An introduction to the news

Part 2

What is the role of the newsreader / presenter in a news broadcast?

The newsreaders role is to inform the audience on what is going on around the world.

What skills are necessary for newsreaders / presenters?

Firstly, you would need to be calm and comfortable in front a camera but also in front on hundreds of thousands of live viewers, you would also need to be smart, professional and well informed as people are looking at you in a sense to take the things you say and make conclusions on this information and even more so when it’s on political and social issues.

Part 3

What is meant by the term “news ordering”?

This means the order that the news stories appear for example a news broadcast may start with a sad story to entice the viewer and keep them watching, then for the last story a broadcast will likely end with a happy or heart-warming story.

What is the term given to the list of stories that will likely appear on the broadcast?

Which story is likely to be shown first and how / why is it selected?

The first story that is normally shown first is the more interesting stories to grab the viewers’ attention this is because they get more views, by doing this they viewer may continue watching the less interesting stories.

How do the other stories appear?

Other stories then appear must more relaxed and claim. They will often also tend to have a higher production value and be more entertaining.

Why is the ability to think and act quickly important in news?

 This is a very important skill for anyone working on live television to have, firstly because silence is also very awkward even on the news, they must try to keep things moving while also being informative

What is meant by the term 'slow news day'?

The term “slow news day” refers to when there is not any important news stories that have recently broke or have not already been reported on. They must then fill the news with unimportant stories like celebrities, or trying to come up with fill the air time.

What is the final story often called and what is its function?

The last story in a news broadcast is called the ‘kicker’ which is usually a heart-warming story that puts a happy ending feel to the broadcast which makes the less impacted by other more saddening stories.  

What is meant by the term 'news values' and which G & R wrote about them?

The term 'News Values' are the general guidelines and criteria that most news outlets use. It also comes under the G & R 'Frequency'.

Find a topical example for each of G & R's news values.

Immediacy - Sometimes news broadcasts will fill in a slot by using an old story but an immediacy story would have happened recently. Familiarity - News broadcasts often cover events from all over the world and some of those stories have not be culturally relevant and this makes sure that the stories that are could are relevant to people in Britain.

Part 4

Discuss bias through selection and omission - find an example

Anyone who works on a news stories can add to it being biased, in this one it would mainly be the editing as they can change words, headlines, remove facts or concept something as meaning one thing but it really means something else.

Discuss bias through placement / order - find an example

Placement and bias is the order that the stories are shown for example front page or back page.

Discuss bias through headlines - find an example

Headlines are likely the most read part of the news article and many people read that could take it at face value. Sometimes people will make a headline obscure just to catch people’s interest

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Discuss bias through shot selection and camera angles - find an example

Photos can often make something look completely different to what is really happening just by taking a photo at the right time.

Discuss bias through names and captions (how you describe a person) - find an example

People use names and places in their article titles as a way of getting more people to see the post this can often mislead people and give them a very wrong impression of what is really going on.

Discuss bias through use of language (phrasing and emotive language etc.) - find an example

Everybody writes and reads differently to each over which results in one thing meaning something good to one person and the same thing being bad to another, it’s the writers job the clarify theses language barriers and make the article clear and understandable.