Anchor..... reporter

Hope this isn't as silly as it sounds, my question is ...does the reporter know in advance what questions the anchor in the studio will ask him during his report?

Or, to put it another way, does it matter. Reporters never really answer the question anyway. The questions are so vague sometimes too. "Whats the mood where you are?", "Whats happening there?", "What are people saying about all this?"

Thanks for taking the time to reply,not really the response i was looking for, but never mind.

Sometimes they just answer the questions they want to answer (the ones they prepared), not what the presenter asks.

John

Yes, in some cases the reporter DOES know exactly what the anchor is going to ask. Very often, the correspondent will give the anchor an indication of relevant questions that should be asked.

For example, if you watch TWT on World in the morning, in the Business Segment, Manisha Tank or the Business Anchor in London will "interview" Rico Hizon in Singapore, and clearly he has briefed them on what the hot and relevant stories are for the Asia region, for example.

As the correspondent said above, very often it is nos so much an interview with questions and answers, but quite glib and open ended statements, that could be interpreted by the Reporter in any way he/she choses.

James

And often when communication breaks up you hear the reporter say "I didn't quite hear you there, but if you were asking me about blah, then balh"

So its clear that they know roughly what the presenter will ask them.

It depends on what the output is. In network bulletins - unless there's an extraordinary last-minute story - the questions are always known by the reporter. It will be discussed with the editorial team before going on air and everyone will know where they're going. It's really quite a contrived situation.

On the 24 hour news-channels it's usually a much more ad hoc thing, and the reporters won't know. It's occasionally quite illuminating when a big 'name' deigns to do a 2-way with the news-channels. They often want to discuss the questions, areas of discussion beforehand. The more regular reporters know it's anything goes.

Why do they use the term 'anchor' anyway?

I think it is American speak for someone who holds all the reports and reporters together.

Newsreader and Newscaster seem to be dated in today's terminology : )

Flippin Americans

Always hated the term 'anchor' - newsreader or even better newscaster are much more appropriate.

BBC and ITV reporters on mainstream bulletins cover over these contrived situations very well - unlike in Ireland where reporters on RTÉ News rattle answers off in such a scripted fashion that it is embarrassing to watch - as cringe-inducing as the woefully contrived questions the newsreaders ask too

On one occasion the old Washington Corr simply froze halfway through what she was saying - she completely lost track of all her scripted material! It was hilarious to watch; she just stammered and stutterd and was forced to say 'I've lost track of my thoughts', yeah right, your script more like

The newsreader (naturally not listening to what she was saying anyway so couldn't prompt her) was forced to ask another question instead!

Pretty much all answers and questions are scripted, and often to a tee.

I've always thought the only time when the correspondent is aware of the question asked is on mainstream bulletins like Breakfast, the 1, the 6 and the 10 as they are all prepared before hand.

The rolling news channels seem to be more spontaneous.

Where possible of course they will let the reporter know what they will be asked. The point of the excercise isn't to try and trip thm up by asking akward questions, It's in everyone's and the programmes interest to make it as good as it can and if the reporter is making up answers on the spot it's not going to be that good.

The opposite is often true of guests on news programmes of course, it depends if the interview is accusative or combative or just a chat