Editing John Edward (section)

==Veracity of abilities==
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Critics of Edward assert that he performs the [[Mentalism|mentalist technique]]s of [[hot reading]] and [[cold reading]], in which one respectively uses prior knowledge or a wide array of quick and sometimes general guesses to create the impression of psychic ability.<ref name="Blumenfeld">{{cite web |url=http://www.theness.com/articles.asp?id=49 |title=Medium Dead |access-date=December 12, 2006 |last=Blumenfeld |first=Jon |date= July 21, 2000 |publisher=New England Skeptical Society| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061111120717/http://www.theness.com/articles.asp?id=49| archive-date = November 11, 2006}}</ref><ref name="Endersby">{{cite web |url=http://www.skepticreport.com/psychicpowers/jeblues.htm |title=Talking the John Edward Blues |access-date=December 12, 2006 |last=Endersby |first=Andrew |date=December 2002 |publisher=SkepticReport |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070103100811/http://www.skepticreport.com/psychicpowers/jeblues.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = January 3, 2007}}</ref><ref name="O'Dell">{{cite web |url=http://www.popmatters.com/tv/reviews/c/crossing-over.shtml |title=Crossing Over with John Edward |access-date=December 12, 2006 |last=O'Dell |first=Cary |work=Television Reviews |publisher=[[PopMatters]] }}</ref><ref name="Time">{{cite news | title=Talking to the Dead | url=http://www.time.com/time/columnist/jaroff/article/0,9565,100555,00.html | work=Time Magazine | author=Leon Jaroff | author-link=Leon Jaroff | access-date=June 14, 2006 | date=February 25, 2001 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104233353/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0%2C8599%2C100555%2C00.html | archive-date=January 4, 2013 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> Choosing the first reading from a two-hour tape of edited shows as a sample, illusionist and skeptic [[James Randi]] found that just 3 of 23 statements made by Edward were confirmed as correct by the audience member being read, and the three statements that were correct were also trivial and nondescript.<ref name="Randi">{{cite web | url=http://www.randi.org/jr/2006-04/042106edward.html#i1| title=John Edward Revisited |work=Swift |last=Randi |first=James |date=April 21, 2006 |access-date=December 11, 2006 |author-link=James Randi |publisher=[[James Randi Educational Foundation]] }}</ref>

In October 2007, Edward appeared on ''Headline Prime'', hosted by [[Glenn Beck]]. When asked if he would take "the Amazing Randi's" challenge, Edward responded, "It's funny. I was on ''Larry King Live'' once, and they asked me the same question. And I made a joke [then], and I'll say the same thing here: why would I allow myself to be tested by somebody who's got an adjective as a first name?"<ref name="Fmzt8">{{cite web|author=Beck, Glenn|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/27/gb.01.html|title=John Edward Shares Insights into His Career|publisher=CNN|date=October 27, 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407092520/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/27/gb.01.html|archive-date=April 7, 2014}}</ref> Beck simply allowed Edward to continue, ignoring the challenge.

In another incident, Edward was said to have used foreknowledge to hot read in an interview on the television show ''[[dateline NBC|Dateline]]''.<ref name="Nickell">{{cite journal |last=Nickell |first=Joe |date=November–December 2001 |title=John Edward: Hustling the Bereaved |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |volume=25 |issue=6 |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-11/i-files.html |access-date=December 13, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061216045701/http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-11/i-files.html |archive-date=December 16, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[James Underdown]] of the Independent Investigative Group ([[IIG]]) attended a ''Crossing Over'' show in November 2002 and said "there were no indications of anyone I saw collecting information... none of his readings contained the kind of specific information that would raise an eyebrow of suspicion. ... John Edward was a bad cold reader. He, too, struggled to get hits, and in one attempt shot off nearly 40 guesses before finding any significant targets."<ref name="Underdown">{{cite journal |last=Underdown |first=James |date=September–October 2003 |title=They See Dead People – Or Do They? |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |volume=27 |issue=5 |url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/2003/09/they-see-dead-people-or-do-they/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230304225220/https://skepticalinquirer.org/2003/09/they-see-dead-people-or-do-they/ |archivedate=March 4, 2023 |access-date=March 5, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Underdown also claimed that Edward's apparent accuracy on television may be inflated by the editing process.<ref name="Endersby" /> After watching the broadcast version of the show he had attended and recorded, Underdown attributed a great deal of Edward's accuracy on television to editing and wrote, "Edward's editor fine-tuned many of the dead-ends out of a reading riddled with misses."<ref name="Underdown" /> In 2002, Edward said, "People are in the studio for eight hours, and we have to edit the show for time, not content. We don't try to hide the 'misses'."<ref name="Ling">{{cite news |first=Lisa |last=Ling |author-link=Lisa Ling |title=Connecting With the Dead |url=http://www.usaweekend.com/02_issues/021013/021013john_edward.html |work=[[USA WEEKEND]] |publisher=[[Gannett Company]] |date=October 13, 2002 |access-date=December 22, 2006 }} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>
Edward has denied ever using hot or cold reading techniques.<ref>{{cite book | last = Edward | first = John | year = 2001 | title = Crossing Over | publisher = Jodere Group | isbn = 1-58872-002-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/crossingoversto000edwa }}</ref>

In a 2019 segment of ''[[Last Week Tonight with John Oliver|Last Week Tonight]]'', Edward and other prominent TV psychics were featured.  Several clips of Edward attempting cold reading and failing to get "hits" were included, as well as a clip of Edward telling an audience member, "I can only tell you what they're showing me, and if he's calling your mother a bitch, I'm gonna pass that on." [[John Oliver]] criticized the predatory nature of the psychic industry, as well as the media for promoting psychics, because this convinces viewers that psychic powers are real, and so enables neighborhood psychics to prey on grieving families. Oliver said "...when psychic abilities are presented as authentic, it emboldens a vast underworld of unscrupulous vultures, more than happy to make money by offering an open line to the afterlife, as well as many other bullshit services."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/feb/25/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-recap-psychics|title=John Oliver on psychics: 'A vast underworld of unscrupulous vultures'|last=Horton|first=Adrian|date=February 25, 2019|work=The Guardian|access-date=February 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225190230/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/feb/25/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-recap-psychics|archive-date=February 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/WhMGcp9xIhY Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190225110615/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhMGcp9xIhY Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |title=Psychics: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhMGcp9xIhY |website=Youtube | date=February 25, 2019 |publisher=LastWeekTonight |access-date=February 25, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>