kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

I worked in the field in Asia with these guys for years. The standard kit these days for news photogs is three bodies carried with you at all times for stationary events, one with 400-600mm lens, one with 70-200 and one with 24-70. For field use, such as street work, 70-200, 24-70 and often a third body with 14-24 or some other UWA

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

You understate the challenge. Neither had high-speed shooting. Take the picture, crank the film, take the next one.... Auto-focus? Auto-exposure? What were those. The standard Rollei configuration was to look down the viewing lens where everything was reversed. How many shooters today could figure that out? Or if you had the pentaprism head, you had more weight and a dimmer image. Then, you had to juggle camera and two rolls of film once you shot your allotted 12 or 24 negatives.

The strobes. They were not that bad compared with those 510 V batteries that were prone to shorting out. Sure, you could trade them out but if the second one went, then you were done. At least, the recycling times were ok. You hope the flash cords did not come loose or short out. Did I mention that the earlier strobes were manual exposure so you either had to guess at the distance or read it off the camera. Whether the subject was in front of a wall or not affected exposure. And, of course, no looking at the back of the camera to check your exposure. I still have one of those Strobonars and it works. Great for fill when used with that little Wien remote sensor.

Ah yes. The good old days....

How about posting your pictures?

khorinek

As a news photographer, I use the 70-200, and 24-70 and occasional 300 f/2.8. It is a lot of equipment to lug around, but usually the media is required to stay in the "pit" or a cordoned off media area. If the pit is a fair distance away from the subject you will need a zoom lens or if you end up closer a wide angle. A lot of times you never know until you get there so it's best to have it all with you.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Sometimes in news photography, the authorities drawn yellow tape everywhere so to get a close shot they need a long lens.
And, what do you consider long. A 70-200 with a lens hood can appear long to the average viewer.
It would be helpful for you to post an image.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

Don’t forget also that some photographers are pushing closer regardless of lens type to get an unobstructed view/shot.

Thrawn John Loc: Scotland

A longer fast lens is also used to reduce Depth of Field - helping to make the subject "pop" out from a bunch of other people who are also in the frame.
(e.g. With four important people at a desk - you can go round the side and get a profile pic of each, nicely isolated but in context.)
One of the reasons a 70-200 f2.8 is such an indispensable bit of kit.

khorinek

For bigger events you have no choice, you stand where they want you. If I remember correctly this event was a "150' throw" or measured from the media stand to the podium 150'. This was shot with a 70-200 with a 1.4 extender, cropped.

(Download)

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

In the UK Press Photography, when covering 'Royal Visits' . we had a 'Rota' system. Accredited / accepted photographers were given moving, or fixed position shooting concessions. 'Distance' had to be adhered to, if one was on a moving license. COI Security were strict about that. Members of the public (flag-waiving crowds) were often closer to the 'Royals', than we were allowed to approach. Therefore long lenses either fixed or zoom was often the 'Order of the Day'. Protocol had to be observed, or you might not get another chance of ever being accredited again. Might be a different set of rules in the USA.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

"You can never be too rich or too thin." The same applies to getting a close-up of the subject. Get as close as you can with the longest lens you have.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

The NFL pro photographer I met 3 years ago, used two out of three lenses you used. Except your 300mm f2.8. He used the 400mm f2.8 instead. All Canon Gear. Using the Canon 1DX body.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

My goto lenses for news work are my 24-70 and 70-200. Usually on separate bodies. Other lenses as needed. One newer lens I really like is my 300/4PF. Best of luck.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

News photographers use fast lenses, f2.8 and faster. A Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR lens, for example, contains twenty elements in sixteen groups. It is big and heavy compared to f/5.6 versions, but can focus at close distances. That is one of the things a lot of elements allows you to do. When you watch a football game, you will notice that some of the photographers on the field use really big telephoto lenses. Some of them are so big that they require a monopod to support the camera/lens combination in the middle of the lens. Those lenses are very fast. A Nikon AF-S Nikkor 400mm f/2.8E FL ED VR Lens has sixteen elements in twelve groups, weighs 8.5 pounds, is 14-inches long and costs over $11,000. So, don't assume that because a news photographer is using a large lens at close range that it is necessarily a long telephoto.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Finally, an answer to the question of why they seem to be struggling to "get closer". Actually, they are trying to see/break through the photographers in front of them.

Bill P

Two different bodies with two different lenses? You would think one zoom lens and one body would be enough. But, I'm not a professional photojournalist.

And that's why you're not. Those guys are used to shooting under conditions you couldn't imagine. They need to be prepared for something important where taking time to change lenses isn't an option. And the all in one superzoooms? Although those are perfectly good enough for newspaper reproduction and a lot of magazines, Those guys are not going to chance that it will be ok. So one was once a wide,probably 35, and a semi long, 75, 85, 90. For some, all they had was a 35 and a 50. Now, the 70-200 and 24-70 are king. You wnat to be able to hang both from you neck, and be able to drop one and grab the other in an instant.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

A lot of good answers buried in the pile of words so far. Zoom lenses with very low "f" numbers are big and they want to get close enough to capture the micro-expressions of the subject. You hear what sounds like machine guns firing as the high-speed shutters all around are running.
All those funny/weird expressions we see on the Presidents face only happen for split seconds but with fast glass and a high-speed shutters the expression can be captured.