1 of 1- RonaldS
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What reporting purpose do public reactions to horrible stories serve?
Question for radio/TV veterans: what is the purpose of interviewing the public to get their reaction to a breaking story?
Example: the murder that occurred in a Mississauga Canadian Tire store earlier this week. CBC felt it necessary to report that "people were shocked to find the store closed and why", and then briefly interview a few of them to get a one second clip of each one saying something like "it's awful" or "it's horrible".
I find that things like this don't seem to serve any purpose.
What are they for?
- Radio Bob
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Re: What reporting purpose do public reactions to horrible stories serve?
40+ year veteran here.
It can be lazy, I grant you that, but it can also provide some context on how bad the situation is, without editorializing or assuming on the part of the reporter.
- Chrisphen
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Re: What reporting purpose do public reactions to horrible stories serve?
It's acceptable for followup coverage, when the basic questions of what/where/when/how/why have been answered and chronicled. When it's served up as filler to a breaking story (as is often the case - even at the CBC), those responsible should be horsewhipped.
- mike marshall
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Re: What reporting purpose do public reactions to horrible stories serve?
Nothing beats somebody who was on the scene telling your listeners part of the story. If they saw
it happen, they can also be emotionally involved.
- RonaldS
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Re: What reporting purpose do public reactions to horrible stories serve?
mike marshall wrote:
Nothing beats somebody who was on the scene telling your listeners part of the story. If they saw
it happen, they can also be emotionally involved.
This makes sense, if they were witnesses but the telling of this particular story brought out my "cranky old man" I guess - we all know that what happened is obviously horrible, do we really need to hear it several times by people that weren't there <mini-rant over>
Thanks for your responses.
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