Introduction to the News

An introduction to the news

Look East 27/06/18

Part 1

1. Teenager shot in the back in Norfolk, linked to county lines drug gangs
2. Lorry driver has a seizure and crashes on the A12, both carriage-ways closed
3. 2 men who died in a double decker bus crash on the A47 are named
4. 6000 people in Gorleston to be movie extras for a film being made by Richard Curtis and Danny Boyle
5. Weather broadcast in East Anglia

In the starting sequence for the programme, the presenter gives an introduction into the stories they will be covering while theme their music is playing in the background. Then there is an introduction image which reads ‘BBC Look East’ and their social media pages.

Part 2

The main presenter is called Amelia Reynolds who is 49 years old and a women. She has strong links with Suffolk, having grown up in the county and gone to school there.

A news presenter is a person who presents the news on television, radio or the internet. This may include reading short news, traffic, sport or weather reports. Most newsreaders have to research topics and background information for items to be featured on the programme, plan and rehearse shows, write and sometimes memorise scripts, keep the programme running to schedule, read from a script or improvise, etc.

The skills a news presenter will need are; excellent communication and presentation skills, performance skills and a clear voice, a personable and confident manner, good research and interviewing skills, etc.

Part 3 ‘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 news broadcast.
• The term given to the list of stories that will likely appear on the broadcast is called prospect list. This is basically a list of news given at the start of the day by the producer. This may be reflected in the final broadcast or the news may have changed throughout the day.  
• The story that is likely to be shown first is normally the most important story, perhaps something that has recently happened, with the longest duration and the most coverage. The first story normally includes interviews and lots of research.
• Other stories appear briefer and have less significant compared to the first one (less interviews, less coverage, less research). For example, in the news broadcast I watched these would be the two car accidents in East Anglia. Instead of having a whole story dedicated to it, the presenter reports over it instead.
• One reason the ability to think and act quickly in news is important is because if there are any mistakes, such as, the presenter can’t read the script because of technical difficulties, the present may have to improvise and think fast. Abother reason is because the news is normally live, the presenter(s) only have one take and they have to act quickly and have good communication.
• Definition of a ‘slow news day’ is day with little news to report.
• The final story on a broadcast is called ‘And Finally’. The function of the last story is to give the audience a happy story for the last one. This is because normally it is bad news and the stories are quite depressing. Therefore, brightening the mood of the viewer is very important.
• The term ‘news values’ means determine how much prominence a news story is given by a media outlet, and the attention it is given by the audience. They explain how editors and other journalists decide that one piece of information is news while another is not. J. Galtung and M. Ruge system of twelve factors describing events that together are used as a definition of 'newsworthiness'. Furthermore, they devised a list describing what they believed were significant contributing factors as to how the news is constructed. This was called ‘Conditions for News’.

Frequency: Events that occur suddenly and fit well with the news organization's schedule are more likely to be reported than those that occur gradually or at inconvenient times of day or night. Long-term trends are not likely to receive much coverage.

Familiarity: To do with people or places close to home.

Negativity: Bad news is more newsworthy than good news.

Unexpectedness: If an event is out of the ordinary it will have a greater effect than something that is an everyday occurrence.

Personalization: Events that can be portrayed as the actions of individuals will be more attractive than one in which there is no such "human interest."

Meaningfulness: This relates to the sense of identification the audience has with the topic. Stories concerned with people who speak the same language, look the same, and share the views, etc.

Reference to elite nations: Stories concerned with global powers receive more attention.

Reference to elite persons: Stories concerned with the rich, powerful, famous and infamous get more coverage.

Conflict: Opposition of people or forces resulting in a dramatic effect. Stories with conflict are often quite newsworthy.

Continuity: A story that is already in the news gathers a kind of inertia. This is partly because the media organizations are already in place to report the story.

Composition: Stories must compete with one another for space in the media. For instance, editors may seek to provide a balance of different types of coverage, so that if there is an excess of foreign news for instance, the least important foreign story may have to make way for an item concerned with the domestic news.

Competition: Commercial or professional competition between media may lead journalists to endorse the news value given to a story by a rival.

Co-optation: A story that is only marginally newsworthy in its own right may be covered if it is related to a major running story.

Predictability: An event is more likely to be covered if it has been pre-scheduled.

Data: Media need to back up all of their stories with data in order to remain relevant and reliable. Reporters prefer to look at raw data in order to be able to take an unbiased perspective.

Part 5

The main story I looked at was about a teenager being shot in the back in Norwich, in a park. Police said it may have links to the ‘county line drug dealers’ which has been getting more of an issue for. These people (mainly teenagers, but some as young as 10) come from London on trains to counties like Kent, Lincolnshire, Somerset and in this case Norfolk.

The people involved in the shooting was a teenage boy who was not named but said to be in a crucial, but stable condition after being shot in the back with a shotgun. The person who shot the boy has not been found yet. They interviewed Neighbours who heard the gun shots and also the Chief constable of Norwich who said ‘we can’t fight the war on drugs alone’.

Part 6

Bias through selection and omission

An editor can express bias by choosing whether or not 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.  Only by comparing news reports from a wide variety of sources can this type of bias be observed.

An example is President Obama speeches.

Bias through placement

Where a story is placed influences what a person thinks about its importance.  Stories on the front page of the newspaper are thought to be more important than stories buried in the back.  Many television and radio newscasts run stories that draw ratings first and leave the less appealing for later.

An example is Tiger Woods wining TIME's cover space on August 14^th.