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Post by Dave Homewood on May 30, 2009 18:32:08 GMT 12
Is it just me or are other people sick and tired of the way news is being presented on television these days?
For instance why do the field reporters feel it is their duty to work as many puns into their dialogue as possible in their reports? Half of them make no sense whatsoever. If you don't know what I mean just watch either One News or 3 News, they seem to want to make light hearted "jokes" by doign play-on-words all the time. It's degrading and demeanign to watch.
Secondly, things like Britain's Got Talent is NOT news and should not be on the 6pm edition of the news. For one thing kiwis are not even following the stupid rubbish programme. It's not aired here. So why the hell do we want to know who's in the final four. Oh, and, yes, fat ugly wierdoes can sometimes sing too, that's not news. Susan Boyle is not the first by a ruddy long chalk, though I hesitate to say she can sing because I find her voice excrutiating.
Something else very disheartening tonight, 3 News opens with the newsreader announcing a breaking story. Four people have been killed on the road in a horrific smash thought to be caused by the weatehr conditions. And then he announces "We are rushing a cameraman to the scene and hope to bring you pictures later in the bulletin". For God's sake!! For one thing, if the weather conditions are that bad why are you askign one of your staff mebers to "rush" there and putting their live at risk? And two, we do NOT need to see pictures. We all know what a road smash looks like, it's dinner time and we do not want to see it. Save yourself some money and be satisfied that you've told us about the crash without showing it. The newsrooms seem to be getting more and more like vultures. It's ghoulish and unnecessary. Is society so sick they are craving the pictures of crashed cars and dead people?
No wonder I prefer to switch on National Radio where they have professional pun-free reports on the news.
Apologies to Stu, there's nowt wrong with the sound usually.
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Post by FlyNavy on May 30, 2009 19:51:37 GMT 12
Dave, it seems you have better news reports in KiwiLand. Over here the fad today is to do live crosses to halfwit reporters who cannot speak a coherent informative sentence on air - let alone make any puns. ;D It seems we need our news 'live' from brain dead reporters. Sigh.
The only TV punners I see are on the 'Jim Lehrer News Hour' from the USA where one reporter talked about construction noise on a Chicago subway. They said the noise 'boomeranged' down the tunnel. I was rolling on the floor laughing at that one. ;D
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Post by Kenny on May 30, 2009 22:15:38 GMT 12
The stupid Swine flu thing is the perfect example of what the media has become. Oh and not to mention the scare mongering R word thats closley related to the economy I agree with the Susan Boyle thing, but hey when was the last time you herd somthing "good" on the news??? Its all negatives these days and it creates this feeling among people that the worlds turning to sh**. Why cant they report on the good things out there? Or people out there making a difference? Yes.
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Post by fletcherfu24 on May 30, 2009 22:43:59 GMT 12
The live cross to the reporter in the field drives me nuts,what s the point in crossing to someone standing outside in some random place with nothing to tell you. Last week some poor chick was standing outside in the pouring down rain in Wellington,just so they could do a live cross to her standing in the rain to tell us it was raining in Wellington. Then when they had the people walking over the harbour bridge in Auckland,they crossed live to the reporter standing in the dark in the pouring down rain hours after everyone had gone home,to tell us everyone had gone home. Were now crossing live to our reporter in the field to answer this question.......... .....and also TV3 whats happening on tomorrow nights episode of 'Home and Away' is not national news....every other soap has done the lesbian kiss years ago.....
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 30, 2009 23:11:33 GMT 12
Most of the news they report is not news either. I recall the days when the news was once a day and just 15 minutes long and we never suffered from it. Now there's news on most channels every hour and several hour long programmes and half hour "current affairs" shows a day.
I agree about the number of unnecessary live feeds. Occasionally it's totally worthwhile, but 75% of the time it seems pointless. They could phone it in from home.
I wish more newsreaders were like Morbo on Futurama
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Post by mumbles on May 30, 2009 23:58:32 GMT 12
I wish more newsreaders were like Morbo on Futurama Puny Humans! I agree, most live crosses seem to be for the sake of it rather than any direct relevance. Its no big its not clever, its just annoying. The worst recent example was during the Napier siege, where different reporters did crosses to 'different' locations that were clearly within a few feet of each other when you looked at the background. The 'its raining in Wellington' cross was also daft, given that the reporter used an empty stretch of water behind her to indicate no-one was sailing due to the weather, which happened to be a piece of inner harbour that is almost always empty anyway. The most useless cross I find though is the one to the 'newsroom', as opposed to the studio. Its in the same frickin' building! Why we are supposed to be impressed by this I have no idea. As an aside, if they could take the TVNZ Wellington Weather cams off that pogo stick they seem to be mounted on it would be nice. It is nowhere near as windy here as those images suggest. It often is, but a lot of the time they seem to be moving around when there isn't all that much wind.
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Post by Gavin Conroy on May 31, 2009 8:01:01 GMT 12
Good topic Dave and I agree with you. I used to like watching the news but poor cross overs, bad reporting and a either a tendancy to make something from nothing or be involved in gutter press is annoying.
At times its like reading one of those tabloid news papers.
We already have negative people who enjoy spreading rumours, claiming to know things that are plain rubbish and stirring the pot let, alone having the media train more. Negative reporting is tiring to sit through.
Would love to see more positive stuff, their are Kiwis doing great things yet we have so sit through so much negativity.
After putting up with the swine flu and the Christine Rankin saga last week I felt like taking to the TV with a hammer
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Post by baz62 on May 31, 2009 10:34:05 GMT 12
Yeah I agree. Remember when the news used to be only half an hour? (Holy cow am I THAT old??) Obviously an hour and a half (if you include the likes of Campbell Live etc) is too much and they tru to fill it with fluff. And they try to make news out of nothing. Believe you me, we in the Tod household have sore eyes for all the eye rolling they do!! I actually cringe when an aviation or historical item comes on. EG: P Five One Mustang instead of P Fifty One has me grinding my teeth!
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Post by shorty on May 31, 2009 11:05:46 GMT 12
(Holy cow am I THAT old??) No Barry. you're not, take it from me, you are just a young pup!
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 31, 2009 11:34:02 GMT 12
Another thing that rips my kilt is how many news broadcasts throughout the day claim they are "First with the news". The news reports start about 6am, and come up hourly on their awful breakfast shows, then there's the lunchtime news, then One has a half hour bulletin at 4.30pm, then Prime TV has a half hour at 5.30pm. They all think they've scooped the other channels with the news first yet generally you'll hear most of it hours before on National Radio. And who cares who has it first, you're meant to report it, not turn it into a contest.
Some of the reporters are very good, don't get me wrong. I think Duncan Garner does a good job at explaining all the bullshit from Wellington each day so the layman understands and can decide for himself if he gives a shit. I think the movie reviewer Kate Rodger on 3 News is excellent at her job. I have a lot of respect for Mike McRoberts how he gets off his butt from the news desk and goes to war zones and disasters to report first hand, you do not see the overpaid desk jockeys on One News doing that unless it's for ratings like the Napier shoot-out. But some of the younger reporters are intent on turning the news into a gag-fest, trying to milk grins out of something that's just not funny and shouldn't be laughed at. I think a lot of the crime reporting is unnecessary in the way it gives every detail, confirmed or unconfirmed, (especially the interviews with neighbours and passers-by that tell the viewer nothin whatsoever - "Oh, I saw nothing, but I think...").
I looked at TVNZ's site the other day to look up their DVD releases, and noted they have a whole section (like News, Entertainment, Sport) decoted to "David Bain". Good grief.
As Gavin says there are loads of kiwis out there who are doing great things and never get recognised. There are also a lot of bad people out there that the media should be targetting but they don't. Instead they hound people like Rankin, Busch, Vietch and other celebs they hope to cut down in their tall poppy syndrome manner of journalism. I don't give a rat's arse about so called celebrities so I don't want to see them on the news, full stop. That's why I refuse to watch One News (apart from Peter Williams in the mornings occasionally) because their presenters all think of themselves as NZ celebrities. They might be to readers of Woman's Day but not to the average sane person.
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Post by Tonys18 on May 31, 2009 11:34:21 GMT 12
I agree with you all, the news is Sh#&. It needs more positive stuff on there, maybe some more history stuff on planes too! I hate to say it but I think (not all of them) most of them only watch news for the negitive side, if they were watching something like: 'A peace treaty was signed today in some place!' They would change the channel till they found one that had a car crash showen in it. Thats what I think. It needs alot more positive stuff in there! Ha Morbo, that would make news interesting!
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Post by obiwan27 on May 31, 2009 12:52:42 GMT 12
Yep the news on the 'main channels' ie TV One and TV 3 are just b.s it's all about ratings and filling air time. TVNZ need to save some money so cut the news to half an hour and cut out the B.s. that comes after it in the form of Campbell Live and whatever the other one is on One and they can put that into their 'current affairs' slot on a Sunday. If Prime can do it, they can too. Try watching Prime News at 5:30 and then the other two afterwards and I think you'll find you are not missing out on anything. Bring back one person as the news reader and one doing the weather and that's all that's needed. Anyone can read an autocue, they are overpaid for what they do anyway. Bring back Philip Sherry and Dougal Stevenson lol, now I'm showing my age....;-)
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 31, 2009 13:20:08 GMT 12
It's always great to see or hear Philip Sherry when he pops up on the occasional advert these days. He hasn't aged a bit since he quit TV3 in the early 1990's. Tom Bradley was another excellent newsreader but like Angela D'Audney he was pushed aside by TVNZ who thought he was too old fashioned for their juvenile audience. Smegheads. I agree Prime does a good job on a small budget and limited time slot.
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Post by stu on May 31, 2009 14:42:07 GMT 12
Yay, I'm so glad I'm not alone in my views on how much crap there is going to air .... and if you knew what went on behind the scenes you'd probably shudder. Agreed - much of the what is in a bulletin is nothing more than tabloid or sensationalist rubbish that should, at most, get only a minor mention. There are a number of times when I've put aviation story ideas forward either on behalf of others or because I think it's something newsworthy and nothing comes of it .... but what would I know, I've only been doing this job for longer than some in the newsroom have been alive! Interestingly, the reason that the news went from half an hour to today's epic proportions is purely Saddam Hussein's fault - seriously! When the first gulf war started, we (TV3) extended our bulletin to an hour so TVNZ promptly followed suit and so it started. A case of one channel trying to out do the other ever since. Same kind of goes for live crosses for the sake of live crosses - "look, we can do more than you". They have their place, and that's not to show how our nice shiny SNG gear works. Besides, from my point of view they're a technical pain in the butt. As far as I'm concerned, the industry is nothing like it was when I started back in the 80s. In those day I was proud to be part of TVNZ News, albeit in my minor capacity as part of a news crew out in the field. It got even better when moving to TV3 20 years ago, back then it was the "cool" upstart channel that was going to take on the establishment. Now, even though I'm purely operating in a technical role - to be precise, I'm part of the TV3 Technology/Operations department that provide studio crew and facilities to put programs to air and quite separate from the News department who provide the product - I feel a sense of embarrassment when people ask what I do and will quite often add (only partly in jest) that one day I'll get a real job. I've passed up opportunities to progress on to more senior roles such as news director etc ... purely because so much of what is involved goes against my principles. I'm quite content to continue in my role as a sound op for the next few years (at least until my daughter is settled into university) before getting out of television and Auckland completely. I'll miss some of the people but not the job. Apologies to Stu, there's nowt wrong with the sound usually. Thanks, but telly speakers hide a multitude of sins that a $250,000.00 sound desk doesn't Trust me, the editorial and program content of the news is not the only aspect that's degraded over time - you really should hear some of the tripe that passes for "broadcast quality" that I have to try and make fit for air - as it goes to air. Sigh ... starting to rant again. I could go on for hours but, as I'm typing this at work, somebody from IT is probably logging it (hi guys - when's my pc finally going to be replaced?) and I need to go and fix an earpiece box on the news set that somehow broke all by itself ... hmmmm .... Cheers, Stu. p.s. I will say one positive thing about TV3, even though I don't always agree with their views, most of our presenters over the years are some of the nicest people I've had the pleasure to work and socialise with.
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Post by fletcherfu24 on May 31, 2009 16:09:10 GMT 12
..and now lets have a political poll...if an election was held today....even though the election was only 7 months ago and the next one isn't for another 2 1/2 years....we'll drive you mad on a Sunday night because its an easy way to fill in 10 minutes with pointless drivel....
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Post by stu on May 31, 2009 17:00:42 GMT 12
An aircraft that's never featured on the news but posted in this thread to remind me of what I'm doing on my day off tomorrow instead of watching the news ;D
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 31, 2009 17:05:22 GMT 12
Thanks for that Stu. Regarding the below standard quality material you mention, I cringe when they play stuff obviously nicked off Youtube. Such as a few nights ago they had a clip on the news from Letterman or Jay Leno's how (from memory about Mel Gibson's girlfriend or something equally as un-newsworthy) and it was obvious they hadn't sourced the clip from the broadcaster, but instead it came from the internet. It's happened a lot laterly I've noticed. Do they actually pay for the clip when they download it I wonder, or just hope the original broadcaster never finds out?
Another thing I noticed about 5 or 6 months back on Nightline while the weather graphics were ticking over and they usually play a piece of music they played a song that in the short clip heard had the "f"-word about three times! I thought to myself "Stu's in a bad mood with work maybe?" I forgot to email and ask if you were on duty that night though. not sure what the song was, some modern rock or other.
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Post by Bruce on May 31, 2009 17:23:25 GMT 12
What's with TV Ones Weather fetish? The 6pm News bulletin is introduced with the Weather presenter informing us of the major issue facing us - its going to be cold tomorrow (only its always a "polar Blast" or even a "Polar Rodent", its never just plain cold!). Then there is a "weather teaser" segment in the middle informing us which of the major centres won today's weather sweepstakes, normally with poor quality weather cam pictures that tell us that it is dark in the city in question. The final Weather section at the end of the bulletin features graphics of ever increasing sophistication that help us interpret the fact that at some stage tomorrow, it may be pretty cruddy (the actual forecasts are still as accurate - or not - as they have ever been). Is the weather report really the key item in the news bulletin? with the way some of the "stories" are presented, maybe it is! (also, can they please desist from incorporating sick puns in every item of news?)
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 31, 2009 18:32:49 GMT 12
I agree Bruce. If any other business ran so poorly on its forecasting they'd be bankrupt. Most of the weather warnings they predict to hit this area fizzle out or never eventuate, yet they hype it up. Then when something does hit it's usually a surprise to them.
I heard a guy from Metro Magazine last week reviewing the very sorry state of morning television magazine style shows and he made the great point that why on earth does the news devote time to reporting the markets. The very small percentage of people who have any interest in what their shares did on the market will have already have found out from other sources like the internet or whatever and won't watch the news. the rest of us switch off or mute when the markets come on. Yet they now insist on live links to amateur reporters and the newsreaders have to fane interest.
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Post by flyjoe180 on May 31, 2009 20:03:31 GMT 12
I also gree with everything that's been said. The morning TV news is based heavily on the Australian model, which in turn is influenced heavily by US television. Just watch Sky News (which is in turn repeated as Prime News with NZ presenters ) and you will see it is very similar to the others.
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