Newscasters mimicking bearded dragons?

May 6, 2006 7:07 AM

It seems like all local TV news anchors have that goofy habit of bobbing their head up and down, to and fro, while they're talking, as if to punctuate the text they're reading. Is this something they are taught in broadcast journalism school, or just an unspoken convention?
posted by yalestar to media & arts (17 comments total)

I don't recall my local anchors doing this, I'll try and pay closer attention tonight.
posted by Atreides at 7:11 AM on May 6, 2006

Mm. I've seen this and wondered the same thing.

(Not an answer, but an affirmation.)
posted by limeonaire at 7:40 AM on May 6, 2006

I have it on good authority that most of the repeated inanities of broadcast journalism are, in fact, taught in school, and by "good authority," I do mean friends of mine who remain in attendance at such schools.

For example, the "dip." You've heard this before. Imagine that, in what I type next, the bolded bits are in a lower-than-average pitch, and that the italicized bits are higher-than-average:

"Tensions are running high here at the firehouse."

If you don't say this phrase with that sort of tonal loop-de-loop, you're told to "work on your dip."

...

And then a broadcast journalism major from another, better school is going to tell me that this is bunk, and that's fair, too.
posted by Sticherbeast at 7:55 AM on May 6, 2006

I always thought that it just happened naturally, I'm pretty sure that I do it too in a subtle way, more so when infront of a camera. I doubt that anyone is taught to do this.

Try talking to your monitor, and trying to be as clear as possible with all your words.
posted by Sonic_Molson at 7:55 AM on May 6, 2006

this is a little bit off topic, i think, but i can't really tell from your description so i'll share it anyway:

when i was in high school we had a tv news - style show, and it was set up and show just like a regular newscast. there were several cameras, several anchors, and when changing from one story to the next, they would switch cameras.

since the anchors couldn't know exactly when the director in the booth is going to hit the button to switch cameras, there's always this problem of looking unprofessional when the camera switches and the anchor takes a moment to react, only looking to the new camera a half-second later. you know the thing i mean.

so, the way we were taught to do it was, at the end of a story, the anchor would look down at the papers in their hand. the person running the board would switch cameras, and then the anchor would look up at the new camera. this was both to give the impression of looking at the "next thing" on their little news sheet (which is crap, because you just read whatever comes next off the prompter), and to avoid that eye delay. each camera has a light on the front so you can tell which is the active one, and you can see it in your peripheral vision while you're looking down.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 8:24 AM on May 6, 2006

These stereotyped behaviours (I love Sticherbeast's characterisation of 'the dip') are really striking if you're not used to them. To me, as a Brit moving to the US, it gave me the strongest feeling that the anchors were completely making it up.
posted by beniamino at 8:44 AM on May 6, 2006

It could be neuro-linguistic programming *cough*choke* sorry, I had a bit of jargon stuck in my throat.

Salesmen and bartenders have known for ages that you can gently suggest to a listener to agree with a statement if you nod while making a statement. It has to be subtle, something that the listener will pick up on, but not get distracted by.

If there's a drink that the bar's owner wants to push, a bartender will nod slightly when saying that drink's name while reciting the list of what's availible. Perhaps the newsanchors are using the same technique to get buy-in from the teevee audience.
posted by Mozai at 8:51 AM on May 6, 2006

I was taught to do this in both high school drama class (imitating anchors) and in university journalism class.
posted by acoutu at 8:58 AM on May 6, 2006

I went to J-School -- though I didn't do much if any broadcast journalism. Still some of this stuff came up and if I recall, the idea is that if you don't move a little while talking you end up looking very robotic and unnatural on camera -- and it's off-puuting to the viewer. As for the bobbing up and down, I'd guess that's just anchors trying too hard.
posted by Heminator at 9:15 AM on May 6, 2006

I asked a friend of mine who has a degree from Emerson, the communications school here in Boston. She reports that it looks awkward to keep your head still and people training to be talking heads are taught to move their heads subtley. She reports that it isn't an exact science-- they're not given patterns or anything (but she says the eye-drop when turning from one camera to the next is known as "The Dip.")

Some people are subtle enough that it seems natural and you don't notice if you don't remember to look for it. Others, like the new sideline reporter for the Red Sox, shake their heads like they have Parkinsons. Jesus, she sucks a lot.
posted by Mayor Curley at 9:48 AM on May 6, 2006

Salesmen and bartenders have known for ages that you can gently suggest to a listener to agree with a statement if you nod while making a statement. It has to be subtle, something that the listener will pick up on, but not get distracted by.


In car sales, this is called baby-ducking.
posted by joannemerriam at 10:09 AM on May 6, 2006

I've noticed "the dip"; it seems like a fairly natural and overt scene-change cue to me.

There's another head-wobbling thing that people often do on TV, though, which is just weird (and which is what I thought yalestar was referring to). People sometimes do it in real life as well. I think of it as the "SoCal head wiggle" because it seems especially characteristic of people from southern California ... but it might just be that I associate people who seem to get their mannerisms from TV with SoCal.
posted by hattifattener at 11:33 AM on May 6, 2006

The suggestive sales thing is called the Sullivan Nod, but that's not what he's talking about here. If it's not always associated with switching cameras, but is associated with changes in vocal inflection, I reckon it plays a similar function in body language as the aforementioned vocal modulation does in speech: something to dispel the impression of the newscaster as a person who just sits there and reads crap off a monitor. Some of the anchors on CNN do it too.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 12:34 PM on May 6, 2006

Stone Phillips is the worst. I noticed it like 10 years ago - he does this thing where he says a sentence and then leans and nods his head to the left. Then he says the next sentence and nods his head to the right. It seems like it is supposed to convey sincerity and empathy, but it ends up just looking completely overdone.
posted by gt2 at 12:57 PM on May 6, 2006

I'm confused. The first person who mentioned "the dip" was talking about a change in voice intonation. A few other people chimed in about it, but they all seem to have meant looking down during a camera change. So, what is "the dip"? Voice thingy or head thingy?
posted by Marla Singer at 1:44 PM on May 6, 2006

So, what is "the dip"? Voice thingy or head thingy?

According to my source, it's an eye thingy.
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:43 PM on May 6, 2006

I worked for several years at a television station, and I'm fairly certain those head movements serve a dual purpose:

1. Making the delivery seem less "robotic" (as has been mentioned already)

2. Disguising the back-and-forth movement of the anchor's eyes as he reads the teleprompter.
posted by beautifulstuff at 8:58 PM on May 6, 2006