Archive for the ‘TV’ category
Exclusive: ITV in *another* cock-up
February 5th, 2009ITV Sport … FAIL
February 4th, 2009I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
There we were, watching the football, and it’s heading to penalties. It’s nil-nil, a bit scrappy, Everton just edging it… and two minutes before the end of extra time, an ITV ident sweeps across the screen.
WHAT?! ADVERTS?! The game is still going on. The whole pub gasps for a bit. And, as if written by the gods, ITV sort out their technical cock-up and return to the game.
It’s 1-0 to Everton. Almost 120 minutes of pretty poor football and ITV miss the one bit of excitement in the whole game.
A shambles. Make no doubt about it — this was a MASSIVE blunder. Not helped by “it came at a bad time for us, sorry if you missed it” comment offered by the pundit team in the studio.
I can only hope it was gremlins rather than human error. And gremlins seem the likely option — as after the match ITV viewers were treated to a minute or so of this:
Oh dear.
I wonder if something more shameful happened. I wonder if the producer had rigged up the adverts to go on at a certain time — i.e. at the end of the extra time. Tradition on ITV is that right smack-bang on the end of extra time they’ll cut to ads before returning for the penalty shoot out. What they didn’t allow for here, then, was stoppage time, or just general delays that happen in any sporting event.
One word: FAIL.
On a serious note, is it about time the coverage of football on ITV is put under a little scrutiny? I think so.
First off, the pundits are awful. Clive Tyldesley couldn’t analyse a cabbage, let alone a football match. Compare ITV’s offerings with Sky and you’ll see a canyon of quality difference. And to think that when Sky first got the rights they were roundly criticised by many — they’re now streets ahead of both BBC and ITV.
Neither the Beeb or ITV have anyone even close to be as good as Jeff Stelling, or Andy Gray, or Richard Keys. Even the small-time pundits like Jamie Redknapp have more to say about the game. Hell, I’d rather have Kris Camara analysing football than Mark Lawrenson. Seriously.
Second, and this bears some importance with me, are we all forgetting the ITV Digital fiasco? Their failing to properly manage their contracts, coverage and finances has led to many football clubs being placed in severe financial straits. Cambridge United went into administration soon after the ITV deal collapsed. Many clubs are still suffering from the knock-on effect of the dodgy deal.
And thirdly… well… it’s just rubbish, isn’t it? The only time ITV get it somewhat right is on Champion’s League nights — and that, I’d argue, is only because the pictures are provided for them. All ITV have to do is commentate over it.
If anyone out there watched the Histon vs Leeds match early on in this year’s F.A Cup, you’ll have seen the terrible state of the cameras. Yes, it was raining hard, but a whole half without the camera being wiped? Jesus, what tosh. And what happened to giving a camera a shield from the weather?
Amateur stuff, it really is. Get football off ITV — no-one enjoys it.
Video Journalism will save newspapers in 2009
January 15th, 2009
In the past twelve months we’ve seen the amount of people watching online video go through the roof. But, unlike the YouTube boom that potentially signalled the end for professional journalism (citizen this, citizen that!), this new round of video habits has one crucial factor: length.
The success of the BBC iPlayer has shown that people are prepared to watch video online for a long time. Half an hour or more. And, in the same way the blogs took off once people were used to writing and conversing on the web, I believe that long-form online video will have a similar such boom, where masses consider half an hour spent watching something on their PC a good use of their time.
What’s more, sites such as the brilliant Vimeo show the eagerness of viewers to lap up some full-screen, HD-quality stuff. There’s no sitting around for big downloads, or trying to keep your eyes strained on an awful, grainy clip so tiny you could put a stamp over it.
Video journalism has finally come of age.
As I write this, the Guardian has no less than three pieces of video on its homepage. The NYTimes led with video earlier today — and has a HUGE video section. So too does the Telegraph. Soon, I’ll predict we’ll see video blossoming into the primary content on newspaper sites. Lead headlines always complimented with a video.
Why? Because for the reader, it’s easily digestible, engaging and interesting.
But more importantly, for the publisher, it could prove to be the money-maker they have long been searching for
Many have written about David Carr’s ludicrious statements suggesting an ‘iTunes for news’. Most are saying it’ll never work — and I agree. Why pay to read news on NYTimes, when I can read the same news in the LA Times? Or the Chicago Tribune? Or ANYWHERE?
But wait a second. What if there was a way to make your news better than everyone else? What if there was a way you could cover the same stories, but cover them so well and in such a way that people come flocking to your site; not because they can’t read it in other places, but because they really want to get your coverage.
Video journalism offers this chance. It doesn’t allow for lifted quotes, for recycled copy or for blind churnalism. It promotes good, inventive journalism.
And the reward? Advertising. Loads of it. Think of it like this: When I was in New Zealand, I regularly logged on to the BBC website to catch up. Of course, being abroad, I got BBC.com, the international, advertising-laden edition. When clicking to watch a short (<30 seconds) clip, I was presented with an advert.
I clicked away. The advert was almost as long as the clip.
But on the other hand, when I’m at home, I watch a lot of 4-on-demand, Channel 4’s catch-up service. Before and during the show, there’ll be adverts a plenty. Do I turn away? No! Because in a half an hour show, two minutes of adverts is more than acceptable. Just like in traditional media, it’s all about ratio. 30 min programme = 1 break. 1 hour programme = 3 breaks. A film = 30 minutes of trailers. Or more if you go to Cineworld.
Video journalism finally solves all the problems:
- How to stay unique — no-one has your pictures
- How to save money — no big production projects here, folks. One man, a camera and a laptop
- How to make money — people don’t mind watching adverts when it comes to long content
In time I’ll be posting my plans for how I aim to get stuck in to video journalism. I drawing inspiration from the likes of David Dunkley Gyimah, and hopefully by utilising my job at the BBC as a means for getting training an experience.
Over the next year, me and a friend will be testing the water. Baby steps, if you will, with the aim of selling two pieces of video journalism to the world’s press. Two isn’t a big number, but it idoesn’t make it any less of a task. All in good time.
Was Cristiano Ronaldo uninsured? (The danger of auto-subtitles)
January 8th, 2009
No, he wasn’t. But if you were watching Sky Sports News you may have been mistaken for thinking the wonder-kid was in an awful lot of trouble
For most viewers, it wasn’t a problem — the anchor didn’t get it wrong. But if you were watching somewhere that was making use of the automatically generated subtitles that Sky employs, you would get a confusing account of what happened.
Do the words uninjured and uninsured sound similar to you? They’re not a million miles apart. So when the Sky Sports News anchor said:
“Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo was in a high speed Ferrari crash earlier today. He was uninjured.”
The subtitles heard it as:
“Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo was in a high speed Ferrari crash earlier today. He was uninsured.”
Quite a different story, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Why was I watching with subtitles? Well… I was in the gym, working on my Cristiano Ronaldo body. But I could have been in plenty of places — doctor surgeries, waiting rooms… countless pubs — pretty much every Wetherspoons shows Sky Sports News on one screen, and BBC News 24 on the other. Both with subtitles.
And we can’t forget the deaf community either, of course.
So it’s fair to say quite a sizable amount of viewers. While it’s certain Ronaldo wouldn’t give Sky any aggro over a mistake like this — I doubt he noticed… — there may come a time when a sensitive news report could turn a bit ugly when fed through the subtitle machine.
Legally speaking, who’s responsible?
Extensive Panorama archive online
January 7th, 2009
The new Panorama homepage launched yesterday — well worth taking a look.
It’s a collection of blogs, audio/video content and trailers for upcoming programmes.
But before you think it’s just another typical BBC programme minisite, check out the episode archive, allowing you to watch all their output from the past 365 days.
For journalists, a highlight from last year’s programming: John Sweeney’s (above) doc about press freedom, or lack thereof, in China. (Oddly, though, John’s doc about Scientology seems to have disappeared. Reason, anyone?)
Please note: Some of the episodes will carry the message “Sorry, this episode is not available online”. Scroll down a bit and you’ll get a delightfully old-skool Windows Media Player link instead.
Whatdotheyknow.com: Freedom of Information in Action
January 7th, 2009The Freedom of Information Act is arguably the UK journalist’s biggest asset when it comes to public sector investigation.
As a student, I was often told I should make full use of it whenever I could. To my shame, I rarely did, other than to find out the costs of the University of Lincoln’s Vice-Chancellor’s transport costs. It wasn’t a scoop.
But here’s a brilliant site that not only holds your hand while you make requests, but also shows you the requests of others too. In other words, an absolute goldmine.
Personally, some of the more interesting requests — and answers — came from the BBC and its viewers. A selection:
Response: Please note that your request is outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”) but we are happy to provide you with some information on this occasion. The reason that BBC News did not cover the conference is that we weren’t told about it by the party; as you may be aware, the BNP don’t usually tell journalists when or where it will be held. Indeed, on the BNP website the only mention of the annual conference is a report afterwards. The BBC has of course covered the BNP in other circumstances this year.
Request: What percentage of the BBC Licence Tax is spent by BBC employees on illegal drugs?
Response: The BBC has a zero tolerance policy towards illegal drugs and no income from the TV Licence fee
is spent on their purchase.
Response: As part of the BBC-wide ‘Celebrating Success’ scheme, all 290 staff in World Service News & Current
Affairs were awarded £100 in shopping vouchers in July of this year as a reward for outstanding
achievement. This included winning eight prestigious Sony Radio Awards and increasing audience figures by
2 million listeners. The achievement was exceptional as the BBC World Service had previously only won
one gold Sony Award in its 75 year history.The vouchers were funded from the department’s own budget and all staff received the same amount. The
total cost of the reward was £29,000.
I used the site to ask for information that I’ve been curious about for a while too:
Dear Sir or Madam,
I would like to request details of the precise number of refunds
claimed in full by BBC viewers following a) the departure of John
Sergeant and b) The ‘void’ semi-final vote.Yours faithfully,
Dave Lee
What do you think?
Full movies on iPlayer — since when?
January 6th, 2009
Did this one completely pass me by? Noticed tonight that the (rather pants) film ‘What Women Want’ is on BBC iPlayer. They must have done some serious rights wangling to get that one sewn up.
It’s great news, of course: How often do you seen great films on at times that you’re never watching the TV?
More please.
Earthquake video back to haunt me
January 4th, 2009Seems Radio 4 did a 2008 Now Show round up and our ‘quake video was on it.
I’ve been trying (a little) to shake off that video for three reasons. First, I sound a bit drunk. Second, its shoddily shot — but that can be blamed on the previous point, rather than poor video skills. Promise.
Thirdly, and by far the most important, I feel the message portrayed in the video doesn’t adequatly describe how I feel about the situation. It seems I’m annoyed at the BBC for not going big on the earthquake like Sky did. Not so. I’m annoyed because it wasn’t mentioned. Equally, Sky’s coverage was a bit over the top.
(On a side point, Sky made a promotional video using my footage – and I understand they’ve used it to promote their breaking news pedigree. Good — I’m very pleased with that. The key fact here is that Sky gave the public what it needed: information. The BBC lead with deathly silence.)
Luckily, some weeks later, I was given the chance to add to my thoughts on the BBC’s NewsWatch program. Sadly I can’t link — it’s no longer online.
Their defence was not that the BBC was slower, but that as it was early in the morning, the coverage on News 24 was in fact BBC World. And, thus, a minor earthquake is not important in the complete international agenda. Can’t argue with that, can you?
Well yes, I think you can.
Firstly, the first comment made by the BBC anchor was along the lines of “We’re just hearing reports…”. This suggests that it’s the first they new about it and it would also suggest that it hadn’t been held back because it wasn’t in keeping with the international news agenda — the reason given on NewsWatch.
If indeed the BBC knew about the earthquake straight away, why did they wait until an hour later to mention it? Surely this ‘unimportant’ story is even less important an extra hour after it occurred? For me it’s a choice of mention it straight away, or not mention it at all. Everything points to the news team being too slow.
I’m convinced that nobody at News 24 knew about it until the very first moment the anchor mentioned it.
But let’s get back to the BBC’s defence. I can see the logistics (and economics) of simulcasting BBC World and BBC News 24. On a normal night, I don’t have a problem with it. But what happened on earthquake night was a sizable amount of people were awoken from their sleep by a large, continuous thud. My first thoughts were that our stairs — already a bit shaky — had collapsed. My second thought was earthquake. When we went outside, a lady was telling us there’d been a bomb. Another said that the pharmacy they were building down the road had fallen down.
All silly assumptions. The point is, though, that we DIDN’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. Yes, it was minor. Yes, by midday the next day, it was nothing more than a nib on the national news. But when it had just happenened, nobody knew what was going on.
Sky News told us. BBC News didn’t. Which provided the better service to the public?
“Minor earthquake in Lincolnshire”…. good, let’s go to bed. That’s how it should have all happened.
The irony of all this is that I now work for the BBC. And it’s no exaggeration to say that I love it. Even in my small role, I’m extremely proud of my contribution to the greatest news-gathering organisation in the world bar none.
Plenty of people have used my video to see it as some sort of ammo to fling at the licence fee. Bunch of fools, I say.
Gollllllllllaccio! The greatest paper review is back — on the Guardian
April 9th, 2009An odd thing happened when I was a wee lad: For a distinct period of time — about two years, there or thereabouts — I knew a helluva lot more about Italian football than I did English.
How on earth could such a thing happen? Very easily: Sky had all the live football, Match of the Day was on too late, and I was too young to muscle my way into the crowds at my first and only footballing love, Cambridge United.
So that left just two sports programmes to be regularly digested each weekend. Trans World Sport — a bizarre collection of sports like World Rally and Skiing that woke me up at the weekends (and had a very intense opening sequence).
And then the brilliant Football Italia.
On Saturday, the magazine show. On Sunday, the live game. Since maturing I’ve come to realise that Italian football is complete and utter toss, but at that time in my life, it was the only way I’d see live games. And so, as a result, I ended up taking a fondness to Parma. A great team, at the time, that have now turned a bit rubbish.
Gazzetta Football Italia — the Saturday show — had the usual blend of goals and interviews. And as kids we all gained much pleasure from shouting the trademark ‘Golllllllllllllllllllaccio!’ at the start of the show. A cry that you’d hear being screamed across the playground up and down the country. No idea what I’m on about? Watch this clip, and wait for the memories to flood back:
Beautiful.
The second best thing about the show (yes, the ‘Golaccio’ was the best thing — it was that good), had to be James Richardson’s newspaper review. Sat outside the trendiest cafés in all of Italy, James would pick through the sporting press, effortlessly translating headlines. I’ve never in my life picked up a copy of La Gazzetta Dello Sport — but I somehow felt like I read it every weekend for two years.
Enough of the nostalgia. Here’s what I spotted today:
Woohoo! There he is… swanky café; La Gazzetta Dello Sport; strange looking cake!
This seems to be a bit sporadic by the Guardian — the last clip I can find is from Euro 2008 — but I hope they keep this up. I miss James. My footballing week is enhanced greatly with comments like “Bayern aren’t new to going down easily, they are after all managed by Jurgen Klinsmann” and “[a Bild reporter] buried a sausage under a corner flag at the Nou Camp. A sort of game of ‘hide the sausage’, if you will. Instead, rather appropriately, Bayern came up with their wurst performance since 1974″
How James has never crow-barred his way into BBC or ITV I’ll never quite understand. But, for the time being at least, the legendary paper review is back — and it’s as good as ever. And, if you want more Richardson goodness, you can subscribe to the equally good (if a little more demanding of your time) Football Weekly podcast.
Gollllllllllllacccio!!!!
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Posted in Comment, Sport, TV
Tags: football italia football weekly golaccio james richardson parma the guardian