Change The World
Posted on September 17, 2007
Filed Under Images, Web Publishing, Non Sequitur, Politics, News | Leave a Comment
When did you give up on your teenage dreams of changing the world?
When did you give up your dreams?
When did you give up?
Don’t give up.
Do something.
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BBC News As Amateur Dramatics
Posted on August 31, 2007
Filed Under Non Sequitur, News | Leave a Comment
In his James MacTaggart memorial lecture Jeremy Paxman said:
“In the very crowded world in which television lives, it won’t do to whisper, natter, cogitate or muse. You have to shout. The need is for constant sensation. The consequence is that reporting now prizes emotion over much else.
In this press of events there often isn’t the time to get out and find things out: you rely upon second-hand information - quotes from powerful vested interests, assessments from organisations which do the work we don’t have time for, even, god help us, press releases from public relations agencies. The consequence is that what follows isn’t analysis. It’s simply comment, because analysis takes time, and comment is free.”
Yes, up to a point, Lord Copper.
The idea that news may be diluted, tainted or in many other ways adulterated between the event itself and the transmission of the reported interpretation of that event is actually nothing new.
Unless you are actually in the mind of the protagonist and took part in the event itself, you are of necessity relying upon second-hand interpretations and opinions which may or may not be accurate. News always has been like this.
However, the point to be made here is regarding the delivery of the news and whether this has an impact on the way in which it is perceived and received. To a degree, whether the messenger seems trustworthy or perhaps should be shot.
Huw Edwards reads both the six o’clock and later evening news bulletins. It used to be that newsreaders would deliver their broadcasts with stony faces and clear enunciation. That was it. The job description was reading out loud in public, with an authoritative, but neutral delivery.
It is not that Huw Edwards does not uphold this tradition to a great degree and the quibble may be trifling and somewhat churlish. The problem is that everything seems to be said in the way you would imagine a gossipy social worker passing on the slightly uninteresting titbit that the sandwich delivery person has had a minor accident, but is not hurt.
It seems that there is an attempt here to protect us from anything in the news which might be unpleasant. If it is delivered in a slightly mumbled, but concerned way, we know that even when there has been a plane crash, the signal is that we are both all right, so everything is safe.
It is the “Put your feet up and have a cup of tea” style of news. “Oh, I do ache today, but musn’t grumble, eh?” All that Huw Edwards would need to do to be a perfect imitation of Mrs Pike from Dad’s Army would be to wear a headscarf.
He is, however, the figure of immovable restraint and gravitas when compared with George Alaghia. This is a man who has deprived the world of acting, not so much of a Hamlet as a real ham and instead given us the perfect example of hamfisted news delivery.
Every item has to fit within his balletically executed routine of bizarre and distracting hand gestures, which are probably intended to help the deaf imagine what the general theme of the news might be. The up and down upturned palm to show that is is a bit sad and we need to show sympathy. The sweeping downturned palm indicating that this is serious nonsense and we should be having no truck with it. The repeated chopping motion so we know that we need to pay attention to a lot of important facts.
Then, as the news bulletin draws to a close, we get the grinning lunatic impression to tell us that we are being treated to some good news to make our hearts leap and tears start in our eyes.
The only thing lacking in all this - and it hardly matters, as these mime and pantomime signals tell us all we need to know - is for George Alaghia to deliver the whole news dressed as a clown and pedalling around the studio on a unicycle honking a horn.
It would be nice if we could trust the news and not rely upon often ill-informed opinion and sometimes grotesquely fabricated flights of wildly inaccurate fancy as our sources.
However, returning the televised delivery of the news to something resembling a clear and unimpassioned statement of facts, rather than an hysterical audition for a local amateur dramatic society can only help this process.
You can also go to the debate section where there is further opportunity to get involved in discussions or start new debates.
Go to the campaign section to start or join a campaign.
Lest We Forget: Tony Blair
Posted on August 18, 2007
Filed Under Politics | Leave a Comment
There cannot be many people today who can remember that Britain was once ruled by a fading celebrity, whose only claim to fame was an ability to snivel and stutter in public or to grin at inappropriate moments.
However, before his hilarious new celebrity autobiography hits the remainder shelves and the pulp mill and he is excised from history, here is a chance to relive some of those embarrassing moments, including the ever-not-popular “I was the people’s celebrity prime minister”.
Go to City Journal to rouse idle memories of Tony Blair from their slumbers and win tickets to visit the ex-prime minister in the old folks’ home where he is passing his final years.
Delusions of Honesty
Tony Blair’s domestic legacy: corruption and the erosion of liberty
When Tony Blair announced his resignation after ten years as prime minister of the United Kingdom, his voice choked with emotion and he nearly shed a tear. He asked his audience to believe that he had always done what he thought was right. He would have been nearer the mark had he said that he always thought that what was right was whatever he had done. Throughout his years in office, he kept inviolable his belief in the existence of a purely beneficent essence of himself, a belief so strong that no quantity of untruthfulness, shady dealings, unscrupulousness, or constitutional impropriety could undermine or destroy it. Having come into the world marked by Original Virtue, Blair was also a natural-born preacher.
In a confessional mood, Blair admitted that he had sometimes fallen short of what was expected of him. He did not give specifics, but we were expected to admire his candor and humility in making such an admission. It is no coincidence, however, that Blair reached maturity at the time of the publication of the famous book Psychobabble, which dissects the modern tendency to indulge in self-obsession without self-examination. Here was a mea culpa without the culpa. Bless me, people (Blair appeared to be saying), for I have sinned: but please don’t ask me to say how.
[…]
Blair, then, is no hero. Many in Britain believe that he has been the worst prime minister in recent British history, morally and possibly financially corrupt, shallow and egotistical, a man who combined the qualities of Elmer Gantry with those of Juan Domingo Perón. America should think twice about taking him to its heart now that he has stepped down.
Tony Blair may be coming to a town near you, with his incredibly successful and lucrative lecture circuit circus “Tony Blair: The Legacy Tour”. (Free rotten eggs and tomatoes supplied on entry. A fun day out for all the family!). “I just have to bring peace to the Middle East first - Love, Tony x”
You can also go to the debate section where there is further opportunity to get involved in discussions or start new debates.
Go to the campaign section to start or join a campaign.
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