Introduction to the news – Eleanor Bedding.
The most recent news broadcast I watched was the ITV news
coverage of the 2017 election results. All stories covered in this broadcast
were based around the results, and making general comparisons to results and
how they think the standing result would effect the country on a whole.
Overall, the broadcast was very based towards the election, and no other news
stories were conveyed.
The broadcast begun with a moving transition of a title, expressing ‘ Election
2017’ which was closely followed by Zeinab Badawi, a 57 year old news reader
exclaiming that the election had resulted in a hung parliament. I feel these
particular visuals and audio was used to give a direct point of what the
broadcast was regarding, and that it was not the same as a usual news
broadcast.
As the broadcast progressed, further newsreaders came into shot, each looking
very smart, and voicing political statistics and facts. A debate was then
created regarding the key information, as there was multiple presenters to do
so.
I feel to have the job of a news presenter; you would need to have confidence
in front of the camera, especially for ITV where they have a general high
national coverage of millions every day.
You must have an influential approach to the job, as what you’re saying impacts
opinions of many people, this links in with the idea of being professional and
content.
News ordering is the order that news story appear when a broadcast is on air.
This technique helps views massively, as for example the main headlined story
may be a very captivating and sad one which many people may wish to see,
however they may not put this story on air until last, encouraging people to
stay tuned in for the entire programme.
The first story on a news report is very likely however to be a ‘’breaking
news’’ story, which has happened very recently and is a Nationwide thing, as
people tune in at the start broadcast time to see the preview of what the news
will be covering. The first story shown will be chosen by what they believe
will be most captivating to the audience, usually something such as a terror
attack or an emergency.
After this, other stories appearing will be more relaxed, usually showing a
higher level of entertainment with coverage of a higher production value. This
makes the coverage suitable for different audiences and ages, as if it was all
serious; not many people would show an active interest as it is not at every body’s
best interest.
The ability to think and act quickly is important in the news industry is very
important, because the time has to be filled efficiently as news broadcast
aren’t usually very long, so if there is a lot of news to cover it must all be
confidently covered at good speed. Also, if there is very little news to cover
( slow news day), the air time must be filled with some form of entertainment,
this will usually be down to the newsreader to convey a broadcast as best they
can.
A slow news day is when there are not many important news stories that need covering,
or ones which haven’t already been fully reported on. This usually results in a
news broadcast being slightly irrelevant, and about things such as celebrity
stories, or things which don’t count as ‘’real news’’ like obscure allegations.
The final story in a news broadcast is called the kicker, which is usually seen
to be a emotive and heart-warming story ending
the broadcast with something happy, so despite how dark the rest of the
broadcast was whether it covered murder, terrorism etc. there is a relatedly
happy ending.
The term News Values are the general guidelines that news outlets use. It comes
under the G + R ‘frequency’
There are many g+r news values, immediacy is when a news broadcast may be
filled with a recent event. Familiarity is when news broadcasts cover events
from all over the world and not just the UK. They may not be totally relent to
the UK, so this ensures they are. Amplitude is where news broadcasts also care
greatly about the views they are achieving, meaning they will cover big stories
which capture the attention of many viewers.
The frequency news value is when for example, standard football results wont be
broadcasted on the news but things such as the champions league will be covered
as it doesn’t happen as often.
Unambiguity is when people from all over the world speak in different ways, so
it ensures that everybody can easily understand all news coverage.
Predictability is the idea of news broadcasts having to keep the shows fresh,
and restrict people from knowing what is going to be covered to stop boredom.
Similarly to this, there is the surprise aspect where events must be looked at
to see how expected they are, and if it will be socially accepted.
Continuity is the idea that other news broadcasts must be looked at before the
news covers it, and all information broadcasted must be the same.
Anybody who works in news has the ability to add to the news story by being
bias with their views, this however would majorly be down to editing process as
facts, headlines and speech can be removed.
