B-Roll

Illustrative footage inserted into a broadcast news piece or interview. It is chosen to illustrate what is being said, and as a way to cover editing and continuity errors in production.

You get the idea.
 * align=center border=1 width=75%
 * Commonly repeated B Roll clips, by program subject matter||||
 * Piece Title || Clip Content ||
 * "Obesity On The Rise in America" ||Anonymous chubby mid-sections (in slow-mo) ||
 * "Lead Paint Found in Schools" ||Children at play in the schoolyard ||
 * "Drug Use On the Rise" ||Any old rave. And by old, we mean The Nineties... ||
 * "Oil Prices Hit All Time High" ||Barrels of oil and shots of refineries, or shots of service stations, gas pumps, and people fueling their cars/trucks ||
 * "Airline Fares Expected to Increase" ||Landing Gear Shots, people milling around in an airport ||
 * "US Automaker Sells Subsidiary" ||Cars being assembled, new cars in showroom. Again, dated Stock Footage tends to leap out at the viewer. ||
 * "Flu Vaccine in Short Supply" ||Vials being produced in a factory, people getting injections ||
 * "Mammograms Now Recommended for Younger Women" ||Women getting mammograms, doctors pointing to x-ray images ||
 * "FDA Approves Phlebotinil for Public Consumption" ||Pills whizzing by on a conveyor belt, pharmacists counting pills ||

The name is the actual term used by news people. It refers to the fact that this footage is usually spooled out from the second ("B") deck on a Linear Edit system. The "A roll" footage is the interview itself, the presenter's questions, and any directly documentary footage. B Roll is usually generic, and can in fact often be Stock Footage. News about financial stories tend to use the B-roll because the new labor figures aren't something you can really film, unlike people standing in a unemployment line or working in a factory. Faces are almost never shown in b-roll when the story deals with sensitive issues like child welfare, adultery, obese/fat people or any kind of sexual topic- like condoms or teen sex.

See also B Roll Rebus, where several of these shots are used in rapid succession.