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[ The Video Agenda ]
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It's not just what you say
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by Mark J. Pescatore
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We live in a hypersensitive society. With such pervasive political correctness, it will come as no surprise to me when future events begin with a prerecorded disclaimer apologizing for any and all offenses that may or may not take place during the occasion.
Words are very powerful. (So apparently are special interest groups, but that's a discussion for another time.) As such, it's not just what you say but how you say it that counts.
Capt. Boyd Long, commanding officer, Northern Division, San Diego Police Department, chose his words very carefully when his department recently deployed video cameras in the Mission Beach area. Tasked with earning his community's support for the project, Long told me that he avoided the negative term "surveillance cameras," opting instead for "security cameras."
One way to get your community to accept your agency's use of CCTV technologies is to reduce "Big Brother" arguments. You're never going to eliminate them entirely, but you can minimize the intensity of the opposition by using the right words.
No one wants to be under surveillance -- it conjures up images of covert activity with nefarious motives -- but almost everyone wants more security. Well played. Long also characterized the video system as a "force multiplier," a great phrase that more law enforcement agencies need to adopt.
Long knew what he wanted to say and said it well.
In contrast, the Denver Diversity Advisory Committee should have been more prudent during the scriptwriting process for Laughing Matters -- Think About It, a diversity training video that documents the improper behavior of a character named Andy. A collaboration with Denver 8 Television, the city and county's PEG channel, the video was viewed by close to 2,000 government employees.
But in late November, the video was pulled. Turns out the video's sexist and racist antagonist was a white male, and Dennis Supple, a white male city employee, complained that the Andy character promoted racial stereotypes.
Denver councilman Charlie Brown wrote a letter to Mayor John Hickenlooper and city diversity director Susan Maxfield expressing his concerns about the video as well. "As we all know from personal experience, insensitivity is an equal-opportunity failing," he wrote. "How can city employees have meaningful discussion after seeing only a Caucasian male making insensitive comments?"
There was a short sample of the video posted online (it has since been removed) and it was very well produced, so my compliments to Denver 8 TV from a production standpoint. However, from a content standpoint, the project would have been better served with a script that didn't make Andy the sole offender.
In other words, what the Denver Diversity Advisory Committee had to say probably had merit, but how they chose to say it suffered -- ironically -- from a lack of diversity.
Mark J. Pescatore is the editor. Contact him at mpescatore@nbmedia.com.
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