Newsjack - Series 6 Page 49

Quote: DeathbyMonkey @ March 13 2012, 11:30 PM GMT

I know I'm trying to justify a mistake, but as I said I wouldn't dare make fun of a poor soul, and up to this point I didn't think I was - though I am depressingly aware that despite my good intentions that's probably how it read.

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Don't beat yourself up about it.

Think of two circles, one labelled "Things I Find Funny" and the other "Things That Will Get On Newsjack".

The two should overlap like a Venn Diagram (for some, the two circles overlap completely, for others, they manage to get as close to each other as Jupiter and Venus) and in the middle you have the bit labelled "Things I Find Funny That Will Get On Newsjack".

The first circle, only you know. The second circle just needs some basic research. If you listen to Newsjack, or The Now Show, or The News Quiz, or old episodes of Weekending, or The News Huddlines you'll be hard pushed to find a single joke about murder, or anything shocking at all. You should get the terms 'gently mocking' and 'tasteful' tattooed on your knuckles to remind you of this when you are at the keyboard.

I suppose it could be called 'self-censorship' but it's really just tailoring your work to a specific market. You wouldn't send a sketch about a recent murder to CBBC, and now you've realised you shouldn't send it to anything with the letters 'BBC' in it!

Yep I get all that, and it all seems so obvious afterwards, yet as I said I was blinkered at the time. Though something does strike me, you can't satire murder (for obvious reasons) but you can satire a massacre (the Gautamalan soldier getting 6060 years or Syria). It almost feels like that Stalin quote 'one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic' - seems slightly hypocritical thinking to me - or maybe I'm missing the point.

Quote: DeathbyMonkey @ March 14 2012, 8:38 AM GMT

You can't satire murder (for obvious reasons) but you can satire a massacre (the Gautamalan soldier getting 6060 years or Syria). It almost feels like that Stalin quote 'one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic' - seems slightly hypocritical thinking to me - or maybe I'm missing the point.

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True, plus the fact that the further away from the UK the deaths are, then the less offensive they become.

I once read some 'rule' about journalism: 1 British death = 10 European deaths = 100 Asian deaths = 1,000 African deaths (or something like that).

Anyway, enough theorising and get to work on this!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17362643

Quote: StephenM @ March 14 2012, 1:12 AM GMT

I remember a Mock the Week episode after the Beijing Olympics in which Frankie Boyle was talking about Rebecca Addlington. I can't remember exactly what he said but the general joke was about her being ugly. A safe subject but for me a tasteless joke because it was just having a go at a young girl for not having supermodel looks (and ignoring the fact she was the best in the world at her discipline).

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If memory serves, the 'joke' involved the words "back of a spoon" and basically amounted to bullying. In any case, it caused a massive stink and the BBC Trust got involved. As a result of that, the programme's guidelines were tightened further and Boyle left the series. Like others have said, what you may consider funny with your mates in the pub is not the same as what BBC producers consider right for their programmes.

Quote: Jinky @ March 14 2012, 8:46 AM GMT

True, plus the fact that the further away from the UK the deaths are, then the less offensive they become.

I once read some 'rule' about journalism: 1 British death = 10 European deaths = 100 Asian deaths = 1,000 African deaths (or something like that).

Anyway, enough theorising and get to work on this!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17362643

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Is it bad I already thought of a joke involving the word 'neutral' ? Obvs I won't be writing it in, heh.

I do have a weird sense of humour.

Anyway, now the deadlines have all passed, I shall reveal that my 'Jack App' one liners were: 2 alternative takes on Nick Clegg's "literally" comment with a third on Ed Miliband's non-attendance at an NHS rally because he was too ill.

Also did 2 'corrections': 1 on the Catholic church's anti-gay marriage letter and another on the announcement about Damian Hirst's new gallery.

Gosh, this all reads a bit "virtual villagers with pitchforks and torches" doesn't it? We have freedom of speech in this country, and people can make jokes about whatever they choose to.

Although it appears to be a consensus that the topic was unsuitable, I honestly don't think anyone should be critising the joke until they've actually heard it/read it.

Will you be critiquing it DBM? I think after all the discussion its caused, its only fair!

In the interests of clarity, I would just like to point out that the off-the-cuff remark I made earlier in this thread was just that. I wasn't referencing a joke I'd submitted as, like many of us, dead people stories don't occur to me as suitable for Newsjack.

Furthermore, I think Hennell's idea ...

"Maybe after Newsjacks finished (Not sure people would share as much while its on) we should choose a single news topic and all try writing jokes/sketch ideas on the same thing - sharing the thought process that got us there? I always fear some jokes are 'too obvious' then find other people haven't thought of them at all - I'm sure it'd prove interesting."

... is great! I'd be up for that. And, if we said whether or not we'd ever got on the show, it might help answer Blinkered's question too?

Fingers crossed for more lightweight-satire-friendly news this week, eh folks?

Kate

It's not a case of pitchforks etc, people can make the joke, just don't expect it to appear on Newsjack. Definitely not their sort of tone.

Someone this series (can't remember who at the mo) mentioned Whitney Houston in a joke, but it was edited to say Beyonce.

My one-liners were on:-

Venus passing close to Jupiter
Prince Harry in a Fun Run
A Local Community running their own Tourist Info Centre in Cumbria
Police in Moray wanting info on Lost budgies
Nude cyclists protesting in Lima
Armenia withdrawing from Eurovision song contest
Porn site being hacked into
A gas leak at a food processing plant in Cornwall
Ceasefire in the middle east
Trenton, New Jersey's shortage of Loo roll
Creation of Homeless Hotspots in USA
Environment Agency warning Wales not to get complacent over its water levels
Lord Fraser saying that England would bomb Scotland's Airports if Scotland gained Independence.

Jackapps were on:-

Visiting the elderly reduces accidents
A school being banned from Tesco in Kettering
MP's voting to stop further digging into their private lives
AND
REBEKAH BROOKES getting arrested.

I found that with alot of hunting and time, I found a few funny stories.

Still a tough week though.

I remember a Mock the Week episode after the Beijing Olympics in which Frankie Boyle was talking about Rebecca Addlington. I can't remember exactly what he said but the general joke was about her being ugly. A safe subject but for me a tasteless joke because it was just having a go at a young girl for not having supermodel looks (and ignoring the fact she was the best in the world at her discipline).

This joke often gets misquoted. What was offensive was not the suggestion that she was ugly per se, but that she would have to resort to fellatio in order to keep a man.

Quote: Jinky @ March 14 2012, 7:51 AM GMT

I suppose it could be called 'self-censorship' but it's really just tailoring your work to a specific market. You wouldn't send a sketch about a recent murder to CBBC, and now you've realised you shouldn't send it to anything with the letters 'BBC' in it!

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I don't think there is any broadcast media that does jokes about murdered twentysomething women.

Quote: Jinky @ March 14 2012, 8:46 AM GMT

True, plus the fact that the further away from the UK the deaths are, then the less offensive they become.

I once read some 'rule' about journalism: 1 British death = 10 European deaths = 100 Asian deaths = 1,000 African deaths (or something like that).

Anyway, enough theorising and get to work on this!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17362643

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Thanks Jinky, this is essentially why I wanted to test the line - not of taste, but of subject, because their is an unfortunate hypocrisy on subject.

Yeah each to their own. Comedy should have no boundaries, otherwise comedy itself would cease to be. However, it's all about knowing the medium you're writing for. I'm personally not against any jokes - I just won't listen to things I know I'll hate *cough* Jim Davidson *cough*

My one liners included;

The Eurogroup representing Greece at the Eurovision
YES A REBECCA BROOKS LONG FACE JOKE
Homeless people being used as wi-fi hotspots
Tours of the M25
Right to Buy
Prince Harry racing in Jamaica
Excess supermarket goods going to charity (the punchline is sadly obvious)
American bigamists
South Koreans cloning a mammoth
Russians banning homosexual 'propaganda'

So if any of those pop up they were possibly written by me.

Unless they weren't very funny.

And then they were definitely written by me!

Quote: Katie P @ March 14 2012, 10:25 AM GMT

Although it appears to be a consensus that the topic was unsuitable, I honestly don't think anyone should be critising the joke until they've actually heard it/read it.

Will you be critiquing it DBM? I think after all the discussion its caused, its only fair!

In the interests of clarity, I would just like to point out that the off-the-cuff remark I made earlier in this thread was just that. I wasn't referencing a joke I'd submitted as, like many of us, dead people stories don't occur to me as suitable for Newsjack.

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Of coruse I will, in case it was actually offensive (certainly unintentionally) it would be a good lesson for me. And yes, for the most part I agree that making fun of the dead is never right (which again I assert I was not aiming to do). I remember a Bugle podcast that I couldn't listen to because it was half an hour of vitriol celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden (I find the mocking of death just a no go). But as said you can approach a subject that includes murder (say the Gautamalan sentence) on a non-mocking thereof - hence the line testing.

Quote: Katie P @ March 14 2012, 10:25 AM GMT

Gosh, this all reads a bit "virtual villagers with pitchforks and torches" doesn't it?

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No.

Quote: Katie P @ March 14 2012, 10:25 AM GMT

We have freedom of speech in this country, and people can make jokes about whatever they choose to.

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Absolutely. But there are rules about what you can make jokes about on TV and radio.

Always write to the brief. Every time. You might as well learn that lesson now.

Quote: Katie P @ March 14 2012, 10:25 AM GMT

Although it appears to be a consensus that the topic was unsuitable, I honestly don't think anyone should be critising the joke until they've actually heard it/read it.

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It doesn't matter what the joke is. Just picking that topic is enough that it won't have been used. As the producer of the actual programme has already said.

Quote: Katie P @ March 14 2012, 10:25 AM GMT

Fingers crossed for more lightweight-satire-friendly news this week, eh folks?

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Your taste detector might be on the blink but your sarcasm is great, I'll give you that...

Quote: Feeoree @ March 14 2012, 10:43 AM GMT

Someone this series (can't remember who at the mo) mentioned Whitney Houston in a joke, but it was edited to say Beyonce.

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On this basis I hope that I won't get blacked marked for it - as they used a death joke - just changed it away from that subject. But my final question before I shut up on this - should I apologise to Newsjack in my next submission? Or would that be worse? I just don't want to cause offence of cause myself problems in the future - your input as usual will be very much apreciated.

Anyway I'm shutting up about this now.

My one liners -
The Gautamalan solider sentence
The Western Super Mare Sand Sculpture Competition
The Hobbit Pub getting sued
Rebekah Brooks arressted
Nick Clegg does what his mother tells him
[Ahem] the one above
And LSD cures alcoholism (correction)

Ok, ok, ok - one last thing RJ - you seem to be approaching this with a pure insight into what the show wants, I don't feel judged for a mistake. Which is all very helpful - so by-the-by - thank you