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Clip description
Members of the CNNNN news team (Craig Reucassel, Julian Morrow) report breaking news on a high-speed car chase in Los Angeles.
Curator’s notes
CNNNN’s parody of real US 24-hour news channels draws attention to the techniques such formats use to convey authority. The urgent pace of editing and discussion, constantly scrolling newsbar, crosses to ‘experts’, weighty language and even the set design are all evident in this clip and convey the sense of large volumes of information processed and presented by an authoritative, detached source. Yet, on CNNNN, the content is absurd ('You’ve been watching this chase for three minutes now’), effectively drawing attention to how much the format itself communicates, whatever the content.
There is also a parody here of media bias and, in particular, sensationalism surrounding terrorism, with the hilarious discussion about the sandwich. The application of the phrase ‘the scenario we’ve long feared’ to both ‘terrorist’ and to ‘turkey on rye’ situations also takes a welcome dig at clichés and hyperbole in newspeak. Entertainingly, Reucassel doesn’t miss a beat as he updates the scenario’s status, nor does he lose his authoritative tone.
