Oh my Newsnight - results
Congratulations to Joe Blanks who - if you've been following this you'll have deduced - has won our Oh My Newsnight competition with his film about Malawi (which you can watch here).
In the spirit of the competition I don't know too much about Joe or how his film got to be made, but he appears to be just 16 and the film was the runaway winner among our viewers. I thought it was terrific - a powerful story, snappily produced, and the idea of letting British schoolchildren taste the food that goes to their African counterparts did more to humanise the issue of aid than many a professionally produced news item.
My personal favourite though was Matthew Bristow's extraordinary piece about the making of cocaine in Colombia. Some viewers grumbled that it should have been disqualified on the grounds that it had already appeared on YouTube before we announced our competition, but I think that would have inappropriately nit-picking. Matthew's film had the rare distinction of showing something I suspect most people didn't already know and had certainly never seen on TV - quite an achievement. It was also a bold idea to produce it without any commentary, making the subtitled list of the ingredients that go into making cocaine even more chilling.
Thanks to everyone who entered and took part in the discussion, the voting and indeed the controversy. I'm bewildered that anyone could seriously suggest that allowing our viewers ten
minutes out of the hundreds of hours of airtime Newsnight produces each year to tell us what they think is important is somehow a negative development. At the very least we've had a great debate about the value of user-generated content, which has surely been the media story of 2006.
So would we do it again? I hope so, but that'll depend on whether there's demand for Oh My Newsnight 2, and a fresh supply of films worth showing). .
Comments
Theres no demand from me!
Please don't do it again. It's about as vibrantly valuable as that famous play by Stevie Smith: "The Loneliness of a Long-Distance Physicist".
"So would we do it again? I hope so, but that'll depend on whether there's demand for Oh My Newsnight 2"
No thanks. Do your own job.
Paxman said it best.
Matthew Bristow's film on Cocaine in Columbia
It is so easy to manufacture our own death; this film demonstrates the stupidity of mankind.
A people produce a killer drug so that they can live. Is it the poverty that drives its production or the dealers/gangs that depend on its addiction to maintain their control and wealth in the region?
This is the most useful cooking programme I have ever seen; they produce a very different cake to taste. I suggest one that the whole world should avoid the taste of. Mr. Bristow offers cement as the simile but he is wrong. Cocaine does not bind our society but rather destroys it. It is no foundation stone.
In Snow White the wicked witch gives her that rosy apple to end that beauty; this short film powerfully offers the same message. It is easy to destroy our beautiful world.
Please, no. It was a mistake to include is part of Newsnight. I'm all in favour of giving user-generated a spot, but not as part of Newsnight. Prehaps bring back "Video Nation"?
Just wanted to say THANKS to the Newsnight team for helping to spread the fab message of how Mary's Meals is feeding the starving children in Malawi (and elsewhere). Joe's just a young boy himself but he has done a beautiful thing here...the work shown in his little movie is changing our world for the better .... so THANKS again and Merry Christmas to one and all !!
No demand from me either!
Though I didn't agree with the winner, I thought that the whole experiment was excellent. The quality of the semi-finalists was surprisingly high, much more so than I expected.
I have to say, I'm surprised about the amount of negative kickback this got.
Oh the arrogance of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, Mr Baron says he thinks, he cannot understand,he is amazed..all used to express his astonishment that people do not think this latest dumbing down of Newsnight is worthwhile.
It amazes me, astonishes me that the 'Editors' blogs are all so anti-viewer/listener.
I only thank god that I live in Holland and can watch real news on Dutch, German, Belgium and even French TV without any of the dumbing down that seems so prevalant on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.
It also very interesting to gain a perspective of balanced media versus that version spouted by the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, in Europe the news actually shows not just the Guardian/³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ version of events but also the majority version, it bemuses me to watch a current affair on European tv which may actually show one of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s left-wing causes in a negative light (wich is quite normal)and then watch the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ version after, it is a known fact that the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is not impartial and is anti-semetic, pro-terrorist in all it's dealings with the Middle East.
Only yesterday in my local regional paper was a discussion about the 'Bolan' report and the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s attempts to stop it entering the public domain, in Holland this would not be possible as a public funded organisation is actually answerable to it's public...
What a bore. Give up. Seeing as you seem strangely committed to this experiment just conduct it online next year. It doesn't warrant any broadcast airtime that's for sure.
While I admire your efforts to ensure NN remains contemporary and progressive this is not the way Peter.
Leave the audience participation to radio which has more time.
Sure there's merit in going 'behind the lines' to get fresh, unique or raw vignettes courtesy of viewers largely unencumbered by the restraints of 'real' journalism but NN already does a good job of leading the debate and exposes (that's why Panorama is now so irrelevant).
Recognise instead that you can have a legitimate additional NN channel online, serve up more video, increase the participation of producers and presenters, and increase cross promotion of the continuation of the debate online. As you've seen with the blogs -- the viewers do add value -- but there's a time and a place.
Peter, you should do it again! User-generated content is rapidly becoming a norm in media. Any programme ignoring the potential of its audience to create content will slump. Also it must be encouraging for you that the winner was 16. His idea to get children in the UK to taste the food they eat in Africa was a very effective idea. Better than many journalists who would have resorted to a piece to camera. As the for the detractors, there is an "off" switch on your TV or the chance to pop out and make a cup of tea. In two minutes you should get back in front of your 92 inch LCD flat screen in time for Jeremy to slate the news headlines.
Why is there no obvious coverage of the recent floods in Indonesia?
The confirmed death toll in Aceh and neighbouring North Sumatra province has remained around 100 in recent days, but figures for the displaced, many of whom lack basic necessities, have climbed to total some 400,000.
Please no - User Generated Content means we all end up pandering to the lowest common denominator, and all quality goes down the (you)tube.
Keep Newsnight for news, information, and educated/informed comment. In fact, keep all news programmes free of this rubbish - I really don't care what anyone else thinks of the news piece, I can form my own opinion thanks!