Where do the news anchors that report on "breaking news" come from at all hours of the day?

Most of them are on the 24 hour news channels, aren’t they?

The rest are likely to be on call.

My cousin was an anchor for awhile. They anchors at local studios are there more like 12–14hrs per day. They get called in for breaking news or heavy news days.

Here in Wis, the weather “team” also puts in 24hr days during “breaking news” storms.

They’re on-call. When they’re not reporting something breaking they may also serve as reporters for newspapers, tv stations, or spend their time working on special reports.

I would think they have “spares” – you know, someone who normally does a different job during the night shift, but can be put on the air in a tight spot at 3am if need be.

@MyNewtBoobs that sounds most logical. What in the world do the anchors do in the studio for 12–14 hours a day? Just sit around??

@JmacOroni They fluther when they’re not reporting.

@JmacOroni I think some are also journalists. But if NewsRadio is to be believed in any way, shape, or form, mostly making the station manager’s life a living hell by being crazy. Which fits quite a few anchors.

@JmacOroni The stories don’t write themselves ;) They are responsible for the voice overs on the reports, help with editing stories, pull stories together…etc. A lot of the news stations have lost their floor directors with budget slashes. The anchors are responsible for a lot more than they once were.

@JmacOroni reporters don’t wait around for anyone to call them for news. They look for news in their particular beat or the specific area they cover. Of course, sometimes you get phone calls from sources or from people who want the reporter to report on something in particular.

The major television station reporters (anchors aren’t reporters. Anchors are talking shirts who read reports and stories gathered and written by journalists.) have reporters who work particular beats and they are staffed 24 hours a day by shifts. Newspapers are printed once a day so the same timeframe isn’t necessary for print media.

Most media sources, big or small, print or television; use the Associated Press or other large news agency, as a source for news. AP reporters work all over the globe and are on call 24 hours a day.

@bkcunningham right, I guess I don’t know the lingo… but it seems that both are always available on short notice. Anchors and reporters, that is. The reporters make a bit more sense to me. The anchors had me a little baffled.

Yes, the morning anchors, editors, copywriters, producers etc. for your local television stations start work at about 3 a.m. to get ready of the morning news. They have to go through the news wires they use for news copy, read the newspapers and whatever other sources of news they may use and get themselves prepared for the newscast. Their shift may end after they do the noon report. The evening shift takes over. They do the evening and night news and leave when the morning shift comes into the station.

@JmacOroni Most of the reporters are out of the station all day collecting footage and tracking down face to face interviews. They are also responsible to find “live” locations so they can get footage of peoples feet walking on the sidewalk.this was is a big gripe of reporters…getting footage that “looks live

Some anchors sleep at the news stations and are awoken when breaking news happens. They have 2 minutes to hit the bathroom and be TV-ready.

They are on call.

Every TV station has a closet where they keep Anchor Robots.

Robots?

maybe this is why an american journalist in england was anchoring the reports i saw: different time zone.

Well, I think David Muir from the US’s ABC network is from Ithaca, New York.

::blinks::