The temptation to stage is very, very strong sometimes. Even for the tiny little projects we have to do for this class, I've had to resist the temptation to stage several times. (Though I'm not quite sure about the injunction to get get nat sound...do I have to stage a little bit to get the nat sound I want? Sometimes it seems like it, at least in terms of, "Please play the game/sketch a drawing/start eating so I can record the sound of it.")

Still, the eye-rolling reaction of the poster on sportshooter.com, to the sight of the "TV guy" asking outright for a recreation, is understandable. Probably more than understandable, maybe even required for the sake of moral superiority. Documentary makers are already skating on a thin edge when they do recreations in lieu of archival footage or photographs; journalists would be beyond the pale altogether. One of the functions of a journalist is to tell a story, but it's not supposed to be a fictional story.

Jashin