"That was the news. Happy now?"

I'll tell you where the title line came from in a few paragraphs' time, but I was prompted to write after seeing this yesterday:-

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2147715,00.html

You know what my immediate thought was? Aw, pity. I want MORE gimmicks. I LOVE gimmicks. I don't like fakery and nodding shots, as mentioned before, but what's the harm in having lots of whoosh noises and slamming sound effects (thanks Sky News and the BREAKING bit!), or making the poor newcasters walk alongside a big green wall pretending they're pointing at things (that's it, ITV News, get 'em perambulating!) or randomly standing or sitting depending on... er, um.. well, something I assume (big shout out to the BBC News lot!)

It's all a lot more exciting than a man at a desk with a still behind him, now isn't it? But has it gone too far? Hmmm.

The title line was from The Day Today, Chris Morris's seminal news spoof. See some bits:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6jZFZNeOF0

TDT was at the cutting edge of graphics (I mean, that title sequence, isn't it so cool) and was incredibly over-the-top at the time - when it was on the news was just a man with a still behind him. But now it seems, if anything, quite tame. In The Simpsons movie, Kent Brockman is reporting a story and says "It's so important we've made a title sequence. With music!".

This actually happens now. Sky had a particularly winsome one for the first few weeks of the Maddy McCann story, with plinky-plonky piano music and a montage of images popping up before the latest instalment of... well, of nothing as nothing has really happened since the fateful day. Obviously the 24-hour news channels need to say something about the biggest story, they can't just say, "oh well there's been no news, now the sport", but still...

As you can probably tell my Newsgeek side loves all this presentational guff, yet my Newsprude side wants it straight. The former usually wins with me. I'm the man who had Nationwide's theme music on his mobile, followed with the shortlived replacement for that show, 60 Minutes (nothing like the American one). And if I'm up at half-past midnight I usually tune into CBS News on Sky to see their spin on things...

Sad eh?