The construct of news reports
#1

A random thought I’ve had

On the news today you have the typical ‘This is Steve he’s working from home today, why? Because this is his son Jack, he’s also working from home today because his teachers are on strike’

Or ‘This is Julie, she’s having to take two jobs, and still can’t pay the energy bills’ and you’ll have a report from her suitably downtrodden looking flat.

Where do they find these people from? How do they find a suitable case study person? Do they put some sort of request out?

Similarly say on budget day, you’ll have a report in a cafe where a group of people are watching the chancellors statement - you’ll have a retired person, a young person, a blue collar worker, an office worker,  some will be left wing, some right wing, some neither. The cafe owner will also chip in with their thoughts. How is this sort of thing set up?
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#2

I’ve seen posts on social media from broadcast journalists asking for people with experience of a particular story or topic to contact them if they’d be prepared to take part in a report.

In years gone by, it was probably a case of ringing around people in your trusty contacts book and asking if they knew anyone suitable.
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#3

"a selection of lazy and pointless vox pops" is probably what it boils down to:
www.youtube.com 

The "setup" for something like Budget Day is pretty much as described, and they just so happen to be watching the same news channel the report is on, which is clearly very much "coincidence". I wouldn't be surprised if it's a recreation and none of it was done at the time of the budget on TV.

I also wouldn't be surprised if people throw themselves at the media, to tell their story of working 15hr days and still can't afford to put the toaster on for two minutes. Sometimes if your sob story is tragic or high profile enough some saviour from somewhere may step in, but very much the exception to the rule.
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