A lot of the posts about the editing of Katie Couric's interview with John McCain seem to assume that CBS deliberately edited the piece to hide McCain's gaffe. But the fact that they posted the entire interview calls that assumption into question.
There may be other possibilities, equally, if not more, disturbing.
So, these are the questions I would ask CBS News and Katie Couric:
- Who did the editing? Did Katie Couric know how the piece was edited and approve it?
- Did whoever do the editing know that McCain had this wrong? Was the editing done to provide him with cover or was the news editor oblivious to the significance of McCain's response and simply edit to create a 'better' interview?
- Did the McCain campaign suggest the edit or know about it in advance?
- When did it become OK for any journalist or editor or news organization to substitute one answer for another, for any reason?