is not the truth of his interview, but he is claiming that by doing so, it gives greater understanding of the topics and people being discussed?

    A piece against it
    A piece for it

    So is he right to write in this way?
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

  2. #2
    Oliphaunt
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    5,174

    Default

    In the context of an interview, I think he's wrong. If you're going to ask someone questions, and then get their answers from some other source, and doesn't really seem like an interview to me. If journalist Y doesn't want to hear what public figure X has to say, then why interview him at all?

    It seems dishonest to portray other pieces of writing as answers to interview questions.

  3. #3
    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    7,743

    Default

    I guess Orual and I are having basically the same problem. I've got no problem with a "profile" issue that gives you a mix of the subject's answers to questions and bits from their written work, to let you know what they're about. Why do that then call it an "interview"?
    Last edited by Rube E. Tewesday; 29 Jun 2011 at 12:19 PM.

  4. #4
    Member Elendil's Heir's avatar
    Registered
    Sep 2009
    Location
    The North Coast
    Posts
    24,325

    Default

    Holding out a jumble of actual quotations and excerpts from the subject's previous work as an "interview" is misleading and wrong. He should be fired.

  5. #5
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    9,908

    Default

    Yeah, a profile is different from an interview. If you profile someone by quoting them from various contexts, that's fine. So long as it's identified and you state where those quotes came from. Claiming it's an interview is unethical, however, as an interview is understood to be a specific encounter.

+ Reply to thread

Posting rules

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts