Thursday, May 14, 2015

TV News: index

We've now reached the end of our lessons on TV News. Next week, the exam preliminary brief will be out and we'll be spending our lessons preparing a TV news pitch for the real exam on 15 June.

First, you need to create an index of all your work on TV News. 

This will help you ensure that you haven't missed anything crucial over the last five weeks and will also be extremely helpful for exam revision. Each link should take you to YOUR original blogpost on that topic. Here's an example with links to the original tasks:

TV News index

1) TV News case study 1: Channel 4 News

2) TV News case study 2: BBC News at Six

3) TV News case study 3: coverage of the General Election across different news programmes

4) TV News case study 4: independent case studies (BBC3 60 Second News and Newsround)

5) News Values blog task

6) TV News audience - creating a running order

7) TV News representation - analysing Sky News coverage of the 2011 riots

If you've missed any of these lessons due to exams or illness, you have a week to make sure your blog is up to date. The links above will take you to the original tasks and if you're unsure on anything you can speak to your Media teacher.

It is absolutely essential you have learned all of this material before going into the exam - otherwise you will be significantly disadvantaged and your result will reflect this.

Due: Thursday 21 May

TV News: representation and bias

Key notes

Representation and gatekeepers

The term ‘gatekeeper’ refers to people in the media who make important decisions about what reaches the audience.

The News Editor is the main gatekeeper in TV news and decides what stories will be covered that day.

Is news biased?

TV news is supposed to be balanced and fair but has been accused of bias.

A gatekeeper can create certain representations in TV news through the decisions they make. For example, gatekeepers can create bias in TV news: 
  • Bias through selection/omission
  • Bias through placement
  • Bias through images/video
  • Bias through names or titles
  • Bias by choice of words

News and narrative theory

News gatekeepers also try to create narrative to make TV news more accessible. Remember our narrative theories from Assignment 2:

Todorov: news is largely concerned with disequilibrium.

Propp: news creates heroes and villains to make stories easy to follow.

Barthes: news uses enigma codes to keep people watching until the end.


Citizen journalism and bias

Citizen journalism has been credited with adding balance to coverage as people can film events on their phones to ensure a fair report is shown.

There have been important examples recently in America such as the killing of Walter Scott in South Carolina. This Sky World News report has the story:




Citizen journalism removes the power of the gatekeepers in TV news because video can be put on YouTube and audiences can share it using social media.

Other examples include the Chelsea fans in Paris and Eric Garner who died while being arrested in New York (“I can’t breathe”). Once the video is on YouTube and goes viral, it is very difficult for TV news not to cover the story in some way.


Representation and bias blog task



Watch this Sky News report from the London riots in 2011 and answer the questions below:

1) Whose perspective have Sky News used to present the story? (Clue: it’s in the opening line)

2) How are the police represented in this coverage?

3) How are young people represented in this coverage?

4) What images and videos are selected by Sky News to accompany the story?

5) What choice of words is used to present this news event?

6) What aspect of the story is chosen as the most important detail and included at the very beginning of the report?

7) How is narrative used to engage the audience with this news story?

8) How can we apply Todorov’s equilibrium theory to this coverage?

9) What examples of Propp’s character types can we find in this coverage? Are there heroes and villains?

10) How might citizen journalism have been used to provide a different angle on this story?

Extension task: Find another news story on YouTube that offers a particular representation of young people. You could look for a story such as the three South London schoolgirls who ran away to Syria to join ISIS. Embed the video on your blog and write an analysis of the representation of different people and groups in the clip.

Complete for homework if you don’t get this finished in the lesson - due next Thursday.



Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Mr Parker's cover work - Tuesday 12 May

I'm afraid Mr Parker isn't feeling well today so will not be in.

You will need to work independently on the TV News Audience topic.

Read and highlight the handout then work through the tasks on the blog - linked here.

As you will have longer on the blog you need to create a running order for each of the four programmes we have focused on:

  • Channel 4 News
  • BBC News at Six
  • BBC3 60 Second News
  • BBC Newsround 

Any questions, let me or Mr Qureshi know.

Good luck!

TV News: Audience

Audience: notes

Uses and Gratifications (Blumler and Katz)

Researchers Blumler and Katz suggest that media audiences are active and make choices about the way they consume media.

They suggested there are four main uses or gratifications (pleasures) that audiences get from the media.

Diversion: escapism or entertainment.

Personal Relationships: using the media for emotional interaction (e.g. developing affection for characters on TV)

Personal Identity: finding ourselves reflected in texts or learning behaviour and values from the media.

Surveillance: Information useful for living (e.g. news, weather, traffic news etc.)


Audience revision: Demographics

Demographic classification:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Education
  • Social class
  • Race/ethnicity
  • Job/profession/earnings
  • Home (city/village/countryside)


Planning a TV news running order: blog task

1) Name the TV news programme you created a running order for in this morning's lesson.

2) List the five stories you chose and explain why you chose each one.

3) Use the Uses and Gratifications theory to explain why ONE of the stories appeals to the target audience for that programme.

4) Now choose one of the other TV news programmes we have focused on and choose a five-story running order for that programme. The four TV news progammes are:

  • Channel 4 News
  • BBC News at Six
  • BBC3 60 Second News
  • BBC Newsround

The available stories are:

  • A tweet by Miley Cyrus telling a fan to ‘get a life’ has started a ‘Twitter storm’.
  • Israel has shelled a residential area of Gaza killing around 25 civilians.
  • Gunfire has been reported on the streets of Moscow although no there are no details as yet regarding who has opened fire or why.
  • A well-known politician has been named on Twitter as being investigated by police for fraud.
  • Cheryl Cole has announced she is pregnant.
  • David Cameron’s office has announced he will be visiting Washington next week to meet President Obama.
  • An anti-austerity march against government cuts has been held in London today and was attended by 50,000 people. The protest was calm.
  • A new series of BBC drama Sherlock achieved record viewing figures last night.
  • Lady Gaga is in London and has been spotted jogging in Hyde Park.
  • A woman has been convicted of murdering her husband. He was a wealthy banker and she a stay-at-home mum.
  • Two prisoners convicted of armed robbery have escaped from Wormwood Scrubs prison in West London.
  • 20 people were killed in 15 different road accidents over the previous weekend.

5) Explain why those stories fit the target audience for the programme you have chosen.

Complete this for homework if you don't get it completed during the lesson - due next Tuesday.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Matthews' Blogscar of the Week



A no-brainer this week guys...Blogscar of the week goes to Amrit Bhullar for a phenomenal coursework effort - a whopping A* - and a great reward for all her hard work.

Well done 'Glamrit'

Mr M

News values blog task

News values: notes

In 1965, media researchers Galtung & Ruge analysed news stories to find out what factors placed them at the top of the news agenda.

They came up with the following list of news values - a kind of scoring system to work out what might become news. A story which scores highly on each value is likely to be at the top of a TV news bulletin. Some of the news values they suggested include:

Negativity
Bad news - involving death, tragedy, natural disasters or political upheaval - is rated above 'positive' stories (royal weddings etc.)

Closeness to home
Audiences relate more to stories that are close to their home, or involve people from their country.

Immediacy
How recently did it happen? TV news is very competitive about breaking news – although it is now beaten by social media.

Simplicity
Simple stories are preferred by TV news.  Palestine is complicated, a plane crash is easy to follow.

Uniqueness
‘Dog bites man’ is not news. ‘Man bites dog’ is. Unusual stories make it into the news – especially if there is good video to go with it.

Elite nations or people
Stories that focus on important countries or people are likely to make the news. Obama and USA = news, Outer Mongolia not so much.


24 hour TV news

There are some critical differences between a regular news bulletin and 24 hour news:

  • A bulletin contains carefully constructed ‘news packages’ and fully scripted presentation
  • 24 hour TV news is perfect for live, breaking news as it happens
  • 24 hour TV news is more dependent on dramatic pictures or video that will grab the audience and keep them watching



News values blog task

For each of the six news values we have learned, find a clip on YouTube from Sky News (24 hour news) and explain how it fits that news value. The Sky News YouTube channel is here.

Example:

Negativity


The Germanwings plane crash fits many of the news values but particularly negativity. Any major transport disaster that kills a large number of people is likely to become a huge news story. This is because it contains death, tragedy, dramatic images and also creates questions for the audience in terms of what went wrong and why the plane crashed.

Extension work

Use the Mediaknowall website to research the other news values that Galtung and Ruge came up with and find examples from Sky News for each of those.

Finish for homework if you don't complete it in the afternoon lesson. Due: next Thursday.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Case study 4: independent research

You have already worked on three strong TV News case studies:

1) Channel 4 News case study focusing on in-depth international news and investigative reporting

2) BBC News at Six case study focusing on more UK-based news stories and accessible news presentation such as animation, Q&A between presenter and reporter and other techniques (the BBC has been accused of 'dumbing down' the news by presenting it in this way).

3) UK General Election coverage case study - with one story covered by four different TV news programmes.

Important: check your blog to make sure these are completed and published.

Now you need to work on some independent research of two other TV news programmes aimed at younger viewers. The exam brief may well ask you to target a younger audience so it's important to pick up how existing programmes try and appeal to that market.

Complete the following tasks on your blog:

BBC Newsround

1) Watch yesterday's Newsround on BBC iPlayer (it's on the CBBC channel) plus the YouTube clips here:





2) How does Newsround use the key conventions of TV news?

3) Who are the presenters for BBC Newsround? Why do Newsround have a variety of presenters?

4) Are any other presenters or reporters used?

5) What does the studio look like? How is technology used in programme?

6) What is the opening sequence to Newsround? Does it fit the key conventions of TV news?

7) How does Newsround typically present a news story? (E.g. presenter to camera, reporter on location, interviews, graphics, images, video etc.)

8) Who is the target audience for Newsround? You may want to research this online.

9) Is there an opportunity for the audience to get involved in the programme? Do young people feature in the news programme at all?

10) What news stories are covered in the broadcasts you have watched? List ALL the stories that are covered AND the order that they appear in. How long does each story appear for?


BBC3 60 Second News

1) Watch these YouTube clips of the BBC3 60 Second News:



2) How does the BBC3 60 Second News use the key conventions of TV news?

3) Who are the presenters for the BBC3 60 Second News? What do you notice about their age and how they are dressed?

4) Are any other presenters or reporters used?

5) What does the studio look like? How is technology used in programme? How are graphics used in the presentation of the news?

6) What is the opening shot of the BBC3 60 Second News? Does it fit the key conventions of TV news?

7) How does the BBC3 60 Second News typically present a news story? (E.g. presenter to camera, reporter on location, interviews, graphics, images, video etc.)

8) Who is the target audience for the BBC3 60 Second News? You may want to research this online. Why does the BBC feature news on a predominantly entertainment-based channel?

9) Is there an opportunity for the audience to get involved in the programme? Do young people feature in the news programme at all?

10) What news stories are covered in the broadcasts you have watched? List ALL the stories that are covered AND the order that they appear in. How long does each story appear for?


Extension activities

1) Find as many episodes of both Newsround and the BBC3 60 Second News online and embed the videos in your blog.

2) List the stories that each broadcast covers and why these might appeal to the audience for these programmes.

3) Choose the three most memorable stories as examples that you can use in Task 1 in the exam. Why are they good examples that reflect that programme's style?

Anything you don't finish in the lessons - complete for homework. Due next Tuesday.