Typical examples: If a person wants to see the fireworks, they should go to…” (singular/plural)
”
“The Website is http://www…..” (“www” is never necessary, as it is unnecessary in an email address)

“Another troop (should be “soldier:) was killed in EYE-RAK (should be “ear-AHK”)

On-air reporters don’t speak conversationally, but in some sort of unnatural sing-song manner.

On TV station Websites, stories are often rife with grammatical errors. Example: “Students wanting to go to there final destination should take the proper school bus…”

This happens in all-sized markets. Pride in reporting has been gone for years. Perhaps because all you need to be an anchor is a decent voice and a pretty face. Just as pro-football players don’t need an education to earn million-dollar contracts. Meteorologists simply modify a few numbers from the National Weather Service’s forecasts.

TV reporters think “W” is pronounced “dubby-you.”

Need I go on? As a former producer for top-rated local and national Radio shows, even though nobody could see what the reporter was reading, I guarantee you our News Director and Program Director came down sharply on any and all typos or errors in grammar. Then again, that was in the 1980s.

When I was a mid-market TV reporter, I spotted a local newspaper guy whose reporting I admired. No matter how well I thought I had done on a story, I would learn something new from his piece the next day. He never missed an angle, so I decided to walk up and tell him so.

As soon as I got there, he told me how impressed he was with *my* work. I told him that his stuff usually made me feel lame by comparison, and he said, “Yeah, but I usually get hours to work on it. Even once I have all of the information, it takes me at least an hour to actually write my story. I’ve seen you pick up a lengthy court ruling, scan it for five minutes, and then do a live report without notes, and without goofing anything up. There’s no way I could do that.”

So, mutual distrust can be overcome by the one thing all reporters can appreciate… having their egos stroked!

And Doug, as for the perception that reporters are rich… that’s too funny and still surprises me when I hear it. People sometimes used to assume that I was rich when I worked in television, which makes me die laughing. I started at WAGA in 2000 at $22,000 a year and worked two jobs for the first three years that I worked there. My brother used to be the morning anchor at the NBC affiliate in Augusta and he waited tables at Shoney’s in the evenings. I make more now than I did my first year in news and I don’t even have a job.

I also wanted to ad that a lot of people don’t distinguish between reporters and anchors. They seem to think that the two are interchangeable and anchors often do have writers who tell them what to say.

It’s true… i will always love you. remember when we covered that guy dressed up in a major domo suit running around the gym farting Volare? oh wait… that was after Mr. Rau ruined yr live shot in Glenwood by trying to start his old beater live truck during yr broadcast.