HQ reporting in VRLand
Posted by Kate
The New VR is the mostly cheesy local news station in Barrie. They report on the little small town stuff that happens in Simcoe County, and are generally an object of ridicule--at least in my family. A few weeks ago I was walking up main street pushing Connor in the stroller when I saw one of their bright yellow SUVs, a guy in dress clothes with a microphone and a guy with a camera. The guy with the mike asked somebody walking the other way if she wanted to answer a question, and she said no thank you. As I was approaching him I tried not to make eye contact so he wouldn' t ask me, but he did anyway.
Mike guy: Excuse me, would you answer a question for the news?
Kate: I don't know. What's the question?
Mike: (as camera guy is getting into position) Well, I suppose you've heard of the student at Banting...Oh, just wait until the camera's set up--
Kate: No, I need to know the whole question before I answer it on tv. If I'm going to be on the news I'd like to have something intelligent to say.
Mike: Oh, well, thanks anyway.
I love how this implies that he didn't want me to say something intelligent. I felt like he wanted someone that would sound dumb and ill-informed. That's the way most bystander interviews on the news sound and I hate it. Whenever some catastrophe happens the news people just grab someone, ask an obvious question and let the person give an answer that tells you nothing. And then they show it on tv like its some groundbreaking thing. "What do you think of this heat wave?" "Oh, it's hot alright. We're just trying to stay cool." Duh. I found out later that there was a highschool kid caught making bombs here in town, so I guess that's what he was going to ask me about. I didn't know about it at the time and I still don't have an opinion about it, so I would have done a great dumb interview.
And you know what else? When they showed the story that night they used footage of Connor and I walking down the street! (Of course we didn't see it--we don't watch it!! Someone told me about it later). "Alliston...a quiet, peaceful town...(shot of woman pushing large yellow stroller)...but not anymore..." Blah blah blah. I'm not saying that there aren't serious issues that need to be discussed in communities. I just think that they are trivialized when every Joe Blow gets to give their mundane opinon and then it's made into a sentimental story.
Blasted New VR. No one will ever take you seriously. Because you ARE the New VR. |
The New VR is the mostly cheesy local news station in Barrie. They report on the little small town stuff that happens in Simcoe County, and are generally an object of ridicule--at least in my family. A few weeks ago I was walking up main street pushing Connor in the stroller when I saw one of their bright yellow SUVs, a guy in dress clothes with a microphone and a guy with a camera. The guy with the mike asked somebody walking the other way if she wanted to answer a question, and she said no thank you. As I was approaching him I tried not to make eye contact so he wouldn' t ask me, but he did anyway.
Mike guy: Excuse me, would you answer a question for the news?
Kate: I don't know. What's the question?
Mike: (as camera guy is getting into position) Well, I suppose you've heard of the student at Banting...Oh, just wait until the camera's set up--
Kate: No, I need to know the whole question before I answer it on tv. If I'm going to be on the news I'd like to have something intelligent to say.
Mike: Oh, well, thanks anyway.
I love how this implies that he didn't want me to say something intelligent. I felt like he wanted someone that would sound dumb and ill-informed. That's the way most bystander interviews on the news sound and I hate it. Whenever some catastrophe happens the news people just grab someone, ask an obvious question and let the person give an answer that tells you nothing. And then they show it on tv like its some groundbreaking thing. "What do you think of this heat wave?" "Oh, it's hot alright. We're just trying to stay cool." Duh. I found out later that there was a highschool kid caught making bombs here in town, so I guess that's what he was going to ask me about. I didn't know about it at the time and I still don't have an opinion about it, so I would have done a great dumb interview.
And you know what else? When they showed the story that night they used footage of Connor and I walking down the street! (Of course we didn't see it--we don't watch it!! Someone told me about it later). "Alliston...a quiet, peaceful town...(shot of woman pushing large yellow stroller)...but not anymore..." Blah blah blah. I'm not saying that there aren't serious issues that need to be discussed in communities. I just think that they are trivialized when every Joe Blow gets to give their mundane opinon and then it's made into a sentimental story.
Blasted New VR. No one will ever take you seriously. Because you ARE the New VR. |
