"We'll be back to regularly scheduled programming in a minute. But, first..."
(Camera Turn to Cam 2)
"Fire units are at the scene of a fire that is threatening one area neighborhood. Flames and smoke from the inferno can be seen from miles away. Reporter Scoop Jackson is at the scene of that mess, and gives us a first hand look at what's going on. Scoop?"
The Glory Days of television news. When breaking news, aka Spot News, was actually happening. Right now. Not something the journalists learned about the day after, gathered the facts, and reported, for the first time, that night, often 15-20 hours AFTER it happened. But, it is still billed as BREAKING NEWS!
As go the Glory Days of telelvision journalism, go the old work horses. Real journalists, those dedicated souls who lived for breaking news, and investigative reporting, and good hard-hitting stories. Stories that viewers actually wanted to see. Those days, it seems, are gone forever. The same fate, it seems, as the work horses of TV News...The Live Truck.
Poor guy. Stripped of its dignity. Still hanging on to "COMES FIRST", part of a branding slogan that actually meant something. Once. On a used car lot, wating for a buyer. Most likely, awaiting a date with metal shears and the recycle bin.
Much like today's version of TV news. Well. Not just TV news. What ever happened to reporters at the scene of breaking or spot news? Newspaper or television. Even radio guys with portable tape recorders. I remember, many years ago, when the manager of a 1000 watt AM radio station, in a station wagon equipped with remote broadcast equipment, rushed to the scene of fires. Big or small. If the red trucks rolled, so did he. If you heard or saw a fire truck running lights and siren, then all you had to do was tnne your radio to 1240 (that's AM radio, children), and within minutes, you knew what was going on. Most often, of course, the events were small. We didn't have to wonder what was going on. We knew.
On television, if there was a fatal wreck or shooting or big fire, we actually saw PICTURES of it on the next newscast. Not anymore. Today, we'll get a Google or Bing map, with some fancy zooming from the fine folks in the production department, and bare details of whatever the event was. No reporter at the scene. No real details. No reaction from the victim or family or friends, no first hand details from the cops or firefighters. No flavor of the event. Kind of like reading the score in the Saturday paper of your high school football team's game the night before. No flavor of the game. Without pictures and sound, today's TV newscasts are all too often little more than milk toast. Boring.
Many of us remember when the Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC started in the 1950's. Two guys. In two cities. For 15 minutes each night. A national newscast. It contained little more than well written stories about the day's news. Not a lot of pictures. At least, not in the beginning. It did not take long for the network to add video from all over the world, and Television News was off and running.
Man consultants blame the internet for the demise of televisoin news. It goes a lot deeper than that. What radio and newspapers could not deliver, TV could. The internet, admittedly, is often more timely. However, it is not LOCAL. Almost never. And, that little screen cannot give me the feel for what's really happening, not like real cameras with great quality, and solid reporters on the scene.
Maybe I should park myself alongside that lonely old work horse on the used car lot, and wait for recycling.
(Camera Turn to Cam 2)
"Fire units are at the scene of a fire that is threatening one area neighborhood. Flames and smoke from the inferno can be seen from miles away. Reporter Scoop Jackson is at the scene of that mess, and gives us a first hand look at what's going on. Scoop?"
The Glory Days of television news. When breaking news, aka Spot News, was actually happening. Right now. Not something the journalists learned about the day after, gathered the facts, and reported, for the first time, that night, often 15-20 hours AFTER it happened. But, it is still billed as BREAKING NEWS!
As go the Glory Days of telelvision journalism, go the old work horses. Real journalists, those dedicated souls who lived for breaking news, and investigative reporting, and good hard-hitting stories. Stories that viewers actually wanted to see. Those days, it seems, are gone forever. The same fate, it seems, as the work horses of TV News...The Live Truck.
Much like today's version of TV news. Well. Not just TV news. What ever happened to reporters at the scene of breaking or spot news? Newspaper or television. Even radio guys with portable tape recorders. I remember, many years ago, when the manager of a 1000 watt AM radio station, in a station wagon equipped with remote broadcast equipment, rushed to the scene of fires. Big or small. If the red trucks rolled, so did he. If you heard or saw a fire truck running lights and siren, then all you had to do was tnne your radio to 1240 (that's AM radio, children), and within minutes, you knew what was going on. Most often, of course, the events were small. We didn't have to wonder what was going on. We knew.
On television, if there was a fatal wreck or shooting or big fire, we actually saw PICTURES of it on the next newscast. Not anymore. Today, we'll get a Google or Bing map, with some fancy zooming from the fine folks in the production department, and bare details of whatever the event was. No reporter at the scene. No real details. No reaction from the victim or family or friends, no first hand details from the cops or firefighters. No flavor of the event. Kind of like reading the score in the Saturday paper of your high school football team's game the night before. No flavor of the game. Without pictures and sound, today's TV newscasts are all too often little more than milk toast. Boring.
Many of us remember when the Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC started in the 1950's. Two guys. In two cities. For 15 minutes each night. A national newscast. It contained little more than well written stories about the day's news. Not a lot of pictures. At least, not in the beginning. It did not take long for the network to add video from all over the world, and Television News was off and running.
Man consultants blame the internet for the demise of televisoin news. It goes a lot deeper than that. What radio and newspapers could not deliver, TV could. The internet, admittedly, is often more timely. However, it is not LOCAL. Almost never. And, that little screen cannot give me the feel for what's really happening, not like real cameras with great quality, and solid reporters on the scene.
Maybe I should park myself alongside that lonely old work horse on the used car lot, and wait for recycling.
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