Beyoncé's Speech at the Hand in Hand Telethon: A Multimedia Event

Popular singer Beyoncé gave an interesting short talk during the Hand-in-Hand Telethon. It's an interesting question whether this was more of a speech or more of a PSA. In the new media age, it probably doesn't matter. Beyoncé talked about the suffering of the hurricane victims, made the obvious connection to climate change, and pointed out that the hurricane harms people and property without respect to race, creed, or ethnicity. Judging from her tone and style, she was probably reading from a prepared text. Her excellent speaking voice and media presence help to make that work.

What I thought was really interesting, however, is that in addition to images of herself speaking, her message included video clips of the disaster. Background music played. It wasn't just a speech; it was a multi-media event. 

On the one hand, this is not new. Political speeches are often supplemented by images and music. PowerPoint presentations often accompany business speeches. On the other hand, only modern technology could make such a speech possible. The multimodal communication added to Beyoncé's effect. If a picture is worth 1000 words, five pictures must be worth 5000 words (to paraphrase a friend). Let's remember that Stevie Wonder accompanied his own Hand-in-Hand Telethon speech on the electornic keyboard. 

P.S.  Many people ask whether it is proper for media personalities who are not climate scientists to complain about climate change conspiracy theories. Why not? It is not as if there's any massive controversy in the scientific community about climate change; most of the controversy has been coming from nonscientists. If nonscientists can complain about climate change research, why can't nonscientists defend it? It only seems fair. 

P.P.S.  Beyoncé's current website homepage shows a hurricane rescue image that links to her telethon speech, so she continues her theme in preference to a more commercial image. 

"On Aug. 30 at 3:20 p.m. EDT NASA's Aqua satellite captured this visible light image of Tropical Storm Harvey moving north over Texas and Louisiana."

Credits: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team