@jmflyer55

6 months ago

What MANY young adults today don't even know about, in this present time of so called "instant news", and "immediate information" and "worldwide connectivity" is that back in the 1960's, and 70's, (even the 80's to a lesser extent) mainstream news stations (not cable networks, but local broadcast stations) would work hard to cover stories like these LIVE, all done by using a remote 'uplink' satellite, usually in the form of an RV (motorhome) or a converted van for the stations that couldn't afford a motorhome conversion. In the 60's & 70's these satellite uplink vehicles & all the equipment inside, was all 'state of the art' stuff and mind boggling expensive to purchase, set up, and maintain! Anyhow, this was just one avenue that Mainstream media news utilized to get breaking news on the air FIRST, before any of their competition got it on air.
So, in those days it basically worked like this: Reporter for the station, who's either in office, making calls by phone OR, out hitting the streets following up on previous or ongoing leads of both potential stories etc., some Reporters also had 'secret informants', (often times a homeless person) that they could find by cruising the streets in a certain area, and pay them off ($$t$) for a secret tip about an upcoming event or any news worthy story they might know about!. Very often these stories had criminal elements to them, and reporters (the good ones that is) would maintain their informants anonymity, very often under severe pressure by law enforcement to divulge their identity! After numerous reporters were imprisoned for doing this, they united together and fought against this harassment by law enforcement to the highest supreme court, and WON, under our First Amendment Constitutional rights to "Freedom of Speech" and the right to a "Free Press"... Nevertheless, it was a long hard fight, and still today, we'll see law enforcement still try to attempt to pressure media around this same topic. Although it's rare today. Unfortunately NOT because L.E. learned their lesson and is now acting in a more law abiding way, but rather, because news media today, no longer pursue these kind of breaking, cutting edge news stories.
For those old enough to remember when mainstream news still had integrity, and still reported actual NEWS and not "feel good" segments one after the other telling us about some unimportant community event in order to bolster belief in a particular agenda, or to encourage agreement and 'inclusivity' with certain "groups" of people. In the news business, short segments like these have been called "feel good" pieces as far back as I can remember, and when I was first involved in TV broadcasting. But I digress.
I've gone through all of this kind of remote broadcasting "history", as this video is basically about; Covering a news event LIVE, as it unfolds. What I'd like young adults to understand, taking account of what I've written above is this: BEFORE 'smart' phones, even years before cell phones as young people know them today, long before the internet, and long before the instant communication we have today, what we did have was legitimate reporters & REAL news. And we had LIVE, "Breaking News" as seen in this video! Whatever TV program you were watching would be interrupted,
and a banner would flash across the TV screen saying just that!
"BREAKING NEWS"... And your local anchor man would either be at the location of the news by way of Satellite Uplink Truck, OR, in the studio talking to a reporter on seen. These were done LIVE. And in those days the news was REAL! It was uncut, unedited, and truly broadcast LIVE. No big flashing "Warning Sign" or "Viewer Discretion Advised", because the news was written and produced for an adult audience in those days. Not children, hence, leaving out a bunch of warnings!
But the best part about that, was the news was REAL. We at home could really see & understand what was happening! Reporters with their cameraman were right there on the front line, getting information, and getting the footage, which was sent to us as the cameraman filmed it!
That being said, we did have a 4 second delay on the uplink. If something to terrible happened, or one of the seven forbidden words in broadcasting was picked up by the sound guy, we had time enough to bleep it out.
Additionally, in news involving law enforcement, reporters were front line demanding from LE answers to questions. They didn't just lie down like they do today, when cops at a press release say, "Thats all I can tell you" and they've said nothing! Reporters back then would push and push law enforcement until getting the info, and if cops didn't give it up, news media would practically crucify law enforcement, going to court over it!! Because L.E. is paid for by the people FOR the people! Media back then held them to that!!
But what about news media today?
It's a complete and utter joke! We'd all be laughing, if what they did wasn't so criminal! News today? Turn on one channel, and you hear almost verbatim, what every other channel is reporting. All the "news" today, comes from the same source!
All of the News stations today, and television stations today who employ their news departments, (we're talking thousands of TV stations nationwide) are all owned by just a few corporations. And sadly as a side note, this also includes nearly ALL radio stations nationwide!! This didn't used to be the case. Most all used to be individually owned! All free to report on what they wanted and to say what they wanted. Many multiple points of view back then. Not even to mention print news, and the thousands of independent city newspapers we used to all read in the morning. But now? ALL the TV news stories are coming from ONE point of view primarily. The news anchors are dictated to as to what to report and what to say. The radio stations, owned by same corporations as TV stations, well, the news on radio in the car, matches what you saw on the morning news before you left the house! And as we all know, they've intentionally destroyed our local newspapers, so much so that in many cities you can't even get a newspaper delivered anymore, if you go to the news stand and buy one it's so thin and empty it's hardly worth reading anymore. The bottom line is, access to real news has almost become impossible. Of course the real problem is that these "news" outlets basically boil down to all having the same agenda since we're only dealing with four or five major players who are speaking for thousands. And sadly, even the Internet based news outlets are not much better generally speaking. You've actually got to find a source for good news today, you have to search for it today!

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