5 ms·

What's the point of sending English speaking journalists to Japan, where they typically do intro pieces from the streets of Tokyo, then segue into footage provi

• estel 16y ago
  Brilliant point. News organisations can really annoy me when they send reporters to the scene of an event just to do the same piece to camera that they could easily have back in the studio, and this is further compounded if they don't speak the languages necessary to do proper reporting. Also, in a country that's struggling to recover from a disaster, every news organisation sending hundreds of reporters to the region might be a huge drain on resources.
  • CallMeV 16y ago
    There's a reason why they still send out reporters to get their boots on the ground and try and figure out what's actually happening. Research. Any lazy journalist can just sit back, crib a whole bunch of feed and stills and press releases floating off he internet and boilerplate it into the column inches without bothering to make even the most cursory check for facts, but there's a word for such slack jawed lacklustre button pushing: churnalism. People used to complain about news helicopters flying over scenes of disasters such as flooding, saying things like "Why don't they pick up some of the stragglers and ship them to safety?" The answer is: Because that is not their job. Reporting on what is going on is. And that means going in there, asking questions, getting the agency to rope in a native speaker to translate where needed, and actually bearing witness to the sort of things that end up on your screen, or in print. They have to go in there and report, because nobody else is going to - and if nobody else reports, nobody will know how bad things are until that ignorance comes back and bites us. Journalists - at least the ones truly earning their crust - do what they do because they have a compelling need to show the world what they do not know, and need to know. They are the ones whose job it is to bear witness.
    • Semiapies 16y ago
      They're not going to do any significant research in Japan. They're going to take establishing footage of their personnel, then repeat aloud what they're told while showing disaster-porn imagery.
      • iuygthyjuk 16y ago
        >then repeat aloud what they're told while showing disaster-porn imagery. Pretty much standard for a royal wedding then
        • deleted 16y ago
          [deleted]
      • robryan 16y ago
        Yeah, the nuclear reporting in the first couple of days was terrible, someone on the ground would be repeating a few lines they have been given from someone else without the slightest understanding of the workings of the reactor. Also had 10 minutes of news on an unsubstantiated claim there was another tsunami heading towards the coast, only to be then told there wasn't.
    • georgieporgie 16y ago
      I think there is a big difference between a television "reporter" (i.e. newsreader) going to Japan for some intro pieces, versus, say, a long-time AP reporter who lives there and understands the region.
    • retube 16y ago
      Sure. But there's little real research an non-native language speaker can accomplish. And even if you speak the language, if you're not from there, well you're never going to get the inside track. And this is precisely the reason why Al Jazeera has so many foreign bureaus and employs a lot of local staff - way more than any other network.
      • 16y ago
• CallMeV 16y ago
  How do you know they haven't taken the time to learn to read, write and speak the local lingo? Also, those who are still learning can always get a bilingual local to interpret.
  • georgieporgie 16y ago
    Because the few moments of footage showing them touring the area in a rental car, you see them interact with their interpreter for everything. "What are those cars doing over there? Why are we in so much traffic?"
• colanderman 16y ago
  ...because the journalists actually do things when they're off camera, like, research the story. (Disclaimer: I can't speak for CNN as I haven't ever regularly watched it. But NPR and the BBC both have reporters in foreign countries for a reason.)
  • georgieporgie 16y ago
    There's a huge difference between either funding your own long-term deployed journalist, or simply contracting an independent, versus shipping your desk man over for some intro pieces.
• eof 16y ago
  Oh come on.. they have Japanese speaking journalists...
  • Groxx 16y ago
    As many as British-speaking ones? I'd be shocked if 1/8th of their reporters could speak Japanese.
• SkyMarshal 16y ago
  That, plus the US State Dept is evacuating Americans from Japan now anyway.