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In film and broadcasting, a soundbite 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".

It is also the name of a book by Franz Ferdinand (band) frontman Alex Kapranos.

Classic examples of soundbites include Ronald Reagan's demand that "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" in reference to the increasing social pressure to remove the Berlin Wall. In this context, the well-delivered soundbite serves as a cultural icon that others are likely to know about.

More soundbites include:

• "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." In one succinct phrase, the entire Apollo Moon program was culminated.
• "Houston, we've had a problem." said by James A. Lovell in the Apollo XIII mission
• "Read my lips: no new taxes", delivered by United States presidential candidate George H. W. Bush
• "Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy." said by Lloyd Bentsen as a retort to Dan Quayle's comparison of himself to Jack Kennedy in terms of political experience
• "I feel the hand of history upon our shoulders" — Tony Blair following the 1998 Good Friday agreement. However, Blair had just commented that "A day like today, it's not a day for soundbites: we can leave those at home".

There was also a news agency called "SoundByte News" in the early era of personal computers.

Look up Soundbite in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Non-denial denial
• Buzzword
• Media clip
• Video clip