'Truthiness a la Taiwan' called into question by unsigned editorial in Taiwan's most prestigious English newspaper

-- Does Jimmy Lai lie?

TAIPEI -- The Taiwanese news animation shop responsible for the
animated Tiger
Woods car crash video and other "news-in-motion" gems has been slowly
reinventing the news wheel and there's no
end in sight. Next Media
Animation (http://nma.com.tw/) – a 300-person shop run by Hong Kong transplant Ben
Wong and specializing in
cute and quirky animations of breaking news
events – is set to conquer the internet.

But wait! A local English-lanuage  newspaper in Taiwan (inexplicably
named the ''China (sic) Post'' even though it is headquartered in a country
called Taiwan) recently took the animation house to task for
stretching the line between truth and fantasy.

"[Next Media Animation] has become famous -- or should that be
infamous? -- across the world for its often quasi-fictional depictions
of big news events," the China (sic) Post said in an unsigned
editorial.

It then slammed Asian media mogul Jimmy Lai's animated operation for following
Yankee TV comedian Stephen Colbert's "truthiness" dictum that "truth
is what we want to believe" and not
necessarily the truth.

"In that respect, many of [Lai's] videos are nothing more than than
truthiness a la Taiwanese."
Was the China (sic) Post saying that Jimmy Lai lies?

Lai, a suspender-sporting and savvy media man, was born in communist China
and raised in British-controlled Hong Kong. He now
splits his time between China-controlled Hong Kong and free and
colorful Taipei. Inside China proper, he
is 'persona non grata' due to his political views, and he cannot even
visit his old hometown to pay filial piety respect to his ancestors
there. He would be
stopped at the border. No free-thinkers allowed.

Lai's news-in-motion animation mantra? Filling in gaps in the news for
people around the world. His modus operandi: short, quirky
animated news stories
using CG "art" to depict the latest headlines.

Sometimes you have to use
your imagination, sometimes you don't.

Lai's news animation business took off when the New
York Times wrote about of the infamous Tiger Woods car crash video, helping
it become a viral internet sensation.

Sometimes cultural gaps come into play, according to Mark Simon at Next Media.
When an animation of Sandra Bullock
was commissioned by an American TV network, Bullock ended up more like
Korean-American pro golfer
Michelle Wie than the Hollywood star.

Artistic licence? Sure. One animation explaining a spat between
Yankie late-night TV hosts began quietly, before
the celebrities morph into superheroes who begin beating each other
with chairs.

Simon has a good way to explain the mother ship: "We are the History
Channel on speed!"

Some call this Maybe Journalism -- "a best guess at the
news as it might well have been, rendered as a video game and built on
a bed of pure surmise", as Noam Cohen at the New York Times put it.

Xeni Jardin over at BongBong just can't seem to get enough of this stuff,
blogging in her signature gushing manner: "If only this news org would offer an
entire 24-hour channel of this
stuff! I don't care that I can't understand the dialogue in Chinese --
all I need
to know is in that sweet, sweet CGI."

The NMA videos now come online with English subtitles, tapped in by Western
expats in Taipei.

One punter put NMA's genius this way: "This is, by far,
the greatest act of journalism in human history.
I wish they made one for the Hindenburg disaster."

Meanwhile, the unsigned editorial in the China (sic) Post wondered out
loud "where the line between news reporting and gossipy sensationalism
should be drawn." Opining that NMA's videos "frequently stray close
to, if not beyond, the boundaries of good taste," the newspaper
pointedly attacked Lai's team for making a 33-second AV (animated
video) of notorious and convicted to life in prison UK murderer Stephen Griffith that depicted his
murder of a young woman "in graphic detail."

"West Yorkshire police were openly critical of Next's dubious
opportunism," the China (sic) Post said of the Griffith gore, adding
that a spokesman for the Yorkshire police said: "This video is in
extremely poor taste, totally insensitive to the families, and we have
asked that it be removed immediately."

Take that, Jimmy Lai!

POSTSCRIPT: Someone who knows what this is all about whispers in my OS ear just now:

''The China Post? You're the only person in Taiwan  who reads that stupid rag, Danny. I take them as seriously as I take their circulation claims....BS!.......It is the worst English-language newspaper in a foreign country bar none. The Taiwanese editors are ignoramuses!
Look, that the KMT-led govt  is getting their lackies to come at APPLE MEDIA and attack Mr Lai  is no surprise. Freedom House is moving Taiwan down the ladder on press freedom for a reason...And the IPI just took Taiwan to task as well...
I think I would take the collective reporting of the free press rather than a very very bad hit job, by a pro-China KMT-funded news paper in Taipei...that calls itself the ''CHINA'' POST  when it is not even *in* CHINA. Just goes to show how dumb they are.''

Sign me, Sick of that Rag and LOVE JIMMY LAI's NMA!

=============

pps

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/editorial/taiwan-issues/2010/12/25/284972/Next-Media.htm

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/print/284972.htm

Next Media Animation — true to 'truthiness'

Saturday, December 25, 2010
The China Post news staff

Next Media Animation (NMA) recently launched a new series of its
world-renowned video animations entitled "Modern Morality Tales." For
anyone who has watched the online broadcasting company's previous
efforts, it might be questioned if "morality" is the appropriate word
to use.
Next's films are always as visually alluring as the Grand Theft Auto
game series and usually feature X-rated scenes involving sexual
assaults, murders and robberies that can be downloaded to cell phones
through Chunghwa Telecom, but the organization's loose adherence to
the truth is often on show.

The clips might be the best practical expression yet of American
television comedian Stephen Colbert's creative concept of
"truthiness."

The coined term refers to the truth that a person claims to know
intuitively "from the gut" without regard to facts or logic.
Truthiness can be further described as something that "seems like
truth" or the "truth that we want to believe."

"Truthiness is 'What I say is right, and (nothing) anyone else says
could possibly be true.' It's not only that I feel it to be true, but
that I feel it to be the truth. There's not only an emotional quality,
but there's a selfish quality," Colbert told The Onion's A.V. Club in
an interview in 2006.

In that respect, many of Next's films are nothing more than truthiness
a la Taiwanese.

The organization has become famous, or should that be infamous, across
the world for its often quasi-fictional depictions of big news events.

NMA, the brainchild of Hong Kong tabloid tycoon Jimmy Lai, however,
claims that CG animation is the response to the changing fortunes of
the news industry -- what should editors do when no photos are
available?

When Tiger Woods had a car accident at his Florida home last year,
there were no photographers or reporters, but NMA's CG animated
version of events managed to attract more than 3 million viewers on
YouTube. Although news came after the facts, the animation process --
featuring Mrs. Woods chasing her husband with a golf club -- aimed at
filling in the blanks for the audience.

What really happened between Mr. and Mrs. Woods that night has never
been made public, but NMA's film has become so lodged in the
collective consciousness that many now believe it to be the truth.

The films are hugely popular, but frequently stray close to, if not
beyond, the boundaries of good taste.

Earlier this week, British serial killer Stephen Griffiths was jailed
for life for hunting down and murdering at least three women in
Bradford, England. The self styled "Cannibal Killer" has never shown
remorse for his crimes, and even boasted to police following his
arrest, "I've killed loads."

Only weeks after one of Griffiths' victims met her unimaginably
terrifying end, Next had unleashed a 33-second video depicting her
murder in graphic detail. West Yorkshire Police was openly critical of
Next's dubious opportunism, with a spokesman saying, "This video is in
extremely bad taste, totally insensitive to the families and we have
asked that it is removed immediately."

NMA's cartoonish portrayal of Griffiths made him look like a modern
Jack the Ripper - another British serial killer who haunted the
streets of Victorian London, brutally mutilating and killing
vulnerable young women. The parallel would have delighted Griffiths
himself - a lonely obsessive who dreamed of achieving notoriety by
entering the morbid world of murder folklore.

Serious news organizations constantly wrestle over which issues are in
the public interest, and which are not. As Griffiths begins his prison
term, we might reflect on how much of that thought process NMA went
through when it decided to commission the film about his case.

According to NMA's Creative Director Mark Simon, these videos are
managed by a top notch editorial staff ensuring the news is the focus,
but many of its efforts make one wonder about where the line between
news reporting and gossipy sensationalism should be drawn.

In the meantime, we would humbly suggest that NMA's "Modern Morality
Tales" series is renamed "Modern Truthiness Tales."

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