Clash of the Dinosaurs: Dangerous Ltd document their own dishonest editing

Right after I saw the show Sunday night, I wrote to the folks at Dangerous Ltd to point out their dishonest editing and to request an explanation (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, read this first). Today I finally got a response.

The message didn't come with any formal or informal requests or warnings about not forwarding or reposting it whole or in part. It's not all relevant so I won't quote the whole thing, but it contains the evidence that proves that my claim against Dangerous Ltd is accurate, so I am posting the relevant bits.

For now, can I express our unreserved apologies for the clear fact that we incorrectly spelled your name in the show.

There follows a fairly long and complicated recounting of internal errors and  miscommunications. There is no mention of whether this is something that could be fixed in future broadcasts or in the DVD/Blu-ray release. But the apology is something, at least.

I believe you are also right in pointing out that Sauroposeidon was written incorrectly as Sauroposeiden in one of the 'quiz bits'. I'm sorry to say that the quiz bits at commercial time were produced by Discovery, and although this part of the production process was beyond our control the least I can do is offer another apology.

I knew that this was probably the fault of the Discovery Channel and not Dangerous, which is why I  was careful to mention in the last post that it was something presented alongside the show and not as part of the show. There were other godawful quiz bits in the same broadcast, which is one reason I am not as quick to absolve the Discovery Channel of all responsibility for the failings of Clash of the Dinosaurs. I acknowledge that some of the shows they broadcast are quite good, but many others are terrible. In my opinion, the low quality of both Clash of the Dinosaurs and the quiz bits aired along with it are symptomatic of a general apathy toward scientific rigor at Discovery Communications; I don't think that anyone with two neurons to rub together will be shocked by that statement.

Still, nice of them to apologize on behalf of the Discovery Channel; it's a lot more than I'd get later on.

Now we get into the real meat:

As for the greater part of your concerns, re the part of the show concerning suggestions involving Sauroposeidon, I've taken a careful look at what you originally said compared to what was finally aired. In the original interview, you said:

Matt      14.45.08            Ok one of the curious things about saurapods is that they did have a swelling in the spinal chord in the neighbourhood of their pelvis.  And for a while it was thought that may be this was sort of like a second brain to help control the back half of the body.  Erm there are a couple of misconceptions there.  One is that most animals control large part of their body with their spinal chord.  If you're going through day to day operations like just walking down the street and your minds on something else your brain isn't even involved in very much controlling your body.  A lot of that is a reflex arc that's controlled by your spinal chord.

Quick aside: the technical term I was groping for here is not "reflex arc" but "central pattern generator".

So its not just dinosaurs that are controlling their body with their spinal chord its all animals.  Now the other thing about this swelling at the base of the tail is we find the same thing in birds and its called the glycogen body.  It's a big swelling in the spinal chord that has glycogen which is this very energy rich compound that animals use to store energy.  Problem is we don't even know what birds are doing with their glycogen bodies.  Er the function is mysterious – we don't know if the glycogen is supporting their nervous system – if its there to be mobilised help dry [should be 'drive' -ed.] their hind limbs or the back half of their body and until we find out what birds are doing with theirs we have very little hope of knowing what dinosaurs were doing with their glycogen bodies.

You can understand that a TV show for Discovery doesn't always have the room to expand a complex argument. It must also accommodate the needs of all sections of the audience (including children) and while it must educate, it must simultaneously hold everybody's attention. This said, this doesn't mean there's room for error. In the transcript of the final edit, you appeared to be saying:

*One of the curious things about Sauropods is that they did have a swelling in the spinal cord, in the neighborhood of their pelvis.  This was sort of like a second brain to help control the back half of the body.
*

There it is  in black and white. I was very clearly explaining why a misconception is no longer held, and they edited the tape to make me regurgitate the misconception as if it was not just a commonly accepted fact, but a fact that I accepted. That is beyond quote-mining, it is the most blatantly dishonest thing that you can do with someone's recorded words. Let's see what they have to say about it (quote continues with no omissions):

In your email, you said: 'Someone in the editing room cut away the framing explanation and left me presenting a thoroughly discredited idea as if it was current science.' In your interview you carefully set out a context in which you made your argument, a context that was perhaps not included in the show as carefully as it could have been. Whether this was in the interests of brevity or not, I entirely appreciate your position. We had no wish to suggest you were presenting an old, discredited argument, we were simply working on the show ever aware of the demands of our audience. This does not excuse a part of the program which was perhaps not edited with as much finesse as it could have been and consequently I will make your concerns clear to the production team in the hope that we may avoid such situations again.

While I hope this clarifies our position, I will endeavour to call you to ensure all your concerns are properly heard.

Notice that there is not even a whiff of an apology anywhere in here. They were "ever aware of the demands of [the] audience", this part "was perhaps [!] not edited with as much finesse as it could have been", and they're going to try to do better next time.

This is crap, crap, crap, just total crap from top to bottom. If you have a segment of an interview that covers ground that you decide is too complex for the audience, JUST DON'T AIR IT. Or, if you insist on presenting this very old and very stupid idea is if it is accurate and current, LEAVE ME OUT OF IT. But the one thing you don't do is mangle my words to make it sound like I support it. And if you do commit that catastrophically stupid and unethical action, have the decency to apologize! Perhaps they didn't because that would count as an admission of guilt?

This is not a joke and it is not a minor infringement. This is the broadest publicity that I have ever gotten or may ever get, the description of Sauroposeidon included. This is my professional competence and reputation on the line. This is not just careless editing, this is Dangerous Ltd deliberately making a liar out of me in front of millions of people.

This is intolerable.

What I'm Going To Do

I'm going to write back to Dangerous Ltd and request a copy of the release that I signed, to see what legal rights, if any, I may have to get this fixed. What would fixing it entail? Simple: I don't care if they leave in the bit where they discuss the "second brain", just cut out my speaking part. It's probably all of ten seconds. They could even replace it with something or someone else, I don't care. Just stop making me lie. I'd prefer to see that edited version replace the one currently in circulation, both for future broadcasts and for the DVD/Blu-ray release.

If they could fix my name while they're at it, that would be nice, but it's really small potatoes. "Matthew" Wedel is a dumb error, but it's just an error. What they did in the 'second brain' segment is a lie, and one that is corrosive to my public credibility.

How You Can Help

Send this on to everyone you think might be interested, which potentially includes everyone who watches the Discovery Channel or likes dinosaurs. In particular, copy and paste the quoted section  above that includes the transcript of my interview; the best hope for me in the long run is for this evidence to be backed up in so many places that it can never be suppressed. I have no idea about the legal status of a chunk of text copied from an e-mail message to a blog post to someplace else on the internet. I care far more that what is posted here and elsewhere matches what Dangerous Ltd has on file; the latter ought to be subject to subpoena even if the former is not. Fellow bloggers and science bloggers, I'm asking for your help.

Dangerous Ltd turned my words around 180 degrees because they had to "accomodate the needs of the audience" and "hold everyone's attention". This shows stunning contempt for the audience, for the scientists who appeared on the show, and for the truth. Coming from a company that makes documentaries, I think it's about the most damning statement possible. If you're working with them, maybe it's time to reconsider.

You, reading this post: you are the audience. If you disagree with the idea that Dangerous Ltd has to subvert the truth to hold your attention, or if you'd like to support my request that they fix the show by removing the dishonestly edited portion, please contact them here. I shouldn't have to say it, but this is the net, so: if you do contact them about this, please be brief, stick to the facts, and don't be abusive, threatening or profane.

I've already e-mailed all of the top officers of Dangerous Ltd and this non-apology is the closest to an official response that I've gotten or expect to get. It might also be worthwhile to contact Zodiak Entertainment, the parent company of Dangerous Ltd, and make sure that they are aware of how their subsidiary is representing them. You may do so here; the previous plea for brevity and moderation applies.

Finally, outfits like Dangerous Ltd will only be able to pull this kind of crap for as long as Discovery Communications lets them get away with it. The most relevant thing I've been able to find for them is the Viewer Relations contact page for Discovery.com, which is here. Please let them know how you feel–briefly and politely, as always.

Parting Shot

Many, many thanks to everyone who has written to me or commented here and elsewhere to show their support. The only way to get better science programming is to demand it. Please speak up!

UPDATE, about 1.5 hours after posting

Mike just pointed me to a post on the publicly archived VRTPALEO Mailing List by Alex Freeman, a BBC employee, that is highly relevant to my situation and maybe even crucial (I can't link to it yet because the day's posts haven't been archived yet, but I will add it as soon as possible). Here's the good bit:

I'd like to make clear that the BBC has a code of conduct which covers all of its output.  Fair representation of contributors is extremely strictly regulated and if anyone ever made edits like those described they would very quickly be out of a job, and the BBC would have to make a public statement and apology.

First question is, does Discovery Communications have a similar code of conduct (that they are willing to enforce in this case)? Second question is, when is Clash of the Dinosaurs slated to air in the UK, and will it be on the BBC? Dangerous, Zodiak, or Discovery may be willing to fix the problem on their own steam, and I want to give them the opportunity to do so. But if they won't, hopefully the BBC will have both the clout and the will to get the job done.

Needless to say, this code of conduct would be a useful thing to mention in any communication to Dangerous Ltd, Zodiak Entertainment, or the Discovery Channel.

UPDATE, the next day

The Discovery Channel came through; they will not air the show again or release it on disc until the dishonest editing is fixed.