MSNBC lately is like this annoying kaleidoscope to the ears lately with this new set of theirs. About a month or two ago they made this big deal about debuting a new, fancy set that’s so shiny I’m literally blinded whenever I try to watch the news. I get it, it’s new and in all truthfulness it’s rather nice looking. One problem. Their mics are all out of whack, and you’re constantly subjected to the sounds of people talking in the background, horns, bells, whistles, dings, dangs, dongs, and the occasional bang. If the point is to show that they’re a busy news organization, then fine, you’ve done your job. Unfortunately, you’re also making me think you have some kind of wacky psycho carnival going on in the background.
While I’m on the subject of news stations in general, could we do something about all the technical glitches? Particularly CNN? Rarely do I bitch about CNN but there’s something I completely forgot I wanted to bring a couple weeks back and now is as good a time as any. Could you fix your technical glitches? Sure, you’re cable news, occasionally there’s going to be a problem. Anyone that watched them the night of the last democratic debate on their station however knows exactly what I’m talking about. One flip up after another. You’ve got Wolf Blitzer expecting a video to kick in at the very start of the live debate and nothing happens. So he’s left standing there like an idiot for 15 seconds and let me tell you, if there’s one thing reporters aren’t good at, it’s staring at a camera without anything. Eyes shift, sweat beads form in seconds, eyes look down then quickly to the right, mouths twitch. After the debate, we’ve got Anderson Cooper telling us he’s going to show us a video that never pops up. This happens multiple times through the one hour post show, and I’m half expecting Anderson to start begging for someone to switch him to a video, any video. He goes to a live feed at one point to discuss a topic with two others and as he’s talking, the other girl is talking to the guy totally oblivious to Anderson while the guy she’s talking to is able to hear him, yet Anderson doesn’t seem to notice the girl doesn’t notice him talking so he keeps right on talking. Confused? So was I.
So for Anderson Cooper’s sake CNN. Get your video and audio equipment in check will you?
