Anchors Away

If Mr. Woodruff’s head injuries are anything like those depcited in the NYT feature article on casualties earlier this week, those troops of ours will be coming home faster than you can say “Osama bin Laden.”

Wow. These images are extremely creepy — and the implications scary. Here we are witnessing the transition from on-the-scene film footage to computer animation, which is clearly double-labeled “NEWS” in case we old folk aren’t used to accepting illustration/animation as a stand-in for real footage. “Virtual View” is the new Iraq Cam, as if “virtual” has a “view.” Genius. And disgusting. Coming soon to a TV near you. The other networks are surely hiring a fleet of “news” animators as I write. Computer-generated “anchors” and “reporters” can’t be far behind.
This dovetails nicely with the King Kong post from the weekend (1/27/06).

Some troops question Woodruff coverage

“For discretions sake, I’m just hope ABC/Disney waits till Mr. Woodruff recovers before releasing Battlefield 2: Network Anchor Edition. ”
HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! Good one, BAG!
Oh, wait.
Are you serious?

TV news animation graphics have always been uncomfortable to the eye but they do help illustrate an event quickly.
If, after recovering from this, Woodruff is capable of reading a teleprompter to a camera – will ABC keep him as the/a national anchor? If he wants the job will ABC air nightly a face that represents the greatest failing of our government, the Iraq war? Will they employ a disabled, disfigured anchor person for the national broadcast?
It would be a first, eh?
On a personal level this event and the entire war is somewhere between sad and wrong. It’s a bloody asinine petro folly.
Let’s hope Woodruff’s misfortune calls more attention to the 16,000+(how many now?) wounded service folk.
They need it.

I’m all for the animated news. Can we have an animated president too? This one is getting old, and the Laurabot seems broken lately. Time for an upgrade.

I was thinking of Frank Gardner, the BBC’s security correspondent, who was shot in Riyadh and left for dead (his cameraman was killed). He’s back, after a long time in the hospital, but he reports from a wheelchair.
They don’t have the same kind of “celebrity journalism”, though. Is he known in the U.S.?

“TV news animation graphics have always been uncomfortable to the eye but they do help illustrate an event quickly.”
How much of the Iraq War is “covered by” animagraphics? I stopped watching TV news when we invaded Iraq. I felt too much shock and awe that we would do such a thing.

Virtual imaging can tell some stories much more effectively than the familiar TV news “We talk – you listen” format. For example, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp web site from a documentary program about the 1917 Halifax Explosion includes a virtual recreation of the collision that led to the explosion. (click Collision Timeline, upper right) Note that the Internet is a more effective delivery device than TV for this kind of exposition because the individual viewer’s curiousity controls the display in this format.
Digital virtual news connects directly to the digital Kong “Big Media” magazine cover from the other day. Digital content threatens everything about the business model of big media — digital is better, faster, and cheaper. And, as a commenter noted, it supports peer to peer connections so we don’t need an anchor person to stand in for us.
Digital media could (hopefully!) threaten the Karl Rove influence we noticed with the State of the Union broadcast and coverage yesterday. One, peer to peer connections diminish the influence that hierarchial organizations give to their leader. If we granted our attention based on the quality of the content rather the rank of the speaker, Karl could stage the SOTU in his garage. Two, the potential of near-realism as demonstrated by Kong (the movie) actually undermines fictional storylines by accurately depicting the impossible consequences of actions. Two hours into the movie my teenager was rolling her eyes at the totally improbable prospect of loading 30 tons of chloroformed ape onto the ship and transporting it back to NY. She’s normally pretty lenient in her suspension of disbelief judgements but this was hard to overlook — the rocky coast, the crashing waves, the behemoth beast. It was so real. (In this scenario telling the truth becomes the standard because it is easier than lying effectively. There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home …)

Battlefied Earth 2: The Network News Edition? Sadly, it more possible than you think. Remember that during the election some software engineer wrote Kerry into their Vietnam themed game? And of course, with all the mod makers out there, I would not be suprised if someone tried to “game” this scenario. Of course the graphic would be superior to the ABC reproduction.

I forced myself to read some of the articles on the ABC site, and I quote: “He moved his legs and his arms again when they got him into the Bethesda hospital,” Woodruff’s brother David said of his recovery on “Good Morning America.” “He attempted to open his eyes, and that can’t be anything but good.” David Woodruff added that his brother was coming out of “a really bad place” but showing signs of improvement.
ABC viewers wrote to Bob and Doug to “get well soon.”
Someone, possibly Diane Sawyer, said they were “saving” Bob’s chair for him.
Those were all the sentiments of denial I could stomach. You don’t have to be a doctor to figure out Bob will never work again. Probably he won’t ever open his eyes or speak again, either. Why is this being sugar-coated? So ABC or the military don’t get sued by the family?

Why did ABC make such a big deal of constantly repeating that they would reimburse the US Military for all medical and transport expenses ?
(How does being in bedded work anyway, free trans you pay K2 rations plus water and…)
RTBAG we hear a little less of the eye twitching stuff, our MSM after wishing Bob well gets into Doug a Canadian, experienced knew the dangers da da dada..
Also mentioned are the many Canadians of US Anchor fame, when Peter Mansbridge was head hunted, the CBC paid him an ungodly sum to stay, informed taxpayers and news junkies would have exchanged better programs for over paid ‘personalities ‘any day but hes from the right cookie cutter mold I guess.
Now lets get serious and talk about hockey EH! these commentators write their own contracts the CBC capitulates, otherwise no Don Cherry, no beer no fans and almost no CBC.

jt, thanks for the Don Cherry reference – that guy (his attire) cracks me up.
rtbag, Afganistan too … I can still remember the animagraphic CBS did when Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire. CBS’s animagraphics version was based the original STORY told by our leaders, not what actually happened in Afganistan to Pat Tillman.

So why do the Iraqi vehicles have to travel in the front of the convoy?
is this standard procedure?

So why do the Iraqi vehicles have to travel in the front of the convoy?
is this standard procedure?

Depends, the Iraqi vehicles are actually old Soviet APCs (MBTRs by my estimation but would have to check) and are slower than the Humvees (even up armored ones)I would think that at least one Humvee would be riding up front as they can clear upstacles faster and or serve as outriders. But the animation does not capture the real sense of the road, such as if their where any bends or twists, other traffic or even a median. I just think this was the easiest way to show what happend. A detailed study of the ambush could take days if not months. And who crazy enough to stick around for on that one spot for that long?

MUGATEA, Can you direct me to the Tillman aminamagraphics, I have been collecting files on GI Jessia and GI Pat since day one of their heroics or death, with a particular interest in propaganda ( & patriotism US style) techniques via MSM- Print-Radio-TV and the Internet.
I have to admit when the playoffs come EH I watch the great game, Don’s flashing cloths and prejudices break me up from the couch to do the dishes. Last year he was put on a seven second delay, others would have been banned or downsized for life but our Public Broadcaster needs him more than he needs them.

jt,
David Martin of CBS did the report, with a live intro from the State Department or Pentagon, on Tillman the night after it happened. He did the voice over on the graphic presentation. That’s all I remember, I searched around for a link – but don’t search for video often and found nothing. I remember seeing it and thinking about how the politicians would take the ball and run with it (boy, did they?). Tillman’s experience is one that people should be/remain aware of.
Don Cherry has the same affect on our house, but we always pause long enough to see his outfit d’jour.

mugatea,
Thanks with limited computer skills I’m on the search, hopefully I’ll have better luck than Pat. (Of all the potential great nightmares facing the propaganda boys was a letter in which he stated he wanted to talk with Noam Chomsky-how EVIL would that have been)

“anchors aweigh”?
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