News values: notes

In 1965, media researchers Galtung & Ruge analysed news stories to find out what factors placed them at the top of the news agenda.

They came up with the following list of news values - a kind of scoring system to work out what might become news. A story which scores highly on each value is likely to be at the top of a TV news bulletin. Some of the news values they suggested include:

Negativity
Bad news - involving death, tragedy, natural disasters or political upheaval - is rated above 'positive' stories (royal weddings etc.)

Closeness to home
Audiences relate more to stories that are close to their home, or involve people from their country.

Immediacy
How recently did it happen? TV news is very competitive about breaking news – although it is now beaten by social media.

Simplicity
Simple stories are preferred by TV news.  Palestine is complicated, a plane crash is easy to follow.

Uniqueness
‘Dog bites man’ is not news. ‘Man bites dog’ is. Unusual stories make it into the news – especially if there is good video to go with it.

Elite nations or people
Stories that focus on important countries or people are likely to make the news. Obama and USA = news, Outer Mongolia not so much.


24 hour TV news

There are some critical differences between a regular news bulletin and 24 hour news:

• A bulletin contains carefully constructed ‘news packages’ and fully scripted presentation
• 24 hour TV news is perfect for live, breaking news as it happens
• 24 hour TV news is more dependent on dramatic pictures or video that will grab the audience and keep them watching

News values blog task

For each of the six news values we have learned, find a clip on YouTube from Sky News (24 hour news) and explain how it fits that news value. The Sky News YouTube channel is here.

I have chosen this video because although it fits into almost all the categories I think it especially fits into negativity and immediacy. Another category it definitely fits into is uniqueness the reason being that in those times there wasn't many stories of bombings and 3000 normal and innocent civilians dying for no apparent reason. It also fits into the category of elite nation or people because the country attacked (united states of america) is very known to the world and in some sense respected. The are known to be the police of the planet.

In the famous Hollywood movie Hunger Games Catching Fire it applies the propp theory. It applies the propp theory that katniss everdeen also known as the girl on fire is shown to be the protagonist who is on a quest to take down the capitol and keep her family safe. In the hunger games the antagonist would be President Snow as he is aiming to take down katnisss everdeen without sparking a revolution so he has made a games called the quarter quell where every victor from the previous games over the years who is still alive shall return and face the other victors for a special hunger games with the objective to get katniss everdeen killed. In this trailer the propp theory is shown again when haymitch is shown to be the mentor. Haymitch is shown as the mentor when he is trying to help her get through the games and telling her what to do before the hunger games so she can get as much sponsors as possible. 

Todorovs theory of equilibrium is also shown in the trailer of the hunger games catcing fire. The equilibrium is shown when katniss is at home with gale (District 12). The de-equilibrium is shown when their are young adults burning the flag of the capitol shouting in a state of anger as if a riot is about to break, their is also riot police with bats and fire everywhere. The new equilibrium will not be shown as it is a trailer.

News Case Study 1: Channel 4 news.

Our first TV News case study is Channel 4 News. The key details are:

Channel 4 News
Monday-Friday 7pm - 7.55pm

Answer the following questions on your blog. You'll need to watch an episode of Channel 4 News in order to complete some of these tasks - either watch at home or online.  

 


Opening titles:

 


Basic details

1. When is Channel 4 News on? Channel 4 news is a flagship TV news programme presented by Jon snow about current affairs and modern news.
2. When was the programme first broadcast? Channel 4 launched on 2 November 1982 at 4.45pm.
3. What awards has the programme won? Channel 4 has won two journalism awards.
4. What is the media institution that produces Channel 4 News? ITN.

Presenters

1. Who are the presenters? Jon Snow. Krishnan Guru-Marthy. Cathy Newman.
2. What are the presenters wearing? What does this communicate to the audience? They are wearing bright and modern clothing to relate to the younger audience.
3. Why might a TV News programme use a variety of presenters? so the audience is always attracted with the story because if Jon Snow Or Cathy Newman presented all the stories than the audience will begin to get bored.
4. How are other reporters or presenters used in the TV News programme? Jon Snow is used to be the one who pushes boundaries and is known to be controversial. He doesn't really care about critics.Which is exactly why channel 4 news have chosen him to present the stories that may be seen as controversial by the audience or OfCom. hello my name is hello and I live in hello
5. Is there a balance between male and female presenters? What about race/ethnicity? What effect might these aspects have on an audience? personally i think that there isn't a balance between male and female presenters because there are twice as much men presenters than women.

Opening sequence

Analyse the opening 2 minutes of the programme

1. What is the very first shot? The very first shot is a 3d graphical shot of the 4 logo.
2. How does the opening sequence use graphics or images to grab the attention of the audience? It grabs the audiences attention because it uses enigma codes to keep the audience attracted. it also talks about the stories they are going to cover in this days programme.they talk about what they are going to investigate in the story. for example when they spoke about 
3. How is music used in the opening sequence? at the beginning the music is slow when it shows the channel 4 news logo but then the music speeds up as the stories begin to come up on the screen. Also if you've realised that the stories that some people may not be as interested in are shown first when the music isn't as fast then the next stories begin to show and the music becomes faster and the tension begins to build up.

How are news stories introduced in the opening two minutes? Is there just one story or are the audience told what will be coming up later? For each story shown they show an enigma code. is will take the M5 story as an illustration of their enigma codes. In the story thay pose the rhetorical question was it really just a mixture of paint and fog.

Studio mise-en-scene

1. What aspects of the studio can be seen by the audience? (Desk, cameras etc.) They can see the screen and table.

     2.Are the presenters standing or behind desks? Why do you think this is? Are journalists or technology visible? What might these things suggest to the audience? Jon Snow the presenter is sitting on the table because channel 4 knew that the majority of their audience would be teenagers so they wanted to give them the feeling that if you watch our news on YouTube it will be different and a bit less formal. This is good because teenagers would like that.

1. How does the studio use colour? Jon Snow is known for wearing colourful ties so channel 4 made him wear the classic colourful tie. And in the background they made it very colouful.

How news stories are presented

1. How does the news programme typically present a story? They don't put any interview or an introduction except the 3d graphical shot of the graphical logo for channel 4 news.They only showed the leaders debate between nigel farage and leanne then in the end they show an advertisement of there channel.
2. What difference techniques does the programme use to present the news? (E.g. presenter to camera, reporter on location, interviews, graphics, images, video etc.) Jon Snow the presenter is sitting on the table because channel 4 knew that the majority of their audience would be teenagers so they wanted to give them the feeling that if you watch our news on YouTube it will be different and a bit less formal. This is good because teenagers would like that.

1. What types of news does the TV News programme typically cover? Give five examples (e.g. politics, international, sport etc.) Politics mostly for example:                                                                           Inside Al-Shabaab
2. The iraq holy war                                              
1. 
   

Running order
Watch the first 15 minutes of the programme – as recent as you can find.

1. What is the top story? The top story is british border control and immigration.
2. How long does the top story last for? 50 seconds almost half
3. What are the other stories the programme does or will cover? List them in the order they are presented in (the ‘running order’). Border control, m5 incident, nigerian prisoner who turnt out to be a woman when they thought it was a man.
4. How long is each story shown for? 35-50 seconds.
5. Why do you think each story was shown for the time it was? Because they want to make sure that every story is covered in enough detail for the audience.

Audience

1. What is the target audience for this TV News programme? Research online – you should be able to find plenty of suggestions to the target audience if not the official target audience of the programme.
2. Why might someone choose to watch this TV News programme over others?because it is shown to be less formal so it is clearly aimed at teenagers.
3. Is there an opportunity for the audience to get involved in the programme or comment? yes, e media for example twitter or facebook.
4. What audience pleasures (Uses and Gratifications theory – Blumler and Katz) does the programme offer? 

Institution

1. Who owns, runs or produces this TV News programme? OFCOM
2. Does the institution own, run or produce any other TV News programmes, channels or newspapers? almost all tv news programmes.
3. How does the programme fit the TV channel it is on? Because they speak about politics and the audience for channel 4 are usually intelligent and not stupid so they will know if they are being dumbed down.
4. What role does OFCOM have in making sure TV News is fair and accurate? Section five: due prominence and its impartial and accurate.

TV News and New/Digital Media

1. Does the TV News programme have a dedicated website? Yes,  they do and they also have a you tube channel.
2. What does the website offer viewers? An investigation run by channel 4.
3. Does the TV News programme have a Twitter feed? Yes.
4. How does the Twitter feed promote the programme? Yes.
5. Is there an opportunity for the audience to get involved in the programme or submit news stories?  NO im not sure about that.

Representation.

The representation in the trailer reinforces the stereotype that young people tend to be rebellious and filled with rage. We learn this from the trailer because the length of the trailer lasts for 1 minute and 10 seconds and for 18 seconds of the trailer they are advertising the protests and riots occurring in district 12 by the young people who are unhappy about  the current government or what they refer to as 'The Capitol'. Another representation shown is a representation about women/girls In the Hunger Games subverts the usual stereotype of woman. Instead they portray women to be the heroes and brave and ready to take risks. We know this because the main character 'Katniss Everdeen' is very strong and determined for the freedom of her people. In this trailer the representation of black people reinforces the racist ideology that black people are in superior and poorer then white people because when Katniss is in district 12 and 13 their are many black people just working however when she goes to district 1 and 2 their are no black people just white people who tend to be presidents and rich game makers or victors.

Research.

1) Choose two TV News programmes to research.
News-round.
Sky TV.2) Watch your two different TV News programmes on three different nights. Watch the wholebulletin each time and make notes on the following:

Title, date and time of bulletin

• Presenters
• News stories covered
• Use of graphics, animation, video packages, interviews and live links (key conventions of TV News)
• Use of modern or digital technology (cameraphone footage, audience tweets, hashtags, website links etc.)
• Anything that encourages the audience to keep watching (dramatic video, animated graphics, previews of news or features later in the programme etc.)

Title: Newsround.
Date: Since 4th April 1972.
Time of bulletin: Daily... 8:15 AM and 4:30 and 7:00
Presenters:
Nel Hedayat.
Leah Gooding.
News Stories Covered:
1.Oscars
2.Russia/Ukraine.
3.Frozen(2014)
4.Penguins going extinct.
5.Orange Carnival.3) Research the institutions behind your two TV News programmes. Find out the following for each:

• Who owns or controls the institution
• How the institution is funded or makes money
• Any controversial issues or complaints that the institution has had to deal with in recent years

General Mark Thompson.
The institution is funded by the British Government.

4) Find out the target audience for your two TV News programmes. You should be able to find a detailed breakdown online if you search intelligently. If you cannot find anything, write what you think the target audience for the programme would be and why.
6-12

Film Institutions.

Your chosen movie
1) What film have you chosen? 
Hunger games:Catching Fire
2) Why did you choose this film in particular? 
I watched it recently.
Institutional background
Use IMDB to find out the institutions behind your chosen film. Find your film, click on Company Credits and then look for the production company and UK distributor.

1) What was the film studio or production company behind your chosen film? E.g. Warner Brothers, Paramount etc.
Colour Force.
2) Who was the distributor for the theatrical release of the film in the UK?
Lionsgate.

No brand loyalty
1) What genre does your chosen film fit into?
Sci-fci
2) How can you tell it fits that genre? Be specific with reference to the trailer.
Because it does things that rarely happen in this world in today's day and age for example letting people aged 12-16 fight to the death.
3) Is your chosen movie a sequel?
Yes.
3a) If Yes, how does the film use the original movie or franchise as part of its marketing? 
They don't mention stars and directors to attract costumers because their is already a fan-base from the first movie and readers of the book.
3b) If No, are previous films by the writer, director or star mentioned in the trailer? 



It’s all a matter of timing
1) What was the UK release date for your chosen film?
November 11th (UK)
Novemeber 22nd(USA)
2) When did the first trailer appear on YouTube for your movie? Find the earliest example you can and embed it in your blog.
The 21st of july 2013.3) What other examples of marketing (teaser trailers, main trailers, newspaper or TV interviews etc.) can you find for your chosen film from before the film’s release date?

It’s a social thing
1) What was the word-of-mouth like for your chosen film? If you can’t find tweets (probably blocked) use the IMDB user review rating or the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer rating to judge whether the public have given the movie a good review.
This movie is rated 7.7 on IMDB2) Find three quotes (no more than 25 words each) from user reviews of your movie to create a picture of what the public reaction to the film has been. Post them on your blog.
You have to have a strong stomach to stomach some of the things that happen in Battle Royale. Its like Bollywood was sugar coating the themes in Battle Royale and what do you end up with? A version which your granny can watch with you without feeling too offended. If that was the case then Hunger Games should never have been made. Well it shouldn't have!

Risky business
Use IMDB to find out the box office records for your chosen film. Find your film, click on Company Credits and then Box Office/Business.

1) What was the original budget for your chosen film?
$78 million2) How much money did the film make in the opening weekend?
$161.1 million
3) How much money has the film made in total? (Look for the subheading ‘Gross’ which has the total box-office earnings listed).
$409.4 million.

Film Pitch.

1) The ‘log line’ (a one sentence summary of the film's narrative or appeal) - in task 3 above.
Zero To Hero.
2) Brief reference to your film's genre ("this film is an urban thriller...")
This film is a drama and a thriller.
3) Brief reference to at least one similar film ("this film is a cross between The Italian Job and Spy Kids...")
Slumdog Millionare.
4) Brief reference to the target audience for your film ("this film will appeal to the core cinema-going age group of 12-25...")
This film will appeal to the core cinema-going age group of 15-255) Indication of main characters ("The story is based around Jack - an honest guy who gets caught up in a major robbery - and Reuben, the villain who is after the money...")
The story is based around Omar an activist who wasn't as famous before he became a big rapper
6) Brief summary of narrative (what happens in the story)
He lives in a slum and is very poor but then when he decides to perform at a Palestinian protest the video goes viral.