Following the success of Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe (a show in which Mr. Brooker lambasts current TV programmes with scathing analyses) BBC Four commissioned a spin-off series called Charlie Brooker’s Newswipe, in which Charlie takes a satirical look at the news media.
The Idea Behind BBC's Newswipe
The show features Charlie Brooker and his trademark acerbic wit with a hilarious, thoughtful and mostly pretty cynical rundown of current news. The aim of the show is to expose and make fun of the internal workings of news media, just as Screenwipe did for TV in general. As well as Brooker's musings the show also features experts giving reasons why certain handling of subjects is inadvisable and analysing the various obsessions of the media, and in turn, the public.
Brooker said: "This is new territory for me – I'm no current affairs expert. Just like, I suspect, many people, when I tune into the news I often feel like I've wandered into episode 389 of the world's most complex soap opera. So it's also about me trying to make sense of a bewildering and often bloody stupid world."
The Result
The result is both very entertaining and really quite thought-provoking, and has been met with even more attention than Brooker’s previous televisual offerings. Fans of Brass Eye should get a kick out of Newswipe, and there are some aspects of the show that are very similar. In fact, it’s worth remembering that Charlie was involved in writing one of the shows most controversial episodes.
The first episode of Newswipe introduces the idea behind the show and focuses largely on a topic we’ve all been hearing about – the global financial crisis. One of the highlights of the show is Charlie giving a very comprehensive, fast-paced explanation of how the credit crunch came about before asking the question; “Now, did you follow that? No, because you’re a rational human being. Global economics makes less sense than me going ‘blahbulubbleuh’”. Charlie is brash, rude, crude, sarcastic, and often quite aggressive but it's hard not to love his confidence and energy.
Another interesting highlight is a psychologist explaining that one of the worst things for news companies to do following a high school shooting is to give it extensive media coverage, explaining that these events are regularly followed by one or two more cases in response to the attention given to the initial perpetrator.
The show makes some important points without ever getting too preachy or serious, and remains hilarious without missing the point. Overall, incredibly entertaining.
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