"That's Entertainment!"

It took a few days, but Boston viewers finally figured out that CBS’s broadcast of the city’s famous Fourth of July fireworks display was digitally altered to present a spectacular view of the display that is geographically impossible. Yes, CBS, network of Murrow and Cronkite, presented a phony, enhanced version of the fireworks without bothering to disclose to viewers what they were really seeing.

Yesterday Boston bloggers and observers began pointing out that it was  impossible to see the fireworks above and behind such famous locales as the State House, Quincy Market, and home plate at Fenway Park, because the display, as always,  was launched from a barge in the Charles River, located where it could not be seen from those places.

“According to CBS, you can see the fireworks from the right side of Quincy Market, even though Beacon Hill is in the way,’’ wrote Karl Clodfelter, a research scientist and a commenter on the Boston blog UniversalHub.com. “Also, they come up behind the State House when you’re standing across the road . . . which means the barge must have been parked on the Zakim* this year.’’

Well, yes, that’s true, the producer of the CBS production admitted. But so what? David Mugar, who has executive produced the show for nine years, confirmed that the footage was altered. He argued that such images were “above board” because the show was entertainment and not news.  “Absolutely, we’re proud to show scenes from our city,’’ Mugar said. “It’s often only shown in film or in sporting matches. We were able to highlight great places in Boston, historical places with direct ties to the Fourth. So we think it was a good thing.’’

It’s not a good thing, and hre is why, courtesy of Eric Deggans, a Florida-based media critic and regular panelist on CNN’s media critique show “Reliable Sources.’’  “It is an ethical issue,” Deggans said. “I think – especially in today’s media environment – the most important commandment for media is to not mislead the viewer. . . . If you’re a viewer who doesn’t know Boston, you’re getting a picture of the layout of the city that doesn’t exist.’’

Exactly.

Besides, it is pretty clear by now, isn’t it, that all network news is treated as “entertainment”? If CBS decides it can make news footage more entertaining–“Hey, let’s show a cow being blown by in this tornado!”—what’s stopping them, if producers like Mugar are in charge?

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* The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, part of the Big Dig Project in Boston and the widest cable-stayed bridge in the world