1 of 1- RadioActive
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Why Does All The News Coverage Of The Jacob Hoggard Trial Do This?
I'm sure there's a logical explanation, but as I tune around watching coverage of the Jacob Hoggard sentencing Thursday (the lead singer of the band Hedley was convicted of sexually assaulting a young woman in a Toronto hotel following a lengthy trial) I've noticed something on every channel.
With little visuals to cover a trial beyond drawings or walking shots of the suspect (a drawback for news coverage in Canada since cameras are not usually allowed in courtrooms here) most of these reports inevitably cut to Hoggard on stage singing or playing an instrument. But in every case, you never actually hear his voice or any of his music. It's simply silent with no sound.
Look, the guy's a creep and deserves what he gets. But why the silent video? Most news producers like to take sound bites to add to the story. Not in this case. The only explanation may be that if they play so much as a single note, they'll have to pay royalties and no one wants Hoggard to get even a cent.
But it certainly looks strange to see a guy strutting around on stage in happier times screaming into a mic, and not being able to hear anything while that scene unfolds.
- newsguy1
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Re: Why Does All The News Coverage Of The Jacob Hoggard Trial Do This?
One explanation is that nobody wants to have his music audible because it might showcase his talent and somehow give him fame and trivialize the crimes he has committed.
Not sure if this is true but I have heard of examples where the achievements of an artist have been played down if they have been convicted of a crime lest his talent by be seen as being praised.
- Tomas Barlow
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Re: Why Does All The News Coverage Of The Jacob Hoggard Trial Do This?
Because it would be distracting.
On Sports Centre they don't leave the play by play audio on underneath the anchor.
- Just a Radio Fan
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Re: Why Does All The News Coverage Of The Jacob Hoggard Trial Do This?
Just spit ballin here but if they used the audio would the stations not have to pay to use it. A payment to SOCAN or what ever the organization for Canadian musicians is.
- RadioActive
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Re: Why Does All The News Coverage Of The Jacob Hoggard Trial Do This?
Tomas Barlow wrote:
Because it would be distracting.
On Sports Centre they don't leave the play by play audio on underneath the anchor.
We used to remove the play-by-play and dub in crowd noise under sports highlights, just so it wouldn't sound dead.
Similarly, if a musician was in the news, we'd play a music video, adjust the BG so the level was very low during the voiceover, then bring it up for a quick bite, then back down again. The script was timed so that it would wind up at a relevant point in the tune. But we always heard the voice of the person we were talking about and if it was done properly, it was never a distraction.
I've been doing it for 30 years and I've rarely seen it vary. In fact, our exec. producer would get angry if it wasn't done that way, and would demand to know why. Right or wrong, V/O Bite V/O was his mantra. (Voice over/soundbite/voice over, for those who don't know the shorthand.) That's what makes the singer's trial viz so unusual.
I'm thinking it's more an issue of having to pay royalties that may be responsible for the sounds of silence. No one wants a cent going to Jacob Hoggard.
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Thread Starter- radiokid
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Re: Why Does All The News Coverage Of The Jacob Hoggard Trial Do This?
Not sure if you have noticed... most stations have cut their music the moment he was convicted. I think on top of worries of having to pay... it feels like giving him more attention, drags the rest of the group into a case they didn't have anything do with, and in today's world, would start a crap storm of complains because they dare play music giving him promo. Had it been something minor, perhaps they would have.. but this a serious case. I'm ok not giving the guy free promo or royalties. They got way too much extra air time with cancon requirements in my opinion long before this came to light.
Last edited by radiokid (October 21, 2022 10:26 am)
- paterson1
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Re: Why Does All The News Coverage Of The Jacob Hoggard Trial Do This?
Personally I never noticed and don't care. So every time any news report uses any music from any artist they need to pay a royalty. I can see if it was a feature story or a full produced segment on an artist for a show like W5 or Nightline, but we are saying even for a news clip.
Both CTV and CBC news networks often use an artists material for bumper music into commercials. Eg. The Weeknd has a show in Toronto and they do a report on the show and interview some fans with some video of the Weeknd performing and some of the audio. Then they go to commercials with their logo and they use 5-10 seconds of one of his hits into spots. So they are paying a royalty for this? Both the audio used in the report and the brief bumper music? Again I am not talking about an artist feature story on a newsmagazine show, but rather a news story of an event like a concert in town.