I think so. I think he gets tips and if the story is big enough, he takes time off to study it and then, when the first wave of facts starts to subside, he comes back to give listeners his perspective on what's going on.
If you have a network of friendly contacts in all sorts of places, that seems like a pretty smart thing to do. Let the Alphabet Media babble incoherently while the story develops faster than they can report it. And then come in after them with a fresh and well-studied angle on it all.
If you have a network of friendly contacts in all sorts of places, that seems like a pretty smart thing to do. Let the Alphabet Media babble incoherently while the story develops faster than they can report it. And then come in after them with a fresh and well-studied angle on it all.
Interesting in light of the big speech he gave on Wednesday about how he had to take a couple of days off to do the EIB "upfront," and how this is an annual thing and had to be moved this year and it's so unfortunate because he didn't want to be away from the Golden EIB Microphone, etc.
That struck me as odd because it was unusual for him to spend so much air time explaining why he's going away, to spend time making the case for why he has no control over a particular absence.
I do remember years ago when he explained how he had to be away for a charity event that had been set up far in advance, but not so much recently.
I can't help but think — in light of your comment — that perhaps he actually did get a heads-up. He said the upfront had been moved... nah, too far out. I don't think so. Still, interesting.