Pestering the public

Following our discussion the other day about vox pops on the BBC, here's Michael Deacon of the Daily Telegraph having a pop at them too - and rather amusingly:

Earlier this year, I wrote a column about the increasing use of vox pops in TV news bulletins. During the current election campaign, however, the bulletins seem to be stuffed with even more vox pops than ever. But why do we think this is? 

Once again, we took to the streets to find out. 

“I think vox pops are brilliant,” said Tristram Fatuous, 33, a TV news producer from London. “All right, so they’re almost without exception clichéd, banal, predictable and of absolutely no value to the viewer. But on the other hand, they’re an extremely cheap and easy way to fill up lots of time on air. And in the age of 24-hour news, that’s what really counts.” 

“Vox pops are important,” said Tarquin Ludicrous, 33, a TV news producer from London. “If we didn’t have vox pops, we’d have to do things like reporting and expert analysis. That sort of stuff is terribly old-fashioned and out of date. Much better just to spend the afternoon thrusting a microphone under the noses of startled shoppers and asking them whether they think politicians should ‘just get on with it’. In fact, there’s only one thing I like better than vox pops, and that’s ringing up a 22-year-old imbecile from a Left-wing blog and a 22-year-old imbecile from a Right-wing blog, and then offering them £75 each to come into the studio and have a confected row about a subject neither of them knows the first thing about.” 

“I would always defend the use of vox pops,” said Tamara Vacuous, 33, a TV news producer from London. “Ultimately in the future the news won’t contain any news. It’ll just be a solid half-hour of market stall holders in Stoke being pestered for their views on Brexit. By 2025 we estimate that it will be impossible to buy anything from a British market stall, because every single one of them will be permanently surrounded by a BBC news crew.” 

“As far as I can see, there’s only one problem with vox pops,” said Tabitha Bumptious, 33, a TV news producer from London. “Basically: we’ve now done so many vox pops, there’s no one left to vox pop. We’re going to have to start vox popping each other. Here, you wouldn’t mind telling us what you think of Labour’s plans for a second homes tax, would you?”

The voice of the people (via Mark Mardell)

Can't see Mark

The value of vox pops? The Two BBC Marks, Easton and Mardell, place great value on them. Others think they are worthless and open to bias (unconscious or otherwise).

Mark Mardell found himself at a food festival in Reading for The World This Weekend and popped some voxes into his report. (Wonder what he ate? He didn't say).

"I can't promise the Blue Collar Festival is representative of the voters of Reading", he said - though not letting that stop him!

He continued, "but there are certainly some mixed views here about Boris Johnson and some of the others". 

Hmm, I'm not sure I'd call these "mixed views":

• I feel a little bit lost at the moment. I'm firmly in the centre ground politically and so I find it very, very difficult to vote for Corbyn because he seems very, very anti-business but I think Boris - as much as Boris is Boris - he's probably the most likely to win an election.
• I think he's a liar. I think he's been consistently called out for lying and I think there's a lot of comprehensive research on how much he's lied to the British public and I don't think he'd make a particularly good prime minister at all.
• Well, I suppose like most people he does appear to be a bit of a buffoon. But that's certainly the public persona that we see. And one can only assume that the MPs that are supporting him must see a different persona, a different person.
• Best of a bad bunch. That's all I've got to say about that. Best of a bad bunch. I think he's funny, but as a leader I don't know?
• We're for Rory Stewart. Let's put it that way!
• Boris Johnson has always been out for himself really. Very, very good at covering it up, but he's not the person to lead the country with any competence I think.
• [The obligatory morris dancer. Mark Easton likes his morris dancer vox pops too] Boris Johnson, I think he'd make a great fool actually. I really do. In fact, he'd probably do a much better job than I do as a morris fool.