Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with TV and news

Where do people go for B-roll?

bryanjbusch — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:56:44 -0800

I'm thinking of shooting and uploading some b-roll for sale to others who might need it, with locations and keywords and all. Is there a marketplace for this? When people are putting together news clips (or any kind of video, but mostly news), they usually shoot some extra footage that they can use to cover up jumpy edits, or for voiceovers. They call it B-roll.

Is there a marketplace for b-roll that you haven't shot yourself? Let's say you're doing even yet still another story about obesity in America and you need a shot of heavy people with no heads. If you're not sure you can go shoot some b-roll of this before the deadline, could you buy some online?

Why do different news media have similar stories?

Hanuman1960 — Wed, 06 May 2009 12:46:54 -0800

How do different news media (radio vs. television) end up doing the same news stories? I'm not talking about the big news stories (i.e., the economy, politics) or even celebrity gossip. I'm talking about seemingly minor, human interest stories.

Case in point, this past Monday (5/4/09) both the Today Show on NBC and NPR (National Public Radio) did stories on children getting hurt by heavy furniture falling on them, and ways to prevent it from happening. As far as I can remember, this wasn't the result of a major study that had just been published. It was just one of those "keeping our kids safe" type of stories. Is it just a coincidence?

Eisenhower Vs. Kennedy Cage Match

HopperFan — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:55:24 -0800

Presidential trivia fight : Eisenhower or Kennedy? On Twitter today, there's a silly trivia contest running. One of the questions was "Who was the first president to hold a televised news conference?" The next tweet was "Congratulations to [winner], the answer is JFK!"

Except, no it isn't, right? I thought it was Eisenhower, googled that, and replied with some quoted info to the trivia contest runner and the guy who won - with a nice little note that said "I love Presidential Trivia!" so they didn't think I was after the stupid prize, a year's supply of soy candles.

Winner response #1: "It was never shown, it was more of a news clip that was given to the networks!!"

This doesn't seem to be correct, since most references to it say "broadcast," So I called the Eisenhower Presidential Library. They confirmed that it was sent out to the networks to be broadcast in newsreels. I even got the archivist to repeat "Yay Eisenhower!"

Response #2: "wasn't a press conference though. just a cabinet meeting - kind of like C/Span now."

If you watch the video on the C-Span website, it sure sounds like a q/a press conference, and is labeled as such.

Response #3: "Did you read the link? "President John Kennedy's first press conference (all three networks) was first live telecast..."

Right, the first live one. That's not what the original question asked.

Response #4 : " i called the museum of TV . . "This was not aired live and only bits were used. It was more of a cabinet session that he some ..."

I called the Museum of TV and Radio in NYC. They said this was the first they'd heard of the question, and that were they to do any research, a request would have to be faxed to them first, and it would take some time. I also called the Museum of Broadcast Communications, and they said their archivist wasn't in today. However, Bruce DuMont (President of the museum) happened to be standing right next to the woman I was speaking to, and he piped up "Eisenhower!"

So that's where it stands, and I threw up my hands and decided to come here, because many of you are more knowledgeable about:

- doing research
- presidential history
- media history

So which is it? Was Eisenhower's a real press conference, and was it broadcast, or has he gotten credit incorrectly all this time? Or is this not about facts at all, it's just that some guy can't admit he's wrong and/or really wants to keep those soy candles...

Yes, I know, this is a classic case of "Someone is wrong on the internet!" , but if I'm wrong, I'll gladly send the guy a mea culpa.

Where be the free tv?

jourman2 — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:20:54 -0800

Looking for live, streaming tv news to play in the background on my work computer. I'm looking for streaming tv (news or the like) to play in background while I'm at work. I know cnn has a free live stream, but that gets kind of boring sometimes. Tried looking around for a cnbc or msnbc live stream but couldn't find either. Does anyone know of someplace to get something like that (looking for legal - this is a work comp) or is cnn the only 24 news channel with live, free streaming? I'm in the US btw and on a pretty fast connection so throw what you got at me.

Thanks

What's up with the funky syntax used by television reporters?

HotPatatta — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:13:23 -0800

Extra! Extra! The verb "to be" missing from TV newscasts! Anchors and TV reporters omitting "to be," often favor using participles instead. Why? I find TV news to be unwatchable for a lot of reasons, one of them being the wacky syntax used by reporters. They often put past events into the present tense:
"A fire ravages an apartment complex in Cleveland, one of the victims just twelve years old."

Then there's the whole participle thing:
"Mayor Bloomberg deciding to run for a third term after hinting he might do so for weeks."

"The stock market plunging 37% this week! Many investors deciding to sell their portfolios."

And sometimes they just drop "to be" and don't use a participle:
"The cause of this fire still under investigation."
"Many Americans unsure of the nation's economic stability."

When did this start? Where did it start? Did one influential newscaster promulgate it? Do they do it to add a sense of urgency to whatever they're reporting? I can understand doing it in a newspaper headline where space is limited, but in TV news that wouldn't be an issue.

Resources for Aspiring Online News Producer?

davidmsc — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:42:58 -0800

Resources for learning more about being the "web producer" (aka online content manager, etc) for a small-market TV news outlet? I'm on the verge of landing a gig as the "online content manager" at one of our local TV stations (network affiliate); they are trying to make a big push onto the web, and my passion for current events, love of my community, and 8+ years as a blogger (familiar with CMS, social media, minor techie skills, etc) seems to have convinced them that I am the right guy. For me, this is a Dream Job. Seriously.

The position seems to be part-time content blogger, part-time "in the field" gathering material/stories, and part-time business & analytics (who visits, why, stickiness, etc).

But with no formal journalism education/experience, I want to learn as much as possible as fast as possible. I follow some of the major blogs that discuss the intersection of news & new media, such as Lost Remote and Media Bistro/TV Newser, but I would really appreciate any other sources and links. Thanks, gang!

Does Katie Couric get to pick which news item opens the broadcast?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:05:27 -0800

What kind of influence do US network anchors have on the news selection and editing process? My friend claims American network news anchors are effectively editors-in-chief; I'm willing to entertain the notion that they are in a position to exert influence over the process and carry more responsibilities than Dutch newsreaders (who are essentially mere presenters), but I don't buy that they can preside over every aspect of the process.

So which is it?

The End of the News Media?

Gagglehack — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:25:59 -0800

Newspapers and media: the sky is falling, the bowl is being circled. What can we do about it? Your best suggestions please. One of the things that has been preoccupying members of the media these days is how to embrace the changes that new technology is handing us on a daily basis. As an editor at a small daily on the East Coast, it's a question we're wrestling with. We've put up a whole host of new stuff on our website — video, webcasts, blogs for reporters and citizens. We have breaking news updates and RSS feeds. We're aggressively local in a way that most major newspapers can't be.

Most of the stuff relies on the reader to come to us. The problem that we don't seem to have an answer to is how we can best get that information out to our readers.

So, hivemind, what platforms should we be considering? How do you get your news?

There may be no silver bullet to fix the spiraling decline this industry's in, but who knows — is there a combination of things we could do to staunch the bleed?

What tv news shows skillfully cover the news of the day, and offer a bit of analysis, in 30 minutes?

boombot — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:01:48 -0800

I love that ESPN's Pardon the Interruption takes only 30 minutes each day to not only cover the biggest sports events of the day, but to also provide some analysis and decent interviews with people in the news. Bonus points, at least for me, on the show's humor and personality. I'd love to find another show that does the same thing with national and world news. Looking for something 30 minutes long (or less, if the front end of some larger thing works), that's smart and quickly paced - NPR's top of the hour update fleshed out a bit and filtered through that PTI sensibility. The Fox or MSNBC night-timers sort of fit the bill, but they get too bogged down in a few stories, or in opinion, or on the host. And the Daily Show and Colbert are too focused on the humor end.

Who decides what the news is?

ibmcginty — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:26:56 -0800

Who decides what's news? This question is about seemingly peripheral stories that get coverage, not about the media's quest for the salacious, or about politicians' efforts to get the media to focus on the mundane.

Two specific times in the past week, news stories that seem to me to be unimportant have gotten relatively prominent coverage from a range of news organizations. This sort of thing happens all the time, but it's really jumped out at me in the past week.

Driving into work last Friday, I was surprised to hear Carl Kasell covering the New England Patriots spying scandal in NPR's 5-minute newscast. I stopped to get coffee, and CNN was covering it too.

Then earlier this week NPR gave up precious seconds of its national news summary to a story about a new California law restricting use of cell phones by teenagers while driving... and then CNN was on that story too.

What gives?

I can easily imagine the California law getting minor play from the LA Times; what the heck was it doing on the national news? Does some guy at the AP decide the order of news stories on the wire, and the rest of the media just follows suit? Is there a wider cabal somewhere? What's the deal?

This is a US-centric question, but the experience and wisdom of foreigners is welcome.

Computer-based media clipping service?

pzarquon — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 22:07:15 -0800

How easy would it be to set up some PCs to record the local news on several channels for purposes of offering a media clipping service? I don't know what the industry term is for this service, or how it's handled in other markets, but there is a company in my town that basically pays college kids to run a rack of basic VHS VCRs at home to record the evening news on four local network affiliates, cycle the tapes, and hold 'em for about a week in case a client wants a copy of a story that featured their product, a competitors product, a spouse, friend, etc.

Basically, the local stations don't have the patience or time to answer calls from the public who want a tape of their uncle, caught on camera expressing shock at a neighborhood fire, and direct people to call this company instead. It's obviously not a very profitable niche, but it's worth a few bucks to someone, and so far I guess the VCRs, tapes, and basic tracking is simple enough to sustain. But it still sounds like a lot of hassle.

So I was thinking. I've got a coaxial cable coming into my computer room, and four unused Dells, one of which has a video capture card. I presume I could get a coaxial splitter, a few more video cards, install some software, and basically have machines quietly recording the news on these four stations every night. Each would store {x} nights' worth of broadcasts, then dump 'em. Since I'm not messing with tapes, I could have an archive stretching further back than a week, and I imagine I wouldn't even have to think about it at all until someone wanted a specific segment. Then, I'd just copy the recorded video to the machine with a DVD burner, burn it, and hand it over.

Could this really be that simple? Or is there a reason cheap VCRs and cheap tapes are the way things are done now?

Do you have recommendations or warnings on the distribution of video capture cards and hard drives to get four evening news broadcasts simultaneously? How would you configure these relatively mindless recording workstations? What's the most reasonably priced basic video capture cards? Simple recording/scheduling software? Easiest way, when needed, to snip out a bit and burn it to DVD?

Thanks in advance! And if this turns out to be a viable side business for anyone else, you're welcome!

Local TV News corrections

freeflytim — Tue, 16 May 2006 21:03:22 -0800

I see corrections in newspapers all the time. And now come to think about it Ive NEVER seen my local TV news do a correction. Nobody is perfect. So how do they deal with mea culpas? I was watching my local TV news tonight when I caught a report that was terribly misleading about the cost of a project. The report had the math completely wrong. 35 units at $700 =$400,000. I TiVoed it back and forth and thats what was reported. (do the math!)

I found the story online
http://tinyurl.com/h7x86

I don't have a dog in the hunt and have already emailed the reporter about this and wasn't happy with her reply.

TV Stations and White SUVs

BradNelson — Tue, 10 May 2005 18:58:42 -0800

Why do TV stations (or any other news organization) have a fleet of white SUVs? I live next to a local TV station and their parking lot is full of white SUVs. Mostly Jeep Cherokees and Ford Explorers. What's so great about them? Do they serve a real purpose? Do they look more offical or important? Is that the same reason the UN uses them? Are they supposed to be easier to identify? Then why not blaze orange or lime green?

How many TV networks is the US funding in Iraq?

ruelle — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 00:52:49 -0800

PropogandaWarFilter: How many TV networks is the US funding in Iraq?
Al Iraquia (that doesn't have a site) and Al Hurra and..?