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ABC's 'Sic' Choice Suggests Belief in Afterlife an Error
NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

Posted on 01/01/2007 5:01:31 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest

sic: thus; so. Used to indicate that a quoted passage, especially one containing an error or unconventional spelling, has been retained in its original form or written intentionally. - Answers.com definition
Adding religious insult to mortal injury, ABC's coverage of the death of the 3000th US service-person in Iraq seemed to suggest that there was something odd or erroneous in the expression of a traditional belief in the afterlife.

Today's "Good Morning America" focused on the death of Army Specialist Dustin Donica of Texas, believed to be that 3000th serviceman lost in Iraq. Narrating the segment, ABC's Jonathan Karl stated: "The MySpace page he left behind bears the tributes of those whose lives he touched." The screen then displayed the message [shown larger-than-normal here for clarity's sake] from one of those friends:

"You were one of my best friends and I'll never forget you. All my prayers go to your family and I'll see you again." (sic)

There can be no doubt that the friend was expressing his expectation to see Dustin again in the world to come. That the reference to seeing Dustin again was prefaced by a mention of the family being in the friend's prayers emphasizes that religious faith was being expressed.

But for ABC, traditional religious belief is so odd or erroneous as to require it to add its condescending little sic.

Mark was in Iraq in November. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: abc; afterlife; msm; religion
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To: em2vn
He has made an attempt, they have chose not to respond. re post 46.

What makes it then ,"not acceptable reporting"?

61 posted on 01/01/2007 7:31:14 AM PST by sausageseller (Look out for the jackbooted spelling police. There! Everywhere!(revised cause the "man" accosted me!)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

It may not being referring to an error, since in addition to indicating error (sic) can also mean,"....to guard against a supposition of misquotation." In that sense it would indicate an exact quote of the young man's words and nothing more.
My wife reminded me that our local newspaper uses (sic) in its "Letter to the Editor" column to indicate exact quotes, as do other newspapers in the area.


62 posted on 01/01/2007 7:31:42 AM PST by em2vn
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To: em2vn

The quote was . . . in quotes, so there was no further need to indicate that it was a verbatim!!


63 posted on 01/01/2007 7:33:54 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
I went to the ABC story. The sentend containing "ill" doesn't appear in the screen graphic at all.

Yeah, but it's from the same passage. It explains why the sic came up at all, and the fact that the guy doing the graphic was forced to crop the message to make it fit probably explains why the sic got displaced. This has "dumb college intern not knowing what he's doing and a little drunk from the New Year's Eve party" splattered all over it.

64 posted on 01/01/2007 7:37:02 AM PST by SpringheelJack
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To: SpringheelJack; em2vn

You could be right, but then again there was no "sic" in the online version. In any case, IMHO you're making a reasonable argument, in contrast with em2vn who does not appear to understand the meaning or usage of 'sic.'


65 posted on 01/01/2007 7:39:25 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Well, who knows? It'd be interesting to hear what ABC says, if they ever say anything at all.


66 posted on 01/01/2007 7:41:10 AM PST by SpringheelJack
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To: SpringheelJack

I'll certainly post any response received from ABC.


67 posted on 01/01/2007 7:42:49 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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To: 6SJ7

Brilliant! I pledge to always include the (sic) when posting about ABC "News."


68 posted on 01/01/2007 7:45:03 AM PST by Solamente (Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out...)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

"'I'll' is spelled correctly"

That's something i'll never do!

It's saying i'm more important than anyone else and absolutely refuse to capitolize!


69 posted on 01/01/2007 7:45:03 AM PST by dalereed
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To: SpringheelJack
Intern screwup is my guess. I can't access his myspace page because it's set on private, but an ABC news article quotes the passage you're talking about, and assuming its version is literal, the passage does indeed have a pretty confusing misspelling

Stupid question

If it's set on private .. how did ABC get this quote??

70 posted on 01/01/2007 7:45:19 AM PST by Mo1 (the violence will stop when US politicians step up to the plate and act united for victory and peace)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
from Dictionary.com

sic –adverb Latin. so; thus: usually written parenthetically to denote that a word, phrase, passage, etc., that may appear strange or incorrect has been written intentionally or has been quoted verbatim: He signed his name as e. e. cummings (sic).

----

Well, I don't see any misspellings, strange or incorrect usage , etc.

I expect someone even less well versed in english than I am was at the keyboard. This seems a mistaken usage of (sic).

71 posted on 01/01/2007 7:48:45 AM PST by LibKill (ENOUGH! Take the warning labels off everything and let Saint Darwin do his job.)
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To: Mo1
If it's set on private .. how did ABC get this quote??

I would figure they contacted the family and were given permission to view it. The last time Donica ever logged in was Dec. 27, but his page shows the last log-in as Dec. 31, so apparently his family has the password.

72 posted on 01/01/2007 7:49:58 AM PST by SpringheelJack
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

"[sic]" at the end of a statement means "said in content" - Im not sure I understand what all of the fuss is about.


73 posted on 01/01/2007 7:50:31 AM PST by expatguy (http://laotze.blogspot.com/)
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To: sausageseller

It's not factual that ABC hasn't responded. He indicates that he is in contact with at least one reporter at ABC. If anyone from ABC is to be considered ABC, he has been in contact with the network.
My question was about contacting the editor who was responsible for using (sic).
It seems unlikely that anyone would be available to respond to an editing inquiry during the New Year's holiday.
In fact, to simply state that ABC hadn't responded, without the context as to how the contact was made, seems to be the kind of thing we accuse the NYT, CBS and the rest of the gang of doing in their reporting.
After finding the full meaning of (sic) I think the charge against ABC to be something I would expect from moveon.org but not from FR.


74 posted on 01/01/2007 7:52:37 AM PST by em2vn
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To: expatguy

Sorry, but that's not what sic means. Please see the definition given at the beginning of the article. Sic means that the error or odd spelling is that of the original author, not of the person transcribing it.


75 posted on 01/01/2007 7:52:48 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

I have given you a more complete meaning of (sic) than you desire to consider so that a wholly subject charge can be leveled.
Reporting bias is unacceptable no matter the source, or the political leaning upon which it is founded.


76 posted on 01/01/2007 8:00:07 AM PST by em2vn
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To: neverdem; governsleastgovernsbest

"I'll see you again" can't be correct = in ABBCNNBCBS's sic minds, because it was written after his death.


77 posted on 01/01/2007 8:01:31 AM PST by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but Hillary's ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

The second sentence lacks a comma between two independent clauses.


78 posted on 01/01/2007 8:02:23 AM PST by rightwingcrazy
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To: em2vn; expatguy; All

The Urban Dictionary gives a fuller explanation of the meaning of 'sic':

Square brackets are most commonly used around the word 'sic' (from the Latin 'sicut', meaning 'just as'), to explain the status of an apparent mistake. Generally, sic means the foregoing mistake (or apparent mistake) was made by the writer/speaker I am quoting; I am but the faithful messenger; in fact I never get anything wrong myself. Book reviewers in particular adore to use sic. It makes them feel terrific, because what it means is that they've spotted this apparent mistake, thank you, so there is no point in writing in. However, there are distinctions within sic: it can signify two different things:

1) This isn't a mistake, actually, it just looks like one to the casual eye.
2) Tee hee, what a dreadful error! But it would be dishonest of me to correct it.


79 posted on 01/01/2007 8:02:42 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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To: rightwingcrazy

Do you really believe that's what the 'sic' intended to point out?


80 posted on 01/01/2007 8:03:50 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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