Everyone in the nation who has a public persona needed to come to terms with the pandemic which struck in March. We have all been alert to the home decorating styles of some notables, and have even had national discussions regarding the books which line the shelves of pundits and reporters. Over time people on camera have improved their location for air time and adapted nicely.
Not so much for Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.
Early on in the crisis, it was easy to understand why the ‘green screen look’ was needed so to keep information flowing from the mayor. A green screen background allows for a person to seemingly be in front of something for a broadcast. Early in the crisis, the black outlined ‘aura’ around the mayor’s image on television was understood.
But on May 28th to see the same technical glitches as Rhodes-Conway spoke in front of yet another green screen makes Madison’s city government look as if we do not have one tech person employed in the entire bureaucracy. She was addressing a desire by small businesses to add more table space to our sidewalks this summer.
The mayor should realize it is fine to be broadcast from her home. There should not be a pretense that she is somehow not doing what so many others in this city are doing. Being safe and in many cases working from home. She does not need to appear to be at someplace she is not. By pretending she is, and having the technical glitch of the green screen, makes Madison appear we are not ready for prime time.
Enough already. Just do the broadcast from in front of the mayor’s bookshelves. That will make for positive feedback from a city of readers and booklovers.
And so it goes.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 