"We have newsreaders behaving like actors, lowering their voices if it's a sad story, as if we didn't know it's a sad story. There isn't a single cool newsreader"

In this quote, Tom Baker critiques the performative nature of contemporary news media, particularly concentrating on newsreaders. He recommends that newsreaders have embraced a theatrical approach to delivering news, mimicking actors in the method they present info. By "reducing their voices if it's an unfortunate story", Baker highlights a tendency among newsreaders to dramatize the news, indicating that such decorations are unneeded and maybe even condescending to the audience. He explains that audiences can understanding the gravity of an unfortunate story without the newsreader modifying their tone to signal how they need to feel.

Baker's review encompasses the wider notion of authenticity in news reporting, implicitly criticizing the shift from straightforward, objective shipment to a more sensationalized style. The phrase "as if we didn't know it's an unfortunate story" highlights a belief that audiences do not require their emotions manipulated or determined by the newscaster's shipment. It suggests an underestimation of the audience's intelligence and emotional capability, indicating that audiences are adequately observant to grasp the nature and seriousness of the news without theatrical prompts.

The reference of "a single cool newsreader" even more stresses his displeasure of existing patterns in news presentation. "Cool" in this context might imply composed, untouched, or truly authentic, qualities he discovers doing not have amongst modern newsreaders. This lack of "coolness" suggests that newsreaders have traded genuineness for melodrama, which might weaken the reliability and trust traditionally expected from news sources.

Baker's observations provoke a more comprehensive conversation on the role of media and its obligation in forming public understanding. The quote calls into question whether the primary function of a newsreader is to inform or amuse, and whether the 2 can coexist without jeopardizing the stability of news delivery. This commentary on the dramatization of news shows issues about the erosion of journalistic requirements and the possible impact such changes have on public discourse.