The first thing you see hen the program starts is the headlining stories, immediately catching the viewers attention then it goes straight into a fast paced opening sequence to the news filled with Computer graphics and famous landmarks in London. There are many things in the title sequence and they are all used for different reasons, a lot of news programs will use transparent objects such as windows for the connotation of showing the truth without covering it up or even altering it but the only transparent objects shown are once inside the news studio and you can see London behind the news readers which shows the same connotation of being able to see the truth without it being altered but it is in the studio rather than being in the title sequence however in the title sequence and in the news studio are lots of images of London and it's iconic landmarks, this is to show that the news is from big places and is large, to show that the news is national, and also to show that it is important news from straight from England's capital.
Although this particular sequence shows only London in the opening sequence their are many other news programs that show other city an by doing this it shows that the information is gathered from all over the world however because it is not done on here it leads you to believe that this particular news broadcast is going to be showing more national rather than international where as the BBC news will be showing international stories. Although there is nothing in terms of famous capitals they do show the world at the start of the news sequence which implies that the news program is covering the whole world so they don't leave out any information but they then do go into London to show famous landmarks with the most effective one being Big Ben and showing the clock face This is because when seeing clock faces in a news opening sequence its implies that the news being shown is up to date, is fresh, important and the most recent event's going on.
However before getting to the clock face there is a lot of fast motion graphics and camera movements whilst getting to the clock face itself which implies that this news is urgent and important, trying to rush things to tell the people about what has been happening and it works really well when you see these rushing CGI graphics going past landmarks such as the London eye and other places so you know know this news is going to be important and it's urgent news, it's a good way of getting the audience's attention especially with the fast paced music to go along side it, a combination of both manages to catch your attention and makes the audience realize that the news is urgent and they play well off of each other and a combination of all this technology shows that they are using everything they have got to get your attention and inform you of this extremely important and urgent news. They use many methods to get the audience's attention and another way they do it is before the opening sequence even starts they show you some clips of the top stories tonight accompanied by a male voice over these voice over's will often be very manly and very powerful in order to grab your attention but it also back's up the urgency of the news being shown so it makes you more inclined to watch it because of how serious the tone of the voice over is and once again it backs up the urgency to the news whilst creating a very masculine feel to the news but these are only the ways done in the opening news sequence however news readers also have certain aspects to how they act and present the news.
The term news reader itself already presents us with an image of them, as in they just read the news and don't try to cover it up or hide anything they just read it as it is for the public to decided and also whilst reading it they do not show any other there personal opinions or views or the subject, trying to remain as fair as possible. There are many ways that news readers present them self as being fair and not being biased one of them is (as I have already mentioned) not giving their own thoughts of views to the news story, just reading it without altering it but how do they do this? Most news readers will speak standard English as it is seen as a neutral way to speak as other accents connote too much about the speaker. Also news readers will always use a limited range of facial expressions so that they make sure not to put there own personal opinion across however there may be a smile at the end with a lighter story and this just reinforces the impartiality of the rest of the presentation. By doing this News Readers present the news in a way that appears unbiased, reliable and trustworthy making the viewers trust that they are getting the information exactly how it is and not having it altered in any way letting the viewers decided for themselves what to think about the situation. By doing this alongside with the opening sequence news programmes create this feeling of trustfulness, truth and honest and allows the viewers to believe what they are saying and believe that it is the most important news across the whole world, they cover the fact that the news comes from all over the world in the opening sequence but how do they keep this message reinforced through out the entire program?
Most news programmes well reinforce the message that the news comes from all around the world with the mise-en-scene of the set, It does it in the sequenced clip shown at the start of the post, having big famous landmarks in the background showing it's from key points around the world and then there is also the outline of a clock over this image to remind viewers that this news is up to date. However some will not have this for example the BBC news, instead it has a busy background with computer screens and people moving around to show it is constantly updating, so they effectively both show that it's up to date whilst being updated as the show goes on but they do so in different ways but one thing they do have in common is the main desk in which the News Reader sits at. This main desk creates and office or even business like feeling to it and along with how the News Reader presents them self with formal clothes it does create a sense of urgency and importance to it. Also the fact that the News Reader is already there waiting for the audience to come into the program before he starts reading the news makes it feel all the more urgent just by having them first for seconds of saying "hello and welcome, my name is.... and our top story tonight is..." This just makes it seem all the more important by just getting stuck into it straight away, The fact that the show opens and the news reader is already there makes it feel like we have just walked into a room, then looking around at the mise-en-scene of the set it suddenly seems a lot more serious, business and formal like than originally thought almost as if the audience has walked into a very important meeting but has been late to it and the news reader just sat patiently and waited for our arrival before starting the meeting this the type of feeling created by the whole mise-en-scene and the way the news reader presents it, making it feel very important, serious and it also creates a feeling of masculinity and feels like a very male thing to watch the news, this is all achieved through the starting sequence, the news readers and the mise-en-scene of the news program, this is all done in the effort to create a news sequence that just delivers the news to the audience in a non-biased way but as hard as they try there will always be some biased opinions that have came into the story at some point. It is almost impossible to create a non-biased news story but as far as it goes, they do a good job of just trying to give us the facts as they are to let us decide for ourselves, even if it is biased they do a good job of making sure it doesn't sound that way, allowing the audience to decipher it for themselves so they can decided upon what they truly think about the story.
News Values & Sources
After watching the opening news sequence at the top of the post we were asked to analyse the news values in each story mentioned and then try to identify the sources of the news. The first news story is the £4 million ransom for a British couple who were being held captive by Somali pirates, with this story I feel the two most driving values of it are Negativity and unexpectedness, although this is not highly unusually it is still unexpected for a British couple to be held hostage by Somali pirates, and because this News event play's a tape to their loved ones, we can see the reaction to the tape so it introduces a visual image showing strong images of the family worrying about their loved ones after hearing this tape. Another point is this story is simple and straight to the point making it easy for the viewers to follow, however these are the values of the story, but what about it's sources? The source is likely to be a police for or some other emergency services from around that area that have alerted the police and media back in the UK so their families can know about them, this seems to be the most likely source of information however there are many more.
The third story tells the audience of how the postal unions are announcing more strikes and the letters are backing up, now this story in particular has meaningfulness to the audience as post is a typically British thing and a lot of people use it so the fact that they are more strikes happening means that people can't get letters to and from each other and it therefore has an impact on the target audience. Another different thing about this news story is that it contains continuity. The fact that they say there has been more strikes announced suggests that they have been following this story for a while just as strikes have been announced beforehand and they were looking out in case any more were announced and there was. Because it has been on the news beforehand it will be easier to get on again because people will want to know what is happening with the story especially if it means something to the target audience. Finally this news story does contain negativity as it is bad news for the whole of the country, the post is used a lot and this could effect many different people in very different ways so this has a negative impact on everyone. The news source for this story is likely to be Trade Unions as it's the unions which are going on strike and with such an outburst and no letters being delivered it's a little hard to ignore it. If the post service goes on strike it impacts the whole country and people will want to know whats going on, so the fact that they have got the sources and the people want to know about it, there's is almost no chance that a story like this wouldn't be on the news.
The last story contains some slightly different news values to the others. It's about a little girl who needs half a million pounds for cancer treatment and the money is pouring in. Just for the fact that the money is pouring in makes it a little more light hearted compared to the rest as she is actually receiving the money for the treatment rather than not getting enough for the treatment so this story uses composition as it balances the variety of news stories on the show well whilst using unambiguity as the story is simple, straight forward and easy to follow and people can easily understand what is going on in the story. Although the story is on the lighter side compared to some of the previous ones it still contains some strong images of seeing this little girl in that condition at such a young age and for some people that might not like the sight of these images and due to this it might make people feel sorry for the girl and make it even more likely that she will gt the money needed for the treatment as it is being shown on the national news. As for the sources of this story it is likely to be non-commercial organisations that had the source of it due to it being a charity story, trying to raise money for a young girls cancer treatment. This is the most likely source but this story is from America so that might be how the story started out in America but when it got big enough and it was shown over in the UK we would have our sources from other news media, however the original news source for this story is likely to be non-commercial organisations. With that in mind it shows how the News can appear to be impartial in the smallest of things they do from the opening sequence, the way the News readers present themselves or even in the stories themselves it shows how the news can appear to be impartial and present the news in an unbiased way.
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