What's a sound bite?

The transformation of public discourse into something haiku-esque has been brought about by the advent of television and the 24-hour news cycle.  News stations like CNN are so desperately afraid of losing you to the channel-changer that they pack "the most news" into shorter and shorter time frames.  That puts a premium on talking heads who are able to deliver 8 - 12 second sound 'bites' that don't sound completely idiotic about the very complex issues of the day. 

Example.  What to do about Iraq?  The Republicans dominated that debate for far too long by persuading the country that the Democrats were talking about 'cutting and running' -- something no honorable person easily sees themselves doing.  As a result, we stayed and stayed, and created a situation that commentators in the Arab world can now say with a straight face is worse than Saddam.  We became the villains, worldwide.  We spent a trillion dollars and hocked our country to the Chinese.  We created a generation of Arab youth dedicated to wiping us out.  But we didn't cut and run. 

See the power of sound bites?

But if you're going to be on television, you need to practice reducing the complex issues you think about every day to these hopelessly inadequate 8-second bites.  Otherwise, you risk looking pompous or irrelevant.  Television has reduced our attention spans to that of the goldfish, and as a result, our policies are about as subtle as fish bait.

Ok, enough complaining.  How do you work with sound bites?  You can say something in 8 seconds.  It needs to be colorful, pithy, and present clear opposites.  It's best if you draw on widely current images or expressions to help people get quickly what you're talking about:  "George Bush's foreign policy team has all the brain power of Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears combined."  "In Iraq, we've lurched from one disaster to another.  The current government is the gang that couldn't shoot straight."

If you know you've got a TV appearance coming up, distill what you want to say into 5 phrases or sentences, none longer than 8 seconds.  Then, practice working them into any question you're asked.  Get a colleague to pepper you with questions so you get used to the practice of "bridging" from the question to your bite.  It's all about the practice.  For how to do it, watch the political candidates change the subject as they're asked question after question.   

It's not real discourse, or policy discussion.  It's black and white.  But it catches your attention.  And, unfortunately, it is the way the media runs the world today.   

Comments

[mind]

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