“Planet” freezes over on the BBC
An article in USA Today called “Another sweeping special when “Planet” freezes over” is a good example of journalism that is effective yet forced at the same time. The article is very short but despite that still packs quite a punch of information, maybe too much in fact.
The article focuses on a new series inspired by the successes of Blue Planet and Planet Earth. The new show, Frozen Planet, is an 8 hour event exploring the icy reaches of the North and South poles. Because it is not set to air in the UK until fall 2011 and in the US until spring 2012, the author of the article decided not to divulge too many actual details about the show (or maybe he couldn’t that many.)
Rather, this article served to start a buzz about the show. And the big buzz the author was trying to create is about the emotional and physical struggles the crew is experiencing over the two years it will take to film the show. By including information about how dangerous and treacherous the job will be the author is using an emotional appeal to try and sell the show to potential viewers. Another use of heavy emotional appeals comes when the author puts a “green” spin of the show and the article. Global warming is a very hot (excuse my pun) topic right now that many people are emotionally connected to. By tapping into such issues the article gains an extra sense of urgency and relevance, making both the show and the article seem more prevalent than they may actually be.
After the emotional appeals the author switches gears and includes technical information about the type of equipment and filming techniques used to make the show possible. The technical part is then followed background information about the successes of similar shows in the past. By including such a wide array of information about the subject the author makes the article seem jumbled. The show itself is still very far off and this article is one of the first covering the subject. Because of that the article seems like a random array of any facts the reporter could get his hands on.
Although the article is effective in creating an initial stir about Discovery’s new endeavor, the lack of organization and direction in the writing makes me think it is just too soon to even introduce the project that is still 4 years away.
