This is something I have wondered about for a while… I have no idea how long it has been going on, but it has been years. Each SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight, NFL shows… Just about everything has the anchor(s) standing and speaking.
I find it strange and off-putting. Guys are standing around like it’s an 80’s Dockers commercial, and most of them stand with their legs spread apart too wide, like they are airing out their ball sacks and ass cracks. It looks like a high school wrestling photograph, except the guys are (usually) wearing suits and ties. Women also look like they are airing out their crack(s), but they have to do it in high heels.
Anyone know when this style actually took off, and why do they do this?
What ever happened to the anchor behind the desk? What’s wrong with an anchor behind the desk?
MTV VJ’s were deskless - here’s broadcast footage from its first day. The first time I saw it in a “newsroom” context was City TV in Toronto in the early '90s - here’s a clip from 1992. I remember reading a profile about the head of the station and he explained that he got rid of the desks because he saw them as an obstacle between the news presenter and the viewer.
Even the network news anchors stand for some stories. Supposedly it’s to make them more approachable, literally not distancing themselves from the audience behind an artificial barrier. Somewhere a focus group is to blame.
When I was in radio in the 1970s, one of the debates at rock stations was whether the dj’s should stand or sit. The more “high energy” the jock was while on the air, the more likely he was standing.
As for when it started, here’s Dave Garroway on the first broadcast of the Today show in 1952. Notice that microphone he’s wearing? That wasn’t designed for someone to sit behind a desk.
I remember Entertainment Tonight, with John Tesh and Mary Hart, having a desk with no sides. So, they sat down, but you could see their entire body (and hence, Mary Hart’s legs, which seemed to be the reason for the view). I personally don’t understand the obstacle theory (not that it’s not real, I simply don’t get it), because when I watch something like a local news broadcast, everyone with the exception of the weatherman is behind a desk, and I have never wanted to feel closer to them, nor did I ever feel like I was being blocked from the anchor. I find this idea interesting, because it never crossed my mind that I needed to see the person stand to deliver information to me on TV to make it more credible.
Now, if I was watching a public speaker in person, I would not want to see that person sitting behind a desk. I understand the idea that a desk would look like an obstacle, and block the person from the audience. However, many podiums are solid, and block the speaker’s legs, even when they are standing and delivering a speech. Standing would make someone more visible to the entire live audience, and would also help a person project their voice.
I get this. As I understand it, it is easier for your diaphram to create a powerful sound when you stand. That’s why professional singers stand when they are in a recording studio.
So a DJ at a nightclub standing makes perfect sense to me.
Does anyone here feel like the anchors are “more approachable” if they are standing? On a TV broadcast, I view the TV screen as the obstacle. Since I can’t get past that to get to an anchor, I don’t think of a desk as anything at all, especially when all they show you is a person’s torso. If a shot is pulled back wide enough to see the top of a desk, you rarely see more than a person’s hands holding a piece of paper.
IIRC, some major anchor - might have been Dan Rather - tried to take the national broadcast ‘deskless’ when he took over. It freaked people out and ratings plunged.
We want our news anchors seated behind a big, sturdy, artsy desk. And pantless.
It was Linda Ellerbee, I think, who pointed out how much artificial “action” there is in news presentation. The anchor could just read the item, but no… they have to “go to Karen, in the newsroom” as if that makes the news fresher or more important. And, of course, there’s the double handoff to Karen in the newsroom and then to Bob in the field. All to just basically read 30 seconds of copy.
For me, it has the opposite effect. I’m probably sitting, and the fact that they are standing draws attention to the fact we aren’t in a group having a conversation. If you want that, you need to sit.
That’s why people sit on talk shows, and only stand for the monologue. The Monologue is a show, but the the interviews are you being part of a conversation.
They’re standing because many of their sports talkers are women and most of their audience is male. The women sports talkers are mostly babes. We can see more of them when they’re standing.
I thought that was obviously the reason they’re standing.
The local station I grew up watching - I think this was the late 70s, but it may have been a bit earlier than that - had their news anchor standing behind a clear Lucite-like lectern. Surrounded by darkness. As if they were in a dark, empty room behind this clear plastic stand. There was also a suspended cube behind him, about head-high, that served to show pictures and headlines about the story he was reading.
It’s amazing how far technology has come in my lifetime. Anyway, just to throw out there that I know of one TV station that had their anchors standing in the 70s, apart from WJM.
As for another annoyance, from ESPN and just about every other news/sports channel - what’s with the cameras zooming around the set while the hosts/commentators are doing their thing? From CNN to MSNBC to ESPN … all their studio shows seem to feature this mobile, active camera work. I suppose it’s to hold the interest of today’s attention-span-challenged audience, but all I can think of is those poor out-of-shape union cameramen being told to move back and forth and all about the set during the taping. No sir, I don’t care for it, it’s a visual gimmick that adds nothing to the show.
Professionals, sure, but you might be surprised to learn that the one and only Barbra Streisand sat on a stool, somewhat hunched over, for the studio takes I was involved with in Los Angeles, during the height of her career.
