TV News: Side Research

TV News: Side Research

As part of her lecture the other day Helen asked us to do some additional research individually. She wanted us to analyse a variety of news sources and to analyse a few things. Bellow is a brief summary of what I found out these past few days.

News Platforms:  The news platforms I looked at include TV news e.g. sky news (good for international stuff) BBC/ITV BBC3 quick bullitens. 

BBC: useful since it covers general national and international news while also providing local stories e.g. south east today.

Sky: Likes to cover the big talking points, politics and hard hitting stories but will contrast with some kind of positivity. 

BBC3: When they were broadcasting on TV they would summarise the news in a 60 second bulletin form. Meaning they could only cover the big stories yet still encourperated variety. 

Online Newspapers: Since these sites often use tracking they tend to highlight local stories a lot, such as crime in your area or social issues.



Topics:
Helen asked us to look in to what makes a good story, what's dominating the news and what variety there is.

When checking out news broadcasts of various lengths and for various audiences as well as online sources like Kent messenger the Guardian etc. This is what I found dominated the news.

Natural disasters
-affects a lot of people and raises awareness 

National/international affairs
-for example certain countries entering debt, war, or signing economic trade or immisions deals, this helps people understand what is going on around them and what could effect them.

Economy and trade
-similar to above

Sport
- a good way to change the pace of the program and perhaps lighten the tine so people don't get too depressed bored or confused.

Politics
-especially during elections, the broadcasters will put on campaign or election night specials which will dominate media. It literally represents the future of a nation so is very relevant to people.   

Celeb gossip
-A lighter tone than other topics and it opens the news up to a much wider audience who were perhaps disinterested in other topics



Scandals and crime
-Everyone seems to love a good crime story, it reminds us of the sick that is in the world, and allows us to reassure ourselves, protect ourselves and hopefully keep faith in the justice system.

In conclusion what i have learned so far is that the news has to be relevant to people, it can appeal to a wide audience or a niche group of people but as long as you hook an audience (be it with a title, graphics or something else) to listen to your story, your good.