TV NEWS, LITTERED SCREEN AND IRRELEVANT INFORMATION

A viewer of a TV news broadcast expects certain elements. Video or moving images is a basic expectation. And so is sound or an audio component. Pictures, whether still or animated, are also acceptable. Alternative visual aids like maps and other graphic presentations help to illustrate stories. But the screen should not be littered with additions that don't add value to the viewing experience. 

In the example above, there are some graphical details that have nothing to do with the story on air.

Imagine visiting a website, only to encounter the back-end...with all the coding 'gibberish'?

That information could be mighty useful to the webmaster or coder, but to a user on the site, it's unsightly and on the extreme end of the useless scale.

The same applies to tuning in to a news channel, only to be met with irrelevant information like 'video converter'.

Again, it could be a technical error.

But yet again....there ought to be editorial mechanisms of minimising the impact of the resultant visual terror.

OF THUMPING, THUMBS UP AND A RAPID RESPONSE EDITORIAL UNIT

A Rapid Response Editorial Unit would be a welcome addition to newsrooms, to be always ready for deployment, especially during a live TV news broadcast. The job description will mainly involve swiftly correcting mistakes that find their way to the on air content. Erroneous TV graphics should not just attract a thumping, but a thumbs up for a quick recovery.

Before a budget line is availed for the rapid response editorial unit, all that is needed is a high sense of alertness for the news production crew, as illustrated above.

How long did it take to amend the typos?

Less than a minute!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, parrots and parakeets...it is very much possible to transcend editorial embarrassments, and get a thumbs up, instead of a thumping from media critics.

TV GRAPHICS: TO ERR AND TO AMEND ERRORS IS HUMAN

To err is human. But so is to amend errors. This is what minders of on air TV graphics should constantly be reminded. And this courtesy should be extended to other personnel involved in the production of a news broadcast. Sometimes the mistake is so glaring, yet the editorial crew is just staring at a visual aid cue.

In the sport story above, the fixtures for that particular weekend's club football in Kenya, are straight-forward and easy to follow.

But the lower third tag blatantly renames one of the teams involved.

In the newsroom, the habit of doing a spell-check for all scripts is greatly encouraged.

Ironically though, such a highly desirable standard operating procedure could perhaps have yielded the graphical blunder.

It's strange though, that Mathare Utd could transform into Mother United, but Vihiga Utd cannot become Vicar United!

TV NEWS AESTHETICS AND A FACE ON THE KNEES

Television is a visual medium. The eyes are fully engaged, while the ears take in the audio component of the content. Besides the science of how a broadcast is perceived, there are also artistic elements in the presentation that enrich the viewing experience. But any major deviation from what the natural expectation is, can be problematic. Like a face on the knees.

The studio set designer above, probably thought everything checked out, in positioning the news presenter on the side, to allow for a large video wall space, for contextualising the specific news about to go on air.

And looked at with the naked eye in the studio, the set-up probably meets all the required standards.

However, graphically inserting another video of the translator, and positioning it on the bigger image captured by the camera, could bring in some unintended consequences.

Here, the viewer is being asked to accept that it's natural to have a news presenter standing, with the sign language interpreter fixed somewhere on her knee region, and her legs appearing to be joined with the upper body of the interpreter.

These kind of visual distractions undermine a viewer's focus on the substance of the news content.

It's not easy on the eye and it's hard to mentally process the creative miscue.