How to twist the truth
Having been part of an international news story, I now have specific, first-hand knowledge of how easy it is to take the facts and create an alternate reality that, while factually true, is not accurate.
This is precisely what Lee and I accuse Moore of doing on a regular basis.
First, a recap of my personal experience last week.
1. We posted a link to Suprnova.org’s torrent link for F911 on the 27th of June.
2. Some wire service reporter must have been looking for a Moore story for the day, and found us...most likely through Google.
3. CNN picked up the story and the rest of the world followed.
4. Lion’s Gate did not speak to anyone all day until they released a statement through The David Lawrence Show, where I was a guest.
J. David Nonaka, VP Business & Legal Affairs, said, and I quote:
Lion’s Gate Films controls certain distribution rights to Michael Moore’s F911. The illegal distribution of the picture violates those rights. Lion’s Gate intends to fully prosecute those individuals who disseminate or aid and assist in the dissemination of pirated copies of the picture. Individuals who partake in this activity do so at their own risk.
Furthermore, Lion’s Gate will also prosecute any media outlet or other organization that encourages the unlawful distribution of pirated copies of the picture.
Now...what’s wrong with that story?
First of all, every word spoken by Moore is from the video clip we transcribed and made available. It’s not Moore speaking on this particular controversy. The story (and this is the third link I have seen that uses this exact same text) makes no mention of that. Anyone unfamiliar with last week’s uproar would have no idea that the words attributed to Moore, while accurate and factual, are not specifically about this latest controversy.
It’s the newsprint version of deceptive editing.
Secondly, they don’t quote anyone from Lion’s Gate claiming to have given up the fight. Have they? Probably. Orty and my new friend J. Peterman-san aren’t stupid guys. They know that I did not break the law as it stands today, nor did I violate anyone’s copyright. Best they can say is Suprnova.org is the violator and all I did was talk about them.
In short, they’re blustering to save face. They cannot prosecute anyone and they know it. They have to find Suprnova.org and prosecute them.
And worst of all, they have to prosecute Michael Moore, because the last thing they need is for Moore’s corporate attack dogs to come after me for “encouraging” the piracy of F911, and then I start running the clip of Moore encouraging piracy of his film on every talk show on earth.
How’s it gonna look when Lion’s Gate sues Michael Moore?
Anyway, back to the news story…
It says, and again I quote:
even his detractors have posted the film for free download on sites including www.moorewatch.com.
NOT. TRUE. The film was NEVER, EVER hosted here. Not even privately for my own use. Never. Not one byte of that file was hosted at Moorewatch.com. We never even hosted the torrent. We linked to someone else’s torrent file.
I’m willing to forgive them that factual inaccuracy because understanding torrents and how the whole system works is tricky...although a responsible journalist should have checked it out.
Anyway, now you can see how easy it is to twist the facts of a situation around to mean whatever you want them to mean. And I’m getting a real lesson in watching the details of a story get twisted and warped as they go from version to version.
Not unlike a Michael Moore crockumentary.
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