On 2 Jan 2004 17:42:00 GMT, "Bob Haberkost"
wrote:

Rich - I've got the scoop on traffic reporting and other "breaking news" items on
broadcasting....in many cases, they're bogus.

Alas, I feel you're right.

"Breaking news" is often as much as 6 hours old, with the major actor(s) already
apprehended or otherwise dealt with. And, as often as not, the newspaper story the
next day will have the actual story, whereas the field reporter, being so far from
reliable sources of information, will have gotten it wrong in the live shot,
breathlessly intro'ed by the blowdried anchor whose closest encounter with a real
news event was the time he was at the Orlando airport when a plane went down....in
Europe.

While I think you're being too harsh with blown-dry anchors (there's
an entire hairdressing and makeup industry at stake) I would
occasionally listen to my NYC precinct's frequency. I was amazed often
at how quickly the police apprehended the person they were after. It
was old news before it got to be news.

In my new market we have an anchor who must be the wife of the owner.
She looks as though she just rolled out of bed. I can only imagine
what the show looks like in HDTV where Bondo as makeup no longer
works.

Rich