The Newsroom

Anchor..... reporter

Question concerning questions. (September 2005)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
BP
Bob Paisley
Inspector Sands posted:
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


I was once told by a senior correspondent at Channel 4 News that Sheena McDonald used to try and catch out the reporters. She used to treat the correspondents like they were hostile witnesses in court.
NG
noggin Founding member
As others have posted - interviews between presenters and correspondents on the main network bulletins are usually discussed beforehand. This is so that in a brief interview of only one to three minutes (often only 1 or 2 questions) the right questions can be asked to explain the news of interest. Often the reporter and newsreader will ring each other to discuss directly.

On the continuous news channels it is often a case that the interview is much longer - and there is less briefing - so often the presenters ask more general or open-ended questions. However in breaking news scenarios it isn't unusual for a reporter to quickly tell the gallery to brief a presenter to ask a first question on xx or yy, rather than something completely unrelated to the latest update.
TE
Telefis
Yes rolling news 'interviews' are much more enjoyable to watch - they generally have an off-the-cuff feel to them.
Even if the newsreader is briefed and the answer is prepared already, they're still more rambling and conversational than mainstream bulletins.
Except for Andy Marr in his heyday on Ten of course Wink

Newer posts