concerns over editing ethics

[michalthompson]

On my blog I've addressed a few concerns over some ethical gray areas that came up while I was editing the audio story for my first slide show production. The issues mostly involve the ease of manipulation in audio editing provided by such software as Audacity. We photojournalists faced much the same situation with Photoshop in our transition to digital imaging. Now we're trying to set the standards for our transition to multimedia. I've lined up several before and after audio clips to consider. I'd appreciate any thoughts people can offer. The blog is located at michalinhillsboro.blogspot.com.

All the best--

Michal Thompson
Hillsboro, Oregon

[waxcylinder]

My son prefers the raw unedited recordings of 45s from my old jukebox (where they had a very hard life!) to the cleaned up versions I produced with Audacity editing - because that's the way he always heard them, so that's the way he wants to hear them.

I understand his sentiments but personally prefer cleaned versions without the pops, clicks and crackle - better still if you can get hold of a decent re-issue that hasn't been tampered with too much in the re-mastering..

I'm also very conscious that when I'm cleaning up an old jazz recording say, that I am altering the originally recorded sound from the 20s and 30s - but heck the record company engineers do that all the time when they re-issue. Same with video - a good cleaned up DVD "print" from Criterion is normally far preferrable to one just cheaply banged out with no attempt at restoration. Like records on jukeboxes, most movie prints led a very hard life and suffered damage in the process.

So yes, I am all in favour of good restoration - but I guess the ethics question arises when you edit what someone has said to give it a different meaning or spin.

WC

[michalthompson]

We are discussing two different applications of Audacity. I agree with you about wanting the cleanest possible edit of music digitized from earlier media. I mean, what are we talking about here but listening pleasure, right? Since I am a photojournalist, however, preparing audio stories to run with slide shows, my concern is with the journalistic boundaries for accuracy. Since I'm new to the medium of audio, I'm wondering if any others working in the same vein have already figured out their ethical limits.

Michal

[alatham]

It depends on the medium.

If you're making a recording of a long speech, you need to be sure to keep the pauses and everything in place (but feel free to kill the mic booming and breathing noises if present). But if the time period is limited, it's best to edit so that the original intend it presented as clearly as possible, but also keep within the time limit.

As with any ethical question (as I'm sure you know), there is no right answer. But I think most can agree that the original intent of the speaker is of utmost importance.

[Macloo]

There is an excellent short guide to audio ethics here:

http://jsource.ca/english_new/detail.php?id=1638

It was written by a CBC Radio journalist, now journalism educator, with many years of reporting and editing experience.

-- Mindy