- OBs (Outside Broadcasts)
- OBs allow for a reporter to truly experience the news as it is happening, with a sense of immediacy drawn from stories that they are covering
- Whilst OBs require vast amounts of organisation, they feature as a dominant part of news broadcasts to allow the audience to connect with the reporter and their story
- Two ways / Q&A
- These take place between the anchor and the reporter in the field live during the course of the programme
- Usually the presenter and reporter discuss what they will talk about prior to the programme airing, and are usually loosely scripted and do not rely on a full script, making it feel more natural and conversational
- Logistics and technical challenges
- Technical experts such as ENG Coordinators are on hand to ensure that all technical challenges are well managed - they liaise with the team in the newsroom and the producer to keep everyone up to date
- Essential checks are carried out to ensure the signal quality, video, audio, talkback and cueing are all in working order
- Therefore it is important to have a backup plan before going into any live broadcast
- Legality of live broadcast
- Facts must be presented in a fair and accurate way
- Reporting or interviewing others can potentially open up potential difficulties leading to defamation, sub judice and inappropriate language
- Challenges of live broadcast
- People walking through shots, background noises, and other interruptions are all a potential risk of being live on location
- The digital age
- With advancements in technology, people may look to other sources, such as apps and webpages for their news intake
- Young people (16-24 year olds) in particular are more likely to access news online than older age groups
- TV news hierarchy
- TV newsroom is a well-oiled machine with a number of people involved:
- Planning
- The forward planning desk works alongside the programme editor to pre-plan the day's news coverage over the coming days, weeks, months and years
- Planning meetings are held daily allowing the programme to organise how they will cover stories
- Despite this, the process is constantly dealing with updates, amendments and cancellations
- Gathering news
- The assignments desk is under the control of the news editor/organiser - this department assigns journalists and news crews to planned and emerging stories to send correspondents out in the field
- Reporters and correspondents are at the front line in this process, assisted by a team of broadcast journalists who help to research and set up stories for reporters
- Increasingly, reporters and correspondents are shooting their own material (video journalists)
- Technology
- ENPS is a computerised system used in most modern newsrooms to allow staff access to newswires, write scripts and running orders and check out the diaries an planning options for the future
We watched a behind-the-scenes livestream from the BBC, showing exactly what goes into the daily 6 o'clock news broadcast. I was impressed and little bit intimidated by the sheer scale of the entire operation, with each member of the team playing a vital role in the running of the broadcast. I was surprised that the BBC uses automated cameras in the news studio, although in hindsight, I realise that this allows the director and people in the control room to operate them with more precision and reliability. I was also surprised at the amount of responsibilities that lie on the anchor's shoulders. Of course they are the 'star of the show', but I did not realise that they had as much of an input into the running order and what is planned before the broadcast itself.
Homework Task / The Young Turks Research:
I decided to look at The Young Turks, as a well-established example of an online news platform. The Young Turks began as a radio programme in 2002, which launched as a web-based channel on YouTube in 2005. I focused on one video (above) which focused on a story about Donald Trump's comments at the UN earlier today. This topic focuses on politics and current affairs. The video begins with their politics correspondent explaining in a PTC what has happened before showing the VT of the comments made by the President. Afterwards, the three hosts discuss what was said, the context behind it and the potential implications of what they are reporting.
They take a very laid back, yet somewhat serious tone in their delivery is interesting and allows them to take a very conversational tone to the way they deliver their news. This works to entice the audience into the conversation, almost feeling they are a part of it through the conversational and informal nature of the report. They also use fairly colloquial language and light-hearted moments, such as a brief impression of Trump, which is juxtaposed by more serious comments regarding the story.
The lightheartedness is complimented by the host in the middle who seems a lot more laid back than the other two, wearing a T-shirt rather than a suit as we see in most traditional news broadcasts. We are also exposed to a lot of opinion and speculation over the story with "I think" being repeated quite often. This means that this news source may be biased but also allows the audience to build a better picture for themselves of the story rather than just black and white facts.
From this I feel I have learned that it is important to establish what the angle of our story is, so we know exactly how much opinion and speculation to give on balance with the hard facts of what we are reporting.
A good story needs a balance of being informative, impartial and interesting in order to inform the audience of the story in a fair and enticing manner. The Young Turks story on Trump works as we are enticed by the shocking comments made by Trump, we are made aware of the potential implications of what he said, backed up with context, and we are kept entertained by the differing viewpoints and invitation to join the conversation.
The news is rarely dominated by just one story, but at the moment, the news is dominated by Donald Trump, North Korea, and Brexit. These stories tend to come first in the running order, as they affect a large number of people and there is a lot of interest and debate to be had through the discussion of these topics.
Notable celebrity deaths, terrorist incidents and important political decisions can also seem to take the lead in news broadcasts. Other stories that follow tend to affect fewer people in the target audience. I feel that this is because the broadcasters want to keep their audience informed, but also enticed to tune in, so by offering the stories that affect a lot of people, or cause controversy and shock, their news service becomes a more appealing source.
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