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would you interview Osama?

1) In the U.S. this is an easy question to answer. First, what are the appearance clauses in her contract? Many reporters have them. Next, we turn to feedback from viewers. Complaints? Support? Has her likability quotient gone up or down? Finally, ratings. If her ratings are fine she stays, if they drop she's gone.

2) Run a disclaimer at the end of the show that points out that Sacha Barron Cohen is a comedian who was playing a character. Don't forget to send a copy to Andy Rooney.

3) It's a one hour interview not a speech right? I would run it in segments over probably two shows. I'm not losing $50 million in ad time for him. Unless the network cuts me an extra half hour.

b) Hell no. You want to be treated like a diplomat or a head of state or royalty, you act like it. Our employees are not pawns. You don't trust us and we don't trust you.

c) Osama's not going to stay in the same location the interview was held at and he probably won't allow the reporter to travel to the location unblindfolded.


More interesting question: If you were director of the CIA and you knew this reporter had been taken to an interview with Osama and you were able to find the location while the interview was being recorded. Does your Predator launch its Hellfire knowing the reporter and the camera crew will get taken out as well?
 
DaChew said:
More interesting question: If you were director of the CIA and you knew this reporter had been taken to an interview with Osama and you were able to find the location while the interview was being recorded. Does your Predator launch its Hellfire knowing the reporter and the camera crew will get taken out as well?
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How hot is the reporter?
 
Cleon said:
Hijab != Burka

With a hijab, you can see her face, she just covers up her hair.
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Oops, thanks for the correction, Cleon. Given the hairdos these days, it might be an improvement in the news casts! :D

DR
 
brodski said:
So, a woman reading the news with a veiled face is somehow less effective at reading the news because of that veil? How?
Is a man wearing a turban and a full beard less effective at reading that same news?
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Yes. You lose a couple of things in the news production, on TV, with a covered face. On radio, it would not matter.

People are hired for their face, their coive, and the trustworthiness factor of their image. Wearing a mask does not inspire trust and confidence, and hell, you don't really know who is behind the mask.

In reading TV news, image matters, presentation matters. Ever notice that personal appearance is meticulously managed in on TV news casters these days?

If she don't want to show her face, TV is the wrong business to be in.

DR
 
DaChew said:
More interesting question: If you were director of the CIA and you knew this reporter had been taken to an interview with Osama and you were able to find the location while the interview was being recorded. Does your Predator launch its Hellfire knowing the reporter and the camera crew will get taken out as well?
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Collateral damage for 50, Alex. :D

PS: recommend the upgraded Predator, and use a 500# bomb.

DR
 
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andyandy said:
You can read their opinions here http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,1885170,00.html

What do you think?
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This link requires a registration, and I'm feeling too lazy.

Here's a follow-up question I wish they had asked the reporters.

"If you interview Bin Laden and it turns out later he used your interview to send a coded message to carry out a terrorist attack, would you gut yourself with a large-bladed knife?"
 
Luke T. said:
This link requires a registration, and I'm feeling too lazy.
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here it is................

The panel:
Sarfraz Manzoor, writer and broadcaster
Stephen Whittle, former BBC controller of editorial policy
Jon Snow, presenter of C4 news
Lorraine Heggessey, chief executive of Talkback Thames

You have hired a female newsreader, who is Muslim. She's a great success. A few months later, she returns from holiday in Lahore wearing a hijab that she insists on wearing on screen. What do you do?

snip

Stephen Whittle: "At the BBC, the first thing I would do is talk to her very carefully about the perception of wearing the hijab. A newsreader should not let themselves get in the way of a story by wearing things that makes the audience wonder about the newsreader's own position on a story. Therefore, it is something I would not want to allow, without it being properly discussed beforehand.

Fiona Bruce did wear a cross recently on a news programme, which was probably a mistake for the same reason as above."

Jon Snow: "My instinct is against all symbols. However, I want the absolute best and if this woman is pretty damn good, I would allow the hijab. I think that in all conscience this is a decision she has taken, I am going to respect it. But on the veil, no way, that is totally unacceptable."

Sacha Baron Cohen records an episode of Room 101. It's a great show. He nominates kosher food, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bible for inclusion in Room 101. Are you happy to broadcast this?

SM: "It partly depends on whether he is being funny or insulting, and whether people can take offence. The reason why Jerry Springer - the Opera was criticised wasn't because it was blasphemous, it was about whether there was a justifiable cause to be offensive. For me it would be the motives behind the explanation."

Lorraine Heggessey: "My immediate answer is yes, if it is funny. So much would depend on the context and the comedy of it. "

snip

Late breaking news: he also includes the Qur'an. Are you still happy to broadcast it?

LH: "If you let him put the Bible in, you can hardly not let him put the Qur'an in. There are Christians who would feel offended by the Bible being included, and if he was to put the Qur'an in also, he would be hitting out at three of the major religions in Britain."

SW: "The place that the Qur'an holds within the Muslim faith is not the same as the Bible holds for most Christians or kosher food holds for most Jews. Muslims believe the Qur'an is literally the word of God. Christians believe the Bible is divinely inspired. You would have to look at the context, because it may be possible to do it in a way that is acceptable, but it has to be thought through very carefully."

Osama bin Laden agrees to an interview. The only pre-conditions are that it will be an hour long and you'll broadcast the entire interview. Do you agree?

snip

LM: "I would lie. I would agree, but wouldn't keep to the conditions. You could not transmit an hour-long, unedited interview with Bin Laden without knowing what the content is."

JS: "I agree, absolutely 100% - biologically, anthropologically. I don't give a damn what he says, we've never seen him alive, we've never been able to film him since 9/11. This is in the public interest. Even if somebody wants to pull the anti-terror glorification or anything else on us, I'd go to jail, thanks."

As the interview ends Bin Laden insists on keeping the reporter "as a guest" until the interview is broadcast, so that he can ensure there's no back-pedalling on the conditions. Do you agree?

LH: "I would not broadcast and try to mediate to get the reporter released. We wouldn't give in to blackmail by Bin Laden any more than we would to anyone else, but we would be doing anything we could to secure our reporter's release. I would not broadcast until they release the reporter. Because if it is something Bin Laden really wants to be broadcast, we have cards in our hands too."

snip

JS: "I would try and get my man out, unless it's Jim Gray, my editor, and then I'd leave him there and come home."

Do you inform the appropriate anti-terror authorities of the interview before broadcasting it - including the location where it took place?

LH: "I think I probably would."

snip

JS: "I under no circumstances would inform the authorities. I'm not above the law, but we have a pact, I am there on the viewers' behalf. And their behalf does not include snooping around telling the authorities where anyone else is. Once you start down that track, you might as well go the full nine yards - go in armed and be prepared to kill him, or take the murky shilling and become a spy."

· The dilemmas were devised for the BBC by Robin Kent and John Bridcut.
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Darth Rotor said:
Oops, thanks for the correction, Cleon. Given the hairdos these days, it might be an improvement in the news casts! :D

DR
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Heh. Good point. :D

Hijabi can actually be very attractive and classy, believe it or not. Of my Muslim friends--which are oddly numerous for a white Jewish boy--only a couple are so observant as to wear hijabi, but I have to say it looks really good on them.
 
1) You have hired a female newsreader, who is Muslim. She's a great success. A few months later, she returns from holiday in Lahore wearing a hijab that she insists on wearing on screen. What do you do?
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Replace her. Pretty girls who can read a teleprompter are a dime a dozen.

2)
a) Sacha Baron Cohen records an episode of Room 101. It's a great show. He nominates kosher food, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bible for inclusion in Room 101. Are you happy to broadcast this?
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Sounds boring as heck. If it makes money, I'm cool with it.

b) Late breaking news: he also includes the Qur'an. Are you still happy to broadcast it?
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Sounds boring as heck. If it makes money, I'm cool with it.

3)
a) Osama bin Laden agrees to an interview. The only pre-conditions are that it will be an hour long and you'll broadcast the entire interview. Do you agree?
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No. The only thing I want I want to hear from Osama is "Arrrgh! gurgle, gurgle, gurgle" after his throat is slit. Really, does this piece of garbage ever have anything interesting to say?

b) As the interview ends Bin Laden insists on keeping the reporter "as a guest" until the interview is broadcast, so that he can ensure there's no back-pedalling on the conditions. Do you agree?
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I didn't agree to the interview. Here Osama... you keep the grenade, I'll keep the pin.

c) Do you inform the appropriate anti-terror authorities of the interview before broadcasting it - including the location where it took place?
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If I knew where he was, I'd be on the phone before the interview I never agreed to.
 
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