Paid Interviews in Abu Ghraib Documentary

The day after a documentary on Abu Ghraib opened and it was disclosed that former soldiers were paid to appear in it, the NYTimes broaches the subject of the appropriateness of paying interviewees in documentaries.

Titled "Standard Operating Procedure" and made by Errol Morris, an Oscar-winning filmmaker, the 'documentary' examines prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib through the eyes of paid interviewees, "bad apples" as Morris calls them.

Word of the payments drew conflicting reactions among those in the world of film documentaries, where show business values have been known to collide with the more austere standards of good journalism.

Right. Never paying for factual content is the rule for journalists -- unlike those scamps in show business. I would suggest that when all else fails, austere standards prompt journalists to pull something out of thin "anonymous" air rather than pay for it.

Nevertheless, the Times has slipped the paid-interview issue on the table, indicating that there are opposing yet valid arguments on the subject, worthy of debate. I'd disagree. A film shouldn't be called a documentary if it contains paid content.

Call me a purist but I think a documentary should simply document, not implement.