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Definition of redactor12/17/2023 24, 2018, in which he assailed “FISA abuse” and “illegal surveillance of Trump Campaign.” The fourth appearance of “surveillance” is in a quote from a tweet from President Trump on Aug. Three instances refer to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or Court, which has the authority to issue warrants to wiretap or eavesdrop on subjects of investigations. The “unredacted” parts of the Mueller report use the word “surveillance” four times. In the Mueller report, Attorney General William Barr had four categories of “redactions”: to protect secret grand jury testimony, “ongoing matters,” classified material, and “personal privacy.” A “redactor” has different responsibilities. Put another way, a “censor” seeks to protect information that is morally or politically objectionable. The verb “censor” didn’t show up until the mid-19th century, with specific duties for “the control of news and the departmental supervision of naval and military private correspondence (as in time of war).” In the mid-17th century, a “censor” was “An official in some countries whose duty it is to inspect all books, journals, dramatic pieces, etc., before publication, to secure that they shall contain nothing immoral, heretical, or offensive to the government,” the OED says. But “censors” have slightly different duties than “redactors.” Merriam-Webster’s first definition of “censor” is “a person who supervises conduct and morals.” Most “censors” are looking for material that is morally objectionable or harmful to the entity doing the “censoring.” That is more in line with the original “censors,” magistrates in ancient Rome who both took the “census” of citizens and supervised public morals. Note that Zimmer used “censorship” to describe the type of “redaction” taking place in official documents. Merriam-Webster has two relevant definitions of “redact” : “to select or adapt (as by obscuring or removing sensitive information) for publication or release” and “to obscure or remove (text) from a document prior to publication or release.” The idea of removing passages of text became the primary one, especially when it was applied to the censorship of official documents.” But “redact” dropped from sight in the mid-18th century, and reemerged in the early 19th century to mean “To put (writing, text, etc.) in an appropriate form for publication to edit.” As Zimmer said: “The meaning next narrowed from general editing to focus on abridgments during the revision process. ICYMI: The visual power of Alexandria Ocasio-CortezĪs Ben Zimmer wrote in The Wall Street Journal last week, “redact” once meant simply “edit” or “organize.” (In French, “un rédacteur” is an editor, usually a news editor.) The original meaning of “redact” was “bring together” or “combine,” the Oxford English Dictionary says, and traces the word to about 1475. The report was “almost complete” in that portions of it were obscured, or “redacted.” Some say the report was “censored,” but “censored” and “redacted” conjure different motives. The release of the almost-complete report by Robert Mueller is an opportunity to discuss a couple of words in it, and the sometimes subtle differences that can skew readers’ opinions of the results.
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