Interactivity
For anyone whose programme offers 'interactivity' - and that is almost everyone blogging on this site, I suspect - a clip of a Mitchell and Webb sketch that is doing the rounds has caused much interest and amusement.
The sketch is very funny. It is also a bit painful. Here are a couple of examples.
- "Are you personally affected by this issue? Then e-mail us. Or if you鈥檙e not affected by this issue can you imagine what it would be like if you were? Or if you are affected by it but don鈥檛 want to talk about it can you imagine what it would be like not being affected by it? Why not e-mail us?"
- 鈥淵ou may not know anything about the issue, but I bet you reckon something. So why not tell us what you reckon. Let us enjoy the full majesty of your uninformed ad hoc reckon, by going to bbc.co.uk鈥 clicking on 鈥榳hat I reckon鈥 and then simply beating on the keyboard with your fists or head.鈥
Interactivity offers viewers, or in this case listeners, the chance to participate and it offers us the opportunity to engage with those consuming our product. If that sounds like claptrap, then you are probably someone who does not wish to 'participate' or have us 'engage' with you.
Come to think of it, if that is you, then you are very unlikely to be reading an editor's blog.
At its best interactivity connects us with viewers, or listeners, sometimes directly influencing our editorial agenda. There are numerous stories that have been told (across TV and radio or online) that would simply not have made it to the surface were it not for interactivity.
That said, I am not pretending it is always so.
E-mails or texts being read out can be very tedious indeed. Sid in Stevenage probably doesn't give a stuff what Maureen in Manchester thinks about something.
That's why, at Breakfast, we've tried to steer our interactivity away from mere 'opinion' and more towards 'experience' or 'anecdote'. It's just more interesting that way.
Opinion does still get read out when it's especially interesting or insightful, but experience generally wins the day. The other thing that works well is questions from viewers. On a number of occasions, it has led us towards a line of questioning we might not otherwise have pursued.
What does not work is using interactive responses to fill holes in a programme in a "鈥ow then, err, let's turn to your e-mails and texts while we try to re-establish that link" sort of way. We have been guilty of this. Viewers and listeners are not stupid - they generally know if we are filling.
The other thing that doesn't work is looking, or sounding, desperate. This is what Mitchell and Webb so deliciously capture - a sense of "please tell us, please e-mail, please call.. About anything".
I'd recommend a listen to the clip. I shall certainly be sharing it with my team...
Comments
I can assure you that Richard in Birmingham doesn't give a stuff about Maureen in Manchester's opinions OR her experiences.
What have you got against me?
The problem is that people with "experience" don't tend to have objective viewpoints. There was an excellent sketch in the last series of The Now Show about exactly this point.
I am a huge admirer of the 大象传媒 in general but am increasingly dismayed by the Breakfast programme which routinely indulges the fallacy that someone who has experienced something necessarily has anything useful to say about it. And even leaving this point aside, Mr Kermode's statement that Breakfast seeks to represent 'experience' and 'anecdote' is belied by the use of 'rent-a-gob' journalists from the tabloid press who are routinely asked to appear in the studio and offer opinions.
Personally I'm only interested in viewers' comments if they actually add something to a news story, for example if they were there or if they can add a new perspective to it. Otherwise they are just "filler" I'm afraid.
Further to this I have just heard Susannah Reid say (at 07.16) 'tell us what you think'. And just before that a vox pop on school uniforms asked for opinions, not experiences. I think you need to talk to your 'team', Mr Kermode.
I'm broadly in favour of more opportunities for public intereatcion. Perhaps it's a sign of the times - there is an overwhelming feeling of political disenfranchisement in the UK as a whole. To describe it as many do in terms of apathy completely misses the point - people are as concerned, angry and interested in the major issues but feel they have no influence whatsoever over those in power. That's where Have Your Say, Question Time, and texts / emails to TV shows come into play.
But I do also think we need to tread carefully. People are naturally influenced by the media, and therefore opinions (particularly those of the general reader) are more likely to reflect the prevailing view put forward by the various media outlets than any sort of independent position.
It can also be frustrating at times when even those overseeing even these supposedly democratic mediums of expression seem to be determined to rigidly toe a line, resulting in the suppression of opinions and views which are deemed to be 'off-message'.
Have Your Say is especially notable for this - comments which don't reflect the prevailing climate but don't actually breach the house rules are instead sidelined to 'await moderation' that never comes until the decision is taken to close the debate. The 大象传媒 is very good at giving the impression of providing a forum for impartial and intelligent debate but which in reality is anything but.
I wonder if you have come across the word 'crowdsourcing'
from wikipedia
"a business model in which a company or institution takes a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsources it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call over the Internet. The work is compensated with little or no pay in most cases."
a way of filling the massively expanded 'air-time' that new media technologies create, without the need for budgets.
One wonders whether the emails and texts received by Breakfast are indicative of the sort of person who has sufficient leisure time during the morning peak to write in. If I had that sort of free time in the morning, I'd sleep longer!
Susannah Reid still at it today (chastity ring issue), asking for opinions, not experiences.