Jasmine Folkes BTEC Media Blog

An Introduction to the News

Part 1

Watch a news broadcast and state which one you watched. The news broadcast that I watched is BBC News -- 8pm TOTH (Countdown, Headlines, Titles) from Broadcasting House (18/3/2013). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7ZBnNu_iAI

What stories were covered and in what order were they shown? The stories that were covered and in order were Press Regulations, Cyprus Bailout, Fire Deaths Trial, IRAQ 10 Years On and Frank Thornton Dies.

What happens in the starting sequence and why do you think the visuals and audio have been used? In the starting sequence, there was brief clips of busy areas around the world for example Big Ben, football stadiums, and busy towns with people walking about, etc. On these brief clips, there is a count down and dramatic music playing throughout which makes a build up to what new stories there is going to be. When the news presenter comes on, she shows some short clips and shows opening credits of what’s she is going to be talking about throughout the news.

Part 2

Who are the newsreaders / presenters in the broadcast you watched? The newsreader/ presenter that were in the broadcast that I watched were Annita McVeigh. These days, she is working as a BBC News Channel as a solo presenter between 6.30 and 9pm each Monday-Thursday. She also worked at BBC's News line programmer as a reporter and presenter. She is also an actress and she is also known for her work at Scotland Decides, Election 2016 and MI-5. Annita McVeigh is a talented woman. Annita is a married woman. She has been married to Martin Reid since a long time. She has white ethnicity. Her nationality is unknown.

What is the role of the newsreader / presenter in a news broadcast? A news presenter/newsreader/ newscaster, also known as an anchorman or anchorwoman. A news anchor is a person who presents news during a news program on television, on the radio or on the Internet. They may also be a working journalist, assisting in the collection of news material and may provide commentary during the program. News presenters most often work from a television studio or radio studio, but may also present the news from remote locations in the field related to a particular major news event.

What skills are necessary for newsreaders / presenters? The skills that are necessary to be a newsreader/presenter are excellent communication and presentation skills, performance skills and a clear voice, ability to generate original ideas, personable and confident manner, a broad range of interests, including current affairs, good research and interviewing skills, confidence and the ability to sell yourself.

Part 3

What is meant by the term news ordering? Term news ordering is to be able to make flexible decisions about the topic, order, number and length of the news stories in a bulletin, or news front page, for a defined audience.

What is the term given to the list of stories that will likely appear on the broadcast? Affiliate - A local station that subscribes to the services and programs of a network, Anchor - The newscaster who hosts the studio portion of the newscast. The anchor is the dominant voice in the presentation of the news to the audience. She/he must be proficient in writing, producing, and editing the news, AP Wire - Associated Press news service that supplies international, national and regional information and stories. These are usually rewritten before airing and many more.

Which story is likely to be shown first and how / why is it selected? A story that is most likely to be shown fist on the news is the most important ones. Perhaps something that has recently happened or something that could affect people’s lives. For example the terrorist attacks and the voting is most likely to be shown first on the news today because they happened recently, could affect people’s lives and the voting is an upcoming event. These events being important this would attract the audience to watch the news to possibly find out more.

How do the other stories appear? The least important news stories appear on the news because new reporters over report them. For example, the story that Jeremy Clarkson being sacked for attacking a member of staff led news agenda for days. His replacement Chris Evans denied repeatedly that he was getting the job, amid much speculation, and he now accepted it with a fanfare. Set against the real and pressing issues facing the UK and wider world, this is one of the most over-blown stories of the year, which really is not that important, but some people like to hear what is going on if they are possibly interested in the show Top Gear.

Why is the ability to think and act quickly important in news? For effective news reporters they prepare carefully, and they ask questions that induce the source to talk freely. Questions are directed at obtaining information on a theme that they reporter has in mind before beginning the interview. The reporter notes what is said, how it is said and what is not said. Sources are encouraged by the reporter’s gestures and facial expressions to keep talking. In the news the camera is focused on an individual and they usually read what is written in front of them on the screen so they cannot mess up because the news is important.

What is meant by the term 'slow news day'? The term ‘slow news day’ means a day with little news to report, so therefore there is not much going on to tell to the audience.

What is the final story often called and what is its function? In the news you have news story at the end called the ‘kicker’ because throughout the news they’re quite sad story’s for example today the main story is the tower building on fire and many people has lost their lives so the kicker at the end of the news is a happy story which brings an ‘uplift’ to the news.

What is meant by the term 'news values' and which G & R wrote about them? News values are general guidelines used by media outlets, such as newspapers or broadcast media. They determine how much prominence to give to a story. Media researchers Johan Galtung and Marie Holmboe Ruge drew one of the best-known lists of news values up. They analysed international news stories to find out what factors they had in common, and what factors placed them at the top of the news agenda worldwide.

Although their research was conducted nearly four decades ago 1965, virtually any media analyst's discussion of news values will refer to most of the characteristics they list. This list provides a kind of scoring system: a story, which scores highly on each value, is likely to come at the start of a television news bulletin, or make the front page of a newspaper.

Find a topical example for each of G & R's news values. In the news report, I have looked at and from Galtung&Ruge news values, which are ‘Immediacy’: has it happened recently? No, it has not because this news report was on the 18/3/2013. ‘Amplitude’: is it a big event and affect large numbers? Yes because it is about the press regulation and voting so it could change a number of things in the way people live. ‘Negativity’: is it bad news? In my news, report I have looked at there is some upsetting news such as Frank Thornton dies, fire death trails so it is quite a bad news. They are other news values that G&R wrote.

Part 4

Discuss bias through selection and omission. An editor can express bias by choosing whether to use a specific news story. Within a story, some details can be ignored, others can be included to give readers or viewers a different opinion about the events reported

Discuss bias through placement / order. Placement bias is the manipulation of the order and placement of information in order to distort the impression left in the reader. It is understood in newspaper editing that the number of people who read a comment is proportional to its proximity to the beginning of the article.

Discuss bias through headlines. Headlines are the must-read part of a news story because they are often printed in large and bold fonts. Headlines can be misleading, conveying excitement when the story is not exciting, expressing approval or disapproval. These two headlines describe the same event.

Discuss bias through shot selection and camera angles. Pictures/shot selection and the camera angles can make a person look good, bad, silly, etc. The photos a news producer chooses to run can really change the public's view of a person or event. On TV, images, captions, and narration of a TV anchor or reporter can be sources of bias.

Discuss bias through names and captions. Bias through names and titles is when you describe people, places, or events using titles or labels through news media. For example in the Fox News headline, the actual headline is only stating Obama's decision with no bias in it. The Fox News headline is making Obama sound not grateful. If you first see the Fox News headline, it might not seem biased. However, after seeing the actual headline, your feelings change.

Discuss bias through use of language (phrasing and emotive language etc.) In the term biased language it refers to words and phrases that are used to prejudiced, offensive, and hurtful. The contrast with bias- free language or unbiased language. Biased language include expressions that exclude people because of age, sex, race, ethnicity, social class, or certain physical or mental traits.