The recent discovery of a Taiwanese news organization called Next Media that has been recreating recent current events and news stories with 3-d model dopplegangers that act out the events has drawn scorn and criticism from US news organizations. US media companies claim, such as CNN in this article, that the lines between fact and fiction, and the reporting of "real" news, is being blurred by these computer-generated images that claim to represent actual events. Next Media's most famous creation was a Tiger Woods scandal animation, where the company created Tiger's SUV crash using 3-D models, animation, and voice overs.
Yet, I am surprised that news organizations in this country like CNN, FOX, and MSNBC are not looking towards themselves when they cry "foul". Our most popular "news" outlets consistently use shocking visual graphics, alarmist headlines, and carefully chosen musical cues to twist and skew news stories in the hipe of attracting an audience and drawing out emotion. Is this practice any different than Next Media's 3-D representations of the news stories themselves? And while I find the whole idea of 3-D dopplegangers portraying the news, at least the Taiwanese news station seems to be simply following the story they get, and not spinning it to match their own ideals.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/30/taiwan.animated.news/
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