[Journalists] are there any blind TV news anchors?

[Bryan Bashin]

Kristina,

Your question about TV presenters brings up a few  interesting topics.

In the 1950s, during television's infancy, CBS News was passionate 
about finding a way for the news anchor to connect with the 
television camera.  In a few histories of the period there appears a 
tantalizing story about how the CBS producers briefly considered 
training the then-anchor Douglas Edwards in Braille so he could 
maintain constant eye contact with the camera.

Of course, it didn't happen.  The TelePrompTer was invented and the 
rest is history.

There is currently at least one female anchor in India doing daily 
news reading from Braille script.  A search of the BlindNews archive 
can probably pick up that story.

But there's a deeper question that should be addressed.  Television 
is a visual medium.  Whether we like it or not, presenters are 
selected only partly because of their journalistic abilities.  What's 
far more important is the anchor's ability to convey emotion and bond 
the viewership not only with information, but also with the emotional 
context of the story.

For any blind person considering a career in this field, an honest 
appraisal of their ability to convey this emotional context on video 
is really necessary.  I don't believe this necessarily means the 
ability to achieve the vaunted 'eye contact,' but it does mean the 
prospective video journalist must have other means to draw in 
audiences emotionally as well as intellectually.

Any sighted video journalist must measure up to this standard.

So the real question one must consider is whether one can manage an 
absorbing and compelling video presence as a blind person, using 
nonvisual as well as verbal abilities.  If you can do this, you would 
be immensely valuable in the video world.  If not, my advice is to 
concentrate on media  in which you can excel.

Best,

Bryan Bashin


At 01:43 PM 1/5/2007, you wrote:
>I've been wondering about this... I know there are a number of blind 
>radio broadcasters and print journalists. I'm wondering if there's 
>anything (besides vision, of course) that keeps blind people from 
>anchoring television news?
>
>
>   Kristina
>
>  __________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>_______________________________________________
>Journalists mailing list
>Journalists at nfbnet.org
>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/journalists

-------------- next part --------------
Kristina,
Your question about TV presenters brings up a few  interesting topics.
In the 1950s, during television's infancy, CBS News was passionate about finding a way for the news anchor to connect with the television camera.  In a few histories of the period there appears a tantalizing story about how the CBS producers briefly considered training the then-anchor Douglas Edwards in Braille so he could maintain constant eye contact with the camera.
Of course, it didn't happen.  The TelePrompTer was invented and the rest is history.
There is currently at least one female anchor in India doing daily news reading from Braille script.  A search of the BlindNews archive can probably pick up that story.
But there's a deeper question that should be addressed.  Television is a visual medium.  Whether we like it or not, presenters are selected only partly because of their journalistic abilities.  What's far more important is the anchor's ability to convey emotion and bond the viewership not only with information, but also with the emotional context of the story. 
For any blind person considering a career in this field, an honest appraisal of their ability to convey this emotional context on video is really necessary.  I don't believe this necessarily means the ability to achieve the vaunted 'eye contact,' but it does mean the prospective video journalist must have other means to draw in audiences emotionally as well as intellectually.   
Any sighted video journalist must measure up to this standard.
So the real question one must consider is whether one can manage an absorbing and compelling video presence as a blind person, using nonvisual as well as verbal abilities.  If you can do this, you would be immensely valuable in the video world.  If not, my advice is to concentrate on media  in which you can excel.
Best,
Bryan Bashin
At 01:43 PM 1/5/2007, you wrote:
I've been wondering about this... I know there are a number of blind radio broadcasters and print journalists. I'm wondering if there's anything (besides vision, of course) that keeps blind people from anchoring television news? 
  
  
  Kristina
 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com/ http://mail.yahoo.com
_______________________________________________
Journalists mailing list
Journalists at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/journalists http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/journalists