One of the most defining news reports ever was broadcast 30 years ago today
Jason C
Posts: 31,336 Forum Member
✭✭✭
On 23rd October 1984, millions of people sat down to watch the BBC Six O'Clock News and were taken into a world of momentous human suffering as soon as Michael Buerk started speaking his opening paragraph:
"Dawn, and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside Korem, it lights up a biblical famine. Now. In the 20th Century."
Over the following few minutes, his heartrending narration and the magnificently stark pictures shot by Mohamed Amin gave viewers a chillingly clear glimpse into the horrors of the Ethiopian famine - and their reports would not only go down in the annals of news broadcasting history but, more importantly, would begin the whole fundraising movement which led to Band Aid and Live Aid, raised millions of pounds for the famine victims and ultimately saved untold amounts of lives.
Their report also led to a defining change in news reporting, whereby reporters and correspondents no longer felt confined to describing stories dispassionately and were able to convey to a much greater degree the actual emotion and human feeling of a disaster or a tragedy - which some may say has become too prevalent in modern-day news broadcasting.
Anyway, the catalyst was created on this day three decades ago, and I thought I'd make this thread for people to give their opinions and memories of watching this most notable of news reports.
"Dawn, and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside Korem, it lights up a biblical famine. Now. In the 20th Century."
Over the following few minutes, his heartrending narration and the magnificently stark pictures shot by Mohamed Amin gave viewers a chillingly clear glimpse into the horrors of the Ethiopian famine - and their reports would not only go down in the annals of news broadcasting history but, more importantly, would begin the whole fundraising movement which led to Band Aid and Live Aid, raised millions of pounds for the famine victims and ultimately saved untold amounts of lives.
Their report also led to a defining change in news reporting, whereby reporters and correspondents no longer felt confined to describing stories dispassionately and were able to convey to a much greater degree the actual emotion and human feeling of a disaster or a tragedy - which some may say has become too prevalent in modern-day news broadcasting.
Anyway, the catalyst was created on this day three decades ago, and I thought I'd make this thread for people to give their opinions and memories of watching this most notable of news reports.
0
Comments
What struck me on watching the introduction to the report is back in 1984 there was no sign of what has become, these days, a UK news standard of
"This report contains images that some of you might find upsetting"
The full horror of what was happening in Korem was allowed to tell it's own story without the need for a 'decency' warning before hand.