An introduction to the news

An Introduction to the News 

Part 1 

News clip used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-esgSo-Lxls  

I watched the BBC Breakfast broadcast from Saturday 27th June 2020 at 8am. The top headlines covered during this segment were (in this order): foreign holidays returning, the lockdown gatherings of Liverpool fans, the Glasgow stabbings, the declining situation in Yemen, coronavirus cases in the US and the openings of zoos and aquariums.  

The starting sequence is short and succinct with a high angled, birds eye shot of the BBC studios which slowly zooms in to the buildings. There’s faint text over the top showing the time down to the second, which then fades and transitions upward. It’s replaced by the BBC Breakfast logo above the glowing, golden outline of a sunset over the Earth’s surface. There are consistent beeping sounds throughout the opening, which are timed with the change of each second on the clock, as well as the quieter theme tune in the background. This opening sequence has been designed to inform their viewers about the broadcast. The aerial shot establishes where it is taking place whilst the text displays what time it is, with the outline of a sunset to further emphasise the time of day. The beeping sound acts like a countdown to encourage anticipation for the start of the programme. The title of the broadcast is also included so the viewers know which channel they’re watching, and the distinct theme tune allows the audience to be able to remember and recognise the channel. Overall, they’re able to identify all the necessary information about the broadcast within a 5 second long opening sequence. 

Part 2 

I focused on the ‘Glasgow stabbings’, the third story of the broadcast. The story starts with an introduction to it from the presenters in the studio. They give some basic details about the event, such as when it happened and who was involved, with a specific focus on the police officer, David White, who was critically injured during the attack. The attention is then deterred to a field reporter who is in Glasgow and at the scene of the crime, evident by the police tape and officers seen behind him. He goes into further depth about what happened, providing details about how the police force is dealing with the situation and about how the 6 victims involved in the stabbings. The focus is again drawn to David White and the bravery he displayed at that time. There are minimal attempts to narrativise the story as the presenters and the reporter just go back and forth about the victims of the attack and the heroic actions of the Glasgow police officers. The police are clearly being represented as the heroes of this story because they were able to save the victims and successfully eliminate the attacker. David White especially is painted as a savior because he put his life at risk to save those in need, and this resulted in him sustaining critical injuries. The audience view him in a positive light and feel sympathy for his condition, but also respect him for his courage. The attacker is, of course, represented negatively because of their harmful actions which injured 6 people. There is clearly no impartiality or objectivity present because there is a distinct hero and villain of this story. They aren’t to be treated as equals because one caused serious harm to innocent people, actions which cannot be forgiven or excused. This could be interpreted as bias because the story is only shown from one point of view but sympathizing a criminal would cause a lot of controversy for the channel. No personal details are provided regarding the attacker, not even a name, to not only protect their privacy but to prevent the audience from having any kind of connection with them. The lack of information makes them seem inhuman and unsympathetic. The only name provided is that of the injured police officer, so he receives the credit and the respect as the one who ‘saved the day’. There is also pity towards the unnamed victims of the attack, with only their ages provided as to respect their privacy. The youngest victim, aged 17, is capitalised on by the reporter, who mentions the struggle the boy went through with his attacker. By concentrating solely on the boy’s injuries, the audience is instantly influenced to pity him and veer hatred towards the attacker because of his young age. The younger a victim is, the more sympathetic they are because they seem innocent and defenseless.  

Part 3 

One of the BBC Breakfast presenters is Naga Munchetty, a British female in her mid 40’s with Indian heritage. Another is Charlie Stayt, a white British man in his late 50’s. By featuring both of these presenters in the broadcast, BBC is trying to prove to their audience that they have diversity in the workplace as the presenters are of a different race and gender to each other. The main role of news presenters is to provide an introduction to the broadcast, read out the top headlines and provide basic information on each story. They’ll then deter the story over to someone with more knowledge about the situation, such as one of their correspondents or a professional that’s being interviewed. However, they are the face of the show because they often have the most screen time and act almost as the ‘host’ of the broadcast. News presenters address the audience by speaking directly to them, which is conveyed through their eye contact. They also acknowledge their existence by welcoming them to the show at the beginning of the broadcast to create a friendly and inviting atmosphere to increase audience engagement. They feel personally involved because it seems like the presenters are directly addressing them, so personally invest in watching the broadcast. Many skills are needed to be a successful news presenter, with the main one being communication. They need to speak with clear articulation and a steady pace so the audience can easily understand what they are saying, allowing them to understand the stories being reported on. If their speech isn’t coherent then there could be misinterpretations of the story and confusion about what’s happening. The audience relies on the news to hear the truth about what’s happening, and this can’t be possible if they can’t understand what the presenters are saying. A high level of professionalism is also needed because the presenters can be seen onscreen, meaning they need to maintain a concentrated and serious demeanor as the news stories they report on cover serious topics and events. A good memory is also often required because the presenters cannot constantly be reading off a script. They need to have eye contact with the cameras to keep the audience engaged so should remember the majority of what they need to say, even if it isn’t word for word. They can occasionally glance to the script, but their attention should be on the cameras (aka the audience). Having this understanding of what they need to say will also limit the number of mistakes they could make. The news is reported live so any mess ups cannot be redone, meaning the presenter needs to have some grip on what they’re reporting on. Presenters also cannot let their own opinions show through whilst doing reports because their biased opinion could influence the audience to interpret a story in a certain way. Their facial expressions and vocal patterns could easily convey these opinions, so remaining impartial and unbiased is key, even if they’re pretending to be.  

There are many roles involved in the creation of news broadcasts, one of which is a field reporter. They provide reports and updates on news stories in the location they’re reporting on. Sometimes they are actually present during an event so they can engage with the people there and the audience can see what is happening in real time, though this can be a risk to their safety if they're in situations such as war zones or natural disasters. Another role is that of the producer. They coordinate basically every aspect of the news industry such as hiring, firing, managing personnel, and tending to financial and business matters. They also write the scripts, edit footage and collaborate with the field reporters. There is also the role of news writer. They create the scripts for presenters and produce content for the website. They collaborate with most other jobs from reporters to producers to social media managers and often have to work within a limited time frame so they can keep up with the latest news and any breaking news that suddenly comes out. Their content still needs to be interesting and engaging though to keep the audience watching their channel. A final example of a role is camera operator. They capture the video either in the studio or in the field and is in charge of choosing the needed equipment, setting it up and operating it. Multiple of them work in the studio to capture all the necessary angles whilst usually a single operator accompanies a reporter to the scene of an event. 

Part 4 

- News ordering is the order in which the top news stories are shown in based on factors such as significance, relevance, topic and length 

-The rundown/lineup is the term used to describe a chronological list of stories or segments likely to appear on a broadcast.  

-The lead story on a news broadcast is likely the most important story which covers a significant event that will affect the majority of the viewers. It’s usually about something negative or serious so the audience feels like they need to pay attention to it to find out how it’ll affect their lives.  

-The ability to think and act quickly is important in news because new events to be reported on are constantly happening all over the world. They need to be ready to make a report as soon as an interesting and important story comes in through a quick collection of information and a quickly created script so they can broadcast it to the public as soon as possible, keeping them well informed and up to date on the most important news. This industry is also quite competitive because every single news channel will report an event if it’s significant enough. Every channel will want to act quickly to broadcast a story before the other channels, so they’ll gain the most viewers.  

-A slow news day is when there are minimal significant and interesting news stories so reports are made on trivial events. Even if much isn’t happening, the news still needs to keep going so they just find whatever stories could remotely be of interest until something big comes in. 

-The final story in a broadcast is usually called an ‘And finally’ story, which brings closure to the broadcast and is often about something less important but more uplifting and positive in comparison to the other stories. They leave the audience on a high note after hearing about serious and negative events throughout the rest of the broadcast. 

-News values are a set of criteria that influences which news stories are selected to be reported on during broadcasts. They determine which stories are ‘newsworthy’ and were originally written by Galtung and Ruge. They introduced many different factors, with some of the most significant being: recency, size, continuity, simplicity, predictability, elite nations/people, unexpectedness, negativity, personality and meaningfulness. 

 

-Actuality footage is video recordings which haven’t been over-dramatised. They show only facts and the reality of what is happening. Stock footage is video recordings available for anybody to use if they’re unable to get footage of a specific subject themselves. It isn’t specifically for any film, series, etc., it’s there for anyone to use. It’s usually quite generic footage of landscapes or objects so it can be used for a wider variety of purposes.