"And Now for a Word" discussion

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 2X15, "And Now for a Word". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:
ISN Special Report about a regular day on Babylon 5.

Extra reading:
The article for "And Now for a Word" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[kathrid.livejournal.com]

In addition to my replies above I thought I'd input about the journalistic qualities shown.

Overall, this show is surprisingly unbiased against B5. Although there are obvious signs - if you know what to look for - of the Clarkists pressuring ISN into being more pro-Clark, there are plenty of pro-B5 voices shown throughout.

The overall effect is of a journalist attempting to remain as objective as possible when being pushed into a Clarkist position. She is mostly fair, but makes sure she puts the boot in good and hard when she feels she has to make a Clarkist point. It's worth noting that most of those occasions - the Delenn interview, the Mars comments being the notable ones - are those when Clark's views agree with the majority Earth view. Anger against the Minbari and the Marsies are well documented in Season 1. She probably feels that it's not breaking her integrity to represent those commonly held views, where pushing Clarks more controversial ideas would.

[widsidh.livejournal.com]

I think this is partly to contrast with The Illusion of Truth a couple of seasons on, which I'm sure JMS was already planning in some detail at that point.

We see how the portrayal ahs changed from an apparenlty quite decent one, albeit with a discernible bias (but then again, no journalism is completely unbiased) to one which only retains a superficial semblance of objectivity.

The two episodes are interesting in themselves (I've never been able to make up my mind whether or not I cactually like them), but I believe they are really a pair.