The news always has a starting sequence that show transparency
in the graphics to show that is a window on the world news but is it really?
They try to show you that the news is truthful when it shows the start of the
news and they show the set, that includes the lighting, cameras and sometimes
even the offices around the set. The news must be seen to be non-biased and
show impartiality to the stories the news is telling and of course they will
show the stories with accuracy and balance. The subjectivity will also be
important as it goes hand in hand with objectivity when the stories are
selected, so the stories being chosen are what the people selecting think we
will find entertaining, but this directly conflicts with what the news is
supposed to be non-biased but if they are selecting the news then they are
putting their opinions in it. The studio news reader’s mode of address to the
viewers is also always serious; they never have much tone to their voices and
they always speak as if they have no opinion or attachment to the story being
read; they sometimes lighten up slightly when they have a light-hearted story
at the end. News readers follow this because they are trying to show that the
news is a serious thing but the news readers will never give their opinion on
any of the stories because it doesn't show impartiality, but the news does try
and give a representation of life and a sense of realism.
The news is also has a selection process, the producers will
gather round a big table and discuss the stories of the day. To qualify they
have to be interesting to the public but since these stories are not selected
by us how can the stories appeal to everyone. The people who pick the news are
middle aged Oxford candidates who choose stories that they think will affect
people of a similar age and situation. They usually follow News Values set by
Galtung and Ruge; this starts with “Frequency”, the event has to fit with the
cycle of news production, for instance, a murder or an earthquake is likely to
get attention. Small stories aren’t likely to be reported out of a county. This
ties into “Threshold” (size); the bigger the story the more likely it is to get
into the news. Then there’s “Meaningfulness”, (unambiguity) it has to mean
something to the audience or nobody’s going to care. They also look for “Consonance”;
events are much more likely to be reported on if they fit in with media
expectations, like violence at a student demonstration. “Unexpectedness” is
also a useful part to the news; the unexpected can be news worthy like man
bites dog. The news also follows “Continuity” in two senses, one, once an event
is on the news, new developments are likely to be reported on, and two, the one
which is more associated with film, is things like camera angles, match on
action, that sort of thing. “Composition”, the structure of the news, like
balancing international with national or ending on a light story. Then you have
“Elite Nations”, which means some countries are more newsworthy then others;
this also connects into “Elite Persons” which has exactly the same meaning as
elite nations, some people are more news worthy than others. Then there’s
“Personalisation” which is used because if a story can be told in terms of
individuals, it is more likely to get on the news. The last of the news values
is “Negativity”, bad news is good news, but all of this news is chosen by what
a middle aged man finds interesting and to many teenagers politics is not- -something that
interests them but we never really seem to see the news report on a new rock
band that has hit the scene. This also ties with the report structure because
even when the news is ready to go there can be a story that comes in at the
last minute in which can push another story out of the news, if it’s news that
happening right then and there it will probably get in as breaking news.
Of course there is legal and regulatory framework to the
news as well as anything else; Ofcom states that under section five “Due
Impartiality and Due Accuracy and Undue Prominence of Views and Opinions” is
forbidden and so it tries to show us that the news is being honest at all
times. This is done in many forms, for instance by bringing in outside
influence on some of the stories like experts and eyewitnesses. Experts tell us
that they know what they’re talking about when it comes to subjects, eye
witnesses back up the stories being told. They have plenty of interviewing’s to
carry the story but it is supposed to show both sides of a discussion, this
actually doesn't always happen but it is somewhat understandable; If there was
a case of murder you would of course have people of the law telling us how
appalling the crime is but you wouldn't see a murderer being interviewed giving
his opinion on it and how he thinks the crime is just misunderstood; that said
since the news is supposed to not hide anything so they should be allowing both
sides of a story.
There are also the field reporters with links to the studio
which bring you reports from the area of the story itself and this usually
comes with actuality footage of the story taking place, this is where we see
the news hiding things from us; within the editing itself the news tries to
hide the way the footage is captured with continuity, like if it changes angles
halfway through an interview from an over the shoulder shot to a close up. They
only have one camera so they have to set up a change of shot but you don’t see
that event taking place, it is hidden in the editing. They also show many of
their stories in a Hollywood narrative which includes a hero, a quest to regain
equilibrium. Like there was a story about a man called Perrier Chows who hand
just lost his job and him and his family was about to be evicted from their
house and he needed to find somewhere else to live. So the story is about a man
going on a quest to find somewhere to live. This means that the news has to
have an implicated view because they have to tell a story in a certain way to
create the hero.
This does and doesn’t matter to us because they create the
news the way it is to make it more acceptable for us to watch as in your not
left watching the news crews setting up all the shots and sets because that
would be boring and it leaves us not having to think too hard on the rights and
wrongs of a story because they show the story in a way that shows us anyway. On
the other hand the news is supposed to be a window on the world and if they’re
trying to make our minds up for us then they are showing the news in a way that
they see fit. Not only is this a form of control but also a lie. New technology
has actually slightly change the way the news is shown and chosen and maybe
even for the better, all because of the introduction of mobile phones and
social network sites. Now we can find and record the news and then the news
will be seen from our viewpoint. Of course it still has to go through the news
selection process but the story is recorded by us and then the story can be put
around the world with the use of social network sites as people will share stories
all around the globe with each other and as it has been proved many times,
recently in the middle east, that social networking cannot be controlled.
No comments:
Post a Comment