How to report the news

Late again in discovering an amusing video (1.3 million people saw it before I did over the last 3 weeks). Charlie Brooker is making fun of your typical TV journalist video report.


Some presentation lessons:
  • Professional journalists rigorously stick to the focus-on-one-message-only rule. The introduction summarizes the message, the question already contains the answer (the message), and the wrap up repeats the message. I am all for clear messages, but sometimes you run the risk of insulting the audience with over-simplification. I am not a big fan of the "tell what you will tell them, tell them, tell what you just told them" structure.
  • See how the background visuals are actually distracting: you switch off mentally, go in remote control TV mode, and start paying attention to "what street in London is this?", "where is that accent from?", you hardly notice that some of the interviewees are speaking Gobbledygook.Your visuals should be good, but not claiming all the attention (earlier post).
  • Videos can be great at conveying messages in a short time frame. This "boring" video took 1:59, but see what a different approach can do in 1:30 here.
Thank you Joe Mako