Is The News A Window On The World?

Is TV news a window on the world? 

What is this question asking? As we have looked at the introduction sequences of news programs and looked at the iconography of them they have tried to connote the fact that they are a window on the world and that they tell everything to everyone about things happening all over the globe, but is this true? After looking in great detail at what the news has to offer we can quite clearly see that this is not true. This because they will only show the audience what they want you to see and not necessarily what you need to. They hide a lot of the content from the viewer such as graphics. The content in the news always comes down to their news values.

How does the news portray itself? 

The way that the news wants to be seen as is unbiased, factual and impartial. I have covered this in a previous post linked here.

However there are some very strict rules and regulations which means that they are not allowed to be bias and fictional. To prove this is have looked at OFCOM and the BBC code of practice. After looking through these I have seen that OFCOM are very strict on their rules which state impartiality in the news.

These are just a select few of their rules against impartiality in the news. As you can see it states in section 5.1 that news has to be presented 'with due accuracy'. This means that what they show has to be accurate and cannot mislead the viewer.

The hierarchy of truth within news is to do with the level of reality within the footage. For example it can vary in anything from actuality footage to reconstructions. This contradicts the news saying that it is a window on the world because sometimes they do not use footage from that actual event they are talking about for example archive footage can sometimes be used in the background. All of this adds to the structure of a story and them not giving you the whole thing as sometimes they are not showing real live event footage and instead using something similar to back it up. Through this they are not simply showing us reality but instead showing the audience what they want them to see.

Why can’t the news be completely unbiased?

The gatekeeping process is the process from which news is filtered out, for example they need to cut down all he important and relevant events in the world into a small broadcast. This determines what stories get onto the news. These stories are justified by everyone from the journalists to the anchors. There are many factors that lead to a story becoming news. These come down to many different elements.

Firstly the news sources and the process from which news is gathered is important. These sources can vary in anything from live action to social media. News spreads quickly and it’s a journalist’s job in order to gather information on a story.

One of the most important things that will make a news story viable is the news values themselves. Galtung and Ruge came up with the first report on what makes a story good. They categorized these news values and explained why they were important in a story. For example for something to make the news it has to be infrequent, it cannot be something that happens on a regular occurrence. Another thing negativity; normally bad news is more exciting for the audience as tragedy is often showed in the news. This brings me onto threshold and ‘elite persons’. If something big happens like a natural disaster and has a large scale it has a good news value, but also if someone famous is affected then it is often news worthy. Other news values include; Unambiguity, Meaningfulness, Consonance, Unexpectedness, continuity, composition, Elite Nations and personalisation. All of these make a good news story. Other more modern news values include visuality, for example if something looks good it will attract the audience’s attention. This means that a story has some good exciting camera angles. Lastly if a story had drama, this means that it has a good narrative hence makes it more news worthy. A combination of all of these values make a good news story.

There are a few laws and precautions that can prevent some stories being shown. If a story is violent or gory then sometimes it will not be shown fully as sometimes it will be blurred out or they say that it can be distressing. Other things such as offensive material cannot be shown, lastly anything bias or impartial is not allowed to make the news as it can be either fictional or opinionated. 

Sometimes there are other reasons that a story will not make the news. A prime example of this is budgeting, if a story would cost too much to produce then it may not be possible to make. If a story happens when a team hasn't got very much money left then it is possible that they won’t have the budget to make it. This has happened before in the world of news when 25 years ago ITV failed to broadcast the Tiananmen Square massacre as they didn't have the funds. 

There are many different news companies in the world. This means that there is always competition between them. Furthermore the ownership of different news companies always has an impact on what is shown. An example of this would be Rupert Murdoch. He owned the majority of all the newspapers in the UK and hence controlled the majority of what was shown in the news. 

Other aspects that can effect what is shown in the news is when there is a late breaking story. If there is a news story that happens during a live show then they will immediately fit it into the production. As a result of this it means that they will remove one of the stories made for the show of the end of the production. This means that not all of the news will always be shown as they have then scrapped the entire story and replaced it with the late breaking news.

During a showing there is a lot of potential for technical problems. When these occur the production team have to think quickly. For example if someone is doing a live report and it cuts out they will either completely scrap the story and move onto the next or they will use archive footage in order to get the story covered. Unless the problem is fixed the story will often either get scrapped or cut down.

Continuity and editing within a story is very important. For example is they were using a pre-recorded interview they will often cut it down in order to make it flow better using jump cuts. Using continuity and editing the producers can add a fictional element and this turns an event into a story.

Often in news stories actuality in footage is not always recorded from a particular event. Sometimes they will use archive footage, this is but a representation of reality and don’t always show real footage from an event. This will often happen when there is a story about war. Archive footage from previous similar events will be used to cover the story. The choice as to whether they use real footage all comes down to the news values.

Conclusion

All in all the news will never be completely unbiased, it will always contain some impartial content and this will never change. It is almost impossible to completely show a ‘window on the world’ for many different reasons. It is very important however to have balance within the news, this is because then it isn't opinionated, this mostly applies when talking politics as on TV news they are not allowed to show their opinion as they thrive to be balanced. On the other hand newspapers can as they are privately owned. These days as people do not get there news purely from reading papers. You can catch up on news almost everywhere as a lot of news is now spread through social media. Because news is now both gathered and distributed through many different sources the consumer will always get many different views upon a story.

I think that the worst thing about the news on TV in terms of bias and impartiality is the news reporters and presenters. This is because they are made up of one very particular type of person. The fact that 90% of these people are made up of white, well educated, straight males of middle class and age from the south of England means that you will only get the opinion of a select few people. Through this it means that there is no diversity within the news. A perfect example of this would be SKY news. This is because of both its ownership and its presentation. An example of a presenter would be Eamonn Holmes, he has a whole separate program on this news channel where he is the host. The reason I am using this as an example is because he comes exactly under the description of the typical news presenter.

Even with all of the regulations and guide lines that are against news being impartial and opinionated the news with never be the window on the world that it portrays itself as. This all comes down to many different factors such as news values, sources and actuality of footage. All of these different elements mean that it is near enough impossible. The way that the news functions means that we will never get to know the whole truth about anything. This is because they only show you what they want you to see and they don’t give you the whole truth about anything. There are always some details that can’t be shown, whether it is down to protection, budget or structure. Because of all these different factors they can never show you everything.

News Introduction Analysis

Introduction Analysis

This is the introduction sequence to the BBC news program. In this blog post I will be analyzing it to show the different aspects of the sequence. 

In class we have been looking at the introductions to news programs. We analysed the iconography within these sequences. 
As a result of this we came up with some categories. - Clocks and time - Connotations of technology - Rushing graphics and camera movements - The planet - Satellites - Geographical landmarks and locations - Transparency - Colors - Fast, loud music Within the majority of the introductions contained some of these aspects above. 
BBC news sequence analysis

At the very start of this sequence I immediately noticed that the visuals start with a partial view of the planet. As you can see it is showing a segment of the world which in this case is China and with the capital city 'Beijing' in capital letters. This is one of the world super powers and has great importance. Another thing is the audio. It starts with a drum beat in the background which is often used in the news and especially in the starting sequences, this is because they are trying to grab the viewers attention. 

The coloration of the introduction is all red and white which also relates the the news show itself as this is the color scheme used through the whole show. As we progress through the sequence it is similar to the start except this time it is Scotland and shows its capital city 'Edinburgh'. This city is important because it is closer to home.

This whole sequence contains very fast rushing graphics. We said that the introductions would be rushed and fast paced because they want to get the news to the audience as fast as possible and show a sense of urgency. In this introduction there are lines that are connecting all of these locations, this means that they are bringing news from all over the world.
The graphics bring me onto transparency. We are looking down at the world through these red graphics. This means that they are showing that there is nothing to hide and shows clarity within the news. The next segment is more zoomed out and shows the entire planet as a view from space. The world itself is transparent and shows that there is nothing on this planet they can hide from us. This suggests that they know everything about all the current events. 
Another example of iconography is the use of satellites. In this sequence I think they have are trying to suggest satellites with the use of the circles that orbit the planet. This is them trying to show the use of modern technology that they are using in order to get the news to the audience.
The colors in this sequence are very deep and bold. This is done to grab your attention as does the music. The music fully kicks in at about 5 seconds and contains a change of strong drum beat. All of these things are there to grab the viewer's attention to tell them that something very important is going to happen.

The last shot in the sequence before entering the studio is a shot of the earth. This is shown from space and shows it from the view of a satellite. You could say that this connotes technology and says that they are an advanced high tech industry. From this view  you see the names of capital cities from all over the world connected with lines to show they have the most important news from everywhere. 

Lastly the graphics in this intro contain what seems like an earthquake with the use of the circles. This shows that when news happens it spreads in ripples from the epicenter of the news.

At the end, the intro sequence cuts into two shots of the studio. This means that it rushes straight from a shot of the world into the studio where they are reporting the news. These are crane shots and show all of the people and the technology that they are using to generate the news and distribute it to the public. The use of technology is clearly shown in the mise-on-scene off the studio. In the second shot we see the news reader at her desk surrounded by cameras and screens. This reinforces how high tech the studio is.

The thing that is more important than the introduction sequence is the newsreader themselves. The crane shots dissolve into a shot of the newsreader. The shots shows a young female which is very common in the news. These presenters are not allowed to show any emotion or personality when presenting the news as they need to show neutrality within the way it is shown. Furthermore people who present the news generally speak in 'Standard English'. This means that they do not have any speech problems or have any accent, these people are typically from southern England. Most news presenters are either young females or older males. The presenter is always looking into the camera and trying to address the audience directly as it is very hard to ignore someone when they stare straight at you, this shows a state of importance. As soon as the cameras start rolling on the presenter they are always sitting at there desk ready to tell the world about the news. This shows a sense of preparation within the news but also shows the urgency and importance of the news that they are presenting. This is shown in the earlier shot as it shows the studio all ready with the cameras and her sitting at the desk ready and waiting to tell us about the news.

Documentary Evaluation

Under the Gun Documentary Evaluation

Original Plans and Ideas

When thinking about the documentary the first things that I had to sort out were to decide on the style that I wanted it to be and the topic. I first started by looking at the different types of documentaries, for example; Observational, Expository, Interactive, Reflexive and Performative. After watching and doing some research on the different types I thought that my favorite type was interactive. This is because it has interviews and it makes it easier for you to follow and just generally the more enjoyable style to watch. My next problem was to think of an idea to base it on. I started off by mapping a few ideas using Prezi, from this I came to the final idea of creating a documentary based on shooting and conservation. I thought this would be great because it is something very close to me and my family but is also very interesting and people would hopefully find it very informative. 

Camera Angles

Generally with interactive documentaries there are many interviews but also content used as cutaways. For the interviews I had to go by the rule of thirds, this meant that during the interviews I would make sure that the person being filmed eye line would be 2 thirds up the screen. Furthermore another thing that I did was putting the interviewees on separate sides of the screen, for example for the first interview I had Paul in the left hand side, this helps with the continuity of the documentary and personally I think it looks better. When filming for the content used to overlap the interviews I tried to get some shot variation; including movements, angles and distances. For example I included a tracking shot into my dad shooting. I think this worked really well and added to the flow of it. Furthermore distance was an asset when filming as I used both close ups of the guns as well as long and medium shots. All of these worked very well and I think they worked and added to the aesthetics of the documentary. This is all because using a variety of shots means that the viewer will not get bored of seeing the same thing over and over again.

Sounds

Sound was always going to be challenging when making this production due to me having to film everything outside. Overall I think the audio in my documentary came out very well. Originally when filming my first interview with Paul I was worried bout acquiring wind noise in the footage and I didn't want his voice to be unclear because of the wind. Luckily when on site we found an area that was out of the wind and still had a good backdrop for the mise-on-scene. One advantage of filming outside was ambient sounds. I took advantage of these and I was very happy with the effect that it gave, for example in the background of the interviews you can hear birds. This makes the interviews sound a lot better and a lot more fitting for my documentary. The only piece of audio that I had problems with was for the second interview. This is because I had to use a different camera and the audio is slightly tinny and I had to turn it up in the editing as it was very quiet in the original footage. Overall I think the audio within my documentary came out very well. 

Editing

For my editing I decided to do all of the main editing in Premier Pro and some final touches in After Effects such as lower thirds. Originally I thought that editing my documentary to make it look the way that I wanted it to be was going to be very challenging. At first I found it difficult as I didn't have all my footage but after I had finished filming it was made a lot easier as I could see what duration my footage would be and after cutting the interviews down I managed to get close enough to the 3 minute marker. When cutting down the interviews I didn't want it to look like I was trying to disguise jump cuts, even though I made it so that each segment of the interviews flowed nicely onto the next part I didn't want to make it look like it was all in one take. I think in the editing I managed to find the perfect mix and I think it worked very well. Within the editing I used cuts and fades between clips, this is because I think it worked the best. After experimenting with transitions I came to the conclusion of using basic cuts for cutaways and in the interviews but between important sections for example different interviews I faded in and out. I did this because I think it added to the flow of the editing. Furthermore in some of the clips that I had filmed I was too zoomed out, but not by much. This was easily fixed in the editing as all I did was scale the clips up. I thought that I would have a problem with this as I was worried about losing quality but overall came out as I had hoped. Lastly for my lower thirds I used after effects. This is because it made it a lot easier to give the effect that I wanted as I wanted a camouflaged backdrop which meant that I had to feather it. Once I had created the lower third I exported it into Premier Pro and key framed it so that I could make it slide in and out of the screen at the beginning of an interview so that I could introduce the individual to the audience, but in a way that would grab their attention. 

Mise-on-scene

When thinking about mise-on-scene for my documentary I thought that this would be one of my stronger points. This is because I had already decided on what I wanted the backdrops to be for my interviews and what locations I could do them in. When on site for my interviews I wanted them to have a good backdrop of trees as it would make it very fitting during the interview. Another aspect of mise-on-scene was what they were wearing. I wanted them to be wearing suitable clothing to what they were being interviewed about. For example Paul is a gamekeeper and so I wanted him to wear his work clothes for his business and I wanted Angela to wear clothes that she would go shooting in. Personally I think that this worked very well. Lastly for the footage of actual shooting it was very difficult to control as it is a very spur of the moment thing so I did my best as director to make it as fitting as possible to the topic. I think that it worked very well overall and the mise-on-scene throughout the documentary met my expectations and came out as I hoped. 

Conclusion


Overall I am extremely happy with my documentary. Even with it being difficult for me to get footage due to the time of the year I think I have done very well. Apart from a couple of small minor faults such as quality of the audio in the second interview I think the rest of it met my expectation and came out as I hoped it would. The parts that I am the happiest with was how the first interview came out as the mise-on-scene and the quality of the interview itself was very good. Furthermore I am extremely happy with the editing side of things. I think it went very well due to how clean and the fluidity of it. Also the use of the lower thirds adds to the effect of the documentary and adds an extra aspect to it. All in all I am extremely happy with the result and am very proud of what I have accomplished. 

The Nature and Purposes of Research

Research

Why do we do research? Research is vital when making any type of media production, and especially for factual programming such as documentaries. It is very important to do research when making documentaries because you need to have a very particular and thorough understanding of the subject but also because you need to gather people’s opinions and facts upon the subject.

Primary research

Primary research is self-driven research into a chosen subject. This can consist of many things such as surveys and observations.

With my primary research I started off by creating a questionnaire on SmartSurvey. This is one of the most important pieces of all of my research as it gave me an insight into what people wanted to see in my documentary and what people’s views were. This is because I did mine on shooting, which can be quite a controversial subject. My survey consisted of 10 questions. These consisted of multiple choice and written essay boxes for people to voice opinions. They were a mix so that I could find out if the correct demographic was answering my questions as I was aiming it at teenagers. Another form of primary research I did was talking to my family about it as they are very involved with my chosen subject.

Secondary research

Secondary research is when you look into existing content upon a subject.

In terms of my secondary research I started off by looking online. I thought a good place to start would be the BASC website as this is the place that would have the most information about what I needed to find out. I looked at a few articles that were people’s opinions on pigeon shooting and what they liked about it, but I also looked at both sides of the argument so that I could get a wider understanding of the subject. When looking for information I also found at facts and figures that I could use in my documentary. An example of secondary research was discovering alternatives to shooting and what the rules and regulations for it were.

Quantitative research

Quantitative research is information that is found out containing fact and figures.

For my quantitative research I looked at documentaries as a whole. For example I looked at ratings for documentaries and what channels showed more than others. I found out that documentaries were a very popular genre and were viewed by millions of people. I fatherly looked at the popularity of the 3 minute wonders and its rating.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research is where you look into people’s opinions such as reviews.

For example I went on the IMDB website and looked into some reviews about 3 minute wonders to find out what people think of them but the main thing I did was look on YouTube and read some of the comments about what people thought about the videos. 

Data gathering

BARB is a prime example of a data gathering agency. BARB is the official agency for viewing figures for the UK.  By looking on the BARB website I found out the quantitative information about documentaries and their viewing figures. IMDB is the official website for almost all the ratings of media productions worldwide. They give a rating out of 10 and you can view people’s reviews on the production.

Audience and Market Research

Market research is made up of 3 different things, these include Quantitative, Qualitative and Hybrid, which is a mixture of the two. The reason that market research is carried out is to see what demographic would have a better acceptance to your media product. You need to have very good background research backed by statistics in order to find out the best target audience. An example of Market research would be looking at competitors. Furthermore in this example look at how often documentaries are shown. As we are making 3 minute wonders I looked at how many documentaries are shown throughout the week on Channel 4. From this research I found there were a total of 20 documentaries throughout this 1 week period which tallied up to 15 hours and 50 minutes. This is a prime example of market research that I have carried out. This information can be obtained using BARB or TV schedules.

When I first thought about what my target audience would be I first though, what age group would be appropriate but yet would not have great knowledge of the subject. Furthermore I wanted them to be able to understand it. After thinking about this I decided it would be best if I aimed it at teenagers. This is because I could then relate to the audience that I am making it for. Also during my secondary research I found out some information about the ages of people who are into shooting as a whole. Within this article I found that there are far fewer younger people getting into it. For me I sore this as an opportunity to aim it at my own age group as there is a lack of young people with the knowledge. Overall I thought that my age group would be the best demographic to aim my documentary at. A professional example of this is 'Cloverfield'; they aimed this at Males between the age of 15 and 34. Another example of how this is done would be through film pre-release. By doing this they can find out what the audience like and don't like about the film and they can give input into what they want to change. For example in the new Batman film they had to re-edit the audio for Bane's voice s it was unclear and they couldn't understand everything he was saying.

Production research

Before I started to make my production thought about what equipment and what resources I would need in order to make it. For example I made a budget sheet as part of my pre-production. Furthermore I also researched into what would be the best locations to film at.

Validity and Reliability in data

Reliability in data is very important and which is why that if you ask multiple different people then you can get a more viable response and have more data to refer too. An example would be when I made my questionnaire; I made sure that I gathered at least 20 results so that I would have reliable data to go from. The majority of people took it very seriously and I was very happy with my response. I thought I would have trouble distributing it but I used Facebook and it went very well.

Overall I think I had some very valid data as on some of the last questions I asked for people’s opinions and what they would like to see in the documentary and so they would have an input into it. From these pieces of data I got some very good responses and valid data to go from. The reason that my data was valid is because of the way that I structured the questions.

Pre Production Paperwork

 Pre Production Paperwork

Risk Assessment 

Production Diary

Production Diary

18th March 2014
I have set up my project and imported my first clip for the documentary. I can now start filming properly as I have started to try and get interviews.

22nd March 2014
Arranged both of my interviews with both my Aunt and my local gamekeeper

23rd March 2014
I have now completely filled in all of the appropriate paper work for my documentary.

24th March 2014
Went out on site to film interview with Paul after college. Collectively got a duration of 2 mins worth of footage.

25th March 2014
Imported all of my interview footage with Paul onto my time line in Premier Pro.

27th March 2014
Have gone out and filmed the last interview with my Angela. i have now got all of the interview footage needed to make my documentary.

28th March 2014
Imported all of the interview footage into Premier Pro and have now started properly editing and cutting it down.

1st April 2014
I have now finished making the lower third graphics for my documentary.

5th April 2014
Had to go out on site to complete all of the rest of the cut away footage. I now have all of the footage needed to finish editing my documentary.

Primary Research Results (Questionnaire)

Results Summary

These are all the results that I got for my multiple choice questions as a part of my primary research. 

1. How old are you?
			Response Percent	Response Total
1	12-14		4.76%	1
2	15-17		38.10%	8
3	18-20		42.86%	9
4	20+		14.29%	3
			answered	21
			skipped	0

2. What is your gender?
			Response Percent	Response Total
1	Male		61.90%	13
2	Female		38.10%	8
			answered	21
			skipped	0

3. Do you watch documentaries?
			Response Percent	Response Total
1	Yes		90.48%	19
2	No		9.52%	2
			answered	21
			skipped	0

4. If so... How many times per week?
			Response Percent	Response Total
1	0		9.52%	2
2	1-2		61.90%	13
3	3-4		23.81%	5
4	4-5		0.00%	0
5	5+		4.76%	1
			answered	21
			skipped	0

5. What genres of documentaries / factual programs do you watch?
			Response Percent	Response Total
1	News		47.62%	10
2	Reality TV		19.05%	4
3	Wildlife		57.14%	12
4	Technology		52.38%	11
5	Society		33.33%	7
6	Science		47.62%	10
7	History		47.62%	10
8	Crime		23.81%	5
9	Biography		19.05%	4
10	None		9.52%	2
11	Other (please specify):		19.05%	4
			answered	21
			skipped	0
Answers for: Other (please specify):			4 answers

6. Have you ever heard of or watched any of Channel 4's 3 minute wonders?
			Response Percent	Response Total
1	Yes		47.62%	10
2	No		52.38%	11
			answered	21
			skipped	0

7. Would you be interested in viewing a documentary based on pigeon shooting?
			Response Percent	Response Total
1	Yes		66.67%	14
2	No		33.33%	7
			answered	21
			skipped	0

8. Do you have any previous knowledge based upon Pigeon shooting?
			Response Percent	Response Total
1	Yes		28.57%	6
2	No		71.43%	15
			answered	21
			skipped	0