Screenwipewipe

[nekoewen]

A little while ago a clip called "How to Report the News" was being passed around the internet a bunch:

Click to view

As it turns out, this is from a BBC show called Newswipe. It's by a guy named Charlie Brooker, who also does a similar show about television called Screenwipe, plus a special about video games called Gameswipe. All of these are pretty amazing. He

Comments

[chiaki777]

Well, yes. To put it succinctly: The word is not the object

[_thiefofhearts_]

I've known about the photography tricks for years - how Ice Cream pictures are likely specially colored scoops of Crisco, mostly because real ice cream just can't last too long under hot photography lights.
Things like that and the permit thing (although that's silly in of itself) I can mostly understand.

However, it's completely outrageous when news shows tries drumming up something that really isn't a big deal into one, like the "Mass Effect is Porn" on Fox News, the Rapelay thing (and CNN just jumped on that bandwagon 1 year too late!) and many others. John Stossel of 20/20 fame got sick and tired of his bosses asking for "killer item stories", like exploding lighters, made a numbered list from the FBI accidental death statistics. If it wasn't around the number of car accidents or gas leaks, it honestly wasn't worth reporting on.

[nekoewen]

I believe in the U.S. they've implemented laws requiring food advertisements to use actual food, though of course what we see is food that's been artfully arranged by highly skilled specialists. When they apply ketchup to a hamburger, it's done very carefully with a syringe. There's apparently a guy who's filthy rich because he's the foremost expert in setting up pizzas so that actors can pull the slices out with enticing strands of melty cheese. So basically, there's a Don LaFontaine of melty pizza for commercials.

One of my favorite bits about the news (having now gotten caught up on Screenwipe and Newswipe) is how on-the-scene reporters basically exist for the emotional impact of having someone on the scene. The anchor in the studio usually knows more about the situation than the reporter who rushed out to the field, but they have to pretend it's the reverse for the camera.