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 Tuesday, February 09, 2010

One Generic News Report, Coming Up!

By Diana Hsieh @ 8:00 AM

Here's all that you need to create a standard television news report, courtesy of Today's Big Thing:



I like the man-on-the-street interviews the best!

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 Comments

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 10:22:06 mst
Comment ID: #1
Name: Richard

I love Charlie Brooker. He's a bit of a leftist and pushes the idea of the media machine too much, but all-in-all he's a riot. And as a Britain you often get the impression even he gets sick of the state and social justice issues. He'll often aim his wit at things like the government and media constantly telling you what's best for your health.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 10:46:12 mst
Comment ID: #2
Name: Scottological
E-mail: scottbergstrom(at)comcast.net

Sadly, American news reports don't feature enough lighthouse keepers being beheaded by laser beams. Britain has us beat there.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 12:08:22 mst
Comment ID: #3
Name: Deborah

My, the left certainly does love to "stand back" from an issue, as if by doing so they've made a point about it. That's one of their most recent and increasingly popular intellectual degenerations, actually. So what if the news is formulaic? Say something about why that particular formula is sub-standard or wrong. Don't just indict the entire concept of having formulas simply because it makes you feel like you've got something meaningful to say. That's just cynical and nihilistic.

What should the news be? Speaking in tounges and flashes of random colors and shapes?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 14:28:37 mst
Comment ID: #4
Name: C. Andrew
E-mail: ca4papen(at)mindspring.com

Deborah,
This is a form of humor. Abstracting the form to the point of absurdity. Here's another example that is doing the same thing for the boy band songs of the 1980's. It's from the acapella group, "Da Vinci's Notebook." It's called, "The Title of the Song." I think that it is hilarious, but you might not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=281ax7Ovlsg

C. Andrew

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 16:52:11 mst
Comment ID: #5
Name: Deborah

C. Andrew,

Since this video's premise is wrong, it defeats itself in a striking way. The "man on the street" interviews it features are incongruous with the rest of the video's "detached" style. Those literally are "man on the street" interviews they're conducting - about how men on the street feel about "man on the street" interviews. Again, their notion that to just point out that many news reports have the same formulaic style is itself a point is wrong, and so when they try to make it they can't help but contradict themselves.

So ironically, it's not the form of the video I'm opposed to, it's the substance. The overblown feelings of teenaged girls, and the little groups of men who are willing to exploit them, are metaphysically unimportant - they'll both go away - but the behavior of the news media is not. That some in the media are insinuating that they're willing to depart from a workable formula simply to be original - and thus risk doing something other than report the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth - can have dire consequences.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 22:24:28 mst
Comment ID: #6
Name: Richard

I think you misunderstand the show. He's not a legit news reporter, he's more of a comedian like Jon Stewart and Colbert in America.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 6:48:07 mst
Comment ID: #7
Name: Deborah

Richard,

I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that he's making light of the fact that there are real reporters who are willing to sacrifice objectivity to some other consideration.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 9:58:37 mst
Comment ID: #8
Name: Andrew Baker

That annoying news formula is why I hardly ever watch news videos. They take too much time and provide such little information. I won't listen or watch news, just read it.

I do think this satire is useful to have all these clichés clearly stated.

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