MMMM #442 -- TV News, Behind the Scenes.

To state the obvious, TV viewers only see what is within the view of the lens.

Here, it's Governor Bentley and CBS 8's Glenn Halbrooks live on Fridays 6pm news....

...But people on the scene saw a rather more cluttered and complicated scene. Plus it was windy, threatening to blow over the lights or light reflector. 
     There was also a crowd of other reporters anxious to hear what the governor said about his threat to veto the Education Budget if lawmakers failed to include a 2% raise for education employees.   
     (They did not include a raise, and Bentley now says he'll decide whether to sign it this week. If he does not do so by the end of next Sunday, it will die and a special session will be needed to reconsider it.)

     A while back, Slate published a series of pictures showing reporters doing "stand-ups", live on-camera opens or closes of pre-produced reports, like this one, showing  "a reporter reporting from a hot spring. The story was that the summer heat was getting bad, but (the photographer) said that day was actually rather rainy and gray."

[ALSO: Coal Ash is a topic of interest to Alabama residents because tons of the stuff was dumped in the Arrowhead Landfill in Uniontown from a massive TVA spill in Tennessee in late 2008. But a more recent spill in North Carolina has raised an issue of secrecy. Duke Energy wanted to seal documents about reported leaks in their coal ash containment ponds. But a judge has now ruled against them.] 

[AND: A former Tuskegee Airman who became a  journalism professor in North Carolina, and who was one of the founders of the NABJ has died. Chuck Stone died Sunday at the age of 89.]

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of TimLennox.com]