When an anchor interviews the station’s field reporter on the scene, does the reporter know what questions they’re going to be asked? They always seem to be well prepared. I’ve never seen an interaction like:
>Anchor: How many people were in the building when it caught fire?
>
>Reporter: Uhh, I dunno, I didn’t ask…
There must be some mutual prep ahead of time, but when is it done? And how does the anchor know what they want to know, until the reporter has covered the preliminaries? Is the field reporter in contact with a producer, who then writes questions for the anchor to ask while the anchor is live on other stories, and the anchor gets no say?
In: Other
Does the reporter know the information ahead of time?
Yes of course.
Does the anchor know the information?
Yes, the anchor also knows the information.
Why do they do this question-and-answer bit?
Because it’s a way to present information that makes it easier to capture the viewer’s attention.
What do you mean?
Well, if the reporter were to just recite the facts, we’d get bored and skip the channel pretty fast. But when questions are asked, we are curious and want to learn the answers, so we watch.
So the whole thing is more like theatre than making a speech about the facts?
Yes, exactly.
Latest Answers