Kara Swisher

Recent Posts by Kara Swisher

Viral Video: Is Tiger's Crash as a "News" Videogame Good or Bad?

tiger2

It’s not pretty, but it is hard to avert my eyes from the bizarre video report from a Taiwanese television news station that uses computer-generated images–some purely hypothetical–to re-enact the car crash of golfing legend Tiger Woods.

Like some Sims game gone awry, it even shows his wife, Elin Nordegren, chasing Woods’ car with a golf club.

The video was the talk of Twitter last week, but I am not sure whether such faux representations of how news might or might have happened is a good or bad thing.

Or is it just entertainment?

One thing for sure: You cannot look away from it.

Here’s the video:


comments so far. Add yours.

  • bradwilliams

    Oddly hypnotic. For a nation that's almost as obsessed with golf as it is with animation, the Tiger saga is just too good limit to meatspace. I find it less offensive than those “re-enactments” they gin up for 2nd-tier celebrity & crime documentaries.

  • Jim Hassinger

    Speaking as a former TV news and current affairs guy, the tool of being able to use animation to make certain aspects of a story is tempting, but also very dangerous. If it were done by my old newsroom, there'd be a big “REENACTMENT” on this footage, and there would have to be eyewitnesses and written police reports and the like, and the animation would strictly follow that text. This has no warning, and follows no reputable account, just tabloids, gossip, and (ugh) its digital counterpart, Twitter. So that's my opinion. The ability to illustrate aspects of a story can be very useful: say it's two testimonies in a criminal trial, and you show what must have happened according to two people, that sort of thing. But the ability to simply show rumors as if they were fact? Not so good.

  • Fred Hamranhansenhansen

    So bad it's good.

  • rococo911

    These people have no decency reenacting Tiger Woods car crash. I honestly think that the media should at least temper their hunger for sensational stories, if not learn to respect people's privacy. I think Tiger's auto insurance quote doubled with this crash, but this is his last worry. The footage this Taiwanese television showed is not entertaining nor precise, such mockery should be forbidden.

  • JST Books

    Before you make car accident claims for compensation, two criteria have to be fulfilled. Firstly, that you have indeed sustained a personal injury, and secondly, that there was a negligent driver whose lack of care caused those injuries.

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