Quoting out of context (2)

Here’s an egregious example of quoting out of context. After three teens are shot, one of them fatally, a television station broadcasts an interview with a four-year-old boy. The interview in part:

Reporter: "What are you going to do when you get older?"

Boy: “I’m going to have me a gun!”

Context – the full interview:

Reporter: “Boy, you ain’t scared of nothing! Damn! When you get older are you going to stay away from all these guns?”

Boy: “No.”

Reporter: “No? What are you going to do when you get older?”

Boy: “I’m going to have me a gun!”

Reporter” “You are! Why do you want to do that?”

Boy: “I'm going to be the police!”

By airing the statement, “I’m going to have me a gun!” with no context, the television station misleads the viewer as to the speaker’s intention.

The Takeaway: Whenever you quote something, consider carefully whether the quotation needs context in order to be intelligible to the reader.

See disclaimer.