Tuesday 10 March 2015

Introduction to the news

What news broadcast did we watch?: We viewed a live feed of Sky News Live, on Monday the 9th of March 2015 at approximately 10:00 am, we viewed this for about 1 hour, meaning that we were able to get an educated view of what was happening, including the content, the running order and times allocated to each slot.

What stories are covered, and why were they shown?: When we viewed the live feed it was rife with political debates, this is due to the fact that politics is wanted to be viewed by many people as the general election is up and coming, meaning that people want to view to help educate themselves to ensure that they make, the 'right' choice. I
It started with a live feed of Ed Balls doing a speech about why he should be elected, this is used to draw an audience to the show, as millions would not be able to attend, however, they will be able to watch the live feed, this is something which will get viewers as people would really want to see.

After the Ed Balls live feed we were shown another live show, however, this was a live debate on free schools, and whether they should be taken away, this debate got quite heated, however this is exactly what the production team would of wanted as it keeps viewers engaged straight after the Ed Balls feed, therefore keeping viewers hooked and not looking to turn over to another channel,  this debate lasted around 5 minutes and the main presenter even told one of the participants that they have 10 seconds left to speak so that the would not run over, therefore not pushing back the rest of the show.

Following on from these heated, political shots, we were shown a brief weather report which summarized the countries weather for the day and the up and coming days. Moving on from the weather report, we were sent to a live feed of Sky Sports News, in which we were given a brief short of all the main sporting headlines of the day combined together, this is a quick snippet into what the sporting day has involved, sky of course offer their own sports news station: Sky Sports News, however for viewers that want to catch the global news aswell, this is a handy way to catch up with the Sports without missing out on interesting developments.

Starting sequence: unfortunately, due to the fact that we were watching a live feed, we missed the starting sequence, however, I have found an example of a starting sequence online which can be viewed here:

        

This news title sequence is very formal and it gets across the point that this is news form England as it flies straight from the globe into England's landmarks, showing the viewers that this news is all about England and therefore making them involved straight from the beginning of the title sequence. It is also worth noting that the Big Ben chime is used in between clips which is also and English staple, which again helps the viewer to feel more involved with what is on the screen.
Furthermore, the intro music used is in place to grab the viewers attention, this is due to the fact that the large chimes in the background gain the viewers attention, the loud noises are more likely to grab the viewers attention, especially viewers outside of the room or those who may not be as focused on what is happening on screen, their attention is more likely to be gained with large, loud chimes.
Also, just before the news stories are announced there are 3 large chimes, these chimes are used to draw attention to the stories in which will be shown on screen this is vital in keeping the viewer engaged and alerting them to what news stories will be appearing later on in the show so that they can be looking forward to what they will be about to see.


Who were the newsreaders when we watched?: During the time slot in which we viewed Sky News, the presenters shown on screen were: Colin Brazier and  Jayne Secker, Colin Brazier being a middle aged male man and Jayne Secker being a middle aged Female.

What were the presenters roles?: During the segments in which we viewed, they were not very prominent, due to the focal points being talks from Ed Balls and the debate about free schools. These taking centre stage were perhaps a one off, however, during the debate, the newsreader did however ask questions and make sure that it didn't get out of hand.

From what was shown in the documentary we viewed this is what I can conclude from the text:

This may not be accurate but I can only comment on what was seen, from these shots it seems that the two presenters would be mixed, one female and one male, it would also seem that the male would be older with the female being abit younger.

They have also made strides to be more informal so that the viewer recognises that they are part of the community.

The job is more than meets the eye aswell, with the presenters having information fed through their ears constantly whilst having to not be fazed by it and keeping the show running smoothly, they also have set time frames to do each one of their tasks. If one task runs over, even by a few seconds then this time has to be made up for at a later stage of the broadcast.


What skills are necessary for newsreaders/presenters: From what we witnessed during the live broadcast, television presenters need to be focused at all times with strict attention to detail, ensuring that they don't run over, and also that everything gets shown in the detail in which it was expected to, they also have to be multi  , as they have to maintain focus to talk into the camera and keep the news flowing, however, they will constantly have people talking in their ears meaning that they need to be fully concentrated to what they are talking about 24/7.

What is news ordering?: News ordering is the name for the order in which the news is placed. When the news team finds out what stories it has to work with for each show they designate each story a slot allocation depending on its importance and relevance to the people viewing and the day that has just occurred, generally the most popular of the stories is allocated the most time and is at the very start of the show, this is due to the fact that it is what most people will want to see and will draw in more viewers than any other story, it is given the most time due to its popularity, as the show goes on generally the stories get shorter, this is due to the fact that they are less important and won't keep the viewer engaged for as long as the first, main story, so they therefore cut down the length of these stories so the viewers retention is maintained and they are less likely to switch over.

Information from the Huw Edwards documentary: 

What is meant by the term news ordering?: The term news ordering is the order in which the items are put into, it is important that each story is designated to a different slot on the show, you can't have everything being hard hitting, or too light hearted, so news ordering stops this by designating every item to and order which is comfortable to viewed by the audience, news ordering is thought about and changed many times before a news broadcast goes live, this is due to it being exactly right is key, also, some stories can simply not be covered in time so they are removed from the order and over items have to be either extended or moved in to compensate for the time lost.
 When the news team finds out what stories it has to work with for each show they designate each story a slot allocation depending on its importance and relevance to the people viewing and the day that has just occurred, generally the most popular of the stories is allocated the most time and is at the very start of the show, this is due to the fact that it is what most people will want to see and will draw in more viewers than any other story, it is given the most time due to its popularity, as the show goes on generally the stories get shorter, this is due to the fact that they are less important and won't keep the viewer engaged for as long as the first, main story, so they therefore cut down the length of these stories so the viewers retention is maintained and they are less likely to switch over.

Bias in the news: Bias in the news is what affects what the viewer sees and does not see from the day that happened, the news company is more likely to carry out more dramatic stories and make the viewer more likely to view the news, they can also dramatize the the stories that have happened for dramatic affect making the viewer more likely to view the broadcast for longer. Furthermore, it is believed that different television stations support different political parties and look to show the parties in a different way depending on how it would affect their party. A prime example of this is the fact that the BBC is thought to be pro-labour meaning that they give the labour party more screen time and other parties minimal screen time. An example of some 'facts' about this can be viewed here. This is only a theory however, but there are clear examples of bias in the news: They look to almost manipulate the viewer into feeling a certain way about a story. Newspapers and News broadcasts do this before the viewer has even read a story, this is due to the fact that they use headlines on their stories, these headlines often feature words depending on how they want the viewer to feel, for example: "Tragedy" is used to make the viewer feel remorse and negativity before they have even heard the story.  A prime example of this is in the news headline below where the viewer is made to feel instantly that the father is in the wrong.
Alternatively, it could be argued that news ordering is also to do with bias, for example: If the BBC were to be pro-labour they would give a story about the conservatives doing well in polls/elections minimal if any time on screen and move on to other stories very quickly.
What is the name given to stories that appear on the broadcast?: 

Which story is likely to be shown first and why is it selected?: The first story or 'lead' story is always the biggest, hard hitting story of the day, this is done for shock value, to keep the viewer watching to find out what happened and why it happened. It is selected to lead as the viewers want to know all of the main news stories of the day and the most important one leading will help them to gather an image of what has happened during the day.

How do the other stories appear?:
The other stories appear in order of their 'importance' the more important news stories being designated more time at the top of the running order, slowly getting less time and less detail as they go further down the order, keeping the viewer engaged with less interesting stories getting less time.

Why is the ability to think and act quickly important?:
This ability is key, due to the fact that things can change instantly during a live broadcast, things can run over, they can be talking to slow/fast and will need to adjust in an instant, they can also be told that a story won't be running, mid broadcast, so they will need to adjust to this within an instant to avoid the show being hindered and the viewers attention being lost.

What is meant by the term 'slow news day'?:
A slow news day is when no new, news stories surface, meaning that they will have to go out and try and find news stories good enough to be shown that will keep the viewer interested. They may even cover a previous news story in more detail so the viewers can see what happened after they finished recording the last time.

What is the final story often called and what is it's function?: The final story is known as an 'and finally' these are usually light hearted topics that eave the viewer happy, alot of the time these feature animals as they aim to make the viewer much happier.

The Chowles' story:

What was this story about?: This story was about a family called the Chowles' who were set to be evicted from their house due to the fact they were unable to repay their mortgage of £57,000. Falling £6,000 behind at this point. Leading to their inevitable eviction the next week when the bailiffs would be due to arrive. This is all due to the fact that Pierre Chowles (the husband and father) was relieved of his work duties to the fact that he could no longer do his job due to ill health, this then triggered the events to eventually be seen by the viewers. He is finally followed to see a women who tells him the only accommodation he can possibly be placed in would be that of a B&B which was a total of 16 miles away from the city in which he owned his house.

Who is involved in the story?: This story involves Pierre and his wife and their child, as they are the ones the viewer is supposed to connect with and feel sympathetic for, it also features the narrator who tells the viewer what is happening and how the situation in which the people are in has happened. Finally, the women who gives him guidance as to where he should relocate to is featured at the end of the scene.

How are these people represented?: Firstly, Pierre is presented as unlucky and that the audience should feel sympathy for him as he is the victim of his own misfortune, a good example of this is the first shot as he slips on his way to his own front door, this helps to add to the image of him being unlucky and that things really aren't going his way. Secondly, Pierre's wife is presented as smartly dressed and deeply affected by the situation, seeming bitter when asked if she would do it again, as she simply replies with: "No i would never do it again". The baby is shown so that the viewer can recognise that he is going to be affected by this situation, as he is going to be 'homeless' and pushed out to a B&B. Finally, the narrator is never visible, however, the women in the final scene is shown as smartly dressed, which helps to show that she has more authority than the other people shown.

How did I feel about the people in the story?: Personally, although the viewer was supposed to feel sympathetic for the family, I did not have much sympathy for them, however, this may be due to the fact that everyone has different upbringings and are exposed to different things in their life's which can affect the ways in which we see things, this personally lead me to feel very little sympathy for the family, and made me question exactly how they ended up in the financial situation they did, however, I can see why people would pity the family, due to them being presented as very unfortunate by the news channel.

Did this story have a narrator?: This story had a male narrator which helped to tell the audience what was happening therefore making them more engaged and understanding during this story.

2 comments:

  1. Ellis,

    What a shame this isn't finished - it's very good so far!

    You need to add the sections on news ordering (Galtung and Ruge) and bias in news,

    Also, add a little more on the starting sequence bit - what you have written is great but now focus on the graphics, sound, text etc.

    Ellie

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