How does the television inform?

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Movie
Original title How does television inform? Circumstantial evidence
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1975
length 134 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Bernward Wember
script Bernward Wember
production ZDF
camera Bernward Wember
cut Bernward Wember
occupation

How does television inform? A German documentary film by Bernward Wember from 1975 is evidence of circumstantial evidence . In the ZDF project, the Berlin media scientist analyzes the effect of audio-visual information in news programs , documentaries and information films . Furthermore, the author presents alternatives that achieve a measurably higher level of information for the viewer.

content

In this documentary, Bernward Wember examines on three different levels, using the example of reporting on the Northern Ireland conflict , how television informs the viewer: 1. Image analysis , 2. Text-image context, 3. Production constraints.

The film is divided into 12 units with the following abbreviations:

  1. Introduction (11 min.)
  2. Image analysis (18 min.)
  3. Orientation reflex (5 min.)
  4. Excerpt (6 min.)
  5. Camera movement (10 min.)
  6. Image content (14 min.)
  7. Mandatory expiry (7 min.)
  8. Induction effect (6 min.)
  9. Image-text scissors (21 min.)
  10. Contamination (9 min.)
  11. Surface - Backgrounds (11 min.)
  12. Ireland model (12 min.)

The author assumes that news like the one made in Tagesschau and Heute is largely exhausted in hectic and routine. In the last unit, Wember tries to develop alternatives with his own television report on the Northern Irish conflict.

background

In the self-critical ZDF production, Wember reflected on the processing of audio-visual information in television. The circumstantial evidence included previous analyzes, especially those from his film Objective Documentary? (1972), and current, methodical measurements of the information content actually conveyed in television reports using the example of the Northern Ireland conflict. Contrary to the conviction of those responsible for the program, the communications researcher had shown that the viewers were relatively poorly informed despite numerous TV reports, news programs and documentaries: In Wember's test, 80% of the viewers rated the TV programs presented to them as "very informative and clearly understandable". In fact, however, the control measurement showed that only 20% of the test group understood and remembered the information to some extent.

Against the background of this question, Wember formulated his theory for the sustainable elucidation of complex relationships in the genres of documentary film, information film as well as television report and news broadcast. He critically described that the causes for the loss of information can be attributed little or not at all to a lack of motivation on the part of the viewer, but rather to be found on the part of the television makers themselves. Wember discovered reasons for this in the design itself during the processes of shooting and post-production of information films.

For example, Bernward Wember coined the term image-text scissors for contradicting contents of the image to the spoken text, including comments . In addition, he analyzed fast-paced and attractive image montages as effects that were only effective for a short period of time; although they caught the viewer's attention at the moment, they were little or not suitable for his actual understanding of contexts; Wember used the metaphor of the "water heater" for this.

From his analysis, Wember made a plausible conclusion that complex interrelationships that could be made with film-technical means such as For example, a short cut frequency is aimed at a high entertainment value, merely suggesting to the viewer that he is informed, but is hardly capable of sustained recording. Wember drastically criticized this eye-tickle as "fogging the viewer" and predicted a habituation effect that could lead to a "contamination of the world of thought" from dealing with the information medium of television based on the highest possible audience ratings .

Against the background of his knowledge that "film" per se eludes a neutral, value-free presentation, Wember asked the editors and authors to refer to their own positions in the film that are clearly recognizable for the viewer and to name them accordingly. Wember countered the criticism of a partial or one-sided reporting with the legal obligation to maintain balance within the entire full program in the sense of the internal plurality defined by media politics .

In his own film, Wember drew conclusions from his analysis by dispensing with counterproductive image-text scissors and supplementing real film recordings with explanatory graphics and diagrams. In order to understand complex interrelationships, the director also used the means of redundancy .

How does television inform? A circumstantial evidence was convincing in its stringent argumentation and was received with great attention in specialist circles as well as by the interested television audience. Until further notice, Bernward Wember's analysis belongs together with his subsequent film Poisoned or unemployed? (1982) on the most revealing films about the communication of information on German-speaking television.

Reviews

“In 1975 he [Wember] went one step further: In“ How informs television ”he took on ZDF's Northern Ireland reporting, saw manipulative and false reports. And this time he was already developing approaches to a possible alternative: how image and sound should relate to one another, how television programs should be made so that, for example, conflicts become more transparent, reality can be understood, television becomes more permanent, more memorable. "

- W&M, media policy : Hamburg 5.1982

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