Press TV burns a source - Me!

For the past few years, I have been making irregular appearances on Iran's Press TV. In fact, I was on their inaugural programming, opining on the subject of "media today," back on June 3, 2007.

Are the Press TV crew propagandists? At times, sure. But, as Affra Haj, my point of contact at the DC office reminded me on Monday, the DC production office has never treated me poorly -- never treated me in a non-journalistic way.

So, despite Press TV's less-than-stellar post-Iran-election coverage, I agreed to sit for an interview for Iran Today. I should have been more circumspect, perhaps more suspicious.

Yesterday, Press TV burned me.

You may recall words attributed to Winston Churchill:

Democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried.

What Press TV did to me is the equivalent of using just

Democracy is the worst form of Government.

Needless to say, I am not happy.

So, to my friends at Voice of America and the BBC, I apologize. I have great respect for your work, and anyone who saw the whole interview would know that. The selective editing used by Press TV makes it look otherwise.

This is journalism of a particularly insidious sort, using true fragments of conversations to make a person appear to hold a position not his own. It is dishonest and should be beneath the integrity of anyone who aspires to the title Journalist.