News Codes and Cons By Charlie Lunn

News programmes can be Broadcast in various different places depending on which medium the News show would get the most views. Some of these different formats are: Youtube TV Channels Radio Stations Online TV; BBC iPlayer, ITV etc. And many more.

Studio News Readers Studio news readers can differ in appearance and mannerisms depending on the type of news they are presenting. E.g. Presenters on Look North (BBC’s regional news show for the East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire) will be very well dressed and address the audience of the programme very formally and in in most cases the presenters are over 30 years old. This is to ensure that the audience knows that Look North news is very serious and professional appealing to an adult audience. However E! News uses quite young attractive women to present its news. They are also quite informal whilst presenting. This is because the majority of the audience who watch E! News will be younger than the audience who watch Look North news. Therefore they would want to see young attractive women who they can look at as a role model to present them with there news instead of a very formal man.

Other factors come into play such as: Body language – The body language of the presenters can tell the audience a lot, for instance during an interview they may be closed because of the subject of the interview being serious whilst some interviews they will have incredibly relaxed body language in order to communicate that the topic is a lot more light hearted. Facial expressions – Facial expressions can tell the audience a lot about the news programme, like body language it can enforce the nature of the topic in question. A serious topic on crime will have the presenters with stern, serious looks. The death of a well liked individual will have sombre yet warm expressions. Someone doing something a amusing for charity will result in smiles. These expressions enforce the reaction the audience should have whilst watching. The Set of the Show – The set of the show can tell the audience what type of show it is due to the colours and if there is furniture on set. This is because if you have a very colourful set with no seats then the audience would expect this programme to be news for the younger audience as colourful sets attract younger audiences, and no one sitting down and just stood round a table helps push that the show is informal. Although if a set has a sofa and a table with are very bland colours then the audience could presume that the programme is news for the older generation as it is not as colourful and exciting. Clothing – Clothing can also be used to determine what type of news programme you are watching e.g. if the new presenters are wearing formal suits and dresses then it could be used as a sign to show that this news programme is a formal news programme to be taken seriously. Although if the presenters are wearing very fashionable dresses that would appeal to younger people then it could be assumed that this is a new programme aimed at the younger audience or the topic of news is not a serious one.

Structure of a News Report News programs often follow the same structure despite the fact that they cover different types of news. This structure is as follows; Introduction Subject Field Reporter Interviews Link to studio

The Introduction: A news program will have a introduction and title sequence showing the viewers that it is about to start. It will then cut to the presenters introducing themselves and the show. Some may also tell the viewers what topics they will be covering over the course of the program.

Subject: The presenters will give you an introduction to a story in which they will tell the viewer the basics of what has happened. There may be some visual aids on screen to help the viewer picture the story. Then the presenters will introduce a Field reporter who will be at a location which is relevant to the story.

Field Reporter: The program will cut to a field reporter who will be reporting from a relevant location to the story. The field reporter will go into detail of the story which the report is on, explaining the different aspects of the story. They often put together footage relative to the story, sometimes with graphs they narrate over in order to reinforce what they are talking about. They talk directly into the camera to make the viewers feel like the reporter is talking to them. The reporter will then end her report and sign off. After the field reporters segment had ended the program cuts back to the news reporters.

Interviews: Often in News reports the News reporters will interview people who are relevant to the crime e.g. a eye witness or a person involved in the incident. There are many ways in which these interviews can be carried out, some of these ways are: Video call interview, Face to face interview or even a interview over a phone. The interviewers job is to find out the interviewees perspective on the incident and there side of the story for the viewers. Interviews can also be to find out more about a person who is famous or in the media at the moment so that the public can get to feel like they know the individual better. This is usually used in order to help their current project (film, book, tv show etc.) and this can apply to nearly all news shows and channels from E! to Sky News to Channel 4 News.

Links to the studio: Links to the studio allow the News reporters of a show to communicate one to one with experts, people associated to the article and witness’s. This is done so that the viewers can see both reaction and responses from both parties without constantly having to switch cameras, they usually run it as a split screen. This helps the audience feel as though the article is not biased in any way although they can still put a spin on a story to suit their own agenda if they have one.