"B Roll" is the term used in television to describe video tape background material. Local news broadcasts, for exmple, rely heavily on B Roll to produce enough hours of programming to fill those multiple local news shows throughout the day. Especially when creating a news story around something that isn't particularly newsworthy, B Roll is critical - cause well, there's not much more going on. If you've watched the morning shows recently, which I had the pleasure of doing this morning, you will notice an overabundance of B Roll - filling in where there is really nothing to show - becuase nothing has happened. Perhaps instead of creating television stories that are so heavily reliant on B Roll to feed our boredom and fill our days, television producers in the business of daily television should re-consider how they program. If something happens, cover it. If there is a timely subject, tell us about it. If nothing is going on, don't try to fabricate it, and help release people from our B Roll culture and in turn perhaps our society may become happier (less paranoid and insecure), healthier (exchanging a 90 minute local news session for a 20 minute and maybe a nap!) and potentially more productive (writing, working, thinking).

Skills: Investing, Politics