Katie Couric

[DeltAlum]

Ever met any of them?

You would be surprized.

[shinerbock]

I've met a couple fox news guys and Anderson Cooper, but never any network people. Me saying they're not smart enough to understand the stories they report is most likely a stretch, but I still think its style over substance.

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

I've met a couple fox news guys and Anderson Cooper, but never any network people. Me saying they're not smart enough to understand the stories they report is most likely a stretch, but I still think its style over substance.

Please remember that even with names like "managing editor," the anchors don't really format the shows.

Frankly, I think most (not all) of the cable net anchors are lightweights -- just readers. That's not been true of any of the major network anchors I've worked with. They are remarkably bright and well informed people.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

Please remember that even with names like "managing editor," the anchors don't really format the shows.

Frankly, I think most (not all) of the cable net anchors are lightweights -- just readers. That's not been true of any of the major network anchors I've worked with. They are remarkably bright and well informed people.

So they write the copy?

They do most of the fact checking and investigation on their own?

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

So they write the copy?

They do most of the fact checking and investigation on their own?

I'm not quite sure what you're asking. Which "they, and what copy?"

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

I'm not quite sure what you're asking. Which "they, and what copy?"

I think he means that the network news anchors write their own copy and do the fact-checking and investigation on their own. He's asking if that is the case (which I don't believe it is, aren't there writers and researchers who do all of that?).

My journalistic experience is in print, so I'm not much help in this thread. The only experience I have with the inner workings of news is at ESPN, where the SportsCenter anchors write most of their own copy and do a lot of their own research.

[Drolefille]

I don't know about the big guys, but locally, it really depends on the anchors. Some are reporters at heart, and act like it, and some are just good at reading a teleprompter and looking concerned.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

I'm not quite sure what you're asking. Which "they, and what copy?"

ksigkid pretty much summed it up - I want to know the extent to which the network anchors do the work of a reporter.

How much journalism do they do on an average day?

[shinerbock]

On a side note, Ann Coulter wrote a great article yesterday about the Valerie Plame Non-Affair. It talks a little about how the media portrayed the "scandal" and how it actually turned out. www.anncoulter.com

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

ksigkid pretty much summed it up - I want to know the extent to which the network anchors do the work of a reporter.

How much journalism do they do on an average day?

Honestly, it depends on the day. Most of the network anchors I've met and worked with do write their own copy -- or at least edit it -- if they're not traveling or whatever.

If you are asking if they check the details of all of the stories, I'd say that would be in impossible task, because many of those stories are fed in at the last minute. A news organization, whether broadcast or print, has to put some amount of trust in its reporters. That's what they do.

Most of them (the anchors) have an almost insatiable curiousity and encyclopedic memory. You see that during the "breaking news" times like 9/11 or earthquakes or other disasters. I can't think of any of the network (I'm talking broadcast, not cable or local) anchors who don't have extensive reporting and writing credentials prior to landing in the anchor chair.

You just can't imagine how difficult it is to hold things together while still communicating effectively in those situations.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

Ever met any of them?

You would be surprized.

I dare say you are right. But I think Shinerbock is on to something as well. Perhaps it's that network people rather than news people are ultimately in charge of the news show. Perhaps its that in this day of news anytime, trying to put the day's news in 20+ minutes just doesn't work as well, so while the people may be thought-provoking, the stories aren't. Perhaps it is the trend toward news as entertainment, although I think that is more prevalent in local TV news. Perhaps its just that I'm eating supper with my family and hearing about the day at school when the network news is on.

I grew up in a household that watched the local and national news religiously -- I can still see and hear the Huntley-Brinkley Report, and among my earliest memories are those of the reports from Vietnam, including the casualty count for the day.

But I truly can't remember the last time I watched network news -- it may well be 15 years. I get my news from a variety of sources, but network news is not one of them, nor is Katie Couric or any other anchor going to change that. I couldn't even tell you who the anchors at NBC or ABC are. Fairly or unfairly, my feeling is that network news is past its prime.