We all knew deep down that cancer was going to claim Belinda Emmett.
Despite the positive airs, every time she was seen in public with her husband, TV host Rove McManus, she looked progressively more unwell. And the intervals between her public appearances have seemed to grow longer and longer.
The photo essays now being published on many online media websites underline how she ailed. Older publicity pictures show a full-faced girl, while later images reveal her painful wastage.
But her loss need not be totally in vain.
How brave this young couple were, how devoted they must have been, marrying despite the knowledge that their union was doomed, probably much sooner rather than later.
One feels they may have enjoyed more love, warmth and intimacy in their 22 months of marriage than many others do in 22 years.
Their dedication to one another, and their decision to formally declare that dedication through marriage, is a valuable lesson in how to live life unencumbered by the spectre of what might happen.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
News, but not as we knew it
Nine's flagship 6pm news bulletin - once a proud and unchallenged leader - is now testing out overseas formats in an effort to revive its flagging fortunes.
Tonight's lead story covered the effect of the Reserve Bank Board's decision to lift interest rates by a quarter of a per cent. Instead of a packaged tape story comprising interview grabs and voiceover behind relevant overlay footage, we had reporter Wayne Dyer standing in the studio, delivering the entire report directly to camera, save for the soundbites of interviewees.
It's a technique borrowed from British news bulletins. But it's a retrograde step. Leave aside for the moment the question of whether a reporter such as Dyer should be allocated such an important story. The format - where the reporter is in a controlled and sterile environment - means the background of the shot can be devoted to graphics, such as charts, figures and tables. But these were partly obscured by Dyer in the foreground.
As well, it removes the reporter from where he is supposed to be - in the field, on the road, gathering the news, talking to the people who matter. Dyer's script may as well have been cut & pasted direct from wire copy written by someone else (and probably was, at least in part). He never had to leave the comfort of the newsroom.
But most of all, the story becomes the reporter, and the reporter becomes the story. No relevant shots of houses, suburbs, construction, families, or banks. It looks cheap - probably because it is. The field camera crew and tape editor who otherwise would have been deployed to produce Dyer's story could be used elsewhere. The studio crew and control room facilities usually idle until late afternoon could be pressed into service.
It's a business model that pleases the accountants. But it's one that shaves another slice from the substance of good television journalism.
Tonight's lead story covered the effect of the Reserve Bank Board's decision to lift interest rates by a quarter of a per cent. Instead of a packaged tape story comprising interview grabs and voiceover behind relevant overlay footage, we had reporter Wayne Dyer standing in the studio, delivering the entire report directly to camera, save for the soundbites of interviewees.
It's a technique borrowed from British news bulletins. But it's a retrograde step. Leave aside for the moment the question of whether a reporter such as Dyer should be allocated such an important story. The format - where the reporter is in a controlled and sterile environment - means the background of the shot can be devoted to graphics, such as charts, figures and tables. But these were partly obscured by Dyer in the foreground.
As well, it removes the reporter from where he is supposed to be - in the field, on the road, gathering the news, talking to the people who matter. Dyer's script may as well have been cut & pasted direct from wire copy written by someone else (and probably was, at least in part). He never had to leave the comfort of the newsroom.
But most of all, the story becomes the reporter, and the reporter becomes the story. No relevant shots of houses, suburbs, construction, families, or banks. It looks cheap - probably because it is. The field camera crew and tape editor who otherwise would have been deployed to produce Dyer's story could be used elsewhere. The studio crew and control room facilities usually idle until late afternoon could be pressed into service.
It's a business model that pleases the accountants. But it's one that shaves another slice from the substance of good television journalism.
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