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News Bunny (1996-1999) was a creation of the short-lived UK TV Station L!VE TV , under its publicity-seeking boss Kelvin McKenzie. The basic premise was that during news bulletins, an extra dressed as a giant rabbit would stand behind the news presenter, and mime actions related to the news. For example, good news would be greeted with an enthusiastic thumbs up, while during bad news the bunny would hang his head and look sad. It was a very controversial experiment, as up until this point almost all UK TV news was presented in the same serious manner, and although not in itself that successful, News Bunny helped pave the way for later more relaxed news presentation as demonstrated on Channel 5 and The Big Breakfast. Indeed this impact has been the subject of academic research. (Lachlan, S "Who's Afraid of the News Bunny?: the changing face of evening news broadcasts", Loughborough University Working Paper Number 3, 1999) News Bunny was intended to appeal to the station's target audience of young people, particularly young men, and was part of McKenzie's populist stable of programmes (see L!VE TV entry for details) News Bunny first appeared in January 1996, and over the three years of his life was played by many different people, depending on who was available at the time. Production assistants and producers, such as Andy Clarke {Link without Title} and American interns were called upon to don the famous suit. However it was not necessarily a popular job as the suit rapidly became unpleasantly dirty and sweaty. Despite the channel's poor ratings, News Bunny became a national cult figure. For example, he was mentioned in Parliament {Link without Title} News Bunny appeared with politicians, and occasionally made outside broadcasts. He gate-crashed an official visit by Michael Heseltine to Canary Wharf in 1996, and famously got 8 seconds with Tony Blair News Bunny also stood for Parliament for the "L!VE TV Party" in the 1996 South East Staffordshire by-election, polling 85 votes. In order to do this, a Mirror Group employee had to change his name to "News Bunny" for the purposes of the election. According to an apochryphal story circulating among journalists at the time, during the campaign a stunt went wrong and the hapless hack was arrested for obstruction. As there was a police case pending against him, he was unable to change his name back for some time and had to live as "Mr N. Bunny" for weeks longer than he had expected. News Bunny went off air with L!VE TV in 1999 and the character is now owned by Vauxhall-based Enteraction TV, founded by L!VE's former management team. NEWS BUNNY (2) News Bunny has since become a media term occasionally used to refer to a news presenter, usually female, who has been hired on the basis of entertainment or attractiveness value rather than as a serious reporter. For examples see here: and here [http://www.cjrdaily.org/the_water_cooler/rebecca_mackinnon_pretend_tour.php EXTERNAL LINKS Simon Harris (ex L!VE TV): {Link without Title} Andy Clarke (former News Bunny): {Link without Title} Enteraction TV: {Link without Title} |
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