# TV News without anchors! Look out Houston! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233 "2010-07-27T21:18:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/1 "2010-07-27T21:18:21Z")
[From here:](http://gawker.com/5596485/tv-news-without-anchors-reporters-will-save-the-tribune-co) A major media company has stated it will launch a new newscast in Houston that utilizes no anchors, no reporters, in fact, “anyone standing in the way of the picture.” Randy McMichaels of the Tribune Company states: “Now is it going to work? We’re going to find out.” Far be it from me to second-guess Mr. McMichaels, but anyone that ends a statement with “We’re going to find out” has a rude awakening coming. Sorta like a redneck’s famous last words: “Hey Ya’all, watch this!” Your thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/2 "2010-07-27T21:38:58Z")
So, wait, how is this supposed to work? Are they just going to have a bunch of webcams strategically positioned in news-worthy locations, and just feed them straight onto the screen? It’s supposedly going to be well-written, but what does the writing do? I’d think maybe they were planning on just close-captioning everything, but they also say they’re not letting anything get in front of the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/3 "2010-07-27T21:41:44Z")
I assume they mean that they will have someone narrating the footage, but the person will not be shown on screen. There’s a “reporter”, but the reporter is offstage. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/4 "2010-07-27T21:45:56Z")
Usually reporters and anchors are there to give you details about what happened already. Do they think their cameras are going to catch everything live? (Shot of an abandoned alley) Mr. Homeviewer: So what is this all about? Mrs. Homeviewer: I don’t know, they won’t say. I think maybe there was a murder there last night? ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/5 "2010-07-27T21:55:45Z")
Seems like they’re bringing back the old style newsreels. Sample [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0-fVLCnsBs)and [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I36cglDOtJg). ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/6 "2010-07-28T02:43:31Z")
Sounds like they are pushing the envelope on something KRON did in San Francisco. They still had anchors, but all the reporters were “video journalists” who did the camera, reporting, and editing by themselves. KRON slashed its budget after it went from being the NBC affiliate to an independent and fired most of the news staff and basically brought in newbies or “promoted” camerafolk to “journalists”. Not sure if they are still doing that, but here is a story from back when they started the experiment: [http://www.gradethenews.org/2005/kron.htm](http://www.gradethenews.org/2005/kron.htm) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/7 "2010-07-28T02:50:03Z")
Heh, the reason I watch one particular channel for news in Houston, KPRC, is _because_ of the [reporter](http://www.dominiquesachse.tv/bio.htm). ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/8 "2010-07-28T04:38:55Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Heh, the reason I watch one particular channel for news in Houston, KPRC, is _because_ of the [reporter](http://www.dominiquesachse.tv/bio.htm). Ha, I was going to post exactly the same thing. The thread title made me panic that I’d lose my nightly Dominique fix, but thankfully Tribune’s only station in Houston is KIAH, a CW affiliate I’ve never watched in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/9 "2010-07-28T14:14:31Z")
Sounds innovative. News anchors pretty much just read the news, and demand high salaries for being pretty faces. From the OP link, it didn’t sound like they were getting rid of the reporters, just the in-studio anchors. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/10 "2010-07-28T14:35:42Z")
Dominique is the only thing (other than a Hurricane) that I have ever seen to stop work on an oil rig, when she first started her hair was “bright red” and she showed a lot of cleavage. We used to shutdown in the mornings to gawk at her. Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/11 "2010-07-28T15:09:35Z")
Good for them. News anchors serve no purpose. They appear on camera wearing make-up and thousand dollar haircuts and say profound things like “Our top story tonight…” Why? I was able to figure out it was the top story tonight from the fact it was being shown first. As far as I can tell, the only show where on camera anchors add any value to the show is Naked News. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/12 "2010-07-28T17:47:52Z")
This thread needs [Morbo](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pgd935hwfOM/RpYytqe2_VI/AAAAAAAAAIE/KV043Qnx16A/s320/Futurama_morbo.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-news-without-anchors-look-out-houston/548233/13 "2010-07-28T20:08:52Z")
NEWS ANCHORS DON[sup]i[/sup]T WORK THAT WAY!