Where do the news anchors read their news from?

Question

Is it on a screen infront of them? Or is in on the papers they sometimes hold in their hands. Does it change from station to station?

Answer 1

Virtually all anchors read from a device called a teleprompter.

A teleprompter projects the script onto a pane of glass that the camera lens shoots through- that's why the anchor can look right at the lens and read the words. Sometimes, the glass reflects a computer screen mounted underneath the glass. The same result is achieved, however. Most of the cameras in the studio will have this system mounted on it- this system is well-tried and rugged.

Why use paper scripts? In case the prompter fails, stories get changed, breaking news occurs or some other unforseen calamity occurs that prevents the anchor from reading the correct words. A good anchor will always have the current paper script in front of them just in case.

Unless there is a technical reason or just out of plain cheapness, every station I've been in during my 20 years of TV news has used this method.

Answer 2

They have a teleprompter in front of them which has all the news typed into it, like a scrolling computer screen. At some stations, they will also have a smaller screen set down into the news desk they're sitting at. In case of changes in the news stories, or if something goes wrong with the teleprompter, they also have the news on the papers in their hands. If there is a big breaking news story, that will be on the papers, and the news anchors also have microphones in their ears so that the producer can speak to them during the newscast.

Answer 3

Almost all news stations utilize a teleprompter that scrolls the text of the story directly in front of the camera lense. It does not show up on the screen to viewers, but it allows the anchor to look directly into the camera and read the story.

The papers in front of them on the desk are there for two reasons. The first is that they are back-ups in case the teleprompter goes down. The second is that viewers tend to feel that an anchor is more credible if they think they are using the papers in front of them for the story. Almost as if the papers on the desk represent the research the anchor did on the story.

You'll notice sometimes when a teleprompter goes down, especially at the local affilaite level, because anchors are not used to reading copy directly from the paper and they will stumble, look down a lot, etc.

Answer 4

Generally teleprompters, but they also have scripted stories, similar to the teleprompter in case for some reason the teleprompter fails.

In the old days they read straight from the scripts.

Answer 5

Not sure about that