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Keith Olbermann, for example, can definitely think on his feet and writes his own interview questions and Special Comments. He's also capable of writing his show entirely by himself, although he says he tries not to. He's used to having to write his own material, though, from his sportscasting days onward. He didn't have writers back then.
The guests are not paid, because in the real news business (as opposed to the tabloid business), paying for interviews is considered unethical. Of course they make it known that they are available and, in some cases, they may be sought out. Shows normally have bookers who plan the guests and arrange for the appearances, but the booking time for a news program is more narrow than that for a non-news program, because one is presumably going to want to book one's guests based on what the news of the day is, and that's not always a predictable thing. If there's a political debate coming up, you can plan for it, but if unexpected news breaks, you will probably need different "experts" to talk to about it, and you will not know which ones until the news happens.
And, of course, you have to be prepared to rip all your plans to shreds and fly by the seat of your pants if important news breaks during your live broadcast.
The percentage of programmed, written and rehearsed material vs. spontaneous material surely varies by the program, as does who writes the questions and comments. The guests are probably not rehearsed if they are used to being on TV; if they aren't; they may get a little coaching from the network in how to handle being on camera, but otherwise, no. If they are there as a representative of a greater institution, they probably receive media coaching from that institution. For example, a university research scientist who appears on a program to discuss the results of a study will have been coached by his school's communications/media relations department, which probably had placed his name on a list of "media experts" circulated to media as being available to talk expertly on a given subject if needed (that's why he is there).
"Are they told what to say? or at least told what not to say?" is a broad question. I think it depends.
The decisions as to what constitutes the news, the questions and the comments, how they make these decisions, how they keep that going for the full day of the news...well, that's what producers, editors and writers are for.
"Why is it when you switch channels - the same story is being talked about at the same time"? Because, usually, at any given time in the world, there's one topic in the news that dominates people's interest, or at least their perceived interest.
The backgrounds and qualifications of the people behind the scenes that make these decisions, write the editorials and compose the questions vary greatly. Some are longtime veterans of the journalism scene; some are fresh journalism school graduates. Some have a formal education and training, and others learned by doing. Some studied journalism, others studied broadcast media, others studied English and found themselves media writers. Others just started doing it, and now, here they are all these years later, still doing it.
Personalities work with their show producers to shape content. Those who analyze the numbers, polls, etc., usually work for agencies that do nothing else, and then offer the results to news media.
Research teams and resources at major networks are huge, and range from film and video libraries to the Internet. And yes, they have their own libraries, to catalog everything so no one has to waste time finding what they need with ease.
How do the anchors and hosts (and writers, editors, producers, directors, etc.) do it? Lots of caffeine, very little sleep, and a taste for spontaneity in their work rather than wanting to come in at a certain hour in the morning, work for X number of hours and then go home. I think that's what most of them would tell you. Oh, and they're masochists. That's something else they'd probably say.
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