A long long time ago, the world of news was very different. If you were filming a public figure for a news story and it didn’t turn out how you liked, you could ask for a staged retake and no one would question it.

On May 11, 1944, Charlie Mack of Hearst Metrotone News (aka MGM News of the Day) was shooting a story about WWII war hero Major Richard Bong. If you read Mack’s actual dope sheet he typed up (listed as “Heros of the Week: Major Richard I. Bong: Sheet 1” in the right column), you can see that Mack noted he shot a retake of the General and Major speaking with each other.

The Major Bong story was shared with Fox Movietone, so you can see it here in a Fox Movietone newsreel starting at 2:52.

That practice among others was banned by Mack’s next employer – CBS News.