"This is beyond James Bond" -- ABC News
The large-voiced baritone delivers the news over top a series of images, video, and audio announcing recent developments connected with the U.S. raid on bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. It's hard to argue with the media's authority as such, especially when it's packaged so convincingly and deliberately.
Revelations that the military used highly classified "stealth" helicopters are sure to challenge much of the media as it tries to tell a story without actually having much to go on. At the same time, speculation and pontification often appears to be the default mode, especially given the immediacy and competitive nature of news today.
In the mix, the screen moves off B-roll showing people scrambling around the crash site to an intriguing treatment which attempts to explain how the secret helicopters work. First, we see the city bin Laden lived in prior to his death -- night shot that does little more than serve as "wall paper." Images, text, and audio are overlaid on the darkness of the city. As the report moves along, neon green rectangles, the color of night-vision goggles, appear along with the sans serif-all cap-text identifying the standard and stealth varieties of helicopters. It's important here to notice that the place of the text is on a diagonal -- a treatment that suggests tension and movement. Finally, a box containing sound waves are used to illustrate how "stealthy" the machines really are.
The main point here is that when the media, mostly TV, lacks visual support it can easily generate it with great persuasiveness and authority. In the end, the objective seems that the media assumes that information and entertainment are one in the same.