In this situation though, doesn't someone in the control room or off-screen have to tell the talent what happened?
That's hard to answer, because in a professional news studio the anchor will have large on-air monitors all over the place so he can see exactly what's going out on air. I've seen a report that there is only one small monitor that he couldn't see. That's pathetic, but based on the rest of this not surprising.
They needed to get off the live shot immediately; if the anchor doesn't know what happened the producer can tell him, but getting off the shot is the first priority.
Except it happened in Tori's case. Really want to ask PCLL and ex how much of this is reporters trying to please viewers and supervisors, how much of this pressure from above to get the story and make it sing ... and how much of this is a combination of the above factors with one-man band situations that wouldn't have ever happened back when affiliates were better staffed.
I ashume in this case it's a matter of the reporter being told to go live there so she does it. I have no idea if she had a problem with that -- if one-man-band (or MMJ) live shots are the norm there she may not have seen an issue.
In general I don't have a problem with going live from that -- if a water main break is somehow big news in your market, it makes sense to show what it looks like right now. The downside of that is you can't really see a water main break at night.
And the bigger issue, of course -- MMJ live shots are completely inexcusable, and to do one at night in a situation where traffic is going to be disrupted is wildly dangerous and stupid. We've had some MMJs in my shop off and on for a few years and not once have they done a solo live shot. We get them a photog for the live shot, have them go live from the newsroom, or shoot an intro and tag for what we call a "looklive" -- story looks like a live shot but it's all on tape. (In our shop you also won't see reporters going live at night from sketchy neighborhoods, and for about six months out of the year you won't see them live at all -- it's too darn hot. Reporters and photogs are told from day one never to feel like they have to compromise their safety for a story or live shot.)
As to why reporters will do stuff like that: in smaller markets they feel like they don't have any choice, and they're probably right. They also want to make the most of any story they're on because if you're a TV reporter in Charleston, West Virginia your number one priority is getting the fork out of Charleston, West Virginia. Improving the resume reel is job one. (And hats off to Tori, who apparently already accepted a job in Pittsburgh before getting hit by a car.)
