# TV newscasters working from home and their bookshelves **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2020, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358 "2020-04-08T16:53:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/21 "2020-04-08T20:45:01Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > On a (slightly) related note, I noticed that Nicolle Wallace (MSNBC, _Deadline: White House_) looks quite different since she started doing the broadcast remotely. It isn’t a matter of being poorly groomed — she’s not — but being at home with a young son probably rules out devoting the amount of time she would have spent in hair & makeup at the studio. > > Now if only the interviewees would have the same consideration for the audience. I can certainly buy that an ER physician would look disheveled, but a lot of them have no obvious excuse for looking like the morning after the night before. She is still my hero for cutting away from the orange turd yelling " Lies, lies." ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/22 "2020-04-08T21:06:24Z")
I’ve noticed that a few of the local new reporters have Emmys strategically placed behind them. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/23 "2020-04-08T21:10:12Z")
After my first Zoom meeting, which revealed stained ceiling tiles and my face at a really bad angle, I curated a corner of my office. Bookshelf, with my books on the top shelf, arranged chronologically. In the cases where I had multiple copies of the same book I arranged them so the whole cover showed, so you can’t tell there are three copies of the same book. The next shelf, other peoples’ books, I arranged by cover color. Dilemma, does purple go at the red end, or at the indigo end? I chose indigo. I moved the lamp, and checked various configurations of light for the best one. It is hard to imagine that on-camera professionals wouldn’t do the same thing! Only they would know this to begin with. (BTW I can’t find the virtual background. Of course I don’t want to waste a lot of time after the Zoom meeting starts asking people about it, also the thing that makes you automatically look better. I know it’s there somewhere!) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/24 "2020-04-08T21:19:46Z")
I don’t care about their books as much as their microphones. Can’t official broadcasters be given real mics? They all sound like they are on a flip phone in a public bathroom. We’re regressing! If we have to have home broadcasting, would it be too much to ask for good video and sound? And people! Greens screen can be bought at Amazon! One day delivery! ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/25 "2020-04-08T21:25:32Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I saw a rubics cube on someones shelf. It wasn’t solved. Oh! I will add my cube to my bookshelf! It IS solved. But I could unsolve it for one meeting. Then solve it for the next. Implication: I am a genius! Also, if I had a Major Award I would definitely display it. Sadly I do not. If I had Leg Lamp I would display that, too. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/26 "2020-04-08T21:30:06Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Both my work and my home laptops are plugged into a large external monitor via a KVM switch. No webcam, so no need for me to learn how to do this. > > Of course, the last two days I haven’t been working thanks to a massive case of conjunctivitis (or maybe ocular cellulitis, but I’m leaning to the former thanks to other symptoms) that is mostly sealing one eye shut. Still, the swelling has reduced a bit and I’m getting better at functioning with only one eye, so I will probably be working again tomorrow. > > Probably just as well that there’s no webcam going on. No one needs to see the puffy red sealed eyelids, right? > > I haven’t been paying attention to the books on news reporters, though. I can never see the titles. I don’t mean to be alarmist here but conjunctivitis can be a symptom of COVID, have you been tested? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/27 "2020-04-08T23:16:29Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Oh! I will add my cube to my bookshelf! It IS solved. > > But I could unsolve it for one meeting. Then solve it for the next. > > Implication: I am a genius! Ooh, do you have TWO cubes? Have a randomized cube showing next to you on your desk or a table. In the middle of the meeting, take it into your lap, glance down once or twice over the next 30 seconds, then place the finished cube on the desk. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/28 "2020-04-09T00:38:39Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > [Supposedly](https://www.housebeautiful.com/design-inspiration/a27421303/bobby-berk-stores-books-spine-in-queer-eye/), and I cast a rather jaundiced eye over this explanation, the home decor shows do it to avoid having the book titles needing to be cleared by their legal team and pass it off as a design choice that dum-dums then follow. I can’t believe that simply having the title/author of a book, in a bookcase, visible onscreen requires a legal team and clearances and stuff. Does that mean that a lawyer somewhere passed judgment and filled out forms and requested and obtained clearances for every book I’ve ever seen in every movie and television show I’ve ever watched? It just seems really unlikely to me. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/29 "2020-04-09T00:53:38Z")
Chris Cuomo was in his basement. I heard his dog yip once. He sounded like he was in a barrel. John King looked like Max Headroom. He had a fake looking scene of the Whitehouse. He looked horrible. Today he had a better background. Anderson Cooper spent one show in his house. Now he’s in a “Remote” studio. I don’t get the house stuff. I’m assuming there’s more than one studio. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/30 "2020-04-09T01:56:06Z")
> [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > A somewhat related thing that always irks me is when you’re in a shop or restaurant that uses old books for decoration, but the books are glued or screwed down so you can’t actually read them. You can get “fake books”, not songbooks but decorations that look like (usually) fancy leather-bound books but aren’t books at all. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/31 "2020-04-09T01:57:14Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I can’t believe that simply having the title/author of a book, in a bookcase, visible onscreen requires a legal team and clearances and stuff. Does that mean that a lawyer somewhere passed judgment and filled out forms and requested and obtained clearances for every book I’ve ever seen in every movie and television show I’ve ever watched? > > It just seems really unlikely to me. Probably easiest to just not take any chances. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/32 "2020-04-09T01:58:28Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I always check out the bookshelves and photos. I usually can’t make out the titles but sometimes I can. I’m more on the lookout for items that might have been inadvertently left in view of the camera, like dildos or bongs. I haven’t spotted anything good yet. LOL! I did see a still on Facebook where a man was reporting from home in front of his fireplace, and the cat had jumped up and was, ahem, grooming itself during the broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/33 "2020-04-09T02:00:18Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > On a (slightly) related note, I noticed that Nicolle Wallace (MSNBC, _Deadline: White House_) looks quite different since she started doing the broadcast remotely. It isn’t a matter of being poorly groomed — she’s not — but being at home with a young son probably rules out devoting the amount of time she would have spent in hair & makeup at the studio. Maybe they can’t get the lighting right in her house? I couldn’t imagine that someone like her wouldn’t have child care that’s at least adequate enough for her to look TV-friendly before going on camera. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/34 "2020-04-09T02:21:21Z")
you know i can always pick out the monthly readers digest condensed novels collections in commercials and tv shows… How I know that is when I was 8 or 9 I started reading adult books but grandma didn’t want me reading “adult” subject matter(ie sex) so whenever someone had a yard sale shed buy them by the box … I wonder how many have tried this trick here’s the cutest interruption to a live show ever … and whats funny is the guests must have kids cause they didn’t skip a beat its about a minute in the video [MSN](https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/popculture/jimmy-fallons-daughter-interrupts-his-show-to-announce-lost-tooth/vi-BB12kb0H?ocid=SK2DDHP) ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/35 "2020-04-09T02:52:39Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Ooh, do you have TWO cubes? > > Have a randomized cube showing next to you on your desk or a table. In the middle of the meeting, take it into your lap, glance down once or twice over the next 30 seconds, then place the finished cube on the desk. Yeah! I like this idea! ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/36 "2020-04-09T03:14:07Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Chris Cuomo was in his basement. I heard his dog yip once. He sounded like he was in a barrel. > John King looked like Max Headroom. He had a fake looking scene of the Whitehouse. He looked horrible. Today he had a better background. > > Anderson Cooper spent one show in his house. Now he’s in a “Remote” studio. > > I don’t get the house stuff. I’m assuming there’s more than one studio. Well, in Cuomo’s case, he is COVID-19 positive, so staying at home is a good idea. mmm ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/37 "2020-04-09T04:52:57Z")
I don’t watch TV or newscasters. Did I miss anything significant? > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I recall a New Yorker cartoon from decades ago. > > A man is in a bookstore talking to the clerk: > > “I need three feet of green books”. Poet, singer and activist [Tuli Kupferberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuli_Kupferberg), Kerouac’s person _“who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alleyways & firetrucks, not even one free beer”_ recorded (without his group The Fugs) an [ESP-Disk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP-Disk) record (on translucent colored vinyl), NO DEPOSIT NO RETURN, with slightly dramatized versions of classified adverts and jingles. One he performed: For Sale: BOOOOK-CAASE! With books. Twenty dollars. Then there was the personal advert from “an expert and cunning linguist.” That made it into the NYT probably. Cheeky devil. But I digress. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And people! Greens screen can be bought at Amazon! One day delivery! Just print a blowup of QE-II’s dress from her recent speech. Much can be accomplished there. [Like this](https://boingboing.net/2020/04/07/the-internet-is-having-a-field.html). But an old green blanket works too. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/38 "2020-04-09T05:24:57Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Well, in Cuomo’s case, he is COVID-19 positive, so staying at home is a good idea. > mmm Yep. Cuomo coulda told the wife and kids put the dog out back. It was ok though. I kinda liked it. I expected the maid to come and put laundry in or something. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/39 "2020-04-09T06:03:31Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > On a (slightly) related note, I noticed that Nicolle Wallace (MSNBC, _Deadline: White House_) looks quite different since she started doing the broadcast remotely. It isn’t a matter of being poorly groomed — she’s not — but being at home with a young son probably rules out devoting the amount of time she would have spent in hair & makeup at the studio. I doubt you can do makeup for yourself the way the experts can. Plus the lighting is bad relative to a studio. And most of the people I’ve seen at home look a good 10 years older than they do in the studio. Those makeup people earn their money. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358/40 "2020-04-09T06:07:03Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Chris Cuomo was in his basement. I heard his dog yip once. He sounded like he was in a barrel. > John King looked like Max Headroom. He had a fake looking scene of the Whitehouse. He looked horrible. Today he had a better background. > > Anderson Cooper spent one show in his house. Now he’s in a “Remote” studio. > > I don’t get the house stuff. I’m assuming there’s more than one studio. I understand that the top people have robot cameras which track them, and the not top people just look at Skype or something. Notice the camera angles never change and the sound quality for our local broadcasters is dreadful. As for books, I can never see the books behind the ones with them well enough, but I have books behind me for Zoom meetings. Well, not books - a bookcase full of science fiction magazines - Analog, Galaxy, If. That tells you all you need to know about me - except that it is one bookcase of 12. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-newscasters-working-from-home-and-their-bookshelves/851358.md?page=3)