The anchor smiles, personalities and emotional response to news content serves no purpose other than to create a subtitle propaganda influence on each story. Celebrity anchors help shape the simple minds of viewers and the audience votes.
I don't think there's anyone that can't live without those rehearsed, TelePrompTer reading familiar news faces.
One of the silly games played are those phony anchor questions, tossed to the field reporters. They are designed to sound candid but they're written by the reporters in a rather poor attempt to make the anchor sound involved with or at least interested in the story.
News, both broadcast and print is rapidly drowning in red ink. The Internet is currently the real source for finding news content. It's quick, easy and always on demand. Twitter and Facebook seems to get the breaking news information substantially faster that of our TV networks.
Even the companion websites created by both TV and print publications have no anchors.
The millions saved by removing the anchors could be used to beef up the actual news content creation. More reporters, field producers to dig and tell the stories is a better choice for available funding.
Crime stories have never been reported in such a pathetic and lame manner. The cops notify the media of an event such as an arrest or crime. Rather than reporters out locating witnesses and those involved in the event. They simply rely on the cops for the information.
Today reporters stand around waiting for the official police propaganda officers to tell their version of the instant crime story. The reporters then broadcast or publish exactly what the cops want, nothing less and certainly nothing more. I find that process very troubling. Why even hire reporters? They're letting cops report the news anyway!
It takes money and effort to flesh our a crime story. To do it right the backgrounds of these news makers need fast examination. People that disagree with the police version should be located, vetted and interviewed.
Too often defense attorneys are overlooked. News coverage of crime stories are rarely accurate. Instead lies are redundantly repeated. Often the truth never surfaces until the case is being tried in a courtroom a year or two later.
With depleted revenue enterprising reporting was the first thing to end in news. Investigative reporting died because of the fear of lawsuits and legal fees by news executives. Likewise they stopped hiring lawyers to enforce public records disclosure laws.
Any meaningful check and balance on government fraud, waste and corruption went to Hell. The media has surrendered its most important mission. We now have news censorship by through simple declining revenue.
There was a failed experiment to dump news anchors in the Bay Area. I confess that I never saw just what they did.
Perhaps it's time for simple graphics and a voiceover artist to introduce the stories and reporters. I for one can live without the on set anchor chit-chat. The worst example is with breaking news like helicopter covered police chases.
The anchors all blab on like they're police experts. The more they say the more ignorance they display. I'd rather hear raw police communications or narratives from the news chopper pilots especially location information.
Drones for news gathering are the future. Despite the wild phenomenon of Drone Hysteria they are safer by far and cost a mere fraction of helicopters. They also can also provide an often superior low altitude view.
As for news organizations they better move in a hurry. They need to get lean, improve their content and report news. Eventually I see TV and Internet sites being mirror images. However the Internet version will repeat until the next show is ready for broadcasting and posting.
The use of funds for anchors rather than effective content providers is insane. The failure of the media to lobby and litigate against drone limitations by the FAA is inexcusable and has already put the industry behind.
The breaking news is, that news as we knew it must change.
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