The ClimateGate Cut-Ups

Is the self-professed second-coming of Edward R. Murrow also the second coming of William S. Burroughs? He’s certainly taking Burroughs’ cut-up method to extremes, as Gregg Pollowitz writes:

Last night’s “Worst Person in the World” was ABC’s David Wright for showing a short clip from The Daily Show that, according to Olbermann, “tried to make Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” look like a climate change denier.”

Olberrmann then said, “This is the fuller clip, not edited to stand Jon Stewart’s meaning on its head.”

Here’s the text from the MSNBC transcript:

But tonight’s winner, correspondent David Wright of ABC’s “World News Tonight,” with the same kind of selective editing and dishonesty usually reserved for the cesspools of the “Wall Street Journal” and the right wing blogs. Tonight, Mr. Wright of ABC tried to make Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” look like a climate change denier. This is the sound bite they played in Mr. Wright’s report this evening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, “THE DAILY SHOW”: Poor Al Gore, global warming completely debunked, via the very Internet you invented. Oh!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OLBERMANN: This is the fuller clip, not edited to stand Jon Stewart’s meaning on its head.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: Poor Al Gore, global warming completely debunked via the very Internet you invented. Oh! Oh, the irony, the irony. Actually, the real story is not quite that sensational. Now, does it disprove global warming? No, of course not!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

One problem. Olbermann has presented an edited Stewart clip to debunk Wright’s edited Stewart clip.

Click over to compare and contrast the clips. Pollowitz concludes:

Now if you watch the entire Stewart segment, it’s clear that his point is that he’s angry that the Climategate scientists have cut corners and given an opportunity to climate-change deniers to make their case.

But if Olbermann thinks ABC should fire Wright for his selective editing, what should MSNBC do to Olbermann for his cut-and-paste job?

Yesterday, the Guardian quoted an unnamed White House official who complained that the Nobel was “not necessarily an award that Obama would have given himself.” But can Keith give himself a Worst Person In The World award? He’s certainly long overdue.