When did the news start telling me what is going to happen, instead of what has happened?

[cleverhatdisguise]

I'm listening to the morning news.

The king is going to meet with M. Macron later today.
The king will say X, and M. Macron will respond Y.
M. Macron will then ask Z, and the king will reply X.
At this point they will wander over to the window and chat about the weather...

Okay, not the last one. But it's weird to have the whole conversation set in advance, isn't it?

What is the point if we already know what they're going to say? Do they have to learn their lines? Who tells the journalists what's going to be said? How does it work?

Katherine Whitehorn wrote that her brother refused to read any news written in the future tense. It’s a good rule imo.

I agree. So much of the newspaper seems to be filled up with “what taxes might the chancellor raise” or similar and it’s like, why waste this time talking about it when it hasn’t even happened yet. So much forecasting and then nothing comes of it. Two weeks ago it was all about “are we on the verge of WW3” and then it all just petered out.

The news today is horrific

They keep talking about ‘ceasefire’ …. whilst children are orphaned, starving, homeless and killed indiscriminately

Thats the news today

Actually this is when we do need news in advance as it means politicians can get a sense of the reaction to the changes. It gives chance for the public's response, for campaigners to push for or against policies or argue for amendments.

If they just announce it (hello winter fuel allowance) they can fuck up majorly.

I’ve always wondered that. It amuses me when they say that ‘Mr Greedy is going to announce free lollipops for everyone today…’ . If this has been broadcast, hasn’t it already been announced!

Yes I've always found it a bit odd when they say: "X will give a speech today in which (s)he will say: long and exact quote". I figured that's because the people behind the speech want to show everything is under control and the news broadcasters want to show they're in the know.

But when I first read your title I thought you meant the endless speculation along the lines of what @Ozgirl76. I feel like that picked up around Brexit and got particularly bad during the pandemic. There was a lack of concrete news so they just filled it with "what if this, then this and this..." when it might not happen full stop. I've not really come back to the news properly since the combination of Brexit and COVID.

Yes, the 'free lollypops' and the 'long and exact quote' - these are the ones that are a bit odd!

The endless speculation and discussion, while tiresome, is at least logical.