Watching the news makes people sick: a silly story and a moral lesson
Now here’s a funny and quite symbolic story for you:
Viewers complained of dizziness and nausea as a £550,000 rebrand of the BBC’s news operation, featuring a swirling red globe, was broadcast for the first time. BBC presenters struggled to keep pace with a day of upheaval as the News 24 channel was rebranded BBC News in an attempt to bring “coherence” to the sprawling operation.
Viewers were most exercised by the design changes to the BBC newsroom and the flashy new graphics. Unhappy bloggers compared the changes to the 2012 London Olympic Games logo, which attracted widespread derision.
The response echoed the outcry when the BBC overhauled its weather map three years ago. One viewer complained that the new swirling globe induced dizziness. Others found the motion “nauseating” and said that it could prompt epileptic fits.
It’s kind of funny, when you think about it: TV viewers in England complaining about a BBC news rebrand - claiming it makes them sick.
One would have thought most of the news itself would do that - and it is quite telling that people don’t complain or get up in arms about the news and the state of the world itself but merely the presentation of these things.
That tells you all about the human species that you need to know, really.
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