Animated “News”
With videos on the Tiger Woods car accident and Leno vs Conan, animated news stories from Apple Daily in Taiwan/Hong Kong have become a viral hit. These videos, however, are just a fraction of the daily feed of “animated news” provided by media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英). While extremely popular across in Asia, the “news” videos have faced criticism from Western news agencies, such as CNN and the Washington Post.
As news worthy events occur, Apple News collects facts while a team of designers and animators quickly “fill in the blanks,” blending in actual photos and videos with conjectured animations. The result: a very sensational, entertaining, but hypothetical retelling of an event. Lai, however, defends his approach: “Is the whole part accurate? No. What is important is that we are keeping the integrity of the news. You know, if I’m talking to you and the animation comes out that I’m in a blue sweater instead of a red one, the detail is wrong, but it does not affect the integrity of the news.”
What some of these videos are sure to include, however, are the gory details. With many of the animated new stories covering attacks and accidents, Apple Daily has also faced criticism for being too graphic for television (for children). Then again, the nature of these stories is probably what makes them so popular and viral, with the Conan-Leno video at over 480,000 views on YouTube.
While it may not be all that surprising how much it’s caught on in Asia, whether or not it’ll be making its way across to the American 10 o’ clock news will be another news story to watch for.
Apple Daily YouTube Channel
Apple Daily Taiwan (蘋果日報)