Dumbest questions ever asked on the job??

[Eaglewolf]

while we were all setting up to get a comment from the sheriff, a greeeeeeeen reporter asks him what his name and title is.....you couldda heard a pin drop...this was a very small mkt where we all knew each other,,,,,although i did learn from that experience as not to embarras myself, if i m in a new situation i introduce myself as the new photog and proceed..........

 

[Freddie Mercury]

while we were all setting up to get a comment from the sheriff, a greeeeeeeen reporter asks him what his name and title is.....you couldda heard a pin drop...this was a very small mkt where we all knew each other,,,,,although i did learn from that experience as not to embarras myself, if i m in a new situation i introduce myself as the new photog and proceed..........

I've got the reporter's back on this one. If you don't know, you ask. Embarassment be damned.

 

[SeattleShooter]

We were at a drowning and one of the other stations photogs asked a witness "describe what you saw". For a minute and a half, he talked in detail what he saw and even what he did! Then the reporter from the other station who was right there during the entire first questions asked right after the first question..."describe what you saw".

The guy was kind of shocked and paused for a moment. He giggles and then I said to the reporter "he just did". She turned to me and unloads on me and tell me how unprofessional I am and bla bla bla. Now that was a stupid question.

 

[Sore Shoulder]

We had eletrical stroms a good part of the day. Still some lightning when I was to set up for a live.
Reporter says (in a condescending, angry way), "I don't understand why you don't want to go live." *sigh*

 

[Sore Shoulder]

Just noticed the ironic juxtaposition of my previous post and my sig.

 

[INLANDNEWS]

I get the "what newspaper you with" question ALL the time! And why is it when you show up to do a story, thats the ONLY time people seem to watch the news. "When is this going to be on?" Do they NOT watch the news and do they NOT know what time their local news comes on? Same time every single day! People sure know what time football and American Idol comes on. Does nobody read the TV guide or pull up the GUIDE CHANNEL on their TV? ....Just my rant about stupid questions!

 

[NorthShore]

20 Years Has Taught Me.....

One of our photographers asked Barry Sanders to say and spell his name. Barry just about jumped out of his skin in amazement that the guy did not know who he was. I about crapped my pants it was so funny.

No disrespect here, but I don't care if you're interviewing Jesus Christ. I don't care who the interview is but I will always ask the to say and spell their name. You never know what idiot producer/newbie reporter is going to get their hands on your interview and manage to screw it up. And nothing is worse that having someone's name phucked up on air. In addition, I can always go back to the tape and say, "Hey, I got it right."




So, it's really not such a bad idea afterall.

 

[itsjusttvnews]

I was covering a murder trial, the verdict came in..."Guilty!" We were interviewing the D.A. afterwards. He gave some basic statement about how the jury found the guy guilty of murder. The first question from some green reporter, "Was the decision unanimous??"

He stared at her.........long pause......and said "It has to be."

She goes, "Oh, uh, well, uh, no..what I meant was........"

It was funny.

 

[Eaglewolf]

You're right Freddie

I've got the reporter's back on this one. If you don't know, you ask.............

No dissagreement here Fredie, I'm just saying, especially if you are interviewing a public figure, such as Jesus Christ, as a later poster mentioned, I will take a moment to introduce myself, if the occasion permits, or talk to the PIO, or SOMEONE who will get me up to speed. If none of the above works, then I do post interview research. Works for me,,,,,,,,,never been embarresed or ....worse,,,,,,,,,,,,,not gotten a name,,,,,,,,Call it timing,,Peace

 

[Shot A Load]

We had a reporter once who was doing a story on cell phones and their relation to increased accidents. The reporter stood on the street corner catching drivers on their cell phones and she would ask "Did you know you could die from talking on your cell phone?" She used this in her package AFTER I told her it sounded stupid. She jumped from a 100 market to Lexington Kentucky. Go figure...

 

[ewink]

OMG! How can you guys skip the stupidest question of all time???

Debris all over the road...
Two cars smashed, one upside down...
A body under a white sheet...
Police blocking the road and police tape strung for miles...

"What happened?"

Usually followed by:

"Was anyone hurt?!"

 

[Camera Face]

"That's Jesus, J-E-S-U-S, last name Christ, C-H-R-I-S-T."
"Okay, and your title?"
"Oh geez, what do I go with here? I guess just Son of Man. Yeah, that sounds good."

 

[lost focus]

reporter asking a police dog handler, the dog had been biten by a rattle snake a few days earlier.
"how deadly could this bite have been to your dog?"

 

[TXPhotog]

OMG! How can you guys skip the stupidest question of all time???

Debris all over the road...
Two cars smashed, one upside down...
A body under a white sheet...
Police blocking the road and police tape strung for miles...

"What happened?"

Usually followed by:

"Was anyone hurt?!"

I've gotten the variation on that:
-"What happened?"
-"Fatal accident"
-"Are they okay?"
-"

"

 

[MOShooter]

While on a Shooting Story

I wasn't the photog on this one, but I saw the tape. A shooting happened not far from the station. The only person our crew could find to interview was a deaf person, who saw some of it, and her daughter, who translated through sign language.

Our reporter actually asked if she heard the shots. The look on the daughter's face is priceless.

 

[Renee]

At my old station in Louisiana a woman called during a thunderstorm sometime in June and asked for the weather department b/c she wanted to know if the storm outside was a hurricane! Wouldn't the whole city know if a hurricane was coming days before??

 

[mkay]

I'll clown myself on this one. On my first job, I interviewed the PIO about a multiple car ax on the highway. My first question came out like this:

"So how many people were driving the tan car at the time?"

he replied, "1"

lol

 

[Newshutr]

In response to the other "Are you a cop" question, I was out on a slow morning doing live traffic pics when a young lady who worked at night came up to me and asked, "Are you a cop?"

I looked up at the mast, the inside of the truck, I panned the camera around to look at the logo on the side of it and picked up the mic with the Channel 3 flag on it.

"Nope...", is all I said.

The came her second stupid question of the night...

"You want a cheap date??"

My response, " Ewwww...no."

 

[Run&Gun]

I've gotten the ole "What paper are you with?" more than once.

What about "What channel are you with?" when the mic with mic flag, is either in your hand or sticking out of you hip-pack.

And I do have to chime in on the "Say your name and spell it" situation. I do mostly network stuff, and that is SOP on almost every single sit-down interview. A lot of time these tapes are transcribed by outside companies and they have to have that info for the correct scrippting of these bites on paper. Also, as stated above, you never know who is going to handle these tapes, someone may not know even if it is a public figure.

 

[Wutangmaster]

Thats funny

"That's Jesus, J-E-S-U-S, last name Christ, C-H-R-I-S-T."
"Okay, and your title?"
"Oh geez, what do I go with here? I guess just Son of Man. Yeah, that sounds good."


I wish I would have thought of that camera face...That's some funny stuff.