David Frum’s Diary on National Review Online

Jest-O-Matic

I was certainly impressed to see a clip of myself in the Stephen Colbert program Monday night. The clip, which runs from 5:20 to 5:27 in the broadcast, has me saying this:

Here you have one of - the oldest man ever to seek the presidency. When you look at the polls, you can see there is much less enthusiasm for his candidacy. That’s a pretty exciting story. 
Colbert wryly comments afterward: "Exactly. McCain is old and nobody likes him. That’s an exciting story."

So I’m busted right? Well not exactly.

It takes a practiced eye to notice that the seven-second clip is spliced together from three separate pieces of an appearance the day before on CNN’s Reliable Sources. Here’s the transcript, in relevant part.

FRUM: Barack Obama is one of the most — maybe he used to be interesting, but in this campaign he’s been one of the most boring candidates ever. Content-free speeches, (INAUDIBLE).

Meanwhile, in contrast — and if, by the way, the shoe were on the other foot, every journalist in America would see it. Here you have one of the — the oldest man ever to run for president, winning his party’s nomination against the odds through sheer hard work and tenacity, and getting up earlier and campaigning harder than men 20 years his junior? That’s a pretty exciting story. 

It’s easy to create funny clips when you control the editing suite. 

But even on "fake news," I think it is improper to represent faked clips as if they were real.

And let me add one more thought: 

There’s a story - it’s funny, but it’s a true story - about the appearance of an avant-garde theater company at Yale in the late 1960s. At the end of the performance, the actors stripped off all their clothes and danced out of the theater onto the street. They were arrested for public lewdness. While the theater director arranged bail, his wife raced around New Haven collecting blankets to keep the actors warm. The actors were released the following morning. The director’s wife tried to retrieve the blankets for her friends - but the actors refused to hand them over. "Property is theft," one said. She answered: "Yes, but theft is theft too."

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert obviously see themselves as something more than ordinary funny men. Recall Stewart’s memorable scolding of Crossfire for hurting America; rememember Stephen Colbert’s preachy appearance at the White House correspondents dinner. They think something is very wrong with cable news, and so they satirize that wrong.

In making their point, they themselves violate every kind of journalistic ethical rule. They say, "It’s OK for us - we’re fake news." That’s a convenient excuse. But it’s not really an adequate one. Yes, the blow-harding and bias and herd mentality of the rest of the cable media are pretty bad. But outright deception? A few days ago, Colbert scoffed at my friend David Brooks for referring to the "salad bar" at Applebee’s - when Applebee’s doesn’t feature salad bars. An error - how ridiculous! But conscious fabrication? I guess that’s OK, so long as it’s done in the sacred name of comedy.

So how about this constructive suggestion: If any reader out there has the skill, time and interest to fabricate a Stephen Colbert quotation - let me know. We’ll host it at NRO or put it up on YouTube. Fairness, shmairness. Copyright, shmopyright. The only thing that matters is humor - isn’t that right, Comedy Central?