Where should you draw the line in gathering video for a story?
Here's the situation:
When a well-known local scientist, Sally Beaker, won a prestigious award for a scientific breakthrough in molecular biology, the producers of the program SMART SCIENCE decided to do a story about it.
While reporting the story, a camera crew spent time shadowing Beaker in her lab and filming her normal routine. On occasion, the crew asked Beaker to pause for set-up shots or to repeat minor actions. Later, before they wrapped up filming, the crew asked Beaker if she wouldn’t mind getting out some equipment to recreate the experiment that led to her scientific breakthrough. Beaker obliged, put on her lab coat and goggles, and (to the best of her ability) accurately repeated some steps from the experiment. The crew was thrilled, having captured great video that helped better illustrate a visually-challenging story.
Afterward, the program’s executive producer was upset that the camera crew asked Beaker to essentially pretend like she was doing an experiment. Initially, the producer didn’t want to use the footage. However, after giving it some thought, the producer decided the best course of action was to use the footage and have the narrator make it clear to viewers that Beaker was demonstrating the experiment that led to her breakthrough.