Altering live TV pictures

["A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@world.std.com>]

I've just been listening to a feature on the BBC World Service about CBS's 
coverage of New Years in Times Square.  It seems that, somewhere in the 
scene, there was a rather prominent NBC logo.  CBS altered the live 
picture by superimposing its own logo over the NBC logo.  This is being 
criticized as altering the scene of a news story.

It was mentioned that this is done often in sports events, superimposing a 
paid ad in place of an advertizing sign in the sports stadium.  It was 
also mentioned that ABC got in trouble about five years ago, having a 
reporter in a studio, wearing a raincoat, superimposed in front of the 
Capitol, so as to give the impression that the reporter was doing a 
standup in front of the Capitol.

The right or wrong of this technique was discussed. The comments seemed to 
be that doing it in a sports event is one thing, but altering the scene of 
a news event is quite another.



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 A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                                 617.367.0468
 15 Court Square                             lawyer@world.std.com
 Boston, MA 02108-2503              http://world.std.com/~lawyer/
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