Live news is a major component of most television broadcasts, featuring events unfolding in the world. It provides viewers with the latest breaking news and can be a powerful way to engage with your audience.
In addition to displaying news in real time, live streaming can be used for a variety of other applications. For example, businesses in a number of different industries can use live news to promote their products or services and generate awareness about important issues.
Historically, the immediacy of live news broadcasts pushed television and radio to new heights. NBC, for example, devoted an astonishing 72 hours to the assassination of President Kennedy in 1968, and the immediacy of live news continues to drive today’s television and radio reporting.
A news teleprompter is a large rectangular contraption that sits in front of a camera lens. It’s designed to minimize glare by using a dark background and a beamsplitter mirror that displays the text on a monitor in the presenter’s line of sight. Often, the text is enlarged and the fonts are carefully chosen for clarity. Technicians can also fine-tune scroll speed to match the anchor’s speaking pace, making it easier for presenters to read and keep their eyes focused on the screen.
Today’s teleprompters are typically controlled via software that can adjust the scroll speed in real-time based on timing cues. They can also be augmented with voice recognition that adjusts scroll speed according to the speaker’s spoken rate, freeing them to concentrate on other aspects of the show. These advancements make teleprompting more effective than ever, but they’re not without their challenges. Even with the best preparation, technology can fail or a script can go off-script and result in on-air blunders. However, a strong mobile connection and mental preparedness for these moments can help prevent them from becoming major on-air catastrophes.