BBC (England)
Lunchtime news (19/09/2018)
Fig. 1 BBC News: BBC News at One (2018)
The programme begins with a 'coming up' segment, where the studio reporter lists the stories which will be reported during the show (see fig.1). This cuts to the title sequence. Both these elements rely heavily on sound -- the title sequence has music, and the coming up has a 'breaking news' sound between each story. Since, unlike cinema, TV competes with other things within the household, the purpose of using these sounds, which are familiar and synonymous with the news programme to many viewers, is to get viewers' attention and alert them the programme is starting (Ellis, 1992:128-9).
After the title sequence, a zoom in is used as the studio reporter welcomes the audience to the programme, and begins reporting on the top story. This zoom also acts to bring viewers into the show, since the movement gives a sense of joining the reporter as we get closer to them. According to Scannell (2000:11), 'The believability of what is being said rests in part on the reliability of who is saying it, and that is something that is built up over time.' Therefore, by us joining the reporter in the studio like this everyday, they become familiar to the audience, and gain a sense of authority. To build this up, the same reporters are often used for each news slot, such as here for example, the lunchtime studio reporter on weekdays is often Clive Myrie.
In consequence, as Clive Myrie explains the top story, which on this day was Theresa May preparing to talk about Brexit at a summit in Salzburg, the audience trust him to introduce them to the new story as he presents it in the format of a 'reader'. This involves just the studio reporter talking into camera, and can also be used for smaller stories which are not significant enough to warrant further coverage (Gin, 2016).
This then cuts to a package, defined as 'a self-contained taped news report' (Halbooks, 2018), allowing a correspondent to go into more depth about the story.
Fig. 2 BBC News: BBC News at One (2018)
The correspondent is first shown live in Salzburg where the summit will be taking place (see fig.2). Having a correspondent there live, even just in a park, makes the story immediate, since it places viewers, through the reporter, close to where the event is taking place, allowing them to be a part of the story. Again, this establishes a link between the reporter and the viewers (especially since it can be argued that correspondents each cover specialist subjects which helps build trust, since viewers see they are experts in their specific fields), therefore many share this experience, which can make the news story a talking point between anyone who has seen the same news programme (Scannell, 2000:11).
This allows the story to become a matter of human interest, since it is relevant. Relevance is essential for a good story since it means it has a greater effect within viewer's lives, such as on their incomes, or their emotions, so the programme is more likely to draw in and hold its audience (Boyd, Stewart, and Alexander, 2008:16).
Therefore, this item about Brexit was probably decided upon as the top story of the day because of this relevance that it has for the audience, since it is presented as affecting the whole country. For this reason, five minutes of the programme is spent on this story, with a package containing an OOV (short for Out of Vision, which is where the reporter explains pictures and clips being shown via voice-over, while they are off screen), as well as a SOT (sound on tape) interview of Theresa May (BBC News School Report, 2008).
The story concluded with an editor live in Westminster, further emphasising the political significance of the story, and allowing them to state points to wrap up the story, in case viewers missed anything during the package.
The next story was about Storm Ali, and a caravan which blew off a cliff, killing a Swiss tourist. Although the storm has caused more damage in some parts of England than others, this story was still very relevant, and was placed second because of the impact the storm has had on many people's lives, and the impact the story would have on people's emotions.
This story took up less time than the top story, and mainly included a correspondent live in Belfast where the impact of the storm could be seen behind her, as she gave a piece to camera (PTC). A piece to camera is 'talking in vision direct to camera', which can help give a story impact and context (BBC Academy, 2017).
This was necessary to do with this story since the scale of the damage in this part of England could clearly be seen, prompting viewers to imagine how bad the damage could also be elsewhere. The reporter backed this up by stating a statistic of how bad the damage has been, further emphasising this point.
However, this story was more general than personal to the tourist who had been killed, offering more information on the damage caused across the country, since it seemed as if the tourist had not yet been identified at the time of the report, so the damage at that point was more relevant to many viewers as the country continued to experience the effects and aftermath of the storm.
However, this does leave the story somewhat open to development, since viewers could expect that the tourist will be identified later, and this will then become a story in its own right on another news bulletin.
However, this does leave the story somewhat open to development, since viewers could expect that the tourist will be identified later, and this will then become a story in its own right on another news bulletin.
Fig. 3 BBC News: BBC News at One (2018)
A story about inflation was in the third slot, which was led into by the studio reporter. This cut to a package which showed a pre-recorded report of a correspondent at a food supplier. During this report, a correspondent spoke to the manager, and statistics picked up what the manager said (see fig.3). The purpose of this was to convey the information in a simple, broken-down way to the audience who may not know anything about the subject, but also for a similar purpose to sound, since some viewers do watch without sound, so these graphics can get them interested in the story instead (Boyd, Stewart, and Alexander, 2008:327).
Archive footage was used in the next story about social housing of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. As pointed out by Boyd, Stewart, and Alexander (2008:273), 'Archive pictures should not be an afterthought and yet because of the nostalgic desires of viewers they can add spice to any routine story which has a past.' The footage in this story does so, while also being of importance because it shows that although social housing has come far, there are still challenges to face, as shown by the Grenfell disaster. This story links to another about the disaster later in the programme.
At this halfway point, the studio reporter recaps the stories for any viewers just tuning in, and also to keep the audience interested, states what is 'still to come'. After this, the smaller stories are reported on.
However, many of theses stories still deal with issues which have been covered in other stories. For example, one correspondent reported about the impact Brexit could have on food.
'Noddies' or reverse shots were used, since they can be used to mask jumps in the interview, and also prove the reporter was really there, giving the report more authority (Holm, 2013:91).
Another technique which proves the reporter went to the location where the story took place is the 'walkie-talkie' (Holm, 2013:90). This was used in a story about the new Tesco discount store, Jack's, as the correspondent took a tour of the store, interviewing different subjects as they walked.
The last story of the bulletin was about a school relocating back to its site near the Grenfell tower. However, instead of focusing generally on the students and staff at the school, the report revolved around one student, giving it a more personal feel. As stated by Kobré (2013:11), 'By meeting so directly with someone struggling against an unyielding obstacle, viewers can both sympathize and even identify with the person. In this way, the viewer experiences a clearer, more emotional impact of how laws and regulations can really affect a single human being.'
With a story which has been documented as much as that of the Grenfell tower, presenting this type of narrative about it now can mean it still stays relevant and fresh in viewers' minds, which can be seen as essential after the earlier story on challenges still facing social housing, since audience awareness could help push to solve them.
The personal focus of this story was emphasised by an interview with the student's grandmother, as this is how the student is introduced, and how the report is concluded, giving it a circular narrative. This helped to show the internal conflict of the student, since the main point the grandmother made was that she was worried about him having to see the tower again, further allowing viewers to relate to the story (Kobré, 2013:10).
Fig. 4 BBC News: BBC News at One (2018)
To conclude, the studio reporter (see fig.4) again recaps the top story of the day, further highlighting its importance. On the BBC on this day, the stories that dominated the news were about Brexit and the Grenfell tower, because of the significance these events have had for a long time for the whole country. However, this shows how most of the stories reported during the lunchtime news on the BBC are about England. In fact, only one story wasn't about England, but about the leaders in North and South Korea. Therefore, it could be concluded that the BBC considers the most relevant stories for their viewers to be about immediate concerns in England, rather than choosing to focus on issues worldwide.
ABC News (America)
LIVE (21/09/2018)
GMT- 19:15-20:15 (lunchtime/early afternoon American time)
Fig. 5 ABC News: ABC News Live (2018)
ABC News is a channel which runs live 24/7, much like Sky News in England, meaning they often report on stories as they happen.For example, when I tuned in there was a two-way live report going on about the hurricane Florence aftermath (see fig.6). A two-way report is when the reporter in the studio speaks live to a correspondent who acts like a professional eyewitness at the location where the story is taking place (Lashmar, 2008). Advantages of the two-way report, especially in the aftermath of an event like a hurricane, is that it is very flexible, and can be put together quickly (Lashmar, 2008).
Immediacy is needed to make a good story and is essential for reports like these, as with the Storm Ali story in England, since people need to see the impact to understand what others have gone through, making the story a matter of public interest, especially since the hurricane at this point was expected to hit other parts of America.
But, having two reporters discussing the damage and the dangers gives the report two different perspectives, as one surveys the damage in front of them on location, while the other receives information from across the country in the studio. Therefore, they share their knowledge, as well as question each other, combining their different opinions. The use of split screen helps to show and back this up.
Fig. 6 ABC News: ABC News Live (2018)
This is important, because in an event like this, it is difficult to find individuals on location who can give their views live on air, yet the reporter being there can still convey the different emotions seeing the damage can cause (Kolodzy, 2013:38). The studio reporter reacts to these emotions, reflexive of the viewer at home, creating a link between viewer and the studio reporter who they trust to give them the story (similar to the relationship outlined by Scannell; see above). Again, this relationship helps gives the report authority and veracity, combined with the fact a correspondent can be seen to really be there.However, this report was interrupted by a live press statement from the Orange County District Attorney (DA) about a developing story. It was presented so that viewers could see a live feed of the DA answering questions from a crowd of journalists as a banner at the bottom of the screen summarised the points he made.
It has been argued that because of the vast political coverage given by media outlets in Westernised cultures nowadays that most citizens live in what Cushion (2015) calls 'mediated democracies', relying only on news to inform them about politics. This is why it is becoming increasingly important for viewers to be able to hear directly from the politicians themselves, however the news networks have a responsibility to fairly challenge the information they receive from politicians (Boyd, Stewart, and Alexander, 2008:20). This is because most politicians have their own agendas -- points they wish to make -- as the DA clearly did during this conference, as he can be seen reading from notes (see fig.7).
Fig. 7 ABC News: ABC News Live (2018)
The camera filming the DA was handheld, and stayed in a shot focused only on him for most of the report, highlighting his importance to the story. However, to show the DA being challenged, the camera pulled back so viewers could at one point also see a reporter pushing him for information. Yet even while the focus was on the DA talking, the reporters could always be heard in the background, and many who asked questions that were not directly answered accused him of this and continued to push. This makes viewers always aware of the reporters and the fact that the DA is not able to feed only the information he wants to the audience at home. Viewers are made aware of his agenda -- the reporters even pushed him to admit there were things he didn't want to say. This shows that increasing news coverage of conferences like these are causing politicians and important figures to change their behaviour when making statements, as news outlets make the public more aware of how these people operate (Cushion, 2015).
Fig. 8 ABC News: ABC News Live (2018)
This story is therefore also listed as 'developing'. However, since viewers' attention spans, especially online, are short, it can be more useful to get to the story in the middle of the event, as with Trump's speech here, so viewers can hear only the most important points (Kobré, 2013:58). This report showed Trump mainly talking about the changes which will occur by him signing the veteran's bill, as well as his anecdotes about visiting to help with the hurricane aid, which is relevant because it links back to the previous story, so viewers were already informed about the extent of the damage he was mentioning.The camera focused on Trump, staying in a mid-long shot of him, as well as following him as he sat down to sign the bill. Since the signing was the main event of the report, the channel cut to commercial once it was complete.
However, to give viewers more choice and control over what they watch, after every 'developing' story there was always a banner instructing viewers to go to the app or the website if they wished to see more.
This additional media content can be seen as part of ABC's brand, along with the commercials which play during the breaks and only promote ABC news segments.
This can be attributed to the fact that viewers nowadays have a wide range of choice, therefore, 'distinctive and meaningful “news brand images” are becoming more critical in the race of ratings supremacy in this media market', especially since audiences are increasingly going online for news, causing TV news ratings to decline (Chan-Olmsted and Cha, 2015:135-6).
These ABC news commercials all have a distinctive inspirational tone, pushing values such as commitment, honesty, and direct reporting. They also all convey ABC taglines, such as 'Straight to the heart of the story; It's the ABC way' and 'straightforward news', which fit with their values (see fig.5).
These values help give the channel a brand personality, which is defined as “the set of human characteristics associated with a brand” (Aaker, 1997:347). A study conducted by Chan-Olmsted and Cha (2015:140), showed that ABC news was considered by the public as a traditional, friendly and family orientated network, values the channel seems to still be upholding now, showing just how much work the network has put in over time to build and maintain a distinguishable personality.
Fig. 9 ABC News: ABC News Live (2018)
The focus of the commercials on the channel's reporters convey that ABC relies on them to uphold this personality. For example, many of the segments are named as being 'with' certain reporters, such as 'Tonight with David Muir'. In this commercial, values which are portrayed in Muir's reporting, such as him being 'committed' and 'on the scene, wherever the story' are emphasised in captions over pictures acting as evidence (see fig.9).Muir is treated almost like a celebrity in that he is the face of the segment -- some woman are even shown being starstruck over seeing him. One reason for him being so prominent is that he has built up a relationship with viewers of the network -- he started working for ABC in 2003 (ABC News, s.d) -- therefore he can now be used as a magnet to attract viewers to new segments and stories or when ratings need to be pushed up (Holm, 2013:89).
To fill in time after the commercial break, there was a short report on the harvest moon. Since this was an unimportant story it didn't warrant a reporter, therefore was presented only with graphics and captions. However, this then cut to a timeline report chronicling how the Las Vegas shooting happened. This became an OOV, due to a reporter giving context via V.O., yet the audience were still kept distant from the story, since it has already been covered by the media in depth.
Although, coming back to this story is still relevant to viewers now, since this story is representative of the bigger gun problem in America, and warranted so much media coverage when it happened because it was so serious and so many were in danger (Boyd, Stewart, and Alexander, 2008: 20).
However, the reporter uses the social media site Instagram, as a source.
Fig. 10 ABC News: ABC News Live (2018)
As pointed out by Kolodzy (2013:44), using social media sites such as these as sources 'requires developing a sense of newsworthiness, a sense of ethics and a sense of responsibility to the audience and the story' whilst deciding whether to include them in a report. In this case, it was necessary for the reporter to reference this instagram post from Jason Aldean (see fig.10) since he was the country singer who was on stage when the shooting took place so, just like a reporter on location, Aldean was the closest person of public acclaim who could best convey the emotion of the event to the audience.Developing stories were then rounded up in a 'News in 10' segment, which was essential as many of the live segments imply that viewers need to already know how some of these stories are unfolding. This round-up was the closest similarity between the ABC News channel and the BBC lunchtime bulletin since the stories in this round-up were also reported on with the most important coming first.
For example, politics and weather came first, with technology coming last. These were presented as OOVs with V.O., since they aimed to convey as much information as possible, as quick as possible.
A quick live PTC with a reporter on location was then shown, as although the event was not happening live, it had happened 'just minutes ago...' General views of the building behind the reporter were inserted as cutaways and were obviously pre-recorded, yet most of the short time was concentrated on the reporter talking to the audience. This is because the reporter seemed emotional about the story, as he reported that some people had died (see fig.11).
Fig. 11 ABC News: ABC News Live (2018)
This adds more value than just pulling ratings to reporters being on camera since, 'when journalists dare to be emotional, communication is rapid, satisfying and complete' (Holm, 2013:63), as the piece therefore has greater emotional impact on the audience also, promoting their interest, even though very little information is currently known about the story.The stories dominating ABC News on this day were mainly political, ranging from Kavanaugh to President Trump to the DA's statements at the press conference, but also the weather moved up in importance because of the hurricane. Therefore, like BBC News' lunchtime bulletin, ABC News also reports the most relevant and immediate stories happening in the country to their viewers.
However, whilst watching American news on ABC, viewers can also always see a bar down the right of their screens, which splits headlines into categories, including one which was 'international' (see fig.9).
Headlines from around the world did also appear in other categories too though (see fig.5), giving ABC News more scope than the self-contained BBC reports.
This is probably because ABC News is a channel and is live, so the stream is able to cut to the most relevant report as it is happening because the news team is so big and the stream never stops running. Therefore, the stories are also not always self-contained, which can make them difficult to grasp at first, however it does encourage the audience to build up a knowledge of current affairs as they are able to watch stories constantly develop, helping the channel to hold its audience.
Overall, from watching these bulletins, it can be seen that what makes a good story is immediacy -- the feeling of watching an event as it unfolds -- as well as relevance to the audience. However, the relationship between the reporter and viewer is also important to a story, since it can help add more authority and believability to reports, yet there are other techniques, such as sending a reporter live to the location where the event is unfolding, which can also add this.
List of Illustrations:
Figure 1. BBC News at One (2018) [BBC News Webpage] At: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007mpl9 (Accessed on 22 September 2018)
Figure 2. BBC News at One (2018) [BBC News Webpage] At: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007mpl9 (Accessed on 22 September 2018)
Figure 3. BBC News at One (2018) [BBC News Webpage] At: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007mpl9 (Accessed on 22 September 2018)
Figure 4. BBC News at One (2018) [BBC News Webpage] At: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007mpl9 (Accessed on 22 September 2018)
Figure 5. ABC News Live (2018) [ABC News Webpage] At: https://abcnews.go.com/live/video/special-live-11?cid=HP_LB_THUMB (Accessed on 23 September 2018)
Figure 6. ABC News Live (2018) [ABC News Webpage] At: https://abcnews.go.com/live/video/special-live-11?cid=HP_LB_THUMB (Accessed on 23 September 2018)
Figure 7. ABC News Live (2018) [ABC News Webpage] At: https://abcnews.go.com/live/video/special-live-11?cid=HP_LB_THUMB (Accessed on 23 September 2018)
Figure 8. ABC News Live (2018) [ABC News Webpage] At: https://abcnews.go.com/live/video/special-live-11?cid=HP_LB_THUMB (Accessed on 23 September 2018)
Figure 9. ABC News Live (2018) [ABC News Webpage] At: https://abcnews.go.com/live/video/special-live-11?cid=HP_LB_THUMB (Accessed on 23 September 2018)
Figure 10. ABC News Live (2018) [ABC News Webpage] At: https://abcnews.go.com/live/video/special-live-11?cid=HP_LB_THUMB (Accessed on 23 September 2018)
Figure 11. ABC News Live (2018) [ABC News Webpage] At: https://abcnews.go.com/live/video/special-live-11?cid=HP_LB_THUMB (Accessed on 23 September 2018)
Bibliography:
Aaker, J. (1997) 'Dimensions of brand personality'. In: haas.berkeley.edu [online] At: http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/groups/finance/Papers/Dimensions%20of%20BP%20JMR%201997.pdf (Accessed on 23 September 2018)
ABC News. (s.d) David Muir [online] At: https://abcnews.go.com/Author/David_Muir (Accessed on 23 September 2018).
BBC Academy. (2017) Pieces to camera: David Shukman [online] At: https://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/en/articles/art20130702112133474 (Accessed on 21 September 2018)
BBC News School Report. (2008) Glossary of Common Media Terms [online] At: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/school_report/4791411.stm (Accessed on 21 September 2018)
Boyd, A., Stewart, P., and Alexander, R. (2008) Broadcast Journalism : Techniques of Radio and Television News. (6th ed.) Oxon: Focal Press.
Chan-Olmsted, S., and Cha, J. (2015) 'Branding Television News in a Multichannel Environment: An Exploratory Study of Network News Brand Personality'. In: researchgate 12.03.2015 [online] At: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228468147_Branding_Television_News_in_a_Multichannel_Environment_An_Exploratory_Study_of_Network_News_Brand_Personality (Accessed on 23 September 2018).
Cushion, S. (2015) News and Politics: The Rise of Live and Interpretive Journalism. Oxon: Routledge.
Chan-Olmsted, S., and Cha, J. (2015) 'Branding Television News in a Multichannel Environment: An Exploratory Study of Network News Brand Personality'. In: researchgate 12.03.2015 [online] At: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228468147_Branding_Television_News_in_a_Multichannel_Environment_An_Exploratory_Study_of_Network_News_Brand_Personality (Accessed on 23 September 2018).
Cushion, S. (2015) News and Politics: The Rise of Live and Interpretive Journalism. Oxon: Routledge.
Ellis, J. (1992) Visible Fictions: Cinema, Television, Video. (Revised ed.) New York: Routledge. pp. 128-9.
Gin, S. (2016) 'Broadcast Terminology' In: HCC Learning Web [online] At: https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/sandra.gin/rtvb1429/broadcast-terminolgy (Accessed on 19 September 2018)
Halbrooks, G. (2018) 'News Packages for TV Newscasts' In: TheBalanceCareers [online] At: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-exactly-is-a-news-package-for-a-tv-newscast-2315185 (Accessed on 19 September 2018)
Holm, N. (2013) Fascination: Viewer Friendly TV Journalism. Oxon: Routledge.
Kobré, K. (2013) Videojournalism : Multimedia Storytelling. Oxon: Focal Press.
Kolodzy, J. (2013) Practicing Convergence Journalism: An Introduction to Cross-media Storytelling. Oxon: Routledge.
Lashmar, P. (2008) 'How to master the art of the two-way interview: part one' In: pressgazette [online] At: https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/how-to-master-the-art-of-the-two-way-interview-part-one/ (Accessed on 23 September 2018)
Scannell, P. (2000) 'For-anyone-as-someone structures' In: Media, Culture & Society 22 (1)
Comments
Post a Comment