Staging- Lis White

David Wertheimer's article on staging makes me wonder how many news stories are actually staged? For a story done on my school in the 2nd grade, the reporter asked all the kids to say "We love Dr. Caplen" our departing principle at the time, on camera. Would that have counted as staging? He defined staging, but I don't necessarily think that he was completely clear about staging with in the newsroom. Paraphrasing, he said that it is unethical to ask someone to repeat an action that the reporter may have missed. But if you ask them to show you how to do something, even if you make it clear to the audience that you asked them to show you how to do something, that is not how the event would have occurred if you were not there. I know he addresses this briefly, but I think there are a lot of questions about staging left unanswered. I think the dilemma is more complex then he made it sound. He stated what seems like the obvious to me, don't ask someone to preform an action for a story. But I think there is a lot more to staging then he even let on.