Editing Ethics Question: Should We Manipulate Our Subject's Words?

What do you think?

“My job is to make people say anything I want.” That’s something I’ve often joked about when people ask me what I do. I’m an editor and I often work on cutting raw interviews with people. I really enjoy trying to distill the essence of someone’s long answer into the core of their point and weaving that into the narrative of the piece I’m working on.

However, I’ve often been tempted to, or even asked to, change the meaning of the words the interviewee said to match the tone or messaging of the client.

In this case I end up feeling stuck between the ethical obligation I have to my client to do the job I was asked to do, and the moral obligation I feel I have to my interview subject to be true to what they’re saying.

These days it is more important than ever to ensure that we are telling honest stories. We are constantly flooded with deep-fakes and generated content that when we have the opportunity to relay a genuine story we should do it with integrity.

That’s not to say that I would present an interviewee’s entire transcript and call it a day. But when we have the choice as creators to present the true core of someone’s message or manipulate it to fit our needs, we should think about what the right thing to do is.

I don’t necessarily have the answer to this conundrum. But it’s something I’d love to discuss.

What do you think? Honestly, I'd love to chat about it with you! =)