Channel 5 News
07/01/08 23:42
Today was the first day of the school term and an
INSET day.
Three people from Channel 5 arrived this morning to conduct both a recorded and a live interview for the Channel 5 News bulletins. They were very nice and friendly people but I have to admit that I found the end results frustratingly brief and uninformative - even misleading.
We set up in the library and an interview was recorded. This all seemed to go well. Then a live interview was broadcast at about 11.45 a.m. It's quite difficult to respond to a questioner who is only a voice in your earpiece, but who you know can see you! There were a couple of "leading" questions that seemed to give the impression that the only reason for going to Antarctica was to explore global warming but there was barely an opportunity to correct the impression and I kicked myself afterwards for not being more forceful in my replies.
There was a similar problem in the absurdly brief item that I saw broadcast at 7.30 p.m. The discovery of lichens was treated as both unique and sinister! An interview with Pete Convey from BAS was also recorded during the day and part of it was included in this later broadcast. I am convinced that only a tiny fragment of this interview was used too.
I will have to ask Pete Convey what he thought of the strange use to which our remarks were put in the final cut?
In the end, in spite of the pleasure of seeing the expedition get a greater measure of the publicity that it deserves, I have to admit to finding the end result too brief and innaccurate to give me much satisfaction.
Three people from Channel 5 arrived this morning to conduct both a recorded and a live interview for the Channel 5 News bulletins. They were very nice and friendly people but I have to admit that I found the end results frustratingly brief and uninformative - even misleading.
We set up in the library and an interview was recorded. This all seemed to go well. Then a live interview was broadcast at about 11.45 a.m. It's quite difficult to respond to a questioner who is only a voice in your earpiece, but who you know can see you! There were a couple of "leading" questions that seemed to give the impression that the only reason for going to Antarctica was to explore global warming but there was barely an opportunity to correct the impression and I kicked myself afterwards for not being more forceful in my replies.
There was a similar problem in the absurdly brief item that I saw broadcast at 7.30 p.m. The discovery of lichens was treated as both unique and sinister! An interview with Pete Convey from BAS was also recorded during the day and part of it was included in this later broadcast. I am convinced that only a tiny fragment of this interview was used too.
I will have to ask Pete Convey what he thought of the strange use to which our remarks were put in the final cut?
In the end, in spite of the pleasure of seeing the expedition get a greater measure of the publicity that it deserves, I have to admit to finding the end result too brief and innaccurate to give me much satisfaction.