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"Ladies and gentlemen, we've just lost the picture, but… what we've seen… speaks for itself. The Corvair spacecraft has apparently been taken over – 'conquered' if you will – by a master race of giant space ants. It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive Earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves."

If TV writers need cheap exposition, the easiest way is to have a news Show Within a Show do it. Usually, the news anchors provide a Practical Voice-Over. Sometimes, they do more than that (see Coincidental Broadcast and News Monopoly).

Of course, it gets boring having bland talking heads give information, so animated shows spice up their Practical Voiceover with a little parody. On any show including a fictional newscast intended for adults, you are likely to see anything but a news anchor simply telling the news. Instead, you will see anchors who:

Though live-action comedies do them occasionally, these routines are much more common in animated shows. This may have to do with the fact that animated shows usually use multiple characters per actor, and can afford to have a diverse supporting cast (and also, of course, because it's infinitely easier to have Canon Discontinuity in a show which everyone already knows isn't supposed to be realistic).

A regular feature of the Immoral Journalist.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime and Manga 

    Asian Animation 
  • In Simple Samosa, the Garma Garam newslady usually avoids the comedic trappings of this trope, but in the episode "Mayor Gaayab", she has no problem with outright declaring she should be the mayor and making a run for the town hall, abandoning the news program as she does so.

    Comic Books 

  • In February 2012 DC Comics' New 52 introduced a line-wide backup strip called Channel 52, about a rolling news channel focusing on superhero-related news. While anchor Bethany Snow seems to be fairly normal (although in previous continuity she was a Brother Blood cultist who hated superheroes), the rest of her team is comprised of Ambush Bug (roving reporter), Calendar Man (lifestyle) and Vartox (alien affairs and sport). In reverse order, that's one Boisterous Bruiser, one apparently reformed Idiosyncrazy villain, and one guy who's just completely weird.
  • In the near-future America of Prez, news anchor/talk show host Amber Waves is not that weird in herself if you ignore her penchant for an Improbable Hairstyle, but enables all kinds of ludicrous goings-on from her guests.
  • Transmetropolitan has enough examples of this to cover the inside of a barn. Just to give an idea, one of the most straightforward and reputable shows in future America is built around its host being a giant, grim, stern, intense, scar-faced, concealed weapon-carrying Violent Glaswegian who's not afraid to bully the president to his face.
  • The Ultimates: USA Today said that Thor took down the big mothership, but People says it was Iron Man. Jan points that Tony Stark owns a 52% stake in People, so she would believe in USA Today.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy had one of these as its main character, although he was a consummate professional until the events of the film take place.
  • Bananas begins with Howard Cosell himself presenting the "live, on-the-spot assassination" of the dictator of San Marcos for Wide World of Sports.
  • The 1989 Batman featured newscasters on a Gotham City news show, talking about a recent rash of killings by The Joker, when a female newscaster starts laughing uncontrollably and her astonished partner looks on in disbelief, trying to ignore her, before she collapses dead on the ground. Turns out she'd been given a dose of the Joker's poison.
  • Bruce Almighty:
    • Bruce/God's "adjustments" to Evan Baxter's brain reduce Evan to babbling incoherence: "Caca poo poo pee pee…"
    • Bruce's own live televised reactions to the news that Evan got the anchor position...
      Bruce: Back to you, fuckers!!
  • One of the news anchors in Die Hard speculate that the hostages have developed "Helsinki Syndrome, named after Helsinki, Sweden," and the other corrects him - Helsinki's in Finlandnote . Then the cut back to Nakatomi Plaza shows quite clearly that they're talking out of their asses.
  • Vanna White and George Hamilton play news anchors in Double Dragon (1994). In one broadcast, George laments the end of the (fictional) relationship between Madonna and Tom Arnold.
  • In Groundhog Day, this is usually Phil Connors' style of reporting. He has nothing but contempt for Punxsutawney, its people, its festival, and anyone in his TV audience who actually cares about the festival. Part of his Character Development involves him growing out of this, and he eventually gives a genuinely heartwarming speech.
  • The Kentucky Fried Movie, where between skits a newscaster would pop up with oddball news flashes like "I'm not wearing any pants, Film at 11." And again when he says in the same deadpan tone "Moscow in flames, missiles headed towards New York. Film at 11."
  • Played for Drama (or at least very Black Comedy) with Howard Beale in Network, a veteran newscaster whose on-air downward spiral is milked to the fullest by the executives at UBS once they realize that his unhinged rants are bringing in better ratings than "serious" reporting ever was. They wind up turning their news department into a three-ring circus and retooling their nightly news program into an opinion/Variety Show hosted by a Hot-Blooded Beale, while the rest of UBS' programming is taken over by increasingly trashy reality shows (avant le lettre, as this movie was made in 1976).
  • In the Live-action/cartoon movie Osmosis Jones, cellular newscasters get into a brawl against each other as the film peaks into the stressful climax. When the ordeal was over, we see them again, but this time with bandages as a comedic result of their feud.
  • Not quite "news", but the commentators in the Pitch Perfect films perform much the same role with some amusing dialog.
  • RoboCop (1987): The anchors are obvious shills for OCP.
    Casey Wong: On the international scene the Amazon nuclear facility has blown its stack irradiating the world's largest rainforest. Environmentalists are calling it a disaster.
    Jess Perkins: But don't they always.
  • Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird has a scene where an anchorman, played by Chevy Chase, reports on the disappearance of Big Bird from his foster family's home in Illinois. He responds to a question by Grover (who is watching the broadcast), has to be corrected by someone offscreen on the pronunciation of the word "sesame", and finally gives the weather report as "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine?" in a completely deadpan tone. It then cuts to Kermit the Frog reporting on the scene, and things just get more Kent Brockman-esque from there...
  • Starship Troopers: The media are owned by the Federation, so the line between "news" and propaganda is non-existent.
    See our brave boys and girls on the front line of the bug war! Research on captured Bugs informs us about the enemy! [Censored shot of a bug tearing apart a cow]; Army representatives visit schoolchildren and let them try live ammunition! Join the forces: service guarantees citizenship! Would you like to know MORE?
  • Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: The news anchor states that there must be something going on in the world besides chocolate, but he can't think of anything.

    Literature 
  • In Incarnations of Immortality, Purgatory's news always relates to the listener. The newscaster also editorializes from a highly moralistic Christian viewpoint, objecting to people's actions based on their sinfulness or lack thereof, because that's the kind of place Purgatory is. And at one point, Death's horse is interviewed, and after making a pun about the horse's mouth, the newscaster takes a moment before remembering he needs to translate Mortis' neigh for the audience.
  • Dave Barry, in "You'll Look Radiant," imagined that the Emergency Broadcast Network, in the event of an actual nuclear war, would try to cheer listeners up by staying upbeat:
    Announcer: Hi there! You're listening to the Emergency Broadcast Network, so don't touch that dial! It's probably melted anyway, ha ha! Weatherwise, we're expecting afternoon highs of around 6,800 degrees, followed by a cooling trend as a cloud consisting of California and Oregon blots out the sun.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In the mid to late 1970s, Ted Turner's then-tiny TV station, WTCG-17 in Atlanta was required by the FCC to produce a newscast. Not having the resources or drive for it, he assigned station employee Bill Tush to anchor a pre-recorded newscast, taped late in the evening and aired around 2-3AM between movies. Though it started as a straight newscast, 17 Update Early in the Morning as it was eventually called soon evolved into more of a comedy show, featuring the antics of Tush, co-anchor Tina Seldin, the off-camera crew, and various others while they read the news. It became relatively popular, especially after WTCG went coast-to-coast with satellite transmission in 1976. However, in 1979 (after the station became known as SuperStation WTBS, which would evolve into today's TBS), they had to end it after a Congressional investigation was launched into if Turner was fulfilling his FCC requirements with this show; not only that, he was about to launch CNN and having a thing like this would present credibility issues. Tush stuck around for a long while after, hosting a sketch comedy show on WTBS (simply named Tush) from 1980 to 82 (with Jan Hooks and Bonnie and Terry Turner among the cast), and later became CNN's senior entertainment correspondent.
  • On an episode of The Armstrong and Miller Show, there is a sketch wherein a reporter in the Middle East speaks over satellite, while the presenter in the studio uses the delay as an opportunity to accuse him of various unsavoury things.
  • Arrested Development has actual Los Angeles Fox News anchor John F. Beard (who also appears in several other Fox shows in the same capacity in a landmark 15 episodes, which ties him with Henry Winkler/Barry Zuckercorn for the most appearances of a cast member/character not featured in every episode.
    • "Next up; weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq. Find out what this means for your weekend, after the break."
  • Attention Scum had a recurring skit starring Johnny Vegas: 24 Hour News, As Read By a Man Who Has Been Up for 24 Hours. It started as a reasonably coherent, if tired and slightly drunk sounding location anchor, but gradually devolved until it was just Johnny Vegas in a rumpled and soiled business suit with a bottle of cheap booze yelling "NEWS!" over and over again.
  • The cases on Boston Legal are occasionally commented on by outspoken legal analyst Gracie Jane, a parody of Nancy Grace. One episode also featured a reporter named Wolfgang Blitzkrieg (Wolf Blitzer).
  • The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, spoofs of "traditional" news shows, use these tropes frequently. And were naturally delighted to discover a Real Life example on MSNBC, when anchors segued from footage of a cute jumping squirrel to the Columbine school shooting using the words "On a serious note..."
    • They featured another news anchor who detested the silly gimmicks his coworkers kept using - but fell back into this trope from another direction by openly loathing them, and complaining about them on air.
  • The spoof news show The Day Today and its documentary spin-off Brass Eye both used pretty much every single one of these tropes.
  • Detroiters has Mort Crim, longtime real-life news anchor— who among other things was cited by Will Ferrell as an inspiration for Ron Burgundy— playing a version of himself. Crim delivers his lines professionally, although the copy for his news segments is often absurd and/or inappropriate. (Example: "And the proof turned out not to be in the pudding, but in the murderer's blood and semen.") And then there's his "Chump of the Week" segment, where Crim highlights a local who's offended, pissed off, or just annoyed him in some way; viewers respond to the segment by mailing the Chump of the Week boxes of shit.
  • Drop the Dead Donkey was mostly about the chaos behind the cameras, but occasionally Henry's temper or Sally's neuroses would manifest while broadcasting. There's also Damian's sensationalist field reports (which always resulted in the cameraman being injured). This parodies the Real Life situation involving News At Ten anchor Reggie Bosanquet, an erratic and unpredictable anchor who could usually be relied upon, by ten at night, to be at the very least interestingly drunk. It is thought the reason Bosanquet escaped the sack and remained a newsreader for so long is that the public loved him and his appearances guaranteed high ratings. He could be relied upon to be, er, gallant to his female co-anchor, and the bit at the end of the news where the two anchors are seen chatting to each other - without sound - was usually a case of Reggie sexually propositioning her, and she trying to take it with a smile on her face, as if they were merely exchanging small-talk. This was further parodied by Not the Nine O'Clock News as the Reggie Bosanquet Song - the high-functioning alcoholic had a sizeable Estrogen Brigade fan-club who adored him.
  • The Fast Show had a repeating sketch where a news reporter would appear to offer a special report, which was always something inane such as her American friend pronouncing "yogurt" differently. They also had "Chanel Nine" news, which seems to use some elements of this trope. It's hard to tell, since it's done entirely in Foreign Sounding Gibberish.
    • "HI, I'm Ed Winchester!" "You're standing in a woodchipper, Ed."
  • An episode of The Flip Wilson Show featured Flip and George Carlin in a newscaster skit that allowed Carlin to use this bit "Scientists discovered a new number between 6 and 7. They're calling it bleem."
  • Robin on How I Met Your Mother has done numerous silly things on the air: ridiculous Could This Happen to You? stories, Incredibly Lame Puns, and bizarre fluff pieces, especially when Barney's getting her to do a bet. When she transferred to Japan, Robin got to report actual news — with a chimpanzee. Also her job on the morning news show, in which she gives CPR to the weatherman after he and the green screen catches on fire. Then she helps deliver the child of her guest that goes into labor.
  • Jimmy McDonald's Canada portrayed a 1960s-era conservative pundit gradually going mad because of the liberalism of the time. The last episode ended with "technical difficulties" as Jimmy went Ax-Crazy on set.
  • In the pilot episode of Just Shoot Me!, Maya gets fired from a news program after rewriting the teleprompter so that a pompous anchorwoman says that a decrease of gang violence was due "to the removal of the frontal lobe of my brain. And in related news, I wet myself."
  • Lexx had a recurring anchor for the season set on present-day Earth, whose twin obsessions were fluff pieces and the US stock market.
    Bob: Here are some of the stories we're following for tonight's edition of News Plus. The Dow Jones is up 456 points. Firefighters have been called in to retrieve a cat stuck in a power line along I-95 — film at eleven. And Cuba was nuked off the face of the Earth late this afternoon by President Priest, in retaliation for yesterday's evil attack on Orlando. There has been no reaction so far from Havana.
  • Miranda Veracruz de la Jolla Cardinal from Married... with Children, who really didn't like her job.
  • Mock the Week has done "Things a newscaster would never say" as an improv sketch, naturally almost entirely composed of examples of Kent Brockman News.
    Russell Howard: Next on News 24, I'm gonna punch a zebra. Who cares? No one's watching.
  • In the Monk episode "Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa", Monk shoots and severely wounds Michael Kenworthy, a retired parole officer who was dressing up as Santa to throw toys off a roof, in self-defence (with Kenworthy's own revolver). The details are ambiguous, but Captain Stottlemeyer cringes upon seeing news reporter Brandy Barber (played by Gina Phillips) show up on scene. He calls her "a vampire with a press pass" and for good reason: most of her reports are emotionally charged rather than done rationally, and often has her skewing the story to humiliate the interviewee. Her story skews the events and makes it seem like Monk is some kind of Grinch with a grudge who deliberately shot Kenworthy, which is out-of-character for the description of a 48 year old detective with OCD who served on the San Francisco Police Department for 14 years with a badge, and has solved numerous high-profile cases as a consultant for that same department. For whatever reason, pretty much every civilian in town - except officers in the SFPD - seems to believe this broadcaster.
  • Monty Python's Flying Circus sent up BBC News in a great many ways. This is helped by the fact that Richard Baker, an actual BBC newscaster, often appeared in this role on the show.
  • In Parks and Recreation, the local Pawnee news programs are often a source for comedy. Joan Callamezzo, host of the morning show Pawnee Today, is extremely catty and will try to humiliate her guests for ratings and for grudges. News anchor Perd Hapley is a Captain Obvious and all-around doofus.
  • Minor version on Pushing Daisies, where after the Coincidental Broadcast, the follow-up is bizarre: "Up next: kittens on parade!" and "Can apes drive? We'll find out!"
  • Red Dwarf used 'Channel 27' News to explain the Better Than Life game. Featured subtle jokes such as having a month called 'Geldof'.
  • In classic first season episodes of Saturday Night Live, Chevy Chase was responsible for the "Weekend Update" news segment. It would always begin with him on the phone with an unidentified lover, saying things like "No, lots of people scream." This is unique in that the implied perversion is at the start of the report, rather than interrupting it.
    • From then on, "Weekend Update" has often incorporated this trope; the most memorable examples being those in the Not Ready For Prime Time Players era (seasons 1-5) that had such characters as Roseanne Roseannadanna, and John Belushi's editorials where he started off quite well but then breaks into his trademark catchphrase: But nooooooooo! and goes into a flurry of madness.
    • More recent non-"Weekend Update" examples include a reporter (Kristen Wiig as Michelle Dison) who clumsily hits on her attractive female subjects in the middle of interviews, a promo for a Sioux City newscast that brags about being "America's most Youtubed news team", though it turns out to be for things like constant off-color bloopers, and Bill Hader's Herb Welch, an elderly reporter for WXPD New York who antagonizes his interview subjects by whacking them in the mouth with his handheld mic and feuds with the anchor (Jason Sudeikis) during the broadcasts.
    • During the Kevin Nealon era, as a Running Gag, a picture of a figure in the news would appear, Kevin would name him, and then Kevin would cut to the next story.
    • Will Ferrell had a recurring role as an utter Cloudcuckoolander version of Harrah Carrey whose questions never had anything to do with the news.
      Harrah Carrey: If you were a hot dog, and you were starving, would you eat yourself?
  • Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! has a carryover from their previous show Tom Goes to the Mayor in Jan and Wayne Skylar, the "Channel 5 Married News Team". They added John C. Reilly as Dr. Steve Brule (who has since gotten his own bits—and eventually his own show) who provides useless health information.
  • On The Weird Al Show, while flipping through channels, Al would always pass by a newscaster (also played by Yankovic) who would be reporting on a mundane, nonsensical, or just plain pointless "story". ("This just in...Ping-Pong spelled backwards is Gnop-Gnip.")
  • The improv show Whose Line Is It Anyway? features the game "Weird Newscasters", where the actors perform a quick bit of Kent Brockman News. Not to mention "Newsflash", where the twist is that the 'reporter on the scene' has no idea what he's reporting on. The two "anchors in the studio" usually open the sketch with a vaguely sexual comment before they "realize" the cameras are rolling.
    • Also used for the suggestion "Worst segues following tragic news stories".
      Chip Esten:...And everybody died. Speaking of dying, I've been dying to see the new Bruce Willis flick.
      Wayne Brady: It was a big, big loss. Speaking of big, after this, The Drew Carey Show!
      Drew Carey: You are all gonna pay.

    Music 
  • Frank Zappa's "Billy The Mountain" from Just Another Band from L.A. has running commentary from (a parody of real-life) "right-wing fascist radical creepo pig" newscaster George Putnam:
    Word just in to the KTTV News Service undeniably links THIS MOUNTAIN and HIS WIFE to drug abuse and pay-offs as part of a San Joaquin Valley SMUT RING! However, we can assure parents in the Southern California area that a recent NARCOTICS CRACK-DOWN in Torrance, Hawthorne, and Lomita, will provide the SECRET EVIDENCE the Palmdale Grand Jury has needed to seek a CRIMINAL INDICTMENT, and pave the way for STIFFER LEGISLATION, increased FEDERAL AID, and AVERT A CRIPPLING STRIKE of Bartenders and Veterinarians throughout the INLAND EMPIRE. But it is This Reporter's Opinion that ETHELL is a FORMER COMMUNIST!
  • Body Count's "Now Sports" from Body Count:
    This weekend, seventeen youths killed in gang homicides
    Now sports
  • Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry" from I Can't Stand Still is rife with the trope:
    We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blond
    Who comes on at five
    She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
    It's interesting when people die
    Give us dirty laundry

    New Media 

    Professional Wrestling 
  • Promotions such as Valkyrie lucky enough to have Ashley America also get The All American Report.

    Puppet Shows 
  • All newscasts in Dinosaurs are done by the same caster, Howard Handupme. While he would try to be professional, sometimes his skewed basis would be seen, or perhaps he would be just a little too candid. For example, in "Monster Under The Bed", when Baby Sinclair figures out a way to resolve the crisis without it having to devolve into a firefight, he keeps trying to downplay it until it becomes apparent that the situation will end peacefully, and not in a juicy bloodbath like he clearly hopes. Also, this bit from the first episode:
    Howard: A meteor three times the size of Earth is headed on a collision course that will result in the extinction of all life as we know it. [is handed a paper] This just in, "No, it's not."
  • The French puppet show Les Guignols de l'Info, running since 1988, is entirely about this trope. The anchor Patrick Poivre d'Arvor never misses an occasion to make snarky comments just after interviews or shows naïve agreement when explained horrible things by "officials" (like the marketing plan to sell...the War in Irak). He is not above bullying (puppets of) journalists of other channels who have been fired or suspended for some reason, like David Pujadas or recently Harry Roselmack, treating them like trainees who must learn from him. And sometimes, we switch to this inside the show, presented this time by Jean-Pierre Pernaut, the anchor of the 13 o'clock news on TF1 (a channel considered blatantly rightwing, pro-government, anti-strikers and anti-public servants) which has a tendency to show anecdotes about the "deep traditional France" or the holiday departures rather than important news.
  • The Muppet Show had the recurring "Muppet News Flash" sketch, where a myopic commentator would deliver some odd bit of news, for example a downpour of anvils or localized tidal waves hitting people, and then snidely comment on how ridiculous it was. Whatever it was would then happen to him. An alternate version had him interviewing some eccentric character played by that week's Special Guest.
    Newsman: Well, whenever big news breaks... you certainly won't hear it here.
  • In the '70s Sesame Street would frequently send reporter Kermit the Frog to cover the re-enactment of some classic fairy tale or nursery rhyme; these would never go as planned.

    Radio 
  • The 'weird, random stories instead of anything important' version was a staple of radio satirists Bob & Ray, usually personified by inept roving reporter Wally Ballou (Bob). Sent to meet interesting people at the airport, Wally manages to find the guy who was headed to Paris to lobby for tunafish as the traditional meal for Bastille Day. Even when Ballou found himself pursuing an actual legitimate story, it quickly lapsed into absurdity - as when he discovered that a paperclip company was able to keep costs down because they only paid their workers 14 cents a week. ("How in the world could they live on that?" "Well, we don't pry into the personal lives of our employees, Wally...")
    • Additional amusing touch: Wally's broadcasts always started in mid-spiel. "-lly Ballou here..."
    • This sketch was parodied at least once on The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio. Wally Ballou is interviewing a British Airways passenger whose flight has been delayed, and Ballou remains oblivious that the person he's talking to, Muhammad al-Khazmani, is implied to be a terrorist hijacker.
  • The "News from Lake Wobegon" section of A Prairie Home Companion is based on this premise.
  • In The Men from the Ministry there's Newsreader John Curle/Bryan Martin, who often delivers the news of the problems One and Two's bungling has caused, always with complete serenity no matter how insane they are, and Forth Robinson, a Welsh reporter who often ends up witnessing the chaos the General Assistance Department causes first-hand.

    Stand-Up Comedy 
  • Satirized by Bill Hicks in reference to the War on Drugs. (No prizes for guessing where he stood on the issue.)
    How about a positive news story on LSD, that would be newsworthy, don't ya think, just once? "Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy reduced to a slow vibration, we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather."

    Tabletop Games 
  • Isaac Asimov's Robots: After the Opening Narration, a newscaster for channel Galaxy 99 provides information on recent events, such as rioting in Boston and the arrival of Kelvin Amadero to Spacertown.

    Theatre 

    Toys 
  • Mixels has the Newzers, a whole tribe themed around newscasting.
  • Transformers has "Around Cybertron", an Official Fanclub mini comic about the eponymous in-universe newscast. It features the various journalist characters from the franchise, typically reporting humorously on the major events of whatever the latest Fanclub storyline is. The comic (and show) thus spans several different universes in the franchise.
    • Shattered Glass Rook probably hews closest to the Kent Brockman model. Being a mirror-universe Autobot, he's actively psychotic and offered highly propagandistic reports where he expresses his disgust at the dastardly Decepticons saving orphanages. He also frequently cuts to reporter Punch giving exposes on the deeds of himself in a Paper-Thin Disguise.

    Video Games 
  • There was an old FMV PC game about art trading that would end each level with a news report on current events that would affect the values of certain paintings. The news anchor would smirk triumphantly while delivering tragic news and scowl while delivering upbeat news.
  • Fehn Digler from Beyond Good & Evil is a Quisling-flavored news anchor with a habit for outrageous propaganda, flip-flopping sides, and a tendency to get a bit too... "in your face," shall we say. Guess who's one of the first to start sucking up to the good guys when the truth of the Alpha Sections is exposed?
  • Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories has a news show with two anchors - one of whom is entirely mute, between each chapter of the game, talking about demon-interest pieces or actual plot relevant information. Inverted in one such "episode", where only the mute character is present; the entire episode is spent in silence, giving absolutely no information at all.
  • The three main radio hosts of the Fallout series, in varying flavors.
    • Three Dog frequently interrupts his own news broadcasts to talk about "the good fight", make fun of President Eden ("that other radio host") and deliver segments about the escapades of the Lone Wanderer. Depending on the number of sidequests the player has completed and how far in the story they have progressed, these LW segments can outnumber actual news about the wasteland.
    • Mr. New Vegas will occasionally advertise his Christmas album and hit on the ladies of the Mojave, but otherwise sticks to nice, honest reporting.
    • Travis is easily the most Kent Brockman-ish of the three, especially before the quest to make him more confident. Highlights include audibly cursing himself while the mic is still running, banging his head on something in his radio office, screaming about how the Brotherhood of Steel's arrival means we're all going to die, and his commentary on the writer of one of the songs he plays. The entirety of his very, very awkward commentary can be heard here.
  • PC space shooter Galactix opened with this report: "In today's news, Brazilian lumberjacks cut down the last tree in the rainforest. A spokesman for the Acme Toothpick Company said, 'Gee, that's too bad.'" only to be interrupted by the alien overlord announcing his intention to conquer and enslave humanity. The anchor even looked a bit like Kent Brockman.
  • GTA Radio is full of this, especially WCTR in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
  • The news show seen at the beginning of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots doubles up as a fairly straightforward marine biology documentary, with the news relegated to bouncing, barely readable tickers displaying the weirdest stories ever (such as describing an accident victim as 'beheaded but in stable condition' and mentioning a 'Ghengis Khan impersonator spotted near Vancouver armed with an automatic machete').
  • Midtown Madness 2 had at least one announcer like this (out of three or four); one of their race-opening lines ended in "... probably because I'm not wearing any pants!"
  • The second Oddworld game, Abe's Exoddus, has the "Magog on the March" news bulletins, where a Slig anchor presents the latest crimes of the "terrorist" Abe and the declarations of Glukkon directors, with ads for various Glukkon products sprinkled throughout.
    Even though brew production has plummeted, Mudokon slaves are disappearing left and right and the toilets are backing up all over the place, top management reports that everything is gonna be fine! Uh-huh. I'm outta here.
  • In Persona 4 Golden if you romance Marie, she becomes a weather reporter in the ending, and she directly addresses the Player Character on TV by saying that she'll use her Reality Warper powers to make the weather whatever he wants.
  • A lot of the news broadcasts in the Rampage series are like this.
  • Ratchet & Clank:
    • Early games had recurring robot reporter Darla Gratch.
    • Ratchet: Deadlocked had a male alien, Dallas, and female robot, Juanita, as news anchors and announcers, who alternate between snarky comments about each other, showing off their extreme personality flaws on camera, and slandering the titular character (until he saves everyone after the Big Bad's goes off the deep end).
    • A Crack In Time gives us Kip Darling and Pepper Fairbanks, a pair of radio personalities. In the first level of All 4 One, they do a running commentary on the Light-Eating Z'Grute's rampage through Luminopolis. Besides giving us a play-by-play of the beast's destruction, they also comment on Galactic President Qwark's regime, as well as taking time to plug some of their sponsors.
  • In your Escape Pod at the start of Robot City, your character can watch a subspace news broadcast from Sirius, whose anchorman unprofessionally rambles between articles such as the Auroran government vetoing a grant for the titular city, the Voyager probe being found 12 lightyears from Earth, and an Earth Day fair on planet Magellan.
  • Jane Valderama in Saints Row 2 speaks in the weirdly smarmy monotone and a WASPish accent that only slips when she says her Hispanic last name. Also indulges the tortured metaphors, especially while giving running commentary as an embedded reporter in the Gang War — she rides shotgun with the Boss, bringing her own shotgun. She continues the trend again in The Third and even when she's acting as a radio host in IV.
  • SimCity Enhanced had Full Motion Video clips including reports on the disasters that you unleashed, er, happened to befall your city, which were usually happening right on top of the newsroom. The news anchor thinks that reports of a rampaging monster are all just a joke until it squashes her, reports a plane crash with some odd details, fails to take her own advice over remaining calm in the face of a meltdown and also reports the meltdown at a nuclear power station next door to the studio: everyone else has been rushed to hospital except her because "I don't have insurance".
  • Each Splatoon game features a pair (or trio) of popular in-universe idols or musicians that host a news program that plays whenever you boot up the game, alerting the player to the current playable stages (each mode uses a map rotation system) and any new updates (be it new weapons, a Splatfest, or a gameplay patch). They usually lapse when it comes to giving any useful advice to the player however, and instead start rambling, gossiping, and generally going on tangents more often than not.
    Callie: Any advice on this stage?
    Marie: Uh...Paint more than the other team?
  • StarCraft II has news anchor Donny Vermillion blatantly paint Jim Raynor's rebels as ruthless terrorists even when his respondent tells him most of the civilian casualties in the most recent battle were caused by overzealous Dominion soldiers. This is further accented with ridiculous censorship of an interviewed subject, lots of talk over the logo, and other antics. Then he finds out that Mengsk, the guy he had been shilling the whole time, was the one responsible for his brother's death on Tarsonis. The final news broadcast is on how Donny Vermillion has gone insane and the respondent is taking over as anchor.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines has a TV in the protagonist's hideout. It's delivering pretty normal news... Except when you play as Malkavian, which turns the news into Kent Brockman variety.
    Anchor: Los Angeles was left shocked today, following a vicious gun battle between the LAPD... and you. They were all like, "BANG! BANG! Ya filthy varmint!", and you were all like "POW! POW! Oooh, you wascally wabbit! You got me!"

  • Trivia game You Don't Know Jack would often have fake bumpers for Kent Brockman News over the credits. "Coming up: I couldn't string two sentences together to save my life. Tonight."

    Visual Novels 
  • In Double Homework, a news story about the class's escape from the avalanche signifies how the news media are changing their tune with regards to the protagonist: they mention the lives he saved, whereas they blamed him for 12 deaths after the incident from before.

    Web Animation 
  • This is pretty much the whole point of Bird Town News by Piemations. They insult people they are interviewing to their faces and start fights between them and they are blatantly more interested in getting opinions that are negative of the mayor.
  • Flipnote Warrior: The TV news tell about a mysterious famous "homosexual thief" who "stole" someone's "first time" at Comiket.
  • Hazbin Hotel has 666 News, which is presented by resident Hate Sink Katie Killjoy and her much-abused co-anchor Tom Trench. They report on various gang wars, Tom makes lewd remarks and Katie nails him in the groin with hot coffee, there's a cannibal cooking segment with Jeffery Dahmer, and the crawl quickly segues from explaining a bad pun to the writer complaining about his personal life, his affair with a cleaning lady, and an orangutan at the zoo he hates. Of course, it's a news station in Hell, so this is to be expected.
  • A newscast from the "Multipimpcity" episode of Pimp Lando has shades of this, especially in the sports and weather sections (the sportscaster is more excited about his awesome wallpaper than reporting the sports).

    Webcomics 
  • Penny Arcade occasionally features stories by anchorman Randy Pinkwood, who will report on gaming news with the comic's characteristic farcical style. He ends each one by making some sort of reference to his incredible, and often bizarre, sexual escapades. (His name itself is, of course, a Double Entendre.)
  • Something*Positive had one strip starting with a news anchorwoman saying: "... And that's all for the Baby Pageant Massacre" and then segues into a report about Kharisma getting arrested.
  • The Nifty News 50 team from Sluggy Freelance fits this trope pretty darn well (one of them is even named "Qwirky").
    Reporter: We have just received word that news is breaking on the set of Sluggy Freelance. We are not sure what the news is at this time, but we wanted to beat the other networks to it. I'm sure we will have more information any moment.
    [pause]
    Reporter: Well, while we are waiting, let's speculate wildly. Is Torg forming a cult? Is Riff a lesbian in a man's body? And what happened to that annoying "Sam" character? Foul play?
  • This VG Cats strip.
    Anchor: In other news, I'm not wearing any pants. More on this after the weather.

  • While reporter Carol Brown from El Goonish Shive is typically a bit more professional than this trope implies, she does occasionally deliver a proper silly news broadcast. Some examples:
    • She once proposed that reports of an "evil monkey" attacking a high school could be the work of an evil monkey trainer determined to terrorize our children. She then quickly dismissed this theory, and admits it was only an excuse to show a silly graphic of a Dastardly Whiplash.
    • After reporting on an attack on a public school she quickly managed to convey all of the information that she had access to, as many details of the incident had been covered up by The Men in Black. At this point, she openly admits that she is out of things to report on, and is only interviewing random bystanders as an attempt to fill time.
  • A news anchor in Tales Of Gnosis College shifts from a national security story to a discussion of deep issues about the meaning of human life to the local sports report, treating all as being about equally serious.
  • Fox News in Ansem Retort. "More on this, at eleven. What, it's eleven? Now? What the fuck? Do we have a crackhead running the teleprompter or something?"
  • Following a daring mission in which a Dalek Conquest Army General invades Skaro in an attempt to assassinate the Emperor, which considerably thins the Praetorian Guard and enormously damages Skaro City, the next day's biggest spot of news is the announcement of Skaro's Largest Kwalorblmn Fruit.

    Web Original 
  • End of the world, from CollegeHumor.
  • The Character Blog "The Diary of Ralph Dibney" portrays the Daily Planet as this, with Clark Kent's obituary for Dibney being mostly off-topic rambling about how, from Superman's point of view, it would really suck if he didn't have his powers anymore—hypothetically, anyway, because he's not Superman. Also, they apparently do basically nothing but articles about Superman, to the point that they published items with titles like "Superman Gets In Fight, Again" and "What Superman Had For Breakfast." Most of the currently-depowered Clark's output currently consists of articles like "Ouch, I Stubbed My Toe" or "I'm Depressed."
  • Act III of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog gives us two rather hammy TV news anchors whose coverage of Captain Hammer's "inspirational acts of heroism" segues neatly into the following gem — "Next up, who's gay?" (For extra humor, the next line is sung by Captain Hammer's Camp Gay Fanboy.) They are later shown weeping uncontrollably on the air over Penny What's-her-name's death.
  • Economy Watch: News programs are used to provide exposition from time to time, often featuring different channels and hosts. 3 news hosts featured are Jimmy Garcia, Pepita and Frederick Jones.
  • The LoadingReadyRun podcast Qwerpline has this as its central premise.
  • Manitowoc Minute: The Manitowoc Minute Man frequently digresses into anecdotes about his personal life, which are all usually stereotypically Midwestern things to do(ice fishing for walleyes, hunting deer, drinking Old Fashions, etc.) He's also not the most professional of newscasters, often adding his personal opinions into the mix.
  • The Onion:
  • The central conceit of Some More News is that The News Dude (played by Cody Johnston) constantly presents Real Life news in this manner in order to provoke laughs from the audience. The News Dude is constantly disheveled, presents news in an over-the-top, bombastic manner, speaks to inanimate objects, has no sense of (or pretense of) objectivity at all and frequently dives into sarcasm, crude sex humor and petty insults towards the subject of the week's broadcast.
  • Cecil in Welcome to Night Vale, who reports the constant horrors of the town calmly and almost cheerfully and frequently interjects personal opinions. Things he's dropped the smooth radio voice for include whenever Steve Carlsburg, Desert Bluffs, or the Apache Tracker (who he hates with a passion), reacting to cat videos, and waxing lyrical over Carlos the scientist, who he is in love with and describes as perfect, beautiful, etc whenever he comes up. Whenever something big happens, such as Carlos calling him in episode 16, almost dying and then returning his affections in episode 25, and their first date in episode 27, then it will invariably hijack Cecil's attention and subsequently the focus of the episode. Even when he's not dropping his radio voice, he'll imitate the original speaker if he's quoting someone, and frequently waxes poetic seemingly at random, which frequently comes across as extremely creepy.

    Western Animation 
  • American Dad! features "Local anchor partners" Greg Corbin and Terry Bates, two gay news anchors who are in a relationship, who move next door to the Smiths early on in the series. They often bring their domestic lives into the news.
    Greg: Welcome to A.M. Pet Party.
    Terry: Glad we aren't the only ones awake at this ungodly hour.
    Greg: Hey, this is going to pay for our new kitchen counters.
    Terry: You mean your kitchen counters. I wanted granite.
    • In the possibly non-canon episode "Rapture's Delight" the Rapture is reported on TV by only one of them. He explains that his partner has been raptured by saying "Apparently God does love gays, but only if they're a top."
  • Rex Bordeaux from Atomic Puppet, who is a complete narcissist unable to find a good story since Captain Atomic was turned into a sock puppet.
  • BoJack Horseman has Tom Jumbo-Grumbo, a whale pundit from MSNBSea News (voiced by real-life pundit Keith Olbermann) who focuses a lot on antagonizing the titular character.
  • Stan Blather from Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers is a parody of both Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite.
  • Tovah Hernandez Carlson on Clerks: The Animated Series is a newscaster of the monotone variety.
  • The Codename: Kids Next Door episode "Operation: C.A.K.E.D.-F.O.U.R." featured Nick and Chip, annoying, pointlessly judgmental reporters whose voices are reminiscent of Howard Cosell and Harry Carey no matter what's happening — until they get scared, which promptly reveals that at least in Nick's case, the monotone isn't his real voice.
    • They appeared in quite a few episodes after that, providing commentary the bowling tournament in Operation: M.I.S.S.I.O.N., the Vaseball game set up by the bullies in Operation: B.R.E.A.K.U.P., the butt-busting contest in Operation: S.A.F.E.T.Y., and even the scavenger hunt in Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S.
  • Cow and Chicken had an instance when everybody in the world believes the planet is about to get hit by a comet (it's actually a golf ball suspended in front of an observatory's telescope).
    With only a short time before the comet "Dad's Ball" flattens us all into pancakes, people all over the world are doing things they always wanted to do. Today, a man married himself (cut to the Red Guy marrying himself). And I always wanted to do THIS! (climbs on the desk and takes off his suit to reveal a weenie costume underneath) Look at me! I'm Weenie Suit Man!
  • Darkwing Duck features news anchor Tom Lockjaw, arguably inspired by the same real-life personality as Kent Brockman, the famous Tom Brokaw. Lockjaw is considerably less often used than Brockman, but is nonetheless very much a whimsical addition to the show.
  • Drawn Together, of course, has several versions which, like every other aspect of the show, is deranged and nonsensical. The anchors usually state something that either Crosses the Line Twice or inexplicably correlates to the characters directly.
  • DuckTales (2017): While Roxanne Featherly maintains her composure during a report on first contact with an alien civilization (who, at this point, haven't made any hostile moves), the news crawl across the bottom of the screen urges viewers to panic. Roxanne notices this and sighs, "C'mon, Carl!" A few minutes later, once the invasion proper begins, the news crawl reads "Carl was right, we're doomed!"
  • A recurring character in F is for Family is Jim Jeffords, who is not only a local news anchor but also hosts multiple television programs, including the Hobo Jojo show.
  • The Fairly OddParents! has Chet Ubetcha, who like all the other grown ups, is very dim. He's also very short, and has size issues. He often reports on the aftermath of Timmy's wishes. He has a daughter called Yvette who takes his job when the kids take over the world. In the episode, "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker!", his mother, Nanette, was also an anchorwoman, and in the episode "The Good Old Days!", his grandfather, Chester, was a radio announcer.
  • Family Guy:
    • The reporters are constantly blurting out odd things that they would never say if they remembered that the cameras were still on. They also have a blatant hatred for one another ("We now go live to Diane being a bitch. Diane?"). During an early episode where Death was incapacitated, they took the opportunity to get violent with each other.
    • Also poked fun at is the tendency of news organizations to relegate minorities to support staff, with "Asian Reporter Tricia Takanawa", and black weatherman Ollie Williams and his "Blacku-Weather Forecast," where he just yells out a succinct description. ("ISS GON' RAIN!" "ISS RAININ' SIDEWAYS!") Apparently he talks like that all the time, as demonstrated in his cooking segment ("EGGO!"), his helicopter traffic report ("EVERYBODY LOOKS LIKE ANTS!") and his adopt-a-pet segment. ("WHO WANTS THIS DAWG?!") One episode "explains" Ollie's speech patterns as the result of alcoholism.
      • From the Star Wars parody episode, Blue Harvest:
        Tom: And now, to Ollie Williams for your Death Star weather report. How's the weather out there, Ollie?
        Ollie: SPACE WEATHER!!!
    • The second episode of Family Guy involves the TV transmitter getting destroyed, taking out TV for all of Quahog. This results in the following situation:
      Tom: With the cable out in Quahog, it doesn't really matter what we say. I'm the Lord Jesus Christ. Think I'll go get drunk and beat up some midgets. What about you, Diane?
      Diane: Well, Tom, I just plain don't like black people. [the two chuckle]
      Camera Operator: Uh, guys, we're still on in Boston.
      [cut back to Tom and Diane, who have Oh, Crap! looks on their faces]
    • Then there was when the transmitter was fixed:
      Tom: Well, Diane, that last news report was so good, I'm going to give you a spanking.
      Diane: [playfully] Oh, Tom, I don't think your wife will appreciate that.
      Tom: Come on, Diane. That frigid cow lives in Quahog. She can't hear what I'm saying.
      Camera Operator: Actually, we're back on the air in Quahog.
      [Cut back to Tom and Diane, who have Oh, Crap! looks on their faces again, but this time, Tom has a wooden paddle in his hand and Diane is bent over]
    • Drunk Billy was the Quahog 5 News Traffic Cam helicopter pilot. In the episode "Dial Meg for Murder", Drunk Billy tragically dies in a fatal collision with a highway overpass. In anticipation for this moment, colleagues Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons present a pre-prepared collection of accidents and near misses from Billy’s career.
    • When Meg got an internship at the news studio, Tom showed her how they put together "interviews" with celebrities who are too busy to come to the studio. They cut between Tom in the studio asking questions and almost-appropriate clips of various films the actor has appeared in. The Dustin Hoffman "interview" is already bad enough, but it ends with a clip from Hook where Hoffman demands "Bring me Peter Pan!" in response to Tom asking if there's anything he could ever do for him which only warrants a chuckle from Tom.
    • There's also the fact that Neil and Meg each get to present a report of their own. Neil's is just footage of Meg kissing him when they thought they were going to die in a newscopter crash. Meg's is her rebuttal, insulting him and interviewing various people to prove that she never would have kissed him if she didn't literally believe she was about to die. The anchors (and producers, who either didn't prescreen them or didn't care) treat them as any other human interest piece.
    • One episode shows Tom backstage practicing in front of a mirror. Granted, there's no indication he's practicing for a real news story, but after trying out a few more serious takes, he settles on "What's the President doing in this casket? Find out after the break!"
  • Futurama has co-anchors Morbo and Linda. Morbo claims to be a scout for his species' upcoming alien invasion, and regularly voices his hatred and contempt for all things - especially humanity - on air. His co-anchor, Linda, always responds to his threats with an empty-headed laugh.
    Morbo: [all the time] Morbo WILL DESTROY YOU!
    Morbo: [presiding over a presidential debate] Morbo will now introduce tonight's candidates. Puny human #1. Puny human #2. And Morbo's good friend Richard Nixon.
  • Generator Rex has the tabloid news show "Ultimate Exposure", which is also the focus of the episode "Exposed."
  • Hector Ramirez, the parody of investigative reporter Geraldo Rivera from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, The Transformers, Jem and Inhumanoids.
  • Gravity Falls:
    • Toby Determined who owns, reports for, and edits, a local newspaper called the Gravity Falls Gossiper, and does work for TV and radio from time to time, but is widely considered too inept for his chosen career. In his first speaking role, he tried to interview Stan only to be told "Your microphone's a turkey baster" and a headline for his paper reads "Reporter calls mom".
    • On the opposite end of the spectrum is Shandra Jimenez, "A real reporter", who covers all of the events that happen in town. The problem is that Shandra's a normal newscaster who's stuck a weird place like Gravity Falls. When the mayor dies in "The Stanchurian Candidate", she breaks down in tears because it's the first piece of real news she's had to report in a while.
  • Grojband gives us a two-fer in Chance Happenings and Buzz Newsworthy, who cover any major event in Peaceville. They are also prone to bickering with each other, trying to either one-up or put down the other.
  • Jellystone!: Snagglepuss is the local news anchor. Depending on the Writer, he's either the Only Sane Man or is part of that week's shenanigans. When reporting on escaped convicts who simply dug out of jail, he ends his report with "Our town is truly the worst."
  • Hank Anchorman from Johnny Test.
  • In an episode of Legion of Super Heroes (2006), two announcers cover the 343rd Intergalactic Olympics fairly well... but when a brawl between the winners, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and the Fatal Five break out, they cover it with no change in tone at all, even stopping for commercial breaks midway through the fight.
  • In The Oblongs, the local TV news show is completely biased in favor of the mayor, who in turn is completely biased in favor of the town rich.
  • On Rocko's Modern Life, newscasts were often given by an unnamed bull typically called Fran, but called Dale one time.
  • In an episode of Rugrats, the television breaks. The babies get a hold of a large box and cut a hole in it to substitute it. Chuckie hosts the evening news show, but ends all of his reports with "Why did this happen? Nobody knows." And then it gets better as Phil and Lil whisper insults about each other to Chuckie.
  • Sheep in the Big City had two anchors, one of whom would give "unrelated" stories that were obviously related, once repeating the same story.
  • The Simpsons provides the Trope Namer, anchorman Kent Brockman, who pretty single-handedly popularized the trope. He blatantly skews reports to fit his political or personal interests, and always brings his personal views to a story. He's been fired mid-story and quit mid-story at least once. Everything he does falls into unprofessionalism.
    • He often exhibits the Worst News Judgment Ever:
      • In "Radio Bart", Bart has fallen into a well, but Kent abandons the news coverage of his rescue to address the discovery of a squirrel that looks like Abraham Lincoln. Soon afterwards, the squirrel is assassinated, and a shaken Brockman pledges to "cover this (story) all night if we have to."
      • In "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", Kent dedicates his entire half-hour news broadcast to the children's doll Lisa designed. His daughter told him to (but then again, she apparently also convinced him to cover the fall of the Berlin Wall). Then, just as the closing music plays, Kent discovers he missed something more newsworthy:
        Kent: Oh, and the President was arrested for murder — but more on that tomorrow night... or you can turn to another channel. (looks offscreen) ...oh. Do not turn to another channel.
    • Sometimes we only see the tail end of a report, which gives just enough information to leave you wondering what the hell just happened.
      • "...making this the most recent Segway accident to claim more than 1000 lives."
      • "...which, if true, means death for us all."
      • "...and the First Lady has promised to sit on the egg until it hatches."
      • "...and the fluffy kitten played with the ball of string... all through the night. On a lighter note, a Kwik-E-Mart clerk was brutally murdered last night."
      • "...leaving the Vice President in charge." Accompanied by a very small picture of the White House, with a thin trail of smoke leaking out. (He then goes on to cover a plot-related issue of minor importance).
      • Inverted when he starts a report, but the TV is switched off before we can hear him finish:
        Kent: Paris is no more. The legendary city of lights has been extinguished forever, as a massive—
    • Sometimes he can't help himself from overhyping otherwise boring news stories:
      • In "Homer Loves Flanders":
        Kent: Tonight, on Eye on Springfield: Just miles from your doorstep, hundreds of men are given weapons and trained to kill. The government calls it the "army", but a more alarmist name would be... The Killbot Factory.
      • Springfield Action News achieves this through use of Cue Card Pause: "Tonight's top stories: A tremendous explosion! ...in the price of lumber. President Reagan dyes! ...his hair." Kent then hypes up a "killer storm" bearing down on Springfield; the death count is actually zero, but it's "ready to shoot right up."
        Kent: Oh, my God! (shakes fist at the heavens) Damn you, snow!
      • In "Das Bus", after the family watches a ridiculously protracted epic film about Noah's Ark, Kent decides to do a little Credits Pushback — and does it before the credits even start:
        God: The secret of life is
        Kent: You've seen the movie — now meet a real-life Noah! Only this Noah has been accused of killing two of every animal! Coming up next, on A.M. Springfield!
    • Sometimes he's just plain unprofessional:
      • In "Bart Gets Famous", Kent is so pissed that Bart has stolen his cheese danish that he refuses to do a news story. The network replaces him with Bumblebee Man, who turns out to be a much better anchor... at least initially.
        Bumblebee Man: (in a dignified British accent) A powerful tidal wave in Kuala Lumpur has killed 120 people. (in his usual voice) ¡Ay, Chihuahua! (falls off his seat)
      • In "Deep Space Homer", Kent misinterprets an ant flying across the camera lens in space as an invasion by giant alien ants. As he announces this, he shows his true colors:
        Kent: And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.
      • In "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", Kent covers Freddy Quimby's assault and battery charge against a waiter, and laments on-air that his suggestion to dub the case "Waitergate" had been shot down.
      • In "Bart's Comet", when faced with the imminent destruction of Springfield by meteor, Brockman chooses to spend his final broadcast by listing people who are secretly gay. Cue a quickly scrolling Long List on screen, of which several names are part of the Simpsons' production staff.
      • In "Burns, Baby Burns" when he and "hostage" Larry Burns are surrounded by police at a movie theater, this happens:
        (Homer bursts through the front door, only to be killed in a hail of bullets by the police. Marge, Bart and Lisa, who are watching at home on television, begin screaming as it cuts back to Homer's bullet-ridden corpse)
        Kent: A bloody end for Homer Simpson... (the image then zooms back into an inset picture onscreen as police are still waiting for them to surrender) ...is just one of several possible outcomes according to our computer stimulations. Now, here's how it would look if the police killed him with a barrage of baseballs...
    • And sometimes he's actually pretty professional, but his editors and crewmates screw up:
      • In "Lisa the Beauty Queen", Kent tries to pull up footage of Lisa losing her Little Miss Springfield crown, but instead gets a baby goat getting fed a bottle of milk. He then tries to pull up an interview he did with Pope John Paul II — and gets the baby goat again. This is what causes him to quit mid-broadcast.
      • Kent has an ongoing feud with his helicopter newsman Arnie Pye in the Sky. Sometimes Kent can keep it together, only for Arnie to pull the feud on air:
        Kent: Arnie, this isn't the time!
        Arnie: You're not the time, Kent! You're not the time!
      • In "You Kent Always Say What You Want", Kent had made a hard-hitting editorial on the Iraq War, but the network forces him to shelve it because one of its sponsors had just sold its millionth ice cream cone (to Homer, of course) and instead makes him interview Homer. Then Kent shows his unprofessionalism when Homer spills coffee on his lap and he shouts a swear word on the air.
  • Sonic Boom has achorbird Soar the Eagle, who loves to complain about his private life while reporting news:
    • This is how he begins a report in "The Evil Dr. Orbot":
      Soar: Breaking news. Villainy, like my blood pressure, is on the rise.
    • While doing a report about Justin Beaver, he complaints about his daughter finding the singer cooler than him:
      Soar: Girls everywhere are going gaga over this teen heartthrob. They just can't get enough of him. And suddenly, "Dad the Anchorbird" isn't cool anymore. Well, maybe Justin Beaver will foot the bill for private school instead of buying those golf clubs he really wanted!
    • He also took the opportunity to take a potshot at his ex-wife while reporting the beginning of the race in "If You Build Them, They Will Race":
      Soar: And they're off! Sonic takes an early lead! And in other unsurprising news, grass is green, winter is cold, and my ex-wife is taking the beach house.
  • South Park:
    • In the episode "Krazy Kripples," the reporter tries to liven up his story with creative metaphors ("If irony were strawberries, we'd all be drinking smoothies now, Tom.") Possibly a reference to Dan Rather.
    • In an episode where a whale is stolen from an aquarium, one on-site reporter makes a fairly on-topic joke: "It certainly is a WHALE of a problem down here." To which the reporter at the desk responds, "Yes, This situations is becoming un-BEAR-able." Cue odd looks.
    • There are a variety of weird field reporters, generally Threefer or Fourfer Token Minorities, to do remotes. (Curiously, almost all the weird field reporters, when on-screen, appear to be consummate professionals for the most part: "Thanks, Tom!...") The form is usually "Live, with that story, is..."
      • "A quadriplegic Swiss man on a pony." (He's lashed to it with ropes)
      • "A midget in a bikini." (A very short man in a polka-dot two-piece)
      • "A 34-year old Asian man who looks strikingly similar to Ricardo Montalbán."
      • "A normal-looking guy with a funny name." (His name: "Creamy Goodness")
      • "R. Kelly"
      • "A Hispanic man with gravy stains on his lapel."
      • The "Simpsons Already Did It" episode even showed Kent Brockman himself as part of a hallucination where Butters sees the entire town as Simpsons characters.
    • During the fourth season, a recurring gag in news stories was to have the scene begin with the character(s) watching the tail end of a story about the ever-increasing size of Hillary Clinton's ass.
    • In the episode 'Night of the Living Homeless', the evening news is presented "...with Chris Swollenballs."
    • In the Game of Thrones Whole-Plot Reference, one newscaster carries his microphone everywhere and always talks in his professional newscaster voice. Even when off the clock.
      "Tom, I'm standing in your bedroom doorway with an important announcement!"
  • The Realistic Fish Head from SpongeBob SquarePants. Also the regular newscasters (Bob and Barbara), who tend to laugh at whatever they report the few times they've shown up.
    [picture of a box of kittens in the corner of the screen, sound clip of a cat meowing]
    Barbara: [smiling] ... and there were no survivors. Back to you, Bob.
    Bob: Thank you, Barbara.
    Barbara: Thank you, Bob.
  • The Tick - events on the show are often reported by news anchor Brian Pinhead (pronounced 'Pin-ADE').
  • Ugly Americans has a young, attractive, female news anchor who is always smiling cheerfully, even when reporting the most horrific things.

    Real Life 
  • The Trope Namer is based on Jerry Dunphy, the well-known Los Angeles newscaster who spent forty-two years (1960 until his death in 2002) as an anchor and reporter in California. Appropriately, Dunphy fulfilled this role in a few movies As Himself. Dunphy was reportedly flattered by what he considered an Affectionate Parody and even jokingly introduced himself as Kent Brockman to friends after The Simpsons started airing.
  • In The '80s, the closest Australia had to this trope was Clive Robertson, the main news presenter for the Seven Network in Sydney, whose dry wit, outspoken manner and odd tangents made him popular with viewers. (Ironically, Robertson later admitted that he engaged in this behavior in a deliberate bid to get himself fired, which obviously backfired.)
    Clive Robertson: (after presenting a story about the sex murderer being released) It's been a cheery news so far, it gets worse after the break.
  • There should have been a pause in here somewhere: "Dana is off tonight, he was murdered and set on fire while celebrating his birthday." note 
  • Of the Worst News Judgment Ever variety, we have this Wild Teen Party. Obviously, it sucks that a house was trashed by some punk kids, but it doesn't become national news worthy of editorials and multiple headlines just because the house had belonged to Robert Frost.
  • This reporter outs herself as the owner of the medical marijuana store she just covered, then comes out with this: "Fuck it, I quit" (shrugs and walks off).
  • In an incident that fits this trope, but is not funny at all, on July 15, 1974, Christine Chubbuck, morning host for WXLT in Sarasota, Florida, began her show by covering three national news stories and then a local restaurant shooting from the previous day. The film reel of the restaurant shooting had jammed and would not run, so Chubbuck shrugged it off and said, "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first — attempted suicide." She then drew a revolver from her pocket and shot herself behind her right ear, killing herself.
  • Possibly an urban legend, but the story has it that a British newsreader once reported that a royal visit to Cyprus could "fill the Greek community with concern", having bet a friend that he could work the phrase "Phil the Greek" into a story about the Royal Family.
  • Matías Prats Jr, legendary Spanish news anchor, is made of this trope, due to his now toned-down habit of throwing puns around and an open mic catching him yelling "BUT WHAT IS THIS!!??" when he couldn't hear a coworker (an event that you can watch here). Never Live It Down, indeed.
  • MSNBC anchorwoman Mika Brzezinski refused to read a story about Paris Hilton. Brzezinski also laughed after learning about a chlorine gas attack at a furry convention.
  • Dave Scott of local station KUSI in San Diego is notorious among viewers for his segments that often manage to go bizarrely and self-indulgently off the rails:
    • In this utter disaster of a live segment, Scott covers the local "Inflatable Fun Run and Festival." He begins by completely failing at setting up a joke about "inflation," tries vainly to segue into the incoherent question "What kind of fun do you think you're going to have today?", haplessly interviews the mascot "Mr. Wacky" (who misses his entrance cue), and concludes by trying to get the assembled crowd of stunned-looking volunteers to do the "Mr. Wacky Dance." The expressions of pure cringe on everyone's faces show exactly how well they realize they are trapped live on Kent Brockman News.
      Dave Scott: So, does that mean everybody here today becomes an inflatable?
    • Another instance, reporting the weather and feeling "inspired" to recite an original poem entitled, "The Sky Is Blue." For the kicker, the weather that day was gray skies.
    • This segment on a "Shop with a Cop" event keeps getting derailed as Scott reflects on how it's not fun to be in the back seat of a police car, which nobody had said anything about. Also the camera inexplicably moves over to some roughhousing dogs.
    • Here Dave thinks it would be a good idea to use a white tablecloth as a prop comedy way to show the weather, leading to a strange rambling discussion about technology.
  • "Hundreds gathered today to say their final goodbyes to this fallen Louisville police officer... Deedee Megadoodoo."

"Well, this reporter was... possibly a little hasty earlier and would like to... reaffirm his allegiance to this country and its human president. It may not be perfect, but it's still the best government we have. For now. Oh, yes, and by the way, the spacecraft still in extreme danger, may not make it back, attempting risky re-entry, blah blah blah blah blah. We'll see you after the movie."

Alternative Title(s): Parody News

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News Bot

The sensationalist News Bot interviews Bulkhead on live TV.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (1 votes)

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Main / KentBrockmanNews

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