Television Journalism

Week 3, lesson 1

The montage of clips showing 50 years of ITN, raises the question on how news bulletins can be memorable to us as an audience and how they have changed over this 50 year period.
Events, such as 9/11, the Bradford Fire and the Vietnam war created images i.e. the planes going into the twin towers, the man's hair alight and the naked girl running along the road, are instantly recognisable by the public and most even know where they were and how they heard the stories when they broke to the news channels.

Events such as Beckham's score for Argentina and the release of the Chilean minors evokes the atmosphere and emotion of the event. A sense of national pride is felt among the public.

In previous decades, it would take hours for all the information on a particular event to come through, i.e. the assassination of John.F.Kennedy. These days, we have 24 hour streaming. This enables people who dip in and out of the news to get the latest headlines fast. Sky News for example covered all 33 of the Chilean minors being released. Is this too much? Does it prevent tension and excitement or is it more important knowing we have got all the information on a particular event?

Live news is very powerful. 9/11 could not of been replicated in print or radio. This is similar to the egging of John Prescott and Margaret Thatcher leaving No.10.

Needs to consider how the audience are affected and must have a meaning and residence i.e. Diana's wedding and funeral.

The SAS siege of the London Embassy in London was one of the first live broadcasts. The interruption of a popular sporting event i.e. the snooker finals, with news, was unheard of.

How images are captured? It was pure luck that Concorde on fire was caught on camera, as some local journalists captured the images as they were passing by in a car. This was the only imagery of the event taken.

The imagery of the Foot and Mouth disaster creates personal memories within an audience. The strong, visual imagery of lifeless, upside-down cows being removed by cranes exasperates these emotions.
Even events that were before our lifetime, are recognised by infamous, repeated fragments from that story. I.e. The Beatles success and Martin Luther King's speech 'I have a dream'.

The Queen's Jubilee displays a photo of the personality, in this case the Royal Family and also the photo of the Mall, displaying many British people. This is patriotic and will sell to audiences. It is important both parts are shown, otherwise only half a story is depicted.

Some photos have more impact than others. The Potters Barn train crash is more likely to evoke emotion and shock than a train on it's side, because the image is more striking.

The 1984 Ethiopian Famine, reported by Michael Burke spurned Live Aid across the world and shows important a couple of reports can be. Nowadays, they are also uploaded onto You Tube, for easy access
public viewing.

Another clip showing ITV , BBC and Sky from 2007 onwards displays how much the news is personality led in comparison to five decades ago. The Spice Girls, Lewis Hamilton and Heather Mills are all now considered top news. This is a result of the 21st century 'obsession' with celebrity culture. Celebrity focused magazines i.e. Star, Heat and reality shows such as 'Big Brother' and 'I'm a celebrity, get me out of here!' have only fuelled this.

CCTV is very important for news, as it allows the audience and reporters themselves to get stories, that otherwise would be missed.

Dissecting the News
BBC News - 14/10/10

1. Chilean Minors being released
2. Liverpool Football Club - new owners
3. Hitler Exhibition being displayed
4. Commonwealth games last night

Taking the major news story of the year if not the decade; the freeing of the 33 Chilean minors, who were trapped underground for 69 days.
After the initial footage of seeing the recovery of all 33 minors, the reporter moved to outside the hospital to represent how the story had progressed. This brings up the question of humanity vs. agenda? Is the purpose of this footage to check the welfare of the minors, or to allow the questions to begin as to whose fault it was they became trapped. It is 'Hollywood film territory', in so much as how much human interest is received in the story. A package will usually begin with the latest shots or the visually most important shots. An audience will only be interested in what is happening now, as yesterday' news is just that! The shot of all 33 minors in room, allows an audience to quantify the magnitude of the event. The president appears in shots throughout and attributes to the general atmosphere and emotion attached to the event. These emotions of happiness and euphoria help tell the story of the day to the audience. Emotive language is used to reflect what we're seeing on the screen i.e. 'ushered like a conjuror’s assistant into a magic box.' Emotion is also added by deliberate pauses, where no voiceover is used. The story is taken in full circle. It moves from the hospital back to the mine itself, where only the days before hoards of people awaiting with baited breath to see their loved ones. Both the journalist and camera are moving, reflecting how much the story has changed.