The Anchor Behind The Curtain

Transparency has become a required characteristic in every type of organization from education to business to government. This phenomenon is the sociological equivalent of what trendwatching.com calls “Transparency Tyranny” (http://trendwatching.com/trends/transparency.htm), and it has already entered mainstream media. Take a look at the recent changes in television news broadcasting - Brian Williams on Saturday Night Live – Katie Couric’s public colonoscopy. The news organizations are keenly aware that their newest generation of viewers simply will not trust a row of talking heads behind a desk. We must get to know them – to see them as people first and reporters second. Exposing their personalities, making their human qualities transparent, instills trust.

The physical layout of news sets illustrates transparency quite literally. Gone are the days of a half an hour worth of tight shots of the anchor posed behind the desk in front of a solid mauve colored backdrop reading the news. Today, entire control rooms are exposed in a sea of natural light and glass. In the background people are walking from desk to desk, others typing at computers. We see guests entering the studio through the back hallways, giving a quick nod at the camera. Weathermen are perched on balconies high above the set in their own glass nest. I recently saw an interview conducted partially while walking the hallways between NBC and CNBC, finally setting down at the CNBC table to discuss economics with their experts. What is the connection between NBC and CNBC? Now you know quite literally.

I recently saw a broadcast during which the anchor faced with a question to which he didn’t know the answer, casually called on a colleague from behind her desk located out of view of the set. She walked over to the anchor desk, sat down, was acknowledged by the anchor as the expert, and answered the question. All of this was on camera and in real time.

It is easily identified that pragmatism and distrust have sculpted our current reality. There are, however, other forces in play that contribute to our desire for transparency. The “why’s” and “how’s” that were once unimportant and inaccessible (you may choose the chicken and the egg), can now be looked up, researched verified, analyzed, compared, and re-verified. The Internet and other advances in technology have provided access to information that was once known to only a few. Until recently, we had been forced by practicality to put faith in those who claimed expertise. Now, we have the means to bypass faith and instead, if we choose, seek the source. We have come to demand it. The curtain must come down and the man behind it better be ready to explain his actions. A cameo on Saturday Night Live couldn’t hurt either.