12edDawn t1_ixfwyei wrote
Ok, this is off-topic, but...
>instruments that, together, provide a broad swath of the infrared spectrum and a panoply of chemical fingerprints inaccessible until [this mission],” said Natalie Batalha...
Does anyone know why is "this mission" in brackets? Don't they usually bracket/parenthesize parts of quotes when the person being quoted didn't actually say those words? What did Batalha actually say and what possible reason could they have for paraphrasing it? I see this a lot in NASA-related articles and I'm wondering if there's something I don't know.
Easy_Money_ OP t1_ixg35vo wrote
In journalism it’s usually because they didn’t say those words, yeah. Most likely there was a previous sentence where the speaker referred to Webb, then in the quote they say something like “and a panoply of chemical fingerprints inaccessible until it”. The antecedent isn’t clear there. That’s my guess, I’m not sure if NASA does it for a different reason
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