Sound bite  

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A soundbite is an extract from a speech or interview used as edited into a news or other broadcast; an interview clip, especially seen as particularly expressive or pithy. It can also refer to a one-liner deliberately produced for this purpose; a statement specifically intended to be punchy and memorable.

In film and broadcasting, a soundbite (or soundbyte) is a very short piece of footage taken from a longer speech or an interview in which someone with authority or the average "man on the street" says something which is considered by those who edit the speech or interview to be the most important point. As the context of what is being said is missing, the insertion of soundbites into news broadcasts or documentaries is open to manipulation and thus requires a very high degree of journalistic ethics. Politicians of the new generation are carefully coached by their spin doctors to produce on-demand soundbites which are clear and to the point.

A soundbite is an audiolinguistic and social communications phenomenon whose nature was recognized in the late 20th century, helped by people such as Marshall McLuhan. It is characterized by a short phrase or sentence that deftly captures the essence of what the speaker is trying to say. Such key moments in dialogue (or monologue) stand out better in the audience's memory and thus become the "taste" that best represents the entire "meal" of the larger message or conversation. Soundbites are a natural consequence of people placing ever greater emphasis on summarizing ever-increasing amounts of information in their lives.

News media in particular cherish soundbites. Reporters agree that the best news footage contains at least one soundbite. Politicians in turn have learned (along with their speechwriters) to put greater effort into delivering the perfect soundbite. Originality is not necessary but highly valued. Soundbites are useful to help guide footage editors focus on parts of dialogue that help advance the overall message.

Not everyone enjoys hearing soundbites. They tend to sound best when delivered unplanned, and the logical inverse is often true -- the planned soundbite can easily ring forced and cast doubt as to the speaker's integrity. The importance of a soundbite is that "the message hits home".

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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Sound bite" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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