Thursday, January 20, 2011
Kind of a Strange Way to Get a Point Across
I do not want this video to be looked at politically in terms of whether you agree with Rep. Jackson Lee, Fox News, or neither. Instead I want to just discuss the elephant in the video, and by that I mean the intern who had to hold that sign behind Rep. Jackson Lee. It certainly is a bold move and also controversial to hold up a picture of a woman in her hospital bed for political gain.
When I watched the video, it started out fine and then all of a sudden when they show Rep. Jackson Lee, there is suddenly a bar that appears on the right of the screen that looks like something not associated with the picture. It was at that point that I realized that the background was actually just a big picture being held up. First, that is pretty funny because the picture is literally moving behind the representative. It was here that the picture became distracting for me, the viewer.
The worst part for Rep. Jackson Lee was that the background she chose became its own sideshow and distracted everyone from the point she was trying to make. Further it hurt her case in that the Fox News host was obsessive over it and Rep. Jackson Lee basically told him that he was right.
Instead of the two discussing the issue of healthcare, they spent the time battling over the picture. This incident hardly would help any neutral viewer watching Fox News to side with Rep. Jackson Lee. Her background certainly would help stir up a debate and it was a bold background, but it was just too blatant and absurd. It was also pretty weird. Isn't that probably someone's grandmother being used as a backdrop? It's just a little bit too much for me.
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I would honestly have to say that I laughed out loud watching this. As a professional, she should have thought twice before using something like the picture at hand. It was bad enough that the picture was there, but once I saw that the picture started shaking... it was just too much for me to handle. How does one expect the critical American public to treat her with respect? Or better yet, how does one expect the viewer to consider her words with seriousness when there's a huge poster trembling in the background?
ReplyDeleteI pity the poor old intern who had to fulfill his duties by being a prop.
As I watched this video I couldn't help but also notice how absurd and unnecessary the background truly was. It clearly acted as a distraction from the words being exchanged. Too many times within the political arena a certain veiwpoint is tried to be forced upon individuals through exaggeration or condemnation of the opposing side's views. This particular example was a perfect exaple how the media is able to construe information that is supposed to simply be neutral.
ReplyDeleteThis is ridiculous. Besides the fact that she made the bad decision to have this poster behind her during the interview, what really bothered me was that the interviewer didn't stay on topic (which I'm assuming was the health care bill) but decided to scold the woman for having that poster in the background. It was very unpofessional, and made me a little angry. Reporters are supposed to be unbiased in their presentation, and this man was ripping into that woman. Not that I'm saying she didn't deserve it, because anyone obtuse enough to do something like that on national TV deserves a little punishment. I just would have liked for him to keep his opinions to himself and conduct a good, clean, PROFESSIONAL interview.
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