In
film and
broadcasting, a
soundbite is a very short piece of
footage[?] taken from a longer
speech or an
interview in which someone with
authority says something which is considered by those who
edit the speech or interview to be a most important point. As the
context of what is being said is missing, the insertion of soundbites into news broadcasts or documentaries is open to
manipulation and thus requires a very high degree of
journalistic ethics[?].
Politicians of the new generation are carefully coached by their
spin doctors to produce on demand soundbites which are clear and to the point.