"...to protect the innocent"

[Stanislav]

Guys, help me understand something...

One of the oft-quoted bits from the classic Dragnet intro: "The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed, to protect the innocent." Similar disclaimers have been used on other shows (including reruns of Dick Wolf's "Arrest & Trial" as currently rerun on TruTV).

Now, I always figured the idea behind changing the names was to avoid confusion with innocent individuals who happen to have the same moniker. So, if the case involved a pedophile or serial rapist or spree killer with the name Bill Smith, they can avoid any unfortunate confusion with any of the innocent Bill Smiths in the world.

But, there are two pitfalls to this. Let's say they change the name of the bad guy from Bill Smith to "Sam Jones." All the Bill Smiths of the world can rest assured that they won't be erroneously pegged as a criminal...but what about all the Sam Jones out there? Seems to me you've just shifted the potential (if innocent) libel from one group of people to another.

Plus, if the case being dramatized was high profile enough, there has probably already been sufficient publicity about the real Bill Smith in news coverage so as to potentially make life uncomfortable for similarly named innocents anyway.

So, while I understand the practice is some sort of precautionary CYA move on the part of the producers, I just don't see how it makes much difference. Am I misunderstanding the rationale here?

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

I've always thought the names that were changed also pertained to all who appeared in the story such as: friends, relatives, fellow employees, etc. as much as the law breaker himself or herself. As the viewer knows the names have been changed, it is thought he/she will not think someone with that name is involved since the name used in the show was not the real name.

 

[LynnW]

The names are changed to protect the innocent producers, writers, studios, etc. from being sued.

 

[mleach]

On a similar note to this topic...on shows like COPS and Cheaters...why is it that whenever the camera crew is on the street, sometimes the names of businesses are blurred and at other times they aren't? Some years back I remember seeing on an episode of COPS, the police were arresting a suspect in a Taco Bell parking lot. A few weeks later on COPS, another incident took place at yet another Taco Bell but this time the sign of the restaurnt was blurred ( though of course looking at the shape of the building and sign it was hard not to notice it was indeed a Taco Bell ).

Cheaters has done this with Motel 6. Sometimes one sees the sign, other times they don't. Now before someone says "...maybe some businesses don't want their logos and such to be shown on a show like Cheaters.." Maybe so but wouldn't Motel 6 have the right to tell the camera crew that they can't be on their property to shoot a scene?

Going back to Dragnet..I noticed by watching the late 60's version of the show as well as Emergency on Hulu, Jack Webb never did edit out much on his shows when it comes to the names of actual businesses. Moreso with Emergency than with Dragnet. In just two episodes of Emergency I noticed that Squad 51 ( Gage & DeSoto ) were driving past both a Shell and Arco gas station. Not too mention I have seen a Ralphs Supermarket, a Sambos Restaurant, billboards for Disneyland and 93 KHJ Radio and a Holiday Inn all made a brief cameo ( as in the street scenes ) in a few episodes of Emergency. Wonder if Webb had to get permission say from Ralphs for example to get that scene done for Emergency?

 

[classictvfan]

Stanislav, you never cease to come up with obscure and quirky topics for discussion

 

[LKellerIII]

On a similar note to this topic...on shows like COPS and Cheaters...why is it that whenever the camera crew is on the street, sometimes the names of businesses are blurred and at other times they aren't? Some years back I remember seeing on an episode of COPS, the police were arresting a suspect in a Taco Bell parking lot. A few weeks later on COPS, another incident took place at yet another Taco Bell but this time the sign of the restaurnt was blurred ( though of course looking at the shape of the building and sign it was hard not to notice it was indeed a Taco Bell ).

Cheaters has done this with Motel 6. Sometimes one sees the sign, other times they don't. Now before someone says "...maybe some businesses don't want their logos and such to be shown on a show like Cheaters.." Maybe so but wouldn't Motel 6 have the right to tell the camera crew that they can't be on their property to shoot a scene?

Going back to Dragnet..I noticed by watching the late 60's version of the show as well as Emergency on Hulu, Jack Webb never did edit out much on his shows when it comes to the names of actual businesses. Moreso with Emergency than with Dragnet. In just two episodes of Emergency I noticed that Squad 51 ( Gage & DeSoto ) were driving past both a Shell and Arco gas station. Not too mention I have seen a Ralphs Supermarket, a Sambos Restaurant, billboards for Disneyland and 93 KHJ Radio and a Holiday Inn all made a brief cameo ( as in the street scenes ) in a few episodes of Emergency. Wonder if Webb had to get permission say from Ralphs for example to get that scene done for Emergency?

We need a lawyer to answer this one. I'm not a lawyer, so I could be mistaken, but I believe the "blurring" is done when they do not get persmission to use the images - either from the criminal or the businesses where the action took place.

Of course, it's hard to believe that any criminal would give permission to have his face shown on television. On the other hand, some of these criminals are astoundingly stupid.

Or - this is the part I'm not sure about - the producers of these shows may just use the film unblurred unless they receive objections from the criminal's attorney, or from the businesses.

 

[firepoint525]

I'm sure you've all seen in your local newspapers (if you come from a small town) the disclaimers that people sometimes have put in the papers, like "so-and-so is not the same so-and-so listed in last week's general sessions report". Well, on one occasion, a father used the disclaimer against his own son! "So-and-so, Sr., is not the same as so-and-so, Jr."!

On another occasion, the local radio station reported on some criminal activity by someone with a name similar to a local broadcaster. On at least one occasion, that broadcaster actually read the story on the news about his (near) namesake! Fortunately for him, the perp's name was given as firstname-middlename-lastname. At the conclusion of that newscast, the broadcaster gave his own full name as "firstname, different middle-name, last-name"! ;D

 

[FreddyE1977]

I had seen the 1987 Tom Hanks movie version of Dragnet many times, and always wondered why the
characters were given weird names like Emil Muzz and Pep Sreeback. Then one day it his me like a
lightning bolt....because THE NAMES WERE CHANGED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT! Duh! ;D

 

[landtuna]

Apparently in the old days we didn't have as many lawsuit chasing lawyers so the "to protect the innocent" claim was enough to tell the viewing public the story, although based on real events, does not implicate named people. Now we have a full paragraph saying essentially the same thing.

 

[bk77]

On a similar note to this topic...on shows like COPS and Cheaters...why is it that whenever the camera crew is on the street, sometimes the names of businesses are blurred and at other times they aren't? Some years back I remember seeing on an episode of COPS, the police were arresting a suspect in a Taco Bell parking lot. A few weeks later on COPS, another incident took place at yet another Taco Bell but this time the sign of the restaurnt was blurred ( though of course looking at the shape of the building and sign it was hard not to notice it was indeed a Taco Bell ).

Cheaters has done this with Motel 6. Sometimes one sees the sign, other times they don't. Now before someone says "...maybe some businesses don't want their logos and such to be shown on a show like Cheaters.." Maybe so but wouldn't Motel 6 have the right to tell the camera crew that they can't be on their property to shoot a scene?

Going back to Dragnet..I noticed by watching the late 60's version of the show as well as Emergency on Hulu, Jack Webb never did edit out much on his shows when it comes to the names of actual businesses. Moreso with Emergency than with Dragnet. In just two episodes of Emergency I noticed that Squad 51 ( Gage & DeSoto ) were driving past both a Shell and Arco gas station. Not too mention I have seen a Ralphs Supermarket, a Sambos Restaurant, billboards for Disneyland and 93 KHJ Radio and a Holiday Inn all made a brief cameo ( as in the street scenes ) in a few episodes of Emergency. Wonder if Webb had to get permission say from Ralphs for example to get that scene done for Emergency?

We need a lawyer to answer this one. I'm not a lawyer, so I could be mistaken, but I believe the "blurring" is done when they do not get persmission to use the images - either from the criminal or the businesses where the action took place.

Of course, it's hard to believe that any criminal would give permission to have his face shown on television. On the other hand, some of these criminals are astoundingly stupid.

Or - this is the part I'm not sure about - the producers of these shows may just use the film unblurred unless they receive objections from the criminal's attorney, or from the businesses.

No lawyer here either but according to a good friend of mine who works in TV in Pittsburgh, if a camera crew does a news report, shoot a scene or whatever from the street or sidewalk and/or if a scene is done say of a car driving down a street and some business just happens to be seen in the background, it pretty much becomes public domain. The business can be featured in the video or movie. Now the business in question can ask the TV/movie people to not feature them in the scene but they really have no legal say as long as the scene is done from the street. Now as to why the blurring even on the street level, I can think of two reasons.

1. To protect the image of the business. MONEY !!!!!!
2. Not to give the idea that the business supports the movie/TV show ( like giving the idea that when people decides to cheat on their partners, they think of Motel 6 for example )

Now once the camera crew goes on the actual property of the business in question, that is a whole different ballgame.

 

[Stanislav]

Stanislav, you never cease to come up with obscure and quirky topics for discussion

Well, all the obvious topics have already been discussed to death on this board. The obscure and quirky is all that remains... ;D

 

[MHB]

Now, I always figured the idea behind changing the names was to avoid confusion with innocent individuals who happen to have the same moniker. So, if the case involved a pedophile or serial rapist or spree killer with the name Bill Smith, they can avoid any unfortunate confusion with any of the innocent Bill Smiths in the world.

But, there are two pitfalls to this. Let's say they change the name of the bad guy from Bill Smith to "Sam Jones." All the Bill Smiths of the world can rest assured that they won't be erroneously pegged as a criminal...but what about all the Sam Jones out there? Seems to me you've just shifted the potential (if innocent) libel from one group of people to another.

(1) It seems the real Sam Jones wouldn't be able to sue, either, because the statement that "the names have been changed" implies that the name is fictitious and that it isn't Sam Jones.

(2) I've had some experience with this:

Today TV and movies often use the "all persons fictitious" disclaimer, which is more comprehensive:

Here's the Wikipedia entry on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_persons_fictitious_disclaimer

"All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."

Sometimes I've seen variations like "The names of all characters . . ." to guard against the accidental use of somebody's real name.

 

[LKellerIII]

Now, I always figured the idea behind changing the names was to avoid confusion with innocent individuals who happen to have the same moniker. So, if the case involved a pedophile or serial rapist or spree killer with the name Bill Smith, they can avoid any unfortunate confusion with any of the innocent Bill Smiths in the world.

But, there are two pitfalls to this. Let's say they change the name of the bad guy from Bill Smith to "Sam Jones." All the Bill Smiths of the world can rest assured that they won't be erroneously pegged as a criminal...but what about all the Sam Jones out there? Seems to me you've just shifted the potential (if innocent) libel from one group of people to another.

(1) It seems the real Sam Jones wouldn't be able to sue, either, because the statement that "the names have been changed" implies that the name is fictitious and that it isn't Sam Jones.

(2) I've had some experience with this:

Today TV and movies often use the "all persons fictitious" disclaimer, which is more comprehensive:

Here's the Wikipedia entry on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_persons_fictitious_disclaimer

"All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."

Sometimes I've seen variations like "The names of all characters . . ." to guard against the accidental use of somebody's real name.

I've always assumed that movies and TV use fake phone numbers for a similar reason. You know, the old "555" exchange, or "KLondike 5" in old movies. If you use real phone numbers, a few idiots or emotionally disturbed people will presumably call those numbers and harrass people.

 

[MHB]

I've always assumed that movies and TV use fake phone numbers for a similar reason. You know, the old "555" exchange, or "KLondike 5" in old movies. If you use real phone numbers, a few idiots or emotionally disturbed people will presumably call those numbers and harrass people.

That's why; in fact, Yahoo! has a piece on that:

http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20020826.html

Today, only the numbers 555-0100 to 555-0199 are reserved for this purpose.