| Newswipe with Charlie Brooker | |
|---|---|
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| Format | Television Review |
| Created by | Charlie Brooker |
| Presented by | Charlie Brooker |
| Theme music composer | Nathan Fake remixed by Fortdax |
| Opening theme | You Are Here (Fortdax Remix)[1] |
| Ending theme | You Are Here (Fortdax Remix)[1] |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Zeppotron |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC Four |
| Picture format | PAL (576i) |
| Original airing | 25 March 2009-present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
Newswipe with Charlie Brooker is a British news review programme broadcast on BBC Four written and presented by Charlie Brooker. It is similar to Brooker's Screenwipe series which is also shown on BBC Four. A first series of six episodes ran between 25 March 2009 and 29 April 2009. A second series has been confirmed, due to air in January 2010.
Format
The aim of Newswipe is to expose the inner workings of news media, just as Screenwipe does to television in general.[2]
The series is a comic, thoughtful and scabrous digest of recent news events. Newswipe also looks at the brilliant or preposterous way the news is presented to the public. Experts are also on hand to pick apart certain stories and analyse the news media's obsessions.
Charlie Brooker comments: "This is new territory for me: I'm no current affairs expert. Just like, I suspect, many people, when I tune into the news I often feel like I've wandered into episode 389 of the world's most complex soap opera. So it's also about me trying to make sense of a bewildering and often bloody stupid world."[3]
Like Screenwipe, much of the programme is filmed in Brooker's living room, with shots of him sitting in front of his TV (and laptop) with remote in hand talking to camera, occasionally bellowing insults or sarcastic comments at whatever happens to be shown at the time, interspersed with shots of shows.
Episodes
| Episode | Air date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 March 2009 | Brooker discusses television news's coverage of the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, particularly focussing on the gimmicks used to present "the crunch" to audiences, "The Week in Bullshit", which looked at Pope Benedict XVI's comments on birth control, the overblown coverage of Muslim protestors in Luton, and later the damagingly sensationalist reporting of the Winnenden school shooting. There are also authored segments about the PR industry's present influence over journalism with a case study on the NatWest Three by Nick Davies, a poem on bankers by Tim Key and Danielle Ward attempts to rebrand the economic downturn as "moneygeddon". |
| 2 | 1 April 2009 | Brooker looks into the gradual change of the news's treatment and usage of public emotion and popular opinion, beginning with the period following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and leading to the death of Jade Goody. This episode examines how during certain events (particularly the heavy snowfall experienced in the UK during early 2009) the news catered more to trivialities as opposed to genuine current events. Also examined is how a change occurred in British politics in the previous half a century, and how politicians are now largely concerned with using their influence to strengthen their careers and their earnings, rather than representing their constituents. This was covered in a segment by political journalist Peter Oborne which frequently had to be censored for legal reasons. |
| 3 | 8 April 2009 | In this episode, Brooker examines the evolving role of anchors and newscasters in the media, from their positions as simple "news-readers" in the early days of television to their current position of more serious and driven journalists. Also examined is the role of anchors as both ideologues (such as Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity on Fox News) and approachable, familiar figures on early morning television. A tongue-in-cheek piece was also produced by filmmaker Adam Curtis, which charted how the news became an excellent tool for the radical left of the 1960s to motivate politicians to action, before becoming what Curtis now describes as a simple tool of "oh-dearism" which drives audiences to apathy and helplessness. |
| 4 | 15 April 2009 | Brooker covers news presentations of the G20 conference and its focus on resolving the economic downturn, paying particular attention to coverage of Barack Obama. Later in the episode, Brooker examines the wave of protests that surrounded the G20, and how in the ensuing media coverage, the message of the protestors was lost (as pointed out by Labour politician Tony Benn) and instead became secondary to the violence and public damage which took place. Brooker also seriously notes how despite the apparently exhaustive coverage, the death of Ian Tomlinson was missed entirely by the larger news broadcasters, and required the work of an investigative journalist to be brought to light. Also included is a piece by Ben Goldacre which discusses the media's portrayal of the supposed link (later discredited) between autism and the MMR vaccine. |
| 5 | 22 April 2009 | Because Brooker had suffered an apparent injury and the production team had been over-stretched, this episode became a compilation episode (this was originally intended for the final programme). |
| 6 | 29 April 2009 | Brooker begins with a history of graphical aids in news broadcasts and their current status as garish, CGI animations rather than displays of useful information - particularly during events such as elections. In the "This Week in Bullshit" segment, Brooker covers the reaction to comments made by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the Durban Review Conference, as well as a lengthy section on the 2009 United Kingdom Budget. In other pieces which look into the dwindling influence of traditional newspapers, Peter Oborne discusses the relationship between the media and government in the UK, while Nick Davies (author of Flat Earth News) illustrates the increased use of the "dark arts" of computer hacking, phone tapping and bribery by Fleet Street journalists to gain evidence of ill-behaviour in government. |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Charlie Brooker |
References
- ^ a b Fortdax on MySpace. Retrieved on 27 March 2009.
- ^ Brooker, Charlie (21 March 2009). "Breaking news broke my mind". The Guardian (Guardian Media Group). http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/19/newswipe-charlie-brooker. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
- ^ BBC Press Office (29 January 2009). "Charlie Brooker's News Wipe for BBC Four". Press release. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/01_january/29/newswipe.shtml. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
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