0650 – Verbal Trips and Slips

2022.10.12 – 0650 – Verbal Trips and Slips

Trips and slips

‘Things’ happen. Verbal and technical slips and trips. Mouths and machines can stop working. The wrong bit of audio can come out of either of them! [1]

At the same time, it is also the case that given how well equipped and familiar news people are with the demands of the job, there really should not be flaws in most news programmes. A high level of professionalism is really the expectation of everyone no matter if they are in front of the camera or behind the scenes.

But when things do go wrong, the anchor or newsreader is expected to stay cool and professional. Whatever the ferment beneath the surface, no cracks must appear in the calm exterior. (The coolest recovery on record was probably that of a wartime BBC announcer who pressed on with his script after a bomb fell on Broadcasting House: https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/ww2/bh-bombs) The answer is to immediately and completely dismiss the mistake from your mind and focus your total concentration on the rest of the bulletin.

[1] In this video montage – *viewer discretion advised* - a collection of presenters have verbal trip-ups resulting in them saying ‘the c-word’: https://twitter.com/jondharvey/status/1534171104629121026

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.