Soundbite Nation
Bits and pieces from a conversation with Josh. We were talking about sports journalists, but then got off on broadcast media in general:
[25-January-2005 @ 16:09] G: Being on air is a narcotic, man.
[25-January-2005 @ 16:09] G: I’ve done it myself.
[25-January-2005 @ 16:09] J: No doubt — and you don’t get on air with balanced opinions!
[25-January-2005 @ 16:10] G: And nuance? As Kerry learned, nuance is lost in the soundbite.
[25-January-2005 @ 16:11] J: Exactly
[25-January-2005 @ 16:11] G: You can get your point out, but you have to do it over the right medium. Most of us want to be fed the soundbite because we 1) have shit to do and 2) are lazy.
I think that, these days, you have to craft the message to the medium. Wonder why I segregate my Weblogs? Pretty simple—I see them as different exchange media. [Not that any of them are really good, but they make me happy, so yeah.]
I think that understanding this is important for both content producers and consumers. You’ve got to remember that, when you’re giving or receiving the soundbite, it is what it is—a soundbite! If you forget the context, you can really go off on a tangent.
Not that I’ve ever gone off on a tangent in my life.
This is SO true, Geof.
As an example, the folks who make The Daily Shows are masters of the sound bite. Why bother making up a joke about a news event when you can just let the joke happen all on its own? Sometimes it’s a matter of pulling a quote out of context (which they do quite often). Sometimes, though, they find clips that are just jaw-dropping-I-can’t-believe-he-said-that in or out of context. A beautiful example is their coverage of the Karen Hughes interview where she goes out of her way to insinuate that pro-choice supporters are like the Al-Qaeda terror network.
Sound bites can work for you (see “flip-flopper” and “Massachusetts liberal”), but those that live by the sword… Let me put it this way: there’s a really good reason I’m not a speech writer or public face for a political figure. I can’t imagine the pressure.
January 25th, 2005 at 21:58