New Media, Old Problems
Based on the popular Web site TMZ.com, the nationally syndicated half-hour show …offers snarky, unsympathetic and sometimes mean-spirited takes on celebrities. Perhaps unjustifiably mean, but most of the time you don't mind seeing the celebs embarrass themselves.Finally America has what it's been waiting for: one more program devoted to pop cultural detritus and the inane, outrageous ramblings (not to mention borderline-criminal acts) of Hollywood's biggest names. And they do so by "letting the unedited footage speak for itself!" C-SPAN for celebrity screw-ups – truly the wave of the (dystopian) future.The TMZ brand takes a C-SPAN-like approach to stars or has-beens behaving badly. Its team of videographers is seemingly everywhere in Hollywood, aiming its cameras at the famous and infamous, and letting the unedited footage speak for itself.
Amid this recent publicity campaign, the website picked a bad week to commit a rather large faux pas. What was it? They posted footage earlier this week – footage that, yes, lied for itself – and were forced to retract it.
The celebrity website posted a video of "Judge Lance Ito," who presided over O.J. Simpson's 1995 murder trial, declaring the former football great "guilty as sin" of the crimes he is accused of in Las Vegas.So this week TMZ learned that when a story is too good to be true, be more skeptical and less gullible. I'm sure that in the fever pitch of the O.J. Simpson story, a corner was cut when it came to confirming the footage. But this anecdote highlights the insight shared yesterday by The Poynter Institute's Chip Scanlan:One problem: It wasn't Ito.
Officials at Los Angeles County Superior Court quickly informed the website about the error.
"The video does not depict Judge Ito. He is not in the video, and he did not, and has not, commented in any way to TMZ.com -- or any other media organization -- about the Las Vegas case or any other matter relating to O.J. Simpson -- past or present," the court said in a statement.
The 30-second video was quickly removed and TMZ.com issued an apology, calling it "a stupid mistake."
Today's journalist has available an array of other tools to choose, from digital audio recorders and video cameras to software programs that transform digital information into multimedia news and information for the World Wide Web. Changes in the way news is consumed have increased the demand for journalists to gather sound, pictures and video, as well as words on paper. Whichever you use, never forget that it's not the tool that matters as much as the way it's used.Amen, Chip. "The way it's used?" With intelligence, balance and sound judgement. New media, old media, hybrid media – make it glitter all you want, but make sure it's right. Even if it's just Lance Ito.