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The WWE and some of your readers are overreacting to CNN's editing of the Cena interview.
Journalists selectively quote people they interview all the time, but this does not make them any less honest than other professionals that choose to present certain information over other information in a court hearing, in a business meeting, or during a doctor's visit. You present the most important information - the most important quotes, in the case of journalism.
For CNN, they could have broadcast the original introductions of the interviewer and John Cena. It would have gone something like "Hello, welcome to CNN..." "Thank you, it's my pleasure. My name is John Cena and I've been a professional wrestler for 15 years..." However, CNN cut to the chase and came out and broadcast the question everyone wanted to ask; "Have you ever taken steroids?" and the answer that Cena himself said; "You can't prove I have."
John Cena [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]
Cena has already denied that he used steroids many times, to Larry King on CNN and other places, too. This new information, the new quote was "You can't prove I have." How then, is this different than an accountant presenting the most alerting information to client, like "You overdrew your account by $5,000 this week," or a doctor cutting right to chase to inform a patient that "Tests show that you have cancer," rather than saying "I love your tie. I really want one like that, myself."
In the full context of the interview, Cena's answer was a continuation of the question that was broadcast originally; "Have you ever used steroids? Not even during bodybuilding or football years?" It would be a much different story if the question asked before his quote had nothing to do with his personal take on steroids. For example, if the interviewer asked "Have you ever taken steroids?" (Cena: Absolutely not.) "What about illegal drugs like marijuana?" If they then broadcast his answer to that question and he said "You can't prove I have," that would be clearly out of context. In this context, they are still talking about his personal use of steroids and his take on the issue.
Some journalists have committed acts that have given the public justification in not trusting the profession. Jayson Blair's made up quotes in the New York Times, or Don Imus's comments on Rutgers University's womens basketball team come to mind. However, Cena was speaking about steroid use. The question broadcast before his answer asked him about steroids. The fact that they cut his answer down does not mean that CNN acted dishonestly. In retrospect, they probably should have used the entire soundbite to make Cena's opinion very clear, but CNN did not put words in his mouth, nor did they lead him to give the answer he did.
However, I applaud the WWE in its practice of recording all interviews for legal reasons and asking whether reporters are recording their interviews beforehand. Sometimes, you can never be to careful when your reputation is put on the line with an issue like steroid usage.
A.A. Norman
Tulsa, Okla.
***
You wrote:
CNN was absolutely wrong to portray Cena the way they did. Cena also made a mistake handing CNN such an ambiguous quote. I say ambiguous because I know what Cena meant, but it's also obviously something that can be honestly misinterpreted. I believe what Cena meant when he said, "I can't tell you I haven't," isn't a roundabout admission, but rather meaning that no matter what kind of denial he issues, the listener won't believe him. What he said is shorthand for "I can't tell you I haven't and have you believe me" or "I can't tell you I haven't and expect you will believe me." While CNN producers could honestly misinterpret Cena's quote if that were all he said about the issue, he said seconds earlier "absolutely not" to a direct question of whether he had ever taken steroids. The producers had an obligation to include that in their documentary. There is no excuse to exclude that from the context of the next Cena quote so, if nothing else, viewers could reconcile the two statements themselves. What CNN did is give WWE a poison pill of sorts to discredit anything in the documentary because WWE fans will have reason to be suspect of the context of any and all quotes.
Normally I find you to be one of, if not the, most thoughtful, objective, wrestling writers on the internet. This time, however, I feel you've fallen victim to WWE's game of Blind Man's Bluff. Having seen both the unedited and edited CNN versions as well as the WWE video, it's very clear that John Cena got trapped in a lie and was trying to wiggle out of the consequences. First, to the question "Have you ever used steroids?" he did say "Absolutely not." The interviewer then qualified the question by asking if that included his bodybuilding and football days, and he then qualified his answer, saying "To answer the question, I can't tell you I haven't..." So it doesn't matter what he meant to say, or what you think he meant to say, what he said was: "To answer the question," and then answered it with the "I can't tell you I haven't..." statement. So from the perspective of the film editors he was asked a question, and he specified what his answer to that question was! CNN did not take his answer out of context.
This whole incident is a tempest in a teapot stirred up by WWE to distract attention from how badly Vince McMahon came across on the show, and the criticisms of the WWE Wellness Policy. And, thanks to internet writers like yourself, jumping on the WWE bandwagon in defense of poor John Cena, it has quite successfully served that purpose. I hope next time you pause and reflect before you rush to the defense of someone who tried to lie and got caught, at the expense of the greater good. Yes, I said "LIE." Here's a look at Honest John in his bodybuilding and Prototype days for you:
He should be grateful CNN didn't display these photos on screen while he was answering the question!
Paul Ormsby
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