A very quick and hasty rant.
Did anyone see Law and Disorder last Sunday? Louis Theroux was shadowing a private security firm in Jo’burg in order to show how they dealt with the ongoing problem of crime and violence in the city. I was really looking forward to it but the programme left me bitterly disappointed.
Not only did he fail to truly investigate the issues raised, the use of subtitles throughout the programme left me angry with programme producers.
Ok, I understand that sometimes English needs to be subtitled. For example, if you are filming undercover and the sound is bad or when somebody has a particulary thick accent. But neither could be applied to Sunday’s programmes, and yet subtitles were used time and time again, which eventually detracted from the whole programme.
It seemed to me that the subtitles were used on purely racial grounds. Black South Africans were almost always subtitled regardless of how comprehensible they were. On the other hand, one white South African, who I did have great trouble understanding, was not.
To make matters worse the programme didn’t really seem to offer any substance. I have recently come back from South Africa and I decided to watch the programme in order to see how a British reporter would tackle the issues surrounding crime in the country. Unfortunately for a piece of investigative reporting, I don’t think that he did any sort of investigation. At one point in the programme Louis interviewed a known gang member who had just been released from prison. Coming from a trainee journalist’s standpoint, this was the perfect opportunity to delve deeper into the issue – not only was he able to talk to someone with first hand experience, they were willing to talk openly on camera. Unfortunately the opportunity was missed, although Louis did manage to extract some fairly graphic descriptions of the crimes the guy had committed.
Actually this summed up the programme for me. In the end it seemed to be less of an investigative piece and more one designed to shock the viewer. A “Look how bad Africa is” programme, which just maintains the West’s common misconception about the continent.
I have actually sent a comment to the BBC about the programme. I’ll update you if and when I get a reply.
I would also appreciate any feedback from anyone else who watched the programme.
Above all, you have to get the story! Thursday, November 27, 2008
Tags: BBC, Front-line reporting, Jeremy Bowen, Journalism, Kate Peyton, Mary Stokes, Political Comment, War, War Reporting
In 2005 BBC reporter Kate Peyton was shot dead while on assignment. Yesterday, an inquest into her death cleared the BBC of any responsibility, but raised awkward questions as to whether journalists face too much pressure to sign up to dangerous assignments.
In an increasingly competetive media market, the pressure on news agencies to deliver the stories is greater than ever. If you aren’t on top of the story, you can be assured that one of your competitors will be.
But how far should you go to get the story?
The power of the media has brought the front line into the front room. Recent technological advances have enabled camera crews to get into war zones faster and produce higher quality broadcasts. So if a story breaks anywhere in the world, the viewer expects the major network news agencies to be there.
However, the world is changing. The murder of Daniel Pearl in 2002 was proof positive that journalists are now targets. Wearing a flak jacket marked “Press” is no longer a guarantee of safety. But no story is worth your life.
Reporting from a war zone is always going to be dangerous. Martin Bell, himself a veteran war correspondent for the BBC, described it as “daft“. But above all you have to acknowledge that we live in a warring world, and if you are in the news industry, you are more than likely going to be sent to the front-line.