Some uncomfortable history for some from a 1965 article on the state of local television news. Unfortunately, the one man band in television isn’t as new as some may think…
“The ‘one man band’ newsfilm-reporter who shoots film (sound and silent), gathers story information and, in many stations, processes the film, edits it and writes the copy, was once the product of a station’s budget limitations. Today he is often the result of lavish and polished technique. Reporter-cameramen are carried on the news staffs of 111 stations in the TELEVISION survey, 66.5% of all the stations responding. Personnel with the sole function of cameraman, on the other hand, were billeted at only 80 or 47.9% of the stations. (KSTP-TV Minneapolis-St Paul, with 17 reporter-writers, carries 12 separate cameramen. Its market competitor, WCCO-TV, lists 13 cameramen.)
Dual-purpose personnel may be desirable or they may not be; it’s a matter of opinion. “It’s the rare case when you get a newsman doing two or three jobs and doing them all well,” says an Oklahoma news director. “I’ll stay with single specialist and get better work done.”
The full article can be read in the February 1965 edition of Television starting on page 28 (page 38 in the actual PDF) on American Radio History’s website.