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Australian election night coverage – TV review | Australian election night coverage – TV review |
(10 days later) | |
In the battle of election television coverage there was an unexpected winner: the graphics department. Swings and running tallies, percentage change, new results just in – there was barely any room left on screen for the pundits. Seven appeared to have taken inspiration from 70s sporting events for its enormous, headache-inducing graphics, while poor David Speers on Sky News was first hived off into a corner, and then slid off screen altogether. | In the battle of election television coverage there was an unexpected winner: the graphics department. Swings and running tallies, percentage change, new results just in – there was barely any room left on screen for the pundits. Seven appeared to have taken inspiration from 70s sporting events for its enormous, headache-inducing graphics, while poor David Speers on Sky News was first hived off into a corner, and then slid off screen altogether. |
To watch Sky properly, you'd basically have needed an extra eye: at one point there were five moving elements on the screen. Nine had a slightly more restrained approach, but barely: two screens, a seat tally and a rolling Twitter bar made it difficult to concentrate on anything anyone was saying. | To watch Sky properly, you'd basically have needed an extra eye: at one point there were five moving elements on the screen. Nine had a slightly more restrained approach, but barely: two screens, a seat tally and a rolling Twitter bar made it difficult to concentrate on anything anyone was saying. |
Not necessarily a bad thing, given that it was was often like eavesdropping on a particularly dull table at the pub: nameless politicians (seemingly never properly introduced) talking over each other and point-scoring. Even the panel weren’t properly engaged. One of the many men in suits was caught more engrossed in his BlackBerry than the conversation. | Not necessarily a bad thing, given that it was was often like eavesdropping on a particularly dull table at the pub: nameless politicians (seemingly never properly introduced) talking over each other and point-scoring. Even the panel weren’t properly engaged. One of the many men in suits was caught more engrossed in his BlackBerry than the conversation. |
And there were a lot of men in suits, packed behind desks shoulder-to-shoulder, massively underlining how unrepresentative politics is. At one point the ABC ran for more than 20 minutes without a single female voice being heard. (They might indeed have run for longer than that – I got so cross I turned over.) A few women managed to find their way onto screen across the broadcasters, but it was as if producers had thought: we've got one woman anchor, and one woman on the panel (well, if you were lucky). That will do. | And there were a lot of men in suits, packed behind desks shoulder-to-shoulder, massively underlining how unrepresentative politics is. At one point the ABC ran for more than 20 minutes without a single female voice being heard. (They might indeed have run for longer than that – I got so cross I turned over.) A few women managed to find their way onto screen across the broadcasters, but it was as if producers had thought: we've got one woman anchor, and one woman on the panel (well, if you were lucky). That will do. |
Ten seemed a bit better on this front – I might have got them at a lucky moment, but when I switched over it was almost as if women made up half the population. They seemed better in other ways too: using The Project format for the coverage was a clever move. The politics was clear, everything moved along at a fair old pace, things nearly kicked off over refugees, and there were jokes. And God knows, after four hours of election coverage, who doesn't need jokes? | Ten seemed a bit better on this front – I might have got them at a lucky moment, but when I switched over it was almost as if women made up half the population. They seemed better in other ways too: using The Project format for the coverage was a clever move. The politics was clear, everything moved along at a fair old pace, things nearly kicked off over refugees, and there were jokes. And God knows, after four hours of election coverage, who doesn't need jokes? |
Not the ABC, it seems. Australia Votes offered by far the best coverage of results and what they meant, with panellists kept on a rather shorter leash than elsewhere – Bob Katter allowed to monologue on Seven, though obviously not for a full 21 minutes – but there wasn't a great deal of joy in evidence. Which is odd, when there's so much to love about election TV: people realising they're on camera and hastily legging it; deflated balloons and massive plates of sandwiches photo-bombing the candidates; the emotional people who've had a bit too much to drink. | Not the ABC, it seems. Australia Votes offered by far the best coverage of results and what they meant, with panellists kept on a rather shorter leash than elsewhere – Bob Katter allowed to monologue on Seven, though obviously not for a full 21 minutes – but there wasn't a great deal of joy in evidence. Which is odd, when there's so much to love about election TV: people realising they're on camera and hastily legging it; deflated balloons and massive plates of sandwiches photo-bombing the candidates; the emotional people who've had a bit too much to drink. |
Annabel Crabb brought much needed charm – this was, after all, Saturday night TV – proving that serious does not have to mean dry. But she wasn’t used nearly enough. Parked on the far end of the desk, seemingly miles away from main host Kerry O’Brien, she felt cut off from the conversation. It all felt slightly lacklustre, with the vast echoing set not helping much. It needed Joe O'Brien to bring out the graphics to beat all graphics – basically putting himself inside a virtual Canberra chamber in which, strangely, all members sit with their legs crossed uncomfortably – to feel properly engaging. | Annabel Crabb brought much needed charm – this was, after all, Saturday night TV – proving that serious does not have to mean dry. But she wasn’t used nearly enough. Parked on the far end of the desk, seemingly miles away from main host Kerry O’Brien, she felt cut off from the conversation. It all felt slightly lacklustre, with the vast echoing set not helping much. It needed Joe O'Brien to bring out the graphics to beat all graphics – basically putting himself inside a virtual Canberra chamber in which, strangely, all members sit with their legs crossed uncomfortably – to feel properly engaging. |
But while O'Brien was at home in his computer-generated set, poor Antony Green was at times somewhat defeated by his massive touch-screen telly despite his insightful, if garbled, analysis. I'm not sure I ever saw his face in full, so much time did he spend wrestling with his screen. | But while O'Brien was at home in his computer-generated set, poor Antony Green was at times somewhat defeated by his massive touch-screen telly despite his insightful, if garbled, analysis. I'm not sure I ever saw his face in full, so much time did he spend wrestling with his screen. |
But then perhaps playing second fiddle to the graphics is every election night journalist’s destiny – even with the restrained, elegant ABC approach to on-screen diagrams, they still dominate. | But then perhaps playing second fiddle to the graphics is every election night journalist’s destiny – even with the restrained, elegant ABC approach to on-screen diagrams, they still dominate. |
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