Talk Host
07-17-2010, 07:39 AM
I came up through the broadcast news business in a time when important news was really important. The wire services (UPI and AP) assigned real titles to news items so that we could judge their importance immediately.
They were "special report," "Urgent," "Bulletin" and "Flash."
"Flash" was the most important and called for immediate attention. What was a "Flash?" A flash was a major news event so important the its entire meaning could be told in 3 words.
"President is shot"
"Kennedy is Dead."
"Wallace is shot"
"War is declared"
"War is Over"
"Eagle has Landed"
"Oil spill capped"
"Space shuttle explodes"
"tsunami kills 250,000"
"Berlin wall falls"
"Soviet Union Collapses"
NOT
"Palin is Engaged"
"New Iphone Released"
"Simpson's Exhibit opens"
"Lohan gets jail"
"Woods in rehab"
"O.J. not guilty"
A bulletin, on the other hand,was important, but needed to be told in a complete sentence and so on.
That's it for now:
"There it is"
"
They were "special report," "Urgent," "Bulletin" and "Flash."
"Flash" was the most important and called for immediate attention. What was a "Flash?" A flash was a major news event so important the its entire meaning could be told in 3 words.
"President is shot"
"Kennedy is Dead."
"Wallace is shot"
"War is declared"
"War is Over"
"Eagle has Landed"
"Oil spill capped"
"Space shuttle explodes"
"tsunami kills 250,000"
"Berlin wall falls"
"Soviet Union Collapses"
NOT
"Palin is Engaged"
"New Iphone Released"
"Simpson's Exhibit opens"
"Lohan gets jail"
"Woods in rehab"
"O.J. not guilty"
A bulletin, on the other hand,was important, but needed to be told in a complete sentence and so on.
That's it for now:
"There it is"
"