So TV programmes fake things - so what?

I think perspective is the key here... editing the sequence involving the Queen so it looked like she had a strop and walked out is unethical because it can harm the public's perceptions of her.

Editing a sequence involving Gordon Ramsay so it looked like he had caught some fish he hadn't, as part of an entertainment programme, doesn't damage any reputations, so I can't see why Channel 4 saw a need to "admit" to what they had done.

Whether these "as live" packages in news programmes which are passed off as live are ethically dodgy is a fairly big can of worms.

Interesting point on noddy shots, given that this country seems to be producing a never-ending stream of people who have done media studies courses but haven't gone into that industry... since a large percentage of the population ought to be able to spot a noddy shot a mile off, are programme makers going to have to come up with new techniques?

Didn't they try to do that a few years back by constantly using tracking shots for interviews, so the cut in most cases was to the same person from a different angle, although the same camera.

I saw a programme last night on BBC One that used both computer graphics and real footage to illustrate surgical operations and was surprised to see they didn't put a disclaimer saying the shot from inside the body of a needle piercing the skin was in fact fake. Shock horror. Similairly, the same show used well framed footage of the patient on his hospital bed merged with stock footage of ambulances racing around to fake his journey to the hospital. Someone should resign.

Speaking of which...have a look on MHP and a previously untraceable BBC1 Christmas ident makes it internet debut.

I would rather they would just say that it was recorded earlier than try and pass it off as live. There was quite an embarrassing situation on UTV Live recently where they tried to pass of an interview as live, with it freezing and failing mid-way through. They then had to admit that it was in fact recorded that afternoon!

Does anyone remember (and I wasn't a regular watcher) an episode of Blankety Blank while it was being presented by Lily Savage, in which a contestant in the second round was claimed to be the identical twin brother of a contestant in the first round? At the end when everyone was gathered on stage, one of the "twins" was standing at the back, with his back to the camera, apparently chatting to one of the celebrities.

David

This post consists of two self-explanatory words after the completion of this sentence. Daily Mail .

IMHO it doesn't matter whether its live or what not, whether they are honest or whether they are lying - just as long as they are honest and unbiased in the stuff that matters like news and current affairs.

People bringing this up are have too much time on their hands - it won't matter if parts of a program or pre-recorded or if Tinky Winky carries a hand bag for God's sake!

EDIT:
The best lie was with Krishnan Guru-Murphy last Summer - he was said to be interviewing someone live on the News at Noon and the interviewee was in front of a Big Ben backdrop which had the time as 10.35am!

The clock could have stopped!


Back to Blue Peter and when you think about it the shows most famous catchphrase is based on a lie - "Here's one (someone else) made earlier". Then of course there's the infamous dead dog incident.

How do you know that it's AM?

On the Inside Out special earlier this evening, one of the interviewees was sitting in front of a still CSO background in Westminster.

How could you tell? Well, none of the boats on the Thames were moving, and neither was the London Eye. The South Bank seemed to have frozen to a halt.

Oh, they're always using that one, I've seen it several times.

I'm guessing it was light!