Poets Add Rhyme and Reason to BBC Nightly News

LONDON —  It’s just past 9 a.m. and the newsroom already is abuzz here at the British Broadcasting Corp.

The producer, director, researchers and writers of tonight’s newscast are gathered around a conference table, holding their first meeting of the day. A video of the BBC’s morning news is playing and a list of the top story prospects is written on the blackboard.

“The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced at 11,” says executive producer Peter Symes, reading from a sheet, “and it says here Mandela and De Klerk are the favorites.”

Symes turns to the writer assigned to the story. “Let’s talk about how you’re going to handle it poetically,” he says.

“Maybe something in quick couplets,” the writer responds.

The phone rings. Symes picks it up and answers tersely: “Poets’ News.”

England, the land of Shakespeare and Chaucer, Byron and Keats, offers the poet recognition in ways not generally found elsewhere.

For those who are universally lauded--and dead--there is the possibility of spending eternity with writers of similar distinction in that pantheon of English literature, Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.

On a slightly lesser scale, poets dead or alive, British or foreign, may be given the honor of having their work displayed prominently before the traveling public. London’s subway system runs a highly regarded poetry-on-placards series called Poems on the Underground.

And, unusually, though probably not uniquely, some of the biggest newspapers in Britain publish a daily poem, offering contemporary poets a readership vastly greater than their works might ordinarily attract.

So it should come as no surprise to find poets presenting the nightly news on British television.

Story: Confusion over Somalia.

Visuals: U.S. soldiers, Somali fighters, grim images of poverty and starvation.

Voice of poet Simon Rae:

We came to see the starving fed

And ended with a pile of dead

The victims turned and bit the hand that tried to feed them

Understand that conundrum if you can

And now we need another plan

We’re reinforcing for a war

From which we know we must withdraw

As part of a BBC celebration of poetry on TV earlier this month (“Poems on the Box”), the mammoth broadcasting company brought together a team of program-makers and poets to create a nightly five-minute program, “Poets’ News.”

The project, aimed at providing an alternative view to traditional coverage, proved so successful, it now appears likely to become a regular feature on the non-commercial channel.

Participating poets suddenly found themselves working to tight deadlines, writing and rewriting verse to fit video footage flowing in from around the world.

They addressed the biggest stories of the day: Somalia. Northern Ireland. Soccer hooligans. Bosnia. Racist attacks. Unemployment.

Some of the poets took to the streets to film stand-up reports. Others provided voice-overs to the footage shot by regular BBC news crews.

Story: National Back Pain Week.

Visuals: Poet Roger McGough, resembling a TV weatherman, stands in front of a weather map of a human body.

McGough:

Let’s start with the head, where tonight

A depression centered over the brain

Will lift. Dark clouds move away

And pain will be widespread,

but light . . .

Symes, a documentary producer for the BBC, had been working with poets for 10 years when he was given approval to create the “Poets’ News.”

“I think you can do things in verse that you can’t do in prose,” he says. “I think poets have a very interesting perception of life. They have a different perspective to offer.”

Among Symes’ film and verse collaborations was a documentary for the BBC, written by poet Tony Harrison, about the death threats facing author Salman Rushdie. The film attracted nearly five million viewers--substantial ratings for any current affairs program in Britain, let alone one in verse.

“That established us,” says Symes. “After that, people couldn’t say it doesn’t work.”

All told, he’s made more than a dozen films in verse, each 40 to 60 minutes long, on a variety of topics such as a murder case, racism in London and public housing projects.

“That led me to think poetry can cover anything,” says Symes.

So when the head of BBC2--the BBC’s out-of-the-mainstream channel--agreed to plans for the weeklong “Poetry on the Box,” series, Symes chimed in with an odd request.

“I said, ‘We’d quite like to do the news,’ thinking he’d say no,” recalls Symes. “He said, ‘You’re on.’ He called my bluff.”

Symes then had to elicit help from the regular BBC news department, which agreed to supply advice and video footage and allow staffers from “Poets’ News” to attend meetings where BBC news coverage is planned.

Symes also had to pick his team of “reporters.”

“It was tricky,” he says. “I wanted a balance. I wanted men and women and different types of poetry technique.”

Story: Holland defeats England 2-0 in soccer, dashing England’s hopes to compete for the World Cup in 1994--and ending the likelihood of English soccer hooligans running rampant in the United States.

Visuals: Game of table soccer being played.

Simon Rae:

... There’s a silver lining to this cloud

America will be excused our crowd

of flag-swathed yobs doing battle on the street

So they’ve good reason

to be glad of this defeat.

One irony for those appearing on “Poets’ News” is that their poems are likely to be their fastest-written and least-crafted work, but probably will bring them their largest audience--hundreds of thousands of people as opposed to, say, dozens.

“That’s part of the deal, isn’t it?” says Rae. “If you want to be precious about it, you don’t come in.”

But some writers seem to thrive under deadline pressure. Writing faster than she ever has before, poet Carol Ann Duffy produced a powerful piece about new unemployment figures-- Think of a number/Double it/Seasonally adjust it now. . . . “ --that skillfully combined words and pictures to enhance the message.

She concluded her indictment against Britain’s Conservative government with the refrain Think of a number while the picture showed the “10” affixed to the prime minister’s residence at Number 10 Downing Street.

Benjamin Zephaniah, who grew up in Jamaica and is probably the first-ever BBC reporter in dreadlocks, spent two hours writing his poem about racism before going out to film it. The words to his poem suggest that he is talking about tension between blacks and whites. But on-screen pictures of recent newspaper headlines reveal he is discussing attacks on English “immigrants” in Scotland.

He believes outlets like “Poets’ News” are essential. “We need an alternative view of the news,” he says. “Not just what editors say.”

Zephaniah, who has taught poetry in the United States, believes a program similar to “Poets’ News” could work there. “I think ‘Rap News’ would be a great thing for America,” he says. “I’ll be the first to volunteer.”

Story: Racism against the English in Scotland.

Visual: Poet Benjamin Zephaniah doing a stand-up in front of a graffiti-covered wall at a public housing project.

Zephaniah:

Scapegoat needed

Scapegoat needed

They must find someone . . .

”. . . This is Benjamin Zephaniah, BBC ‘Poets’ News.’

“I will update you when I know more.”