Lakers print reporter claims ESPN anchor stole story

Luggy,

I respect you as much as anyone on this board.

So what would you say would be the chances that the only time he did this was the only time he got caught?

 

Thanks, Screwball.

Hmmm. This is hard to explain. When you're writing for a TV news studio show, the script page on the computer is kind of like your notebook... a notebook that's later transformed into your actual script.

I'll give you an example. I used to produce a morning news show, and I had to do lots of writing on deadline. Late breaking news like accidents, crimes, and various shit that happened overnight. So lets say we got word on the scanner of a multi-vehicle accident. I would open a script page on the computer "Multi Vehicle Ax." That script page ultimately is fed to prompter for the anchor to read. But in the beginning, it's my notes page-- a place to gather every bit of information that I can get my hands on.

I start putting in details...

Heard police discussing on scanner at 4 a.m.
A two-line story crosses AP at 5 a.m., happened on I-95, 2 killed, 4 injured taken to Podunk Hospital.
Police confirm accident involving overturned truck at 3:45 a.m.
(I see the Podunk Press has a 3 line story on their website... maybe I cut and paste that into the script page... BUT I REMEMBER TO ADD: "According to the Podunk Press."
Hospital spokesperson says 3 injured but in stable condition.

-------

Now let's say I got busy with something else and forgot to convert those notes into an actual script.

Well, that actually happened to me a couple of times, and trust me, with the pace of things, it would have happened to you, too. Fortunately, at that job, I worked with a real pro for an anchor who relished breaking news. She could look at those notes in prompter live on television and out of her mouth would come the most sense-making, factual, beautifully delivered news story you've ever heard.

So what I'm saying is, keeping in mind the process some people use in converting a "notes page" into an actual script... it's possible that's where the screwup happened.

But again.... One day I was anchoring, and I saw the word 'fuck' pop up in prompter. Do you think I said it on air? ;D

 

Fuck no.

 

And thus we were spared, "Fuck goes the dynamite"

 

Thanks for the explanation, Luggy. Totally makes sense, except for this:

Selva wasn't gathering facts and information, as you were in your example of the mythical car accident. Breaking news gets crazy as the facts develop, the rumors are weeded out, etc.

Selva didn't forget to credit the Register for some amazing statistic or bit of analysis. It was just a few turns of phrase, and that makes me wonder whether Selva has "borrowed" a few turns of phrase on other occasions, just because he could be lazy and no one would ever know. Or so he thought. If it worked the first time, probably when he didn't mean to, well ...

Thanks for taking the time to respond!