News essay

News

There are lots of conventions I would expect to see within a news broadcast. Codes and conventions are important within news because it shows what is expected from the audience and what isn't. Sometimes producing something they wont expect can work but within news its generally best to stick with them. Without conventions news wouldn't be what it is today.

Studio based news codes & conventions

Weather man - I expect a news show to present the weather. This usually requires another presenter (still dressed formally to address professionalism). This will also be live & will usually take place next to the presenter out of shot.

Dress code - I would expect the presenter to be formally dressed. This makes the show look a lot more formal and professional. I highly doubt that we'll see someone presenting in casual clothing in today's society.

Introduction - Graphics are edited to fit the target audience for the news show. For example, BBC has a world globe spinning around with names of cities around the world. This shows the news will be global.

Camera location - Multi-cam will be used in news shows to show a more than one angle of the news reader and to keep it as entertaining as possible so the audience don't get bored. There isn't any editing using more than one camera you just choose what camera you want when you want and that's what the audience will see. It also makes it look a lot more professional & high budget.

VT inserts - VT inserts show a wide coverage to a news show. VT's can be used for ongoing stories, this could be about health care or something that wont ever be old. They show that the news show can send a reporter somewhere a broadcast a story. This shows professionalism. VT's can be a very short, simple yet effective way of broadcasting the news. Having a reporter at the location of the story shows that it is most likely more factual because they're able to get primary news.

Bias - In my opinion, news will always be biased. Interviews that are broadcasted will be biased. For example, people was being interviewed about the 2011 London Riots in a form of a VT, this means the BBC have chosen which interviews they would like to be shown. Every interview was from a victim who was addressing the rioters as animals and making them look the worst of the worst people. I'm not saying that the riots was the right thing to do, but they had a reason why they were doing what they were doing. Im sure that the BBC had an interview with someone who agreed with the riots. I think if they did have, they could of broadcast it and made him look like an idiot. This could easily be achieved due to the power the media has, espically the BBC, anything they say will be taken as fact because we trust them as a news company.

(unfortunately i wasn't able to find the London Riots clip)

Why is multi-cam used in news shows? - 





The BBC news

VT insert -

Interviews -

Voice over -

HOW ARE NEWS SHOWS STRUCTURED? THINK ABOUT  THE STRUCTURE AND HOW THE STORIES ARE ORGANISED. HOW IS THE CAMERA USED? HOW IS SOUND USED? WHAT ABOUT EDITING? YOU HAVE TO SPEAK ABOUT WHAT MAKES TV NEWS DIFFERENT FROM DOCUMENTARY OR FICTION FILM. WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUTTV NEWS? GIVE EXAMPLES FROM THE NEWS SHOWS  YOU HAVE SEEN.

The programmes audience, political bias and contract with the viewer – YOU NEED TO DISCUSS HOW THE AUDIENCE ARE BEING PERSUADED TO SEE THINGS IN A PARTICULAR WAY (SUBJECTIVE, BIAS, ONE-SIDED) OR WHETHER IT IS MORE OBJECTIVE, IMPARTIAL, FROM DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW – TALK ABOUT CHOICE OF IMAGES, WHO IS INTERVIEWED, HOW THEY ARE INTERVIEWED, HOW THE VOICE-OVER CAN GUIDE US, USE OF GRAPHICS ETC. FOR EXAMPLE, IN OUTFOXED THEY SHOW HOW FOX NEWS INTERVIEW 3 CONSERVATIVE POLITICIANS AND ONLY ONE DEMOCRAT SO THAT IT IS HARDER TO BE OBJECTIVE WITH 3 AGAINST ONE.

•             Issues of representation – YOU NEED TO WRITE ABOUT DIFFERENT KINDS OF REPRESENTATIONS IN EACH OF YOUR SELECTED NEWS SHOWS AND COVER RACE, GENDER, AGE, BELIEFS ETC – HOW ARE THESE REPRESENTED? (THINK ABOUT DRESS, ACTIONS, WHAT IS SAID BY THEM AND ABOUT THEM, USE OF CAMERA, SOUND, ETC) FOR EXAMPLE IN ‘OUTFOXED’ LIBERAL POLITICIANS ARE REPRESENTED IN A NEGATIVE WAY. IT WOULD BE USEFUL TO CHOOSE A NEWS PROGRAMME AND DISCUSS HOW DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE REPRESENTED.

•             Why multi-camera setups are used and how the studio might be set up (this should include a studio diagram with camera positions drawn in) IT WOULD BE BEST TO DO THIS IN RELATION TO YOUR TV NEWS REPORTS AND EVALUATIONS AND EXPLAIN WHY AND HOW YOU USE MULTI-CAMERA BUT YOU COULD STILL TALK ABOUT IT IN RELATION TO FOX NEWS, BBC, C4 ETC. YOU NEED TO ANALYSE A STORY THAT USES MULTI-CAMERA.