Until social media stepped in, live news was a big part of what set television apart from other media. It brought major events into the home and made them visible to thousands, or even millions of people at the same time. Events like the State funeral of President Kennedy were broadcast live to a nation and captured our imagination.
Most newscasts rely on the immediacy of live news to attract viewers, but planning a live shot can be a challenge. Some live shots just happen, such as a car accident or breaking news story. But planned live shots require forethought and good planning.
To start, producers should decide why they are going live. Is it to talk about a local event, or to interview a subject? Once on location, reporters need to understand what the viewers want to know. This is especially important when doing a live interview on the street.
The pacing of a live newscast is crucial, and the use of a teleprompter can help anchors keep up without looking at separate paper or displays. Some systems now use voice recognition to adjust scroll speed, matching how the anchor speaks. This frees up the operator to handle other tasks. Upcoming prototypes also explore ways of displaying text in the presenter’s line of sight without needing a large beamsplitter rig.
A reporter must hear the news program live, but this is usually not fed back to her through her earpiece, known as intercom (or IFB). Instead she is given a mix-minus, which contains the live news program minus her own voice.
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