Another hi jacker on a plane from Amsterdam, this is the second one and this CNN Radio news reader really took this to heart. It really broke her up! I think it's time for a vacation or a new line of work?
Take A Listen:
http://podcasts.cnn.net/cnn/services/podcasting/newscast/audio/2009/12/27/CNN-News-12-27-09-1PM.mp3
Thanx
RadioRohn
Sometimes reporters become "emotional" during a newscast for listener/viewer effect. In other words it's a ratings gimmick. Some listeners/viewers appeal to, and identify with, an "emotional" reporter/newscaster as it creates the illusion, like you said, the reporter has a heart. The only problem with that news reporting strategy is it doesn't take very many "emotional" newscasts from the same reporter/anchor or even news source, before the listeners/viewer quickly figure out the reporter/newscaster gets "emotional" on a regular basis indicating either this reporter is emotionally unstable or the "emotions" were planned as a ratings gimmick.
A regular basis is not to be confused with every or every other newscast. It can be only once a month or every few months, but that, often times, is enough to convey to the listeners/viewers the "emotions" are more a part of the news delivery for effects purposes than it is an actual "heart touching", emotional experience for the reporter.
I have often heard news directors and assignemnts editors directly tell their reporters to take a basically nothing story and sensationalize it which goes to show that news reporting is more "show business" than it is actual hard hitting journalism.
By way of example, at one radio staion where I worked, it was a common practice, per the program director's instructions, to once a week have a "breaking news story" interrupt regular programming. We were a CHR 100kw FM, and the instructions were to wait about halfway through a "killer" song and then kill the song with the Breaking News news sounder. The breaking news was never anything worth breaking format. The news story could have easily waited till the next regular newscast. However, the strategy, as it was explained to me, was to create the facade that our Killer CHR 100kw FM was on the cutting edge of news gathering and reporting, being the first to report anything considered "breaking" when in reality we were simply sensationalizing an otherwise dull and boring news story. The media, law enforcement, the legislature, congress and the court system, among others, does this all the time. Each takes an otherwise nothing situation and transforms it into the proverbial "federal case".
And before I receive flack for that last line, NO, I am not saying the highjacking incident is a nothing story. It's a big story. What I am saying is news departments in all mediums often time sensationlize the news stories they cover, even if that means they have to get a little "emotional" to show how serious the otherwise nothing situation really is, and to make them seem bigger than they really are. This is done for no other reason than for entertainment and ratings purposes. With higher ratings, the higher the advertising rates for the newscast sponsorship which translate to the licensee's balance sheet bottom line.
Again, I am not saying the highjacking story is a nothing story. I am simply pointing out how news departments and reporters deliver the news and why they deliver it the way they do. Objective reporting is reporting the facts without showing any emotion or bias towards any one side of the story; otherwise it is no longer an unbiased news story and instead, becomes an editorial.
