How FAIR?

From Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting:

During his August 21 press conference, George W. Bush responded to a question about the Iraq War by saying that "sometimes I'm happy" about the conflict. But many readers and TV viewers never heard the remark, since journalists edited the statement to save Bush any possible embarrassment.

Bush's unedited comment was as follows:

Q: But are you frustrated, sir?

BUSH: Frustrated? Sometimes I'm frustrated. Rarely surprised. Sometimes I'm happy. This is -- but war is not a time of joy. These aren't joyous times. These are challenging times, and they're difficult times, and they're straining the psyche of our country. I understand that.

Viewers of CBS Evening News (8/21/06) saw a carefully edited version of that response—one better suited to presenting Bush as serious and concerned with the effects of the war. Reporter Bill Plante previewed the answer by saying that Bush "conceded that daily reports of death and destruction take a toll, both on the nation and on him." The edited quote that followed:

Frustrated? Sometimes I'm frustrated, rarely surprised. These aren't joyous times. These are challenging times, and they're difficult times. And they're straining the psyche of our country. I understand that.

CBS was not alone in massaging Bush's response—many outlets excised Bush's "happy" remark, or found other ways to clean up Bush's performance.

So what's my complaint??

Guesses?

Re-read the first paragraph. What's wrong? They say his remarks were edited. That's true, and they quote the broadcasts. Fine, so far. But then they impute motives, telling us why Bush's remarks were edited. Problem? No evidence given. We don't know why the President's words were edited. We could guess, but that's all it would be. And that's all that FAIR is doing here.

It's a shame, because it undermines their larger, and more important, point: no news source should edit someone's comments in a manner that alters their meaning. Ever. There, I've gone and done it, an ironclad rule. We'll call it CrankyDoc's First Principle of Not-Crappy Journalism and Intellectually Honest Debate.