Remember "Wired", the Bob Woodward biography of John Belushi? Many who knew Belushi were outraged that it was not an accurate depiction.
In a fascinating Slate article (http://slate.me/Y6ZQqd) Tanner Colby describes the experience of re-reporting the Belushi story "page by page and source by source".
Colby was surprised to find that, broadly, Woodward's book didn't contain outright falsehoods. Woodward just put the facts through a narrative filter that left out important context. What's left is a distorted picture of a person that, while factually accurate, doesn't reflect reality.
Colby: "I say it’s like someone wrote a biography of Michael Jordan in which all the stats and scores are correct, but you come away with the impression that Michael Jordan wasn’t very good at playing basketball."
In the wake of the NSA story, it is chilling to consider what kind of distortions could be created. The Belushi biography was mainly based on interviews. What narratives might be spun from years of calls, emails, and web analytics?
In a fascinating Slate article (http://slate.me/Y6ZQqd) Tanner Colby describes the experience of re-reporting the Belushi story "page by page and source by source".
Colby was surprised to find that, broadly, Woodward's book didn't contain outright falsehoods. Woodward just put the facts through a narrative filter that left out important context. What's left is a distorted picture of a person that, while factually accurate, doesn't reflect reality.
Colby: "I say it’s like someone wrote a biography of Michael Jordan in which all the stats and scores are correct, but you come away with the impression that Michael Jordan wasn’t very good at playing basketball."
In the wake of the NSA story, it is chilling to consider what kind of distortions could be created. The Belushi biography was mainly based on interviews. What narratives might be spun from years of calls, emails, and web analytics?