Saturday 1 May 2010

People ... You Gotta Love 'em

Anyone who works in the TV News industry will know what i am on about in this post. The Vox-Pop, that part of a news report that contains the ramblings and opinions of the common man or woman in the street about the story of the day.

Now over the years i have met and spoken to the widest variety of person that society can throw at you, from the very, very wealthy, the educated and uneducated to the poorest people in the country. Each one of those people i have met have had a valid and compelling story to tell about the circumstances they find themselves in or involved with.

However, when it comes to the vox-pop, as soon as the camera and microphone appear they attract the type of person who cannot string a sentence together for love nor money, or worse, the type of person who does not have an opinion on any matter, even the most important. For Christ's sake people get an opinion about something! tell us what you think, good or bad. There is nothing more soul destroying than floating around a city centre trying to get bored shoppers to give us their opinion on a matter, and to get a reply of  " Dunno mate ... er .. um .. dunno."

But not only that, does the average news viewer really want to know the opinion or views of some passer by in the street who could speak coherently on a subject, just because they happened to catch the attentions of a passing news crew? I think not. Who really gives a toss what Mrs Smith or Mr Jones thinks about the state of the economy? that's why we have journalists, to tell us in an unbiased manner what is happening, and what those in charge are doing about it. So, in my ever so humble opinion, i ... er ... um ... oh i dunno.

No comments:

Post a Comment