Breaking News

Breaking News, what a scam, that is the most over used phrase in the news industry. Ok, here is my opinion on what breaking news is " an event that is happening now" This is how many of the news outlets see breaking news, " an event that may or may not have happened 6 hours ago". The consultants believe that using the word Breaking News grabs the attention of the viewer giving the impression that the station has something new to add to a story that may have been ended hours ago, and in most cases they have no new information so you were tricked into watching the 11 o'clock news when you rather be asleep. Stations use slick graphics and what I call war drums type music to capture your attention. When I hear the words breaking news I find myself glued to the television waiting to hear if the world came to an end.. Remember in the past we used such words like "news flash" and "this just in" and now the new phrase "Developing Story" all to make you think they are on top of everything.

The news is totally consultant driven, these people believe that every viewer wants to see some action during news broadcasts, allow me to introduce you to the "walk and talk"... If you are not aware of what a walk and talk is, just watch the news, when you see a reporter walking toward the camera and pointing at an unseen object or person that my friend is a walk and talk not to be confused with the "show and tell". The show and tell is when you have an active scene behind you and you show the viewer what is going on live and in color. A walk and talk usually can be identified by lack of content during the introduction. There are several different versions of the walk and talk, there is the "three step" where the reporter will take three steps toward the camera, there is the "hide and seek" where the reporter walks out of frame only to re-appear on the opposite side if the television screen. There are many different versions of the walk and talk some have not been named, we use to make up stupid walk and talk versions to see if managenent was paying attention most of the time they don't notice. They would only notice when there was no movement in our story.