Why do reporters need to stand outside buildings?

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  • I know I've got at least one thread on news reporting already, but this subject does annoy me, so, here's another topic on the subject of news reporting.

    On the BBC news just now, the news went live to the reporter standing on the green outside Westminster with Big Ben in the background behind him. Was this a major news story of such significant that it required a reporter to report live from Westminster at 10' O'clock at night, you decide. The report was related to the news that Liam Fox is having arguments within the cabinet about freedom of movement post Brexit. He doesn't want it, others do.

    This is an important story, but is it of such significance that it requires a reporter to stand outside a empty Houses of Parliament (all the MPs are on holiday at the moment) to do his report from?

    As this report was on the BBC, licence fee payers money is being used here, but we won't go into that here...:), as there is a thread about the BBC and licence fee already on this forum, and besides, all tv news reporters see it necessary to present news standing outside buildings.

    If reporters need to be at a scene to report on events or interview people, fair enough, but take another example, business reporting. You'll usually get some reporter reporting about a business story standing outside by the Thames with the City of London skyline behind them. Very nice visually, but how does that add to the news story? Why can't the reporters simply be next to the presenters in the studios to report their stories?

  • I have to say that is something that bugs me too, another one is how they send a reporter off to a foreign country just for a 5 minute story too, but then we shouldn't really be calling them reporters as they all seem to be called 'correspondents' these days.

    Edited once, last by Ron Manager (July 31, 2017 at 6:48 AM).

  • Gives viewers the idea that the roving reporter is battling snowstorms and hurricanes, heat exhaustion, Molotov Cocktails and angry Leprechauns just to bring you the snippet that they slide into the news.

  • Gives viewers the idea that the roving reporter is battling snowstorms and hurricanes, heat exhaustion, Molotov Cocktails and angry Leprechauns just to bring you the snippet that they slide into the news.

    The BBC are totally mad when it comes to reporting on the weather. Reporters standing out in howling gales with floodwater swirling around their ankles is not an unusual example of their lunacy. If we get half an inch of snow, some reporter or other ( And presumably a cameraman.) is sent off into the country side to show us pictures of fields with a light dusting of snow. ( Often with the grass visible beneath.

    The country grinds almost to a halt if we get any snow. Trains usually stop running if we get the aforesaid half an inch.)

    This is usually followed by a visit to a concrete yard full snowploughs and grit lorries and of course the grit to put down if it snows. ( On one glorious occasion a few years ago the female reporter picked up a handful of the stuff, the camera zoomed in on her open hand and she said solemnly " And this is the grit they use on the roads.")

    We often get dire warnings during the weather forecast. They use colours, there are amber warnings and red warnings of the expected weather be it sunshine ( Don't forget the sun block.) or showers. ( Showers make the roads slippery.) And even 'beware of high winds if you're crossing bridges in a high sided vehicle ' occasionally.

    I often think that they would probably announce the arrival of World War 3 in the same sombre tones as they announce very warm weather or heavy rain.

  • The media has become a joke on one hand and an irritation on the other. Dire warnings have become a sort of habit. We once started getting terrible predictions of catastrophic weather from the weather folk where I am until they found some daftie was making it up and scaring the pants off commuters. "Going to be the mother of all storms, stay off the highways, don't go out tonight ", etc. All bollocks the individual who had an overactive imagination, or a kink, was slapped on the wrist for creating erratic traffic as people raced to get home before God's fury struck.

    Now we don't know what to believe when they start this. Have to go by our experience and instincts instead. Which kind of reveals that some things in the modern world are going backwards, along with quite a lot of people. ^^

  • I have to say that is something that bugs me too, another one is how they send a reporter off to a foreign country just for a 5 minute story too, but then we shouldn't really be calling them reporters as they all seem to be called 'correspondents' these days.

    Take the Liam Fox "report" I mentioned in the OP, it was about 40 seconds long, the reporter was standing in a empty area outside a empty parliament, what benefit is there to the report, apart from having Big Ben in the background? They could have stuck him in the studio and have a picture of Big Ben put up on a screen behind him, if they wished.

    There were no MPs around, it's not where the government departments are, so its just silly and wastes money, our money, in this case of the BBC report. And of course, Liam Fox wasn't around either. Just nonsense.

    As for correspondents, yes, another Americanism... :thumbdown:

    Don't complain about the reporters going to foreign countries for a five minute story, it's a nice holiday for them. One they have, time and time again.;)

  • The media has become a joke on one hand and an irritation on the other. Dire warnings have become a sort of habit. We once started getting terrible predictions of catastrophic weather from the weather folk where I am until they found some daftie was making it up and scaring the pants off commuters. "Going to be the mother of all storms, stay off the highways, don't go out tonight ", etc. All bollocks the individual who had an overactive imagination, or a kink, was slapped on the wrist for creating erratic traffic as people raced to get home before God's fury struck.

    Now we don't know what to believe when they start this. Have to go by our experience and instincts instead. Which kind of reveals that some things in the modern world are going backwards, along with quite a lot of people. ^^

    Our weather reporting here is pretty good, but it does make you wonder, if a reporter has only just stepped off a plane and is already doing a report, how accurate can that be?

  • The 'newspapers' ain't much better, the tabloids rely on social media to get their stories just reporting on what's posted on there, all you need to be a journalist these days is a twitter or Facebook account.

  • The journalists are lazy. If they can't find it on twitter and facebook, then it doesn't exist to them.

    As hoxton as said in the Grenfell thread, if we had decent journalism, we would know by now what happened. Now, we'll probably have to wait years for enquiry to finish first.

  • Our weather reporting here is pretty good, but it does make you wonder, if a reporter has only just stepped off a plane and is already doing a report, how accurate can that be?

    I get my weather from AccuWeather dot com and from Weather24 and between them you usually get something that actually happens.

    I tend to look to nature for signs. Three different trees have started getting buds, a few jasmine flowers have popped out on the creeper, yesterday a toad came out of hibernation. Today clouds are turning up. Spring is early and moisture is building above.

  • Ye gods! The reporters for Hurricane Irma have had a torrid time. One was standing in the open, being blown backward constantly and wet from head to toe while palm trees were turned inside out in the background. And he was interviewing other reporters live from that position.

    I found this to be serious overkill and was afraid he might end up in the water which was just behind him, brimming to overflow and had big motor launches heaving about on it.

  • Quite frankly them putting themselves in danger like that is irresponsible same as reporting from warzones etc, because if anything happened to them someone would then have to put their life at risk trying to rescue them, do we really need to see a news reporter being blown about in a hurricane or getting shot at to know how bad/dangerous it is.

  • Sometimes they've been told to:

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    Still it does seem that the reporters are endangering themselves and then any potential rescuers in this case.

    In many other places the piece to camera is the culmination of the reporters investigations. You only have to listen to programmes such as "From our own Correspondant" to know that they do more in those places than just the report.

  • I see that Irma has now downgraded to category 1 and so as the cleanup crews go out, so do the looters. They just arrested over 40 of them. Bless our lovely fellow travellers who will take food out of the mouths of babies and shaft their neighbours at any opportunity. :rolleyes:

  • Slightly unnecessary:

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    Can you do that again Sarah? Audio was terrible.

  • I watched quite a bit of CNN yesterday, their main "anchor" was reporting from Naples, he could've done with a real anchor...^^

    What CNN said in response to queries about why they were putting reporters outside in the middle of the hurricanes was for two reasons: to satisfy the curiosity of people who might be tempted to go outside and see what the hurricane is like. Some yanks actually did do this, so CNN's point seemed to be valid there. The second reason was to give "eyes and ears to first responders," in other words to inform the emergency services what was going on. Hmm, perhaps.

    On this occasion, they get a free pass from me. The pictures from Naples were incredible.

    ====

    As I'm in this thread, there is the continual talk of the UK's response to the after effects of the hurricane on the Caribbean and the BBC reporter was standing outside the MoD last night talking about this. Why? How does someone standing outside an empty MoD on Sunday night inform me of what's going on thousands of miles away? He could've simply done the report from the studio.

  • Ye gods! The reporters for Hurricane Irma have had a torrid time. One was standing in the open, being blown backward constantly and wet from head to toe while palm trees were turned inside out in the background. And he was interviewing other reporters live from that position.

    I found this to be serious overkill and was afraid he might end up in the water which was just behind him, brimming to overflow and had big motor launches heaving about on it.

    I was willingly them into the water.:evil: Only joking, made great viewing though.

    I see that Irma has now downgraded to category 1 and so as the cleanup crews go out, so do the looters. They just arrested over 40 of them. Bless our lovely fellow travellers who will take food out of the mouths of babies and shaft their neighbours at any opportunity. :rolleyes:

    In some cases, the looters didn't even wait for the hurricane to finish.

    I guess I should've created a thread on this hurricane, as its been such a major story. I'm slacking on the "job", but others are welcome to create threads though.;):thumbup::)

  • Slightly unnecessary:


    Can you do that again Sarah? Audio was terrible.

    Poor Sarah. I was afraid she'd get flipped off the balcony. That seems to be a very dangerous place to have allowed her to stand. I know it's all very dramatic, but what if a sudden gust just took her over the edge? =O

  • I see that Irma has now downgraded to category 1 and so as the cleanup crews go out, so do the looters. They just arrested over 40 of them. Bless our lovely fellow travellers who will take food out of the mouths of babies and shaft their neighbours at any opportunity. :rolleyes:

    I've long held the opinion that looters should be shot on sight, peacetime or war. It's totally despicable to steal what little is left from those who have lost virtually everything.

  • Apparently some were dressing up as police or hurricane help personnel and advising people to get out, only to loot them once the owners had left.

    No wonder some refuse to leave their homes.

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