In the pouring rain, the freezing cold and now the blistering heat: TV reporters are braving the weather day in, day out. The fact that no sweat mustache or sloshing armpits can be seen in the picture requires quite a bit of preparation from the journalists, they tell NU.nl.
By Lara ZevenbergWhere their fellow presenters are in a comfortable, air-conditioned studio and a make-up artist keeps an eye on whether everything still looks neat, reporters have to make sure that their appearance does not distract from the story. Because that’s what they want: at the end of the item you shouldn’t think about someone’s hair, make-up or clothes, but about the story they just told.
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Lonneke Haveman is a reporter at Edition NL and is normally not like a thick layer of make-up. But when the temperatures rise as high as on these days, she still has powder with her. “You have to, otherwise your forehead, your cheeks or your nose will shine. All reporters have that with them, including the men. It is very distracting from your story when the sun is reflected on your forehead.”
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Also Heart of the Netherlands-reporter Charlotte Nijs has blot powder with her, but also papers with which she can dab away any sweaty mustache. “Sometimes you stand in the blazing sun for a long time, in places where there is no shade. If you don’t keep an eye on whether it all looks neat, people will think: what has she done?”
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Always bring extra clothes
Where Nijs can be found at the Binnenhof, Haveman travels throughout the Netherlands to make various items. She once stood in the hottest spot in the country on the hottest day ever recorded. For that reason, she always has an extra set of clothes with her. In a story with a little more lightness, she doesn’t have to wear a jacket from her boss. But she likes it herself in court.
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“Unlike my male colleagues, where that is more difficult, I sometimes also have the option of putting on a lighter summer dress or a blouse with short sleeves. But luckily I have never needed an extra set of clothes because I am afraid of sweat spots. had.”
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“Oh, I do,” laughs Nijs. The political reporter always carries several sets in case she drops something or gets sweaty spots.
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“And even then I sometimes had that I didn’t have anything with me that looked really neat. Then I just ask the cameraman to zoom in a bit, haha. You only see my shoulders: the sweat spots are gone. And when I’m there If you look a bit tired, I ask the cameraman to grab the frame nice and big, so you don’t see it that way.”
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Don’t touch makeup quickly
The two prefer not to do a quick make-up touch up or dab with a cloth when the live connection has already started. Nijs: “How often have you seen on television that a reporter looks at his or her notes, or gestures something to the cameraman? I want to prevent that, so I stand two minutes before I really have to be in the picture. never know how it goes.”
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And then, despite all the preparation, things can go wrong. “When Femke Halsema was sworn in as mayor, I had put a ponytail in my hair so as not to have such a rag on my neck,” says Nijs. “Delicious, I thought. Until I got the item back after I kept getting text messages from friends: that tail was blown up by the wind all the way through the item and therefore stuck horizontally out of my head. Yes, those things happen.”
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