MSNBC blows HD: Update…
Earlier today I speculated about whether Primetime would include the vertical graphical boxes or not. Well Newscast Studio has updated its earlier report to note that Primetime will lose the extra clutter and adds a screengrab of Morning Joe that also is missing the vertical graphics boxes.
This is really dumbfounding. During the newscast hours, or “TelePrompTer news reading” as Phil Griffin calls it, you get the full graphical whammy. The argument for doing this is to present the viewer with the most information as possible. I disagree in as much as the increased graphical clutter offsets whatever gains are made by adding more information to the screen. But that’s the argument anyways. A more cynical argument, which I do not necessarly think is a reason here, is that the camera is locked down on the newsreader so let’s toss in a bunch of moving graphics to give the TV image more punch.
But here’s the irony. It is precisely during primetime and Morning Joe, where things are more talk than news, that the viewer could use extra information in the form of graphics boxes. And yet it is primetime and Morning Joe where these widgets are dropped.
What this says to me: The widgets are a gimmick. Their purpose is not to give the viewers more information because they are not used throughout the day but only during live newscasts (and I would presume during tape as well but we don’t know that yet). They’re not “needed” for parts of Morning Joe or MSNBC Primetime (don’t know about Hardball or Ed Schultz since I haven’t seen HD grabs of either and I don’t know if MSNBC is considering those shows part of its primetime HD plan) even though people aren’t necessarily getting news during those shows to the degree they would during MSNBC’s newscasts. In my opinion, this totally undermines the argument for having them in the first place.
Take a look at the Newscast Studio grabs. The one at the top, taken from Morning Joe, is clean and in nice widescreen HD. The others…well when I saw them the first thing that popped into my head was Bloomberg TV and Headline News from several years ago. I find it instructive that both networks eventually dialed back their graphical clutter quite a bit. It’s an example that MSNBC should have learned from before they went this route.
Update: A reader sent in this grab from the Ed Show and it’s in full HD with no vertical boxes…
June 29, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I agree with Griffin’s approach. The extra info on the side during Dayside headlines is what I expect from that format, ala The Live Desk and Situation Room. I prefer less clutter for the newstalk shows so I can focus on the conversation.
Man I hate those white bars, especially the top one.
June 29, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Bad examples Joe. The Live Desk has really dialed back on the boxes and The Situation Room isn’t broadcasting in HD.
June 29, 2009 at 2:17 pm
And honestly do you really gain any information from those boxes. In the business world yes. But outside of that I find the information redundant or inadequate.
June 29, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Especially bad examples because I don’t have HD, so I’m relying on screenshots to know what you’re looking at. To clarify my POV, I hate all the extra garbage, including the bottom crawl, on all the cable nets. I’m siding with Griffin on having less during the talk shows because I think it’s more out of place there than during headlines. Nevertheless, it’s all clutter, especially Lockup ads. Thank God I can’t see those.
June 29, 2009 at 2:58 pm
MSNBC’s white bar at the top is a deal breaker. I will not stay on that channel for longer than 3 seconds if its still there. (Even for Norah so you must know its got to go.)
And, I demand you “can” the donkey that made that decision at once!