What do newsreaders do all day long?

Factual Questions
1

There is a newsreader on the BBC News Channel called Chris Eakin, he works from 11:00 to 14:00 on Friday and from 16:00 to 20:00 on Saturday and Sunday. I know he might do relief presenting during the week, but what about when he doesn’t. He can hardly do research on Tuesday for news that hasn’t happened yet.

And also the BBC has 8 correspondent in Washington D.C. and loads of other correspondents in Tripoli, Belgrade, Vienna, there isn’t always news from there, so what do they do when there isn’t, would they work for someone else there like a newspaper or something.

2

I assume they are packed back into their boxes along with the other puppets.

3

They are preparing upcoming stories that may take weeks to put together… doing interviews etc. They don’t just report on hot stories happening at the moment. These longer term pieces are added to broadcasts when they need to fill time on a slow news day.

4

they are practicing correct pronunciation of people and place names. or maybe not.

5

Also, specifically in terms of the BBC, many reporters do work for the world service and region-specific items that you don’t see.

So you’d see the Beijing correspondent a lot more if you were watching BBC news in Beijing.

6

Here’s a map of BBC correspondents around the world (no idea how up to date it is though)

http://apps.stuart-pinfold.co.uk/bbc-correspondents-map/

It looks like a mix of BBC employees and freelancers, and the freelancers will be providing content for other organizations too.

7

They are checking the names of airline pilots for accuracy.

8

^^^

That map is just the English language correspondents. There’s a ton more foreign language ones for the various World Service feeds

9

I had a sales/customer acquaintance with a Houston evening anchor back in the 80s and asked him a similar question.

His answer was that he really enjoyed what he did and was a virtual workaholic about it. He researched, he went out on some of his own interviews, he made public appearances for the TV channel, he worked quietly behind the scenes, did paperwork and phone calls, and he found entertainment in finding/knowing/seeing other news. All news. He said if I asked just about any other long term news person, they would respond similarly.

10

Pittsburgh has had its share of news people that drink between broadcasts. It’s kinda weird when you are watching the news and gradually realize the dude is really drunk.

11

I know a retired KTVU correspondent (yes, that KTVU) and he loved to work. Beautiful voice. When he wasn’t working, he was/is with his constant companion, one Jack Daniels. He knows some of the famous local anchors, which is a bit different position, and I’ve me one (Leslie Griffiths). Workaholic super-high achiever.

12

U.S. network news anchors are supposed to take advantage of their celebrity status by building a list of contacts who simply wouldn’t respond directly to a mere reporter – the “high ranking official in the Administration,” for example. Barbara Walters had a reputation (probably somewhat deserved) for being able to get through to practically every important person in the world without being filtered through a list of assistants and spokespeople.