Dead Cat Newsgathering
A FRIENDLY WARNING FROM SEE THROUGH NEWS
As illustrated in this graphic, See Through News is pleased to announce an addition to the existing lexis of deceased felines.
First a reminder of the first two, both relatively recent, coinages concerning dead cattery that have entered our daily discourse.
The Dead Cat Bounce: a temporary recovery in share prices after a plummet, caused by speculators buying to cover their positions rather than reflecting the perceived value of the stocks themselves.
Deadtcatting: metaphorically throwing a dead cat on a table at the beginning of a meeting as a political distraction technique; introducing a dramatic, shocking, or sensationalist topic to divert discourse from a more damaging topic.
To help with future Wikipedia disambiguation, here's See Through News' definition of the third and latest addition:
Dead Cat News-gathering: covering a video camera microphone with a grey fluffy wind gag (aka ‘Dead Cat’), to confer instant credibility on the person or crew wielding the camera.
See Through News predicts an increasing demand for this phrase, as New Media fills the ‘serious’ news-gathering void vacated by its previous Old Media custodians, as commercial and political pressures erode ‘traditional news values’.
Please not that Dead Cat News-gathering is equal opportunity. Anyone with a video camera, and a Dead Cat, can do it.
If you want instant journalistic credibility, putting a Dead Cat on your microphone may not be what the logicians call a Sufficient condition, but it is a Necessary one, and by far the biggest single Necessary condition.
Some optional extras include:
a general air of confidence
more eye contact and smiling than ‘civilian grade’ when you want to make contact (e.g. interview the public)
less eye contact and smiling than ‘civilian grade’ when you want to avoid it (e.g. deter jobsworths)
a lanyard with something official looking on it
something hi-vis
A demeanour of stressed distraction, eyes focused on the middle distance, with mobile phone applied to ear, when striding past any checkpoint, bouncer or minder.
These optional extras can also be deployed by audio/print media. When it comes to video, a Dead Cat’s yer man.
Note we don’t even call it ‘TV journalism’ any more. Have you noticed how ‘video journalism’ has started to replace ‘TV news’, just as radio journalists are rebranding as ‘podcasters’? It’s happening all around us, and very rapidly.
Like all technology, a Dead Cats is morally neutral. Thus, Dead Cat Newsgathering is neither a Good nor a Bad Thing.
Sure, it can be exploited by unscrupulous chancers dressing up propaganda as objective fact. But it can also be deployed by sincere professionals determined to uphold objective news values, and produce informed, balanced DIY reporting when established Old Media brands are failing to do so.
So next time you see someone filming with a Dead Cat, by all means be sceptical - that’s why we’re writing this warning - but please also keep an open mind.
That Dead Cat could be working for you.
Some practical examples:
Property Ownership: If you want to find out who owns a property, don’t waste your time asking people. Simply put a Dead Cat on your camera and point it at the building in question. You’ll usually find out within a couple of minutes.
Vox Pops: If you want to interview ordinary people for ‘Vox Pop’ person-in-the-street interviews, pop on a Dead Cat and queues will form.
Undercover Filming: If you want to film unobtrusively with attracting attention, simply deploy the Reverse Dead Cat manoeuvre, aka Invisibility Cloak, which instantly switches status from Professional or Amateur.
For 30 years the founders of See Through News used Dead Cat News-gathering, first to generate income for Old Media shareholders (ABC News, CNBC, CNN), and then to run a business (independent documentary production company and broadcast consultancy Litmus Films).
See Through News now uses the same technique, via New Media, to speed up carbon drawdown.
For examples of Dead Cat News-gathering and other exposures of the dirty secrets irresponsible media manipulation (please note STN is not against media scrutiny, only lazy, disingenuous or malicious media coverage), subscribe to the See Through News YouTube Channel, with particular reference to the See Through Vox Pox and How To Live Without Plastic projects.