TV NEWS NEWSGATHERING NEWSGATHERING THE NEWS AGENDA THE NEWS PROCESS NEWS VALUES & GATEKEEPING

NEWSGATHERING: SOURCES News Agencies Own Reporters plus stringer Press releases / VNRs Press Conferences Public Relations (PR) Companies Institutions: university, L3, chamber of commerce, etc. Organizations (CAB, Lions Club, Red Hat Society) Local government Anniversary Stories Court cases or Trials Other Media News. Newspapers, Twitter etc. (legal)

NEWS AGENCIES. These organizations sell their stories to news producers Worldwide (AP is a co-op). Each agency has their own reporters, photographers and broadcast crews. The Associated Press transmits thousands of stories and hundreds of pictures every day. They have both footage and edited packages ready for transmission. Associated Press (International organization) Reuters (International organization) United Press International (International organization) CNN – different relationship Network relationship—CBS, ABC, NBC

WORLDWIDE TV NEWS AGENCIES The following are specialist TV news agencies that developed from traditional press based agencies. These are dominated by western based companies whose values are rooted in British and American ideologies. So is international news guilty of media imperialism? Reuters TV BBC News APTN Associated Press Television News CNN

NEWS AGENDA: News Categories How news producers construct & prioritize news stories and set their own news agenda HARD NEWS Politics Economy Foreign Affairs Home Affairs Disasters SOFT NEWS Human Interest Entertainment Sport

THE NEWS PROCESS 1 Producing a news program means defining and predicting the news. Editors (editorial staff not video editors) will be overseeing the planning and preparation of the news all day long with their team. What follows is an example of a typical day. BUT remember a late breaking important story can mean all the planning goes out of the window and everything has to change to roll with the news story OR new developments.

THE NEWS PROCESS 2 Editorial meeting & rough running order Editorial conference about news agenda (9am) News stories assigned researcher & reporters briefed Crews sent out to start news gathering Graphics and studio work organized Video editors & producers prepare short items Producer oversees rundown and assignment development Assistant Producers write up stories Library researchers get back up footage for stories Video editors produce news packages for days stories

THE NEWS PROCESS 3 Anchors prepare and rehearse scripts Assistant producers write final scripts Program is rehearsed & final story selection made Prompter script is finalized VTR inserts / video files are cued up / set up Producer & studio director can change rundown Anchors have to be able to change running order Director oversees process in control room Crew: TD, server, Audio, prompter, graphics

NEWS VALUES 1: Galtung & Ruge 1973 Immediacy: Has it happened recently? Familiarity: Is it culturally close to us? Amplitude: Is it a big event that affects large numbers? Frequency: Does the event happen often? Unambiguity: Is it clear and definite? Predictability: Did we expect it to happen? Surprise: Is it rare or unexpected event? Continuity: Has it previously been defined as news? Prominent Nations/People: Big countries or celebrities? Personalization: Is it a human interest story? Negativity: Is it bad news? Balance: ”and finally” fun story to balance bad news…

NEWS VALUES 2: Jeremy Tunstall 1971 Galtung & Ruge’s news values primarily deal with news stories in newspapers but can be applied to TV news also. Tunstall took a step further and argued that the following factors also greatly shaped TV News. Importance of the visual. If good footage is available the story may become more important in TV news agenda. News stories with “own reporters” conducting IV’s or commentating are preferred. TV News covers far fewer stories than newspapers. The stories are also shorter and generally in less depth. Hard news or sound bite is preferred.

NEWS VALUES 3: Dennis McShane 1979 Dennis McShane identifieds the following 5 criteria as being used by journalists in their selection of news stories. Conflict. Hardship & Danger to the Community. The Unusual. Scandal. Individualism.

NEWS VALUES: Time, Economics & Ratings Time: Only a certain number of stories can be covered in a 30 minute news program. So decisions have to be made which are not only due to news values but economics and ratings. News is rarely allowed to overrun. Economics: It is impossible to have a news crew at every story across the world. TV News is expensive to make so resources have to be allocated carefully. Ratings: Are important to broadcasters and it is essential that the news can hold or even attract an audience. ‘sweeps’

NEWS VALUES: GATEKEEPING 1 Gatekeeping was a term coined by Galtung & Ruge to refer to the decisions made by news producers when selecting or rejecting potential news stories. A select few people are shaping the news stories that are reported daily to millions of audience members and they are shaping and determining what is news. Consider why some events, issues of groups are presented in particular ways such as illegal immigrants. Also why some message and ideological views are rarely seen or heard on the news….

NEWS VALUES: GATEKEEPING 2 Everyone involved in the creation of TV news acts as a gatekeeper in some way as creating representations while they re-present the news. This includes producers, camera-people and also video editors etc. Their decisions depend upon the following. The news values of the institution The news values and priority of them to the show The expectations of their audience Their own ideological values Their education, class and upbringing

NEWS VALUES: GATEKEEPING 3 News agendas vary in different TV news shows. CNN and most American mainstream ‘news’ has a liberal slant. Stuart Hood (1972) argues that the majority of media gatekeepers practice “middle-class consensus politics” that affects their news agenda decisions. Noam Chomsky argued for what he called the Propaganda Model of news – news agencies follow a particular pattern that reinforces the views of the ‘elite’ and provides ‘emotionally potent simplification’ to the mass audience that does not understand or care about ‘power’ – they are all ‘sheep’

NEWS VALUES: Writing Tomorrow – meet in PAC 117. We’ll do some practice writing both based on developing broadcast style skills but also trying to understand ‘slant’ and ‘propaganda’ better. ###