But Joe Romm with the Center for American Progress never quite made the full optical commitment and as a result most, if not all, of what he was saying probably wasn’t heard. Because of his eyes.
He was looking at something. Or someone. Perhaps it was a TV monitor. Big mistake doing that. If it was a monitor, he should’ve asked them to either turn it off or turn it around. His eyes needed to be glued to the camera lens, like a magnet.
Romm is talking about Global Warming. He believes in it. That’s fine; this post is not interested in that debate. Did he make some good points? Hard to say. While he’s talking, anyone watching is wondering what he’s looking at. And why it’s not the camera.
This is a chronic issue. Your eyes are all important, as documented in two earlier posts here: The Eyes Have It! and The Eyes Have It, Part Deux. It’s worth repeating: non-verbals (a/k/a body language) account for more than 90% of what you communicate.
I blame this on both his inexperience and a less-than-diligent producer. Looks to me like they didn’t tell him where to look — and to KEEP looking at that spot. I’ve done this type of remote interview and it takes effort to stay focused on a spot that isn’t providing any feedback or response.