Supplemental: Flailing cable behemoth in action!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

This is CNN:
Last Thursday evening, CNN’s Erin Burnett interviewed Craig Carton.

At age 45, Carton is a high-profile “sports talk” host at WFAN, the New York City AM sports radio giant.

We didn’t know that as we watched Thursday’s show. Burnett introduced Carton as “a friend of Ray Rice,” which he may also be. She didn’t mention his prominence in the sports radio business.

Whatever! In its official transcript, CNN clownishly identifies Carton as “a childhood friend of Ray Rice,” who is actually eighteen years younger. More striking is the ridiculous way CNN transcribed some of Carton’s exchange with Burnett.

Below, we’ll show you one chunk of the official transcript, exactly as it appears at the CNN site. After that, we’ll show you what was actually said, as transcribed from the On Demand video of the session:
Official CNN transcript:
BURNETT: What do you think will happen to Roger Goodell?

CARTON: I think if they can prove that Roger Goodell saw the video, the second video.

BURNETT: So do you think he needs to see the video to know after what Ray Rice telling him.

CARTON: No. It is a lie. Two separate things. No one needs to see it and here is why. It doesn't change the fundamental facts of the case. He admitted it to everybody in the room.

BURNETT: He told Roger Goodell.

CARTON: You saw the second video.

BURNETT: But you are saying that is not enough to have him not be a commissioner.

CARTON: It is not public opinion that will fire Roger Goodell or get him to resign. The owners have to come together and they have been steadfast to him.
That’s part of the official CNN transcript. Below, you see what was actually said, as transcribed from the videotape of the program:
What was actually said:
BURNETT: What do you think will happen to Roger Goodell?

CARTON: I think if they can prove that Roger Goodell also saw that video, the second video—

BURNETT: But you think he needs to see the video? That Ray Rice directly telling him wasn’t enough?

CARTON: No, I don’t. They’re two separate issues.

What should happen to Roger? Roger will be the commissioner unless they can prove that he saw that video and told that lie.

No one needs to see it and here is why. It doesn't change the fundamental facts of the case. You had the police report—he hit her, rendered her unconscious. He admitted it to everybody in the room.

BURNETT: He told Roger Goodell.

CARTON: You saw the second video.

BURNETT: But you are saying that that—that that’s not enough to have him not be commissioner. The video somehow—

CARTON: It’s not public opinion that’s going to fire Roger Goodell, get him to resign. The owners have to come together. And they’ve been pretty steadfast in their support of Roger Goodell.
TV transcripts are rarely perfect. In this area, as in all others, our giant cable news corporations don’t seem to take a giant amount of pride in their work.

That said, we thought this chunk of the Carton interview was especially awful. The official transcript has Carton saying things he didn’t actually say. (“It is a lie.”)

It leaves out other things Carton said. It mangles language by Burnett:
Carton, as transcribed by CNN: No. It is a lie. Two separate things. No one needs to see it and here is why. It doesn't change the fundamental facts of the case. He admitted it to everybody in the room.

What Carton actually said: No, I don’t. They’re two separate issues.

What should happen to Roger? Roger will be the commissioner unless they can prove that he saw that video and told that lie.

No one needs to see it and here is why. It doesn't change the fundamental facts of the case. You had the police report—he hit her, rendered her unconscious. He admitted it to everybody in the room.

Burnett, as transcribed by CNN: So do you think he needs to see the video to know after what Ray Rice telling him.

What Burnett actually said: But you think he needs to see the video? That Ray Rice directly telling him wasn’t enough?
All last week, the overpaid children of CNN voiced their outrage, real or feigned, about the NFL’s conduct. All week long, we’ll be asking this:

Any chance the flailing cable behemoth might one day heal itself?

4 comments:

  1. Two times in two posts, Somerby has called the CNN transcript of
    Erin Burnett's Thursday show "clownish" for labelling Carton as “a childhood friend of Ray Rice.”

    Any chance the flailing blogosphere lilliputian might one day cure himself of what a transmigrating fan of Fawn might call his "fixation with clowns."


    ReplyDelete
  2. Four times in this post Somerby refers to the "official" CNN transcript.
    For the second straight post he critically notes Burnett did not introduce Craig Carton as a radio talk show host.

    Somerby also failed to note that at the start of the "official" CNN transcript is the following disclaimer:

    THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

    Are they sloppy, hurried, and not prone to correct errors? Perhaps that is because transcripts of TV shows are not required nor really "official." Especially in an era when even the most rudimentary blog imbeds videos it wants its readers to judge for themselves.
    As a wise old blogger once intoned, "Whatever!"



    ReplyDelete
  3. "Any chance the flailing cable behemoth might one day heal itself."

    Wrong question. Any chance the powers to which the flailing cable behemoth answer to even want it to heal itself?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even better question: Any chance that Bob Quixote will stop jousting with the windmills in his mind for "series" after "series" and "supplemental" after "supplemental" and actually post an original thought worthy of his Ivy League philosophy education rather than feign horror in knee-jerk fashion to lightly watched "cable news" shows and their even lightlier read transcripts?

      Delete