Re: More future just arrived.

"Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
Martha Adams <mhada@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This morning's Public Radio included a piece about a news program
named "Alex." Alex is a complete computer TV newscaster whose
speech is a little off yet but the basics are all there.

I've never understood the point of "talking heads," human or
artificial. TV news is better than print news in only one way: It
can show what events *look* like, rather than just describing them.
Some news events, such as 9/11, are intensely visual. Most, however,
aren't. And whether they are or aren't, what's the point in watching
someone reading the news, when you can simply read it yourself?

Among the many traits of humans is that we're social creatures. Some
people prefer to see news from people on a screen, rather than read it
themselves, as it feels more like social interaction. Some who are alone
but don't like being alone, feel less alone if there's a news show on.
As well, if the news reader strikes the viewer as 'an authority figure',
they may be more likely to watch them, thinking the news from them has
more truthiness. Also, a great deal of news is heavily editorialized. I
realize that this is true of text news as well as visual news, but many
like to be told how to interpret the news, or to at least see how others
are interpreting it, and visual news includes vocal stress, gestoral and
expression clues as to how the broadcaster is reacting to the news..

Karl Johanson


.

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