Introduction to the News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b073qpnv/bbc-news-at-ten-22032016

BBC News at 10 22/03/2016

The news covered is the Belgium Bombers and the terror and destruction it has caused and the ISIS group has claimed responsibility. George Osbourne has admitted he made a mistake for proposed cuts to disability benefits and Barack Obama and the Cuban President sitting together watching baseball.

The opening sequence is authoritative and it feels factual (see an example introduction below). The opening sequence mostly consisted of the Belgium Bombings and the effect it has had on people and the story took the most time in the opening sequence followed by the shorter 'less significant' stories. This is the reason because the attacks affect us but the story also operates on a larger scale since the group behind the attacks are the ISIS group. The reporters also mentioned that the group had also taken responsibility of the attacks and that they threaten to attack other areas. Obviously, the Belgium terrorist attack was covered most within the opening sequence with two shorter summaries of what was happening elsewhere in the world. The George Osbourne report showed that Osbourne had made a mistake and that he was apologising for making that mistake. Barack Obama was shown at a baseball game with Cuban President Raúl Castro, enjoying the atmosphere.

The Anglia documentary had shown us how the news runs on an average day 'behind the scenes'. The documentary had told us that there are two News Readers, usually one male and one female. These news readers are often above 25, having professional looking outfits like a suit or a smart work dress. Often there is also a weather reporter and an analyst. A news reader needs to have the ability to put the approved [by the Editor] stories together in a type of script and then report to the viewers on what is in the script. A News Reader needs the skills to be able to read news in a calm but authoritative manner. The News Reader [before the broadcast] must quickly edit their scripts in order to accompany breaking news or new information. 

News ordering is a system where the news stories are ordered in a particular way according to their topic, audience and length. This is also known as a running order. The reason for this to exist is to appeal to the audience since the order helps break down information with the most important stories with the most air time and in some ways the order makes the news a little bit more exciting. The running order is managed by an Editor. The first and most important story (also known as the Lead Story) is the longest and most importance. The Lead Story is much longer than the others because it is the story that holds the most amount of information. The Lead is selected based on relevance, recency and the duration of the story (i.e. how often there will be new information about that particular story). The news is then categorized into small groups consisting of relevant and similar topics. This is called a 'roundup' where there is a roundup of similar news in a short space of time. Time is essential in the news. The news team must always get relevant and up to date information in order to inform the general public. If the news wasn't up to date, it wouldn't be relevant. A 'slow news day' is a day where not much substantial news stories had happened, so the news has to cover the less important/more trivial news stories. The final story, or the "and finally" story is meant to give a light-hearted ending to the news that makes the audience feel good. Usually the story is about charity fundraising or the like. Even shows like Russell Howard's Good News has adopted a similar segment called 'It's Not All Doom and Gloom' where Russell shows the audience about an inspirational and light-hearted story. The News Values constructed by J. Galtung and M. Ruge are a list of story conditions which is ordered in a hierarchy of importance. This is to order stories with most importance first and the more light-hearted stories closer to the end. The values are listed below along with an example for each.

http://blog.which4u.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/itsnotalldoom.jpg

Russell Howard's Good News 'It's not all doom and gloom' section.

• Negativity- Stories involving things such as death and war are rated higher than positive stories.
• Proximity- Geographically relevant to the audience.
• Recency- How recent the story had occurred. Breaking news can't be covered in newspapers but 24 hour news channels are able to utilize breaking news.
• Currency- The opposite of Recency. A story that is usually reported on for a prolonged amount of time even if nothing happens.
• Continuity- Stories that are likely to have an impact on the audience for a longer period of time.
• Uniqueness- A story out of the ordinary and seems different to other stories.
  
  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/20/eccentric-choices-surface-in-quest-to-name-polar-research-vessel
• Simplicity- Stories that are easiest to explain.
• Personality- Stories that revolve around a particular person, whether it would be a celebrity icon or member of the public.
• Predictability- How predictable the story can be. Say there was a war and there were civilian/unexpected casualties, that is quite predictable.
• Elite Nations or People- Any story that covers a powerful company/organisation or person in charge of a nation.
  
  http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/22/politics/obama-cuba-baseball-diplomacy/
• Exclusivity- A story which if one news organisation gets the story first, the organisation tends to rate that particular story higher
  
  http://www.maldonandburnhamstandard.co.uk/news/south_essex_news/14415863.EXCLUSIVE__Interview_with_star_Jordan_Gray_after_being_voted_off_BBC_s_The_Voice/
• Size- The bigger the investment of money into the story makes the story more important as well as the scale of the story affects a scaled number of the audience.

The style of outfit Huw Edwards was wearing in Belgium was a suit with tie. One reason for this is that the news reporter must look and act professional while maintaining an authoritative look. He was also wearing a large coat to suggest that the temperature was cold, but the coat was not unprofessional. Huw Edwards, aged 54, male. As stated before, it was Huw's job to talk and inform the general public on what was happening in Belgium and how it has affected the people of Belgium and the terror the attack had ensued. It was Huw's job to stay professional and calm whilst reporting on such an event. On any other day, it is Huw's job to read the top stories of that day, including big events or disasters.  Since the attacks was the biggest event, it had most time within the newsreaders script. Reporters had also interviewed citizens of Brussels about the attacks. The people represented were true to themselves and it seems that there was no alternation later on. The story had shown the fright of the public over the terrorist attack. I felt sad for the victims and witnesses of the attack since terrorism shouldn't have a place in modern society. I felt scared for the people interviewed. The story followed a vague construction since it was breaking news. The reader and reporters talked about the devastation the attacks led and how the general public reacted and then talked about how the authoritative bodies reacted.

Biases-

Bias through selection and omission: A news editor is able to show bias through their writing in a news story. Because of the biases of the editor, the editor can manipulate the facts to possible paint the subject in a negative light by missing out key information on purpose and extracting certain information from their notes to make the subject seem negative.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/11/david-cameron-brexit-eu-referendum-listen-jeremy-corbyn This article could have been written for a pro-Remain campaigner, siding with Corbyn and Cameron since the article talks about how the Leave campaign is a bad idea.

Bias through placement: this means that more important stories are rated more favourable and thus much more popular than other stories creating an inequality in importance of the news. The image below shows that there is a geographical bias where all of the versions are not the same. Image can be found here: http://images.politico.com/global/2012/02/atime.jpg

Bias by headline: this means that a headline can be misleading and can convey incorrect information. The headline is important because it is the first thing a consumer recognises. In this example, we can see that because the U.N. in Iraq was bombed it was of much more significance because there could have been US or European workers there but a suicide bomber threatens a Mideast road map is of less significance even though they were both about suicide bombings. The second article is probably rated less important because it was only a threat and not an actual attack.

Bias by photos: this is when a newspaper or editor chooses photos to make someone look bad or good. An example would be to make a conservative newspaper show a bad image of a Labour leader.

David Cameron shown being authoritative and strong while Ed Milliband is shown being silly and pulling faces.

Bias through names and titles: this means that the news and media uses different language and labels to describe someone in either a more positive or negative light.

an example being "Jeremy Clarkson, previously sued over assault allegations, starts new TV show" or changing that to "Jeremy Clarkson, angry TV host, starts new TV show."

Bias by choice of words: this means that the use of language can portray someone or something in a positive or a negative way. The use of language can influence opinions.

'Imagine him in the White House – he’s like someone who got lost from the tour'

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeremy-corbyn-imagine-him-in-the-white-house-he-s-like-someone-who-got-lost-from-the-tour-a7019811.html