The Unsubtle Art of Non-Verbal Communication 407


Human beings can communicate by gesture and facial expression as well as by verbal language. In the following video, at 39 seconds in BBC presenter Jo Coburn is not communicating to the viewer – the director has switched back to her before she expects. She is however working very hard on communicating non-verbally to somebody, presumably the director, with quite an extreme facial gesture.

My question to you is this – what do you think she is trying to communicate with that facial gesture, and why? It is not a rhetorical question, your answers are welcome. You need to watch the whole video for context – it’s less than a minute.


Allowed HTML - you can use: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

407 thoughts on “The Unsubtle Art of Non-Verbal Communication

1 4 5 6
  • Sharp Ears

    Israel boosts military presence with ‘armor & artillery’ troops in Golan Heights (VIDEO)
    1 Jul 2018

    Israel has ramped up its military presence in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights region amid recent Syrian Army advances against militants in the Deraa province, citing the need to protect “Israeli sovereignty.”

    Taking a defensive stance, Israel claimed the additional forces – including “armor and artillery troops” – were deployed solely to “respond” to potential incidents.

    “The IDF will continue its non-intervention policy in the Syrian conflict, while reacting firmly to cases in which Israeli sovereignty or civilians are threatened,” the military said. A short video, released by the IDF along with the statement, features self-propelled howitzers, armored command vehicles, and tanks.

    /..
    https://www.rt.com/news/431415-israel-military-golan-heights/

    I like the bit about a ‘non-intervention policy’.

  • Captain Pugwash

    Looking at her facial expressions in this context it might appear that something was said which she felt was was too shocking/unvarnished for British state television to be broadcasting, and the report was quickly and determinedly terminated….there was some interruption just prior to this point which we cannot definitely attribute to a cause but is consistent with the perspective that terminating the report was deemed necessary….

    Whether this is what happened or not is impossible to say (as always), but it certainly looks like that. It may be that other BBC broadcasts have said essentially the same thing (as others have argued); whether this is true or not I have no idea, but subtle propaganda and insinuation are a speciality and highly professional (usually) so it may be that other reports had slight but important differences; not being a fan of government propaganda I tend to avoid watching the BBC most of the time, though it’s so ubiquitous I still see enough to maintain my current perspective and they cleverly mix the propaganda in with some good reporting on some issues.

    • Nick

      “It may be that other BBC broadcasts have said essentially the same thing (as others have argued); whether this is true or not I have no idea,..”

      Indeed they have – but crucially, it appears this is in the wake of the Grieve report, which clearly demonstrates our complicity in torture in cold, hard numbers and examples. It’s out, they can’t not report it (although they can downplay and spin it).

      This clip is pre-report and so there is no basis for equivalence. But I’d welcome one of the self-styled sane readers to present a prior example and prove me wrong.

    • Michael McNulty

      Some people believe a large part of Blair’s fortune (and his need to keep it quiet) comes from investing in the Private Finance Initiative, which New Labour widely expanded while he was PM so it could boast it was building new hospitals and schools. No matter; his fortune will be with him for this lifetime only, less than forty more years, but he will remain a major war criminal as long as humanity lasts and still records history. In that context this means forever.

  • Nevermind

    G lad to have been able to help the moderation with some genuine education.

    To the subject, Dominic Casciani might not be much longer reporting from Westminster, her gesturing looks like she wants to wipe him off the screen/take him off/out.

    Sadly the confusion over my new handle has taken out a few posts of me congratulating Craig to the latest vindication of the truth he told about torture, so I hope that these will be reinstated. Sincere thanks in advance.

  • Sharp Ears

    Initially promoted by Redwood and Letwin in 1988 in their book – “Britain’s Biggest Enterprise: ideas for radical reform of the NHS”… self funding patients….
    https://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e5128/rr/654254

    Thatcher had Professor Enthoven over from Kaiser Permanente, giant US health outfit. etc. He sold it to her and the plan was set in place with her ‘internal markets’. Several more convulsions followed.

    Taken up by Major>Bliar/Brown and continued >

    The finally the Health & Social Care Act 2012 – Cameron/Clegg and Lansley >

    CCGs. et sequelae. Hunt has been over to the US six or more times, with teams, to visit Kaiser Permanente. Stevens, CEO NHS England is ex United Health/Optum their healthcare company.

    Hunt has also co-authored this book.

    Jeremy Hunt co-authored book calling for NHS to be replaced with private insurance
    ‘Direct Democracy: An Agenda For A New Model Party’ called for the ‘denationalisation’ of the NHS
    10 February 2016 16:30

    The 2005 policy book, called Direct Democracy: An Agenda For A New Model Party, was a collection of writings authored by a group of Tory MPs.

    Amongst other ideas, the book contained a blueprint for replacing the NHS with an insurance market system – and called for the private sector to be brought in.

    Public overwhelmingly blame Jeremy Hunt for junior doctors’ strike
    The Health Secretary is listed as one of the authors, though he has previously denied that he wrote the chapter on the NHS and says it does not reflect his views.

    The book was presented as a whole and chapters are not marked with individual authors, however.

    “We should fund patients, either through the tax system or by way of universal insurance, to purchase health care from the provider of their choice,” the book says on page 74.

    What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain?
    Welfare payments will be slashed
    There will be tax cuts for those in work and those who die
    There will be an in/out EU referendum in 2017
    There will be more privatisation of the NHS

    It adds on page 78: “Our ambition should be to break down the barriers between private and public provision, in effect denationalising the provision of health care in Britain.”

    Put together by Douglas Carswell, the book’s authors also included Tory MPs Michael Gove, Daniel Hannan, Greg Clark, David Gauke, and Kwasi Kwarteng.

    The pamphlet briefly shot to fame in 2012, when Mr Hunt’s appointment as Health Secretary prompted Labour to highlight the book’s contents.’

    _______

    And now there’s talk of payments to see GPs etc The public, mostly asleep, think the NHS will go on for ever. It will not under these vultures.

    TORIES OUT I SAY.

    • Nevermind

      And there will be more extraordinary rendition and torture under five more years of a Tory regime, sharp ears, looking at Mrs. May’s contortions trying to keep the torturers safe and sound.

      Moderator, kindly try and be less petty and erratic, telling people what handle they can or can’t use is confrontational, imho.

  • quasi_verbatim

    I have great hope that this week’s bodybag lock-in will provide the way forward for our esteemed Leader, and for the country.

    Corbyniks will have to scratch around for another twenty years, or however long it takes.

    • iain

      Yes considering the near uniform support she gets from the media she’s done amazingly well to reach Francois Hollande levels of public esteem.

  • Mark Harper

    Holeeeeee shit! (arse clenching panic)
    Glances at camera and sees she’s on air so straightens face and launches into standard BBC bullshit.
    CAUGHT!

    • Chris Law

      I’m pretty certain there’s an unwritten, but very well-known rule at the BBC, an institution I once believed in (ha!), to not ever mention MI6 unless absolutely unavoidable in the story. Let’s not forget, MI6 and the rest didn’t admit their very existence to the British people for a long time. I think the BBC are generally under orders to keep MI6 and MI5, all Brit Intelligence services really, OUT of the public consciousness wherever possible.

      Now this reporter started bringing them up in a report on torture. Not surprised that it surprised Coburn to hear him start bringing MI6 into it.

  • Nevermind

    A good article about the worries of the WTO who has received a record of complaints to its dispute resolution committee, mainly to do with US actions by Trump.
    To make it obvious, WTO rules are relevant to us soon, but the survival of the WTO vis a vis Trumps hegemonic actions is questionable. The law of the jungle will soon be back on our table. This is not the time to bust the EU, hallo Italy, this is when we should reform its functions and enable it to deal with the loss of the WTO, almost assured with Trumps antics, and those countries who will turn away from the US and its market.
    China will also loose out big time if the WTO rules are ignored and fall, they are still classed as a ‘developing country’ and have special benefits due to it. That would seize to be so and countries/ regions without strong internal markets and protection within, will find the world to be a cut throat and rapacious place.

    “Now, though, all of that is in danger, with the Dispute Settlement Body having become a central battlefield in Donald Trump’s trade war. It has been years since the body has received as many complaints as it has in recent months. The EU, Canada, India and others have all filed grievances stemming from the steel tariffs imposed by Washington; the U.S. is going after China due to the alleged violation of intellectual property rights; and the Chinese are complaining about the targeted tariffs introduced by Washington. Just since the beginning of the year, 18 new complaints have been filed.”

    No country is the target of more grievances than the U.S. And no country has filed more objections than the U.S.

    http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/world-trade-organization-in-trouble-amid-trump-trade-war-a-1215802.html

    • Vivian O'Blivion

      Michael Cohen gives his first interview since his properties were raided by the FBI.

      https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-cohen-family-country-president-trump-loyalty/story?id=56304585

      Some pretty unequivocal signaling that he will do everything necessary to avoid or reduce censure.
      “I will not be a punching bag for anyone’s defence strategy”.
      For all the talk that the Republican Party is hostage to Trump, I have difficulty believing that the deep state will be spectators to a clearly unhinged individual tearing up the basis of their old money, investment fund, perpetual wealth.

  • MightyDrunken

    I think you find that if you look at the facts there is only one reasonable conclusion. The facts are:
    – Dominic Casciani reports the news from outside parliament.
    – Interference causes the picture to be lost but leaves the sound intact
    – Jo Coburn has a look of surprise and talks over the reporter.
    – The feed is cut

    Bringing all the facts together points to the following series of events. Dominic report is interrupted by interference from a state actor (which could only be Russia). They hijack the sound to spread propaganda on their behalf, the visuals are removed so this switch cannot be noticed by lip reading. Jo is upset by this brazen act of war and the propaganda is silenced.

    I find the fact free conspiracies promulgated by users on this outlet very disappointing.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ MightyDrunken July 2, 2018 at 12:05
      But the fact-free hodge-podge government narrative on Salisbury & the Skripal’s is fine with you, presumably? And the BPC and rest of the MSM shamelessly propagating it (after all, propaganda has to be propagetd) just Jim Dandy?

    • James Chater

      First, how would they match the voice? Secondly, the “propaganda” you mention is in fact true: there was widespread torture and senior ministers were complicit in it.

      h the voice? Second, the “propaganda” you refer to is in fact fact. There was widespread torture and senior minister were complicit.

  • DG

    Shock – O-shaped mouth, eyes wide, frown lines. Then she is willfully talking over the reporter even though the audio is fine. Her reporting suggests no attempt will be made to restore video or get back to the reporter, but rather the focus is on quickly shutting him up at an awkward time.

  • Xavi

    Amusing to see Craig being scolded for promoting fact-free fairytales that undermine the Beeb’s hard-earned reputation for holding the British Establishment to account.

    It would be interesting to know how all these self-styled adults in the room felt about the fact-free fairytales Auntie promoted to whip up support for wrecking the middle east and the creation of a biblical refugee crisis. Or the one she promulgated to justify Britain’s poor and disabled being forced to atone for the sins of gambling bankers. Or the latest ones she’s been pushing about Russia, to push us towards nuclear armaggedon.

    Why do I sense the adults in the room found those fact-free fairytales much less objectionable than Craig’s skepticism about the Daily Politics show?

    • Ian

      You ‘sense’ something you have no evidence for, bar a desire to conflate two or three entirely disparate things together as proof of a grand conspiracy.

      • Xavi

        I didn’t allege a grand conspiracy. Just pointed out catastrophic invasions, unjust austerity and demonization of a nuclear power that the BBC has promoted via false narratives in recent times. And how despite that some here are scolding Craig for suggesting the BBC is a manipulative propaganda tool of the British Establishment.

        • Ian

          No, they are merely questioning a hysterical interpretation of one particular minor event, which says nothing about whatever else they might think of BBC news values and performance. You are lamely suggesting that if we choose to disbelieve this particular overheated claim, then we must perforce believe everything else the BBC broadcasts. Which is just pathetic.

  • Gary

    To me, my first impression is that she is shocked by what she has heard ie he has gone ‘off script’ in his piece to camera, If I was a conspiracy-theorist I’d be saying how this explains the ‘technical difficulties and him being taken off air.

    But I’m not…

  • Sharp Ears

    RT have picked up the Coburn/Casciani story.

    BBC accused of ‘cutting off’ reporter as he notes MI6’s role in torture of terrorist suspects https://www.rt.com/uk/431462-bbc-casciani-mi6-torture/
    2nd July 2018

    ‘Casciani noted that rather than wanting “to walk away with millions of pounds in compensation, what they [Belhaj family] wanted from British ministers was an absolute cast-iron, black and white admission that MI6 and potentially others as well were mixed up in a situation that led to their rendition and torture.”

    He went on to say how documents found in the aftermath of Colonel Gaddafi’s downfall in 2011 “very clearly pointed a finger at MI6 at having provided intelligence, this tip off which led to Belhaj and his wife being taken to Libya.”

    As Casciani speaks the feed begins to falter.

    Cutting back to an-opened mouth Coburn in the studio, the presenter interrupts Casciani as she says the report would have to end there because of signal failure.

    The clip was picked up by British former ambassador Craig Murray, who suggested Coburn was using non-verbal communication to interrupt the controversial reports.

    Casciani, however, hit back at claims the BBC had purposely cut him off, saying:
    ‘The only thing Jo is communicating is “Argh! The line has broken up – quick – what do we do?” As I’ve said before, live broadcast lines that rely on mobile cells break up all the time when overloaded. That’s the imperfect world of broadcasting.’

    His denial however didn’t stop social media users from speculating about the BBC’s relationship to the British security services.’

    • Dying of the Light Programme of the BBC

      “The line has broken up”

      bollocks. She said herself the picture had a problem but the sound was fine. The picture was just a talking head. The sound was important. Why would she cut it off while the sound was fine? To show her ugly mug instead? Derek and Clive come to mind.

  • Sergei

    Whether it’s “technical difficulties” or “we do need to leave it now” (Sky News cut off the former commander of the British Armed Forces in Iraq, General Jonathan Shaw over his Syria remarks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpdT79rm1ts), we can rely on Western media to silence the truth. As for Casciani “denying” the meddling, get this: the reporter does not have to be “in” on the censorship. Neither does the presenter. It can be a low-key, low-level technical person sitting in the editing room, fiddling with the feed cable.

  • Sharp Ears

    In reply to Craig, the details of the education of some of the BBC types. Haven’t come across Eton or Harrow yet.

    Paul Adams. Sevenoaks School, University of York

    John Fidler Simpson. Dulwich College, St Paul’s School, Magdalene College, Cambridge.

    Edward Stourton. RC prep school Walberton, Ampleforth, Trinity College, Cambridge.

    Andrew Marr. Craigflower prep school, Dundee High School, Loretto School, ‘an independent school in Musselburgh’ , Trinity Hall College, Cambridge. (me rather a lot of schools?)

    John Humphrys. Only Cardiff High School mentioned. Then straight into reporting for the Penarth Times aet 15.

    Fiona Bruce. Gayton Primary School in Heswall on the Wirral, International School of Milan, Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College in New Cross, London. Then Hertford College, Oxford. She attended the University of London Institute in Paris.

    Jane Hill. Micklefield School, East Sussex. Queen Mary College, University of London.

    Will look up a few more later. All the details are from Wikipedia.

    Coburn – Born in Hendon, Coburn was educated at the North London Collegiate School, an independent school for girls in northwest London, followed by the University of Manchester, where she studied History and German, and the University of Oxford, where she studied Middle Eastern politics.

    Leaders Corner – Jo Coburn
    BBC TV and Radio Presenter, Jo Coburn, shares her career journey to date and how she combined family with a slow, steady rise to the top.
    https://executive-coaching.co.uk/newsletters/leaders-corner-jo-coburn/
    LOL

  • Joey

    thankfully, we can rely on RT news to give us the details 😉
    “A widely-circulated clip shows BBC home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani reporting about British intelligence agency MI6’s role in assisting Libyan forces in their abduction of former dissident Abd’ul-Hakim Belhaj. Just 39 seconds into the report, the screen goes grey, cutting back to the alarmed presenter, Jo Coburn, who cites “technical interference”before the transmission is cut off. Belhaj, following a long court case, was granted an apology from the UK government for its role in his abduction by Libyan forces, and the offer of £500k in compensation. Belhaj, a founder of the anti-Gaddafi Islamist al-Watan Party, was abducted in Thailand with his wife in 2004 and brought to Libya, where he was tortured by Gaddafi’s forces during six years of detention. Casciani noted that rather than wanting “to walk away with millions of pounds in compensation, what they wanted from British ministers was an absolute cast-iron, black and white admission that MI6 and potentially others as well were mixed up in a situation that led to their rendition and torture.” He went on to say how documents found in the aftermath of Colonel Gaddafi’s downfall in 2011 “very clearly pointed a finger at MI6 at having provided intelligence, this tip off which led to Belhaj and his wife being taken to Libya.” As Casciani speaks the feed begins to falter. Cutting back to an-opened mouth Coburn in the studio, the presenter interrupts Casciani as she says the report would have to end there because of signal failure. The clip was picked up by British former ambassador Craig Murray, who suggested Coburn was using non-verbal communication to interrupt the controversial reports. Casciani, however, hit back at claims the BBC had purposely cut him off,”
    https://niqnaq.wordpress.com/2018/07/02/rt-com-on-jo-cockburn-fiasco/

  • Sharp Ears

    Eddie Mair – more

    ‘Mair was born in Dundee. His father was a lorry driver and his mother was a nurse. His amateur broadcasting career is reported to have started by using the public address system in his school, Whitfield High School, (now Braeview Academy School) in the Dundee housing scheme, Whitfield. Mair’s professional career began after he rejected a university place in order to present on Radio Tay, a local Dundee station.’. Wikipedia.

    He has denied he is leaving the BBC because of a pay issue. He wanted a change!

    But

    ‘Earlier this year, it was reported that the PM presenter, who is one of the corporation’s top earners with a salary between £300,000 and £350,000, was the last major male BBC star who was refusing to take a pay cut.

    Other leading BBC figures, including the former political editor Nick Robinson, 5 Live host Nicky Campbell and the News at Ten presenter Huw Edwards agreed to pay cuts in January. John Humphrys, the programme host of Radio 4’s Today programme, also announced he would earn “hugely less” after criticism that he was taking home more than £600,000 a year for presenting the news programme and hosting Mastermind.

    The contract negotiations risk pushing prominent BBC figures to seek work outside the corporation. BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine agreed to reduce his salary, describing it as a “no brainer” but soon after signed up to present Channel 5’s reboot of The Wright Stuff.’

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jul/01/eddie-mair-to-leave-bbc-after-30-years-radio4-pm

  • SANDRA CRAWFORD

    Oh God my career is finished if I let this man continue to tell the public that M16 was involved in rendition and torture. More canny than conscientious, I fear. But that is the BBC these days. They have been there before however, Orwell worked there and called them the ministry of truth, I believe, with much bitterness.

  • Frank Parker

    I detest Coburn and think she’s one of the Beeb’s worst journos (which is quite a feat)

    Nevertheless, I think here she was probably just pulling face about the problems with the picture. After all, the reason the guy was being interviewed in the first place was because the Beeb was covering the story!

1 4 5 6

Comments are closed.