A CBS station's reporter covering the Grammy awards suffered something a lot worse than the stumble or malapropism that is the bane of anyone who has to be on the air live and it's all over the TV and this here Innarweb.
Speculation leans heavily towards some kind of mini stroke or TIA-like event, right there in real time on people's TVs. Much as I am prone to make fun of The Media (which I can 'cos I kinda work there), the wonder is this kind of thing doesn't happen more often, especially at high-profile events.
Sure, it looks glamorous (or at least professional) but the reality is long hours with lousy food, worse hydration and little -- if any -- access to a washroom. By the time Ms. or Mr. Reporter has assembled the minute-and-a-half of news-like content you and I will sneer at, odds are good she or he is already physically stressed. Then, like a racehorse at the gate, there's a wait of uncertain length as the newscast proceeds and stories are shuffled around. Finally, the cue is thrown and they're off! There are no do-overs.
Look, the quality and depth of the content can be pretty variable; there are often slants and biases at work, both deliberate and unconscious; but the physical/emotional side of the job is challenging enough that, while it's not digging ditches, live field reporting is nowhere near as easy as most of them manage to make it look. (It's not like the movies; the usual field crew consists of A) Reporter and B)News Camera Guy, who is also Sound Guy and drives the microwave truck. One or the other or both of them edit any of the recorded parts and there's your entire crew).
You can criticize 'em on a lot of grounds but they're not lazy.
Oh, and the CBS reporter? They're still not sure what happened; word is she's back to normal now.
I hope that she sees a doc about it; an episode like that should not be ignored. It seemed to me that she might have indeed had a stroke of some kind.
ReplyDeleteBest to her and your mom.
ReplyDeleteGerry
I've had that happen. It's no-fooling scary. Not only do you know something is very wrong, you can't tell anyone about it.
ReplyDeleteThe ER doctor told me, in my case, it was the onset of a migraine. My migraines always cause me to lose track of the odd word or phrase, but not usually like that.
I sympathize with the reporter. It's an awful experience. I hope she's alright.
Hope she gets her issues resolved soon, and I hope it's not the cause of any permanent damage.
ReplyDeleteHaving had four strokes and three TIAs that sure looked and sounded to me like a TIA hope she gets it looked into soon.
ReplyDeleteLow electrolytes can mess things up like that, too -- the brain wants to do one thing but the electrical impulses just don't get to all the muscles in concert with each other. Let's hope it was a dietary problem and not a TIA or worse.
ReplyDeleteYa, hoping she went and got an MRI just in case, but from what I read she was checked out by an EMT who checked her blood pressure and released at the seen. Didn't even make it to a hospital.
ReplyDeleteI hope this wasnt a sign of something seriously wrong.
Good to hear Mom X is doing better.
Josh
The latest on the reporter is that this was a 'Migraine Aura'
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110218/ap_on_sc/us_tv_reporter_speech_problem
I'm glad that Your mom is feeling better.