MOH Ty Carter deserved better from the press

MOH Ty Carter deserved better from the press
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 31, 2013

Washington Post Correction is already done for the original article about Ty Carter receiving the Medal of Honor.

●An Aug. 27 A-section article about Army Staff Sgt. Ty M. Carter being awarded the Medal of Honor incorrectly said President Obama noted that Spec. Edward W. Faulkner Jr., a survivor of the same 2009 battle in eastern Afghanistan, committed suicide less than a year later after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. Obama did not mention suicide, saying only that Faulkner “eventually lost his own life back home.” A death certificate says Faulkner died of an accidental methadone overdose, with PTSD a “contributing” factor.

This is the whole video from the White House.

You can hear exactly what President Obama said. It is 20.59 minutes long. The press cannot do what I do with videos because they have someone telling them how much time they get to spend on an assignment. While reporters do stay for a whole event, a tiny fraction of what they film is seen. You saw that when I put up the videos of President Obama speaking at the DAV Convention. He talked for over half an hour but all you saw were clips strung together. How are you supposed to know what was really said unless they at least give you a full transcript?

They get to edit it down to fit time but when they do, they will take out what they want you to see or hear. Usually that equals a spin based on their own opinion.

NBC has this video on the Medal of Honor and it is 50 seconds long. The commercial running before the video is 30 seconds.

Obama awards Medal of Honor to Army Staff Sergeant Ty Carter from CBS 1.24 minutes long. At least they covered what Ty Carter did to earn the Medal of Honor.

When broadcast news has time to worry about, cutting their video makes sense, I guess, but it depends on what they are putting in for the rest of the news show. When they put it online they should just put up the whole thing so that readers will get the extra content and know what else was said.