Ethics in video non-journalism: Analysis of “Obama Citizenship: I Invented The Internet”

A classmate sent a message to a bunch of us about a video featuring an attorney Phil Berg:

I’m interested to hear your thoughts on these. . . . On what grounds could Obama not answer / refuse to answer? Why wouldn’t he answer just to shut this guy down? . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6_k3NtXZs This video has close to 2.5 million hits.

I did some “due diligence”, and am convinced that the video contains many untruths and arguments made in bad faith.  So many, that I didn’t have time to chase down each statement that sounded questionable.  I like to apply the science-investigation ethic  — “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”.  The video fails this test. Here’s what I found:

(1) Intro screen by the film-maker: “I invented the Internet”
This is unfortunately a common falsehood.  Al Gore didn’t say this [4], and what he did say is correct.  I have personal knowledge here: I’ve been involved with the Internet as a user and software/network engineer since 1986; when it was still the “Arpanet”. I’m additionally confused as to why this is the title for this video. I don’t understand the connection to Obama; possibly this is simply a (presumed easy) swipe at another famous liberal politician. Indicates a lack of seriousness.

(2) Berg: “Barack Obama is not a natural born citizen”
Berg provides no support for this statement.  (In law school, we’d call that “conclusory”.) It begs the question, as it forms the basis for more statements.  I find this fairly shameless, and it appears to be disingenuous: Berg seems to want to come off as a concerned citizen. Instead, this is evidence that he is an ideologue — that he has an axe to grind.

(3) Berg: “FactCheck.org . . . supposedly checks out documents to make sure they’re correct.”
A slanted characterization of factcheck.org with no supporting details or evidence.  He then goes on immediately to another topic.  This is propaganda [5] intended to create doubt.  (And further, what does it mean, “to make sure they’re correct“?  He probably means “authentic“; this is typical of his imprecise language throughout.)

(4) Berg: “[in re Annenberg] There’s a little conflict of interest there, I believe.”
Same as previous.  This is tossed out, and then not followed up.  Is he claiming that Factcheck is wrong?  If so, where?  Did they fabricate?  If so, where?  He doesn’t say.  This is propaganda. [5]

(5) Berg: “John McCain . . . immediately released his birth certificate . . . he immediately released his medical records . . . . He said, ‘Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you.’ and he did, right away.”
This seems to be false:  I could find no evidence of this.  What’s more, I found plenty of evidence to the contrary.  It seems to have taken 4 months for his certificate to become public, and it wasn’t through McCain’s organization:

Feb. 21, 2008: Earliest mention I could find of McCain’s citizenship question. [1]

May 2, 2008: Dept. of Homeland Security refuses to hand over copy of McCain’s birth certificate in response to a subpoena, claiming improper service. [2]

June 20, 2008: The Dallas News runs picture of birth certificate, courtesy of a source, “Don Lamb in Panama.” [3]

(6) Berg: “Obama . . . has refused to release any records . . .”
Untrue on its face.  The video itself talks about the records Obama has released.

[1] http://newsbusters.org/forums/latest-news/q-panamanian-born-john-mccain-natural-born-citizen-united-states-19392
[2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/01/AR2008050103224_pf.html
[3] http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/06/mccains-citizen.html
[4] http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp
[5] “Propaganda is a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda