…although I always knew it would.
Most people will have some kind of memory of the tragic 2004 Asian tsunami; it’s one of those incidents that you’re unlikely to ever forget completely (which isn’t a bad thing).
While the massive loss of life is what made the event so horrible, one other aspect of it that always comes to my mind was the media coverage. For example, I still remember being completely disgusted at the front page of The Mirror shortly after the event, which consisted of an all-page photo of bloated and bruised bodies strewn across a beach. I couldn’t comprehend why they did it, or why they felt the need to visualise so graphically this disaster, which was the fault of no-one and the scale of which was apparent through the death-toll alone.
That Christmas I had gotten The Day Today DVD from my brother and sister; something I hadn’t watched in years, and so I spent the 27th of December (at least I think it was the 27th) watching through each episode again. At one point I got up to get myself a drink, went downstairs and headed through the sitting room (en route to the kitchen). My mam was watching an ITV special report on the disaster, with one of their people reporting from the scene of the disaster.
I couldn’t help but feel a slight case of deja vu, as the “special report” played out with all the bells and whistles of the now ten-year-old BBC satire I was watching upstairs. The flashy graphics, the tone of voice, the pointless packages, the use of over-emotive and over-the-top words to try and make a serious situation as sexy and consumable as possible… it was all there.
I always knew that Morris was onto something, and he lampooned the media of 1994 perfectly with his Paxman-esque performance… it was just scary that his purposeful over-the-top delivery had finally been adopted as the ideal way for “serious” news organisations to put information into the public domain.
And so, his most recent prophecy has now become a reality (and this time it only took 5 years) with ITV’s Manhunt; their sexier answer to BBC’s Crimewatch.
The premise? They show picks 10 individuals, who are wanted for various crimes, and aim to catch them all by the end of the night. What follows are dramatic reconstructions, fear mongering packages about public safety and straight-faced delivery of the kind of tough-talk you just know The Daily Mail would love.
Morris’ paedophile special was, certainly, about the media’s coverage of paedophilia in the UK. He hit out at their attempts to incite fear, encourage vigilanteism, sexualise children; all in the name of bigger sales rather than concern for the safety of anyone. That said, in delivering that message he also poked fun at their delivery techniques; it was as much about the words they used as they way they used them. The point was always “This is where you’re going”.
People familiar with the Brass Eye special might remember the reconstruction of a story about a paedophile potato-seller. At one point in the video, the man pounces on a child and as he does this the camera revolves around the scene in a bullet-time-type spoof. The first reconstruction on Manhunt, again for those of you who saw it, also tried to use eye-catching camera work (MTV cuts and edits, fades, spins), dramatic music and so on.
Don’t get me wrong, a special report from the Asian Tsunami wasn’t a bad idea, and nor is a show that tries to catch criminals through public appeals; it’s the delivery that I have a problem with.
I’d recommend to anyone to watch The Day Today or Brass Eye again now, and then watch a show like Manhunt or even the news on ITV, TV3 etc.
It makes for depressing viewing, and it may make you ask yourself; why do they feel the need to sex-up and over-sell serious incidents in order to sell them to the public? I don’t have an answer, but maybe it’s because the public respond so well to it.