ABSTRACT
Despite the enormous satisfaction it is quite possible to derive from the business of putting together complicated news stories for transmission in a very short time, and the knowledge that real editorial power lies ultimately in the hands of deskbound executives, there is not much doubt that the glamour image of the average television newsroom journalist lags far behind that of those who appear in front of the camera. For while no viewer would be expected to name any member of backroom teams, descriptions of nationally known news performers – the ‘talent’ as they are quaintly called in the United States – trip easily off the tongue. So it is hardly surprisingly to find a high proportion of would-be recruits and starry-eyed newcomers to television news hankering after what they believe to be the ideal – to be seen by an audience of millions through news reports made in some exotic, mildly troubled spot on the other side of the world, enjoying what one member of the international reporting set has summed up as ‘a front seat on history’. In short, however unsuitable they might be as performers, they want to be famous.
