Creating Television News

1. Creating Television News

2. Creating Television News • Before the new Millenium, most people got their news from TV, radio and newspapers. • Today, about half of the general population gets their news from the Internet. • From 2007 to 2008, this number jumped 10%!

3. Blogs • Blogs -- short for web logs -- are viewed by about 30% of Internet users and all major news organizations. The writers of blogs use their web sites to post news they uncover, photos and videos, personal reactions to events, rumors, and even their own personal diaries.

4. Blogs • The more valued blogs are often the source of leads that the mainstream media develop into major stories. • Here is a list of the major blogs used today: Major Blogs and News Sources • TV News also frequently source both Youtube and Myspace in news stories!

5. Blogs • This means that today, anyone can be a journalist….. Good or Bad! • We want you to be good, responsible journalists and report news in a fair, impartial manner!

6. ENG and EFP • ENG (electronic newsgathering) is a part of EFP (electronic field production) • Electronic Field Production (EFP) includes many other types of field productions, including commercials, music videos, on-location dramatic productions, and various types of sports coverage. • EFP work generally provides the opportunity to insure maximum audio and video quality.

7. ENG and EFP • In ENG work the primary goal is to get the story. • In 90% of news work there will be time to insure audio and video quality, which is what the news director and producer will expect.

8. The Influence of Broadcast News • We can see just how important broadcast news are to governments simply by looking at their attempts to control it. • Whenever a country experiences a coup or takeover, the media is the first thing that is controlled. • Oppressive governments, like Cuba or China control the media and their messages. • This is called PROPAGANDA • TV anchor Edward R. Murrow, became a journalism legend by using the medium to bring down an overzealous Senator Joseph McCarthy who was spreading fear of Communism to Americans Youtube Video

9. Censorship • Although censorship is often justified as a way of protecting values or ideals, history has repeatedly shown that censorship leads to a suppression of ideas and often to political, military or religious control. • Even with its First Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing free speech, the United States has a long history of censorship attempts.

10. The Reporter’s Responsibility • The FCC expects networks and stations to present opposing views - especially if they represent major factions. Not to do so can spark legal action and station license challenges. • “Biased" is a word that you don't want to hear about your work (especially if you plan to broaden your employment opportunities), you don't want to promote your own view on an issue and not seek opposing views.

11. The Reporter’s Responsibility • Part of your responsibility as a newsperson is to bring out the various sides of an issue. • This means you allow each side to state their views as strongly and convincing as they can. • Not only is it the professional thing to do, but it will also add interest and controversy to your news stories.

12. The Reporter’s Responsibility • Again, here are the Basic Do’s and Don’ts For Interviewing

13. Who Does What in TV News • The news producer is the person who is directly in charge of the newscast. • He or she makes the major minute-by-minute decisions on both the technical and content aspects of the newscast. • Larger stations have segment producers in charge of specific stories or newscast segments. • Some stations will have an executive producer who is over the producer(s).

14. Who Does What in TV News • The news director is the top person in the News Department. This person controls the budget, hires and fires personnel, and has ultimate responsibility for the station's news.

15. Who Does What in TV News • Much further down the chain of responsibility is the on-air director for the newscast. This person's responsibility is to take the plans of the producer and "call the shots" in the on-air phase of the broadcast.

16. Who Does What in TV News • As the title suggests, the ENG coordinator starts with the story assignments made by the assignment editor and works with reporters, ENG crews, editors, technicians, and the producer to see that the stories make it to "air." • ENG coordinators must not only thoroughly know their studio and location equipment, but also understand news.

17. The Reporter’s Checklist • Broadcast news is a highly competitive business and in the rush to get a story on the air it's sometimes tempting to guess at facts or use information from a questionable source. • However, errors in stories not only damage a station's credibility but they can derail a reporter's professional future. Here are five points to keep in mind when writing news stories.

18. The Reporter’s Checklist • Question those who claim to be a witness to an event and confirm that they really were in a position to see what happened. • Use a second source to double-check information that seems surprising or may be in doubt.

19. The Reporter’s Checklist • Double-check all names, titles, and places, and, when necessary, write out the pronunciation of names phonetically. • When writing the story, carefully check spelling and grammar; do the math on numbers.

20. The Reporter’s Checklist • Make sure that sound bites selected during editing accurately reflect what the person meant.

21. The Producer’s Checklist • Once reporters turn in their stories and a news producer or director takes over, many decisions must still be made before the stories are ready for broadcast. • Among other things, the stories must be reviewed for balance, lead-ins (story introductions) must be written, and appropriate graphics must be prepared to support the stories. • Here are five points that should be considered before the newscast goes on the air.

22. The Producer’s Checklist • Review stories for a balance in views, gaps, and missing information. • Double-check phone numbers by calling them; double-check web addresses by visiting the sites. (People are known to get very upset if their telephone number is erroneously given out and they have noting to do with the issue.)

23. The Producer’s Checklist • Check graphics for accuracy. • Make sure the lead-ins to stories and related news promos accurately reflect the content and nature of the stories. • Step back and view the overall newscast and make sure that the most important stories of the day have been covered and that they accurately reflect the most current information and developments.

24. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • Timeliness: • News is what's new. An afternoon raid on a rock cocaine house may warrant a live ENG report during the 6 p.m. news. However, tomorrow, unless there are major new developments, the same story will probably not be important enough to mention.

25. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • Proximity: • If 15 people are killed in your hometown, your local TV station will undoubtedly consider it news. But if 15 people are killed in Manzanillo, Montserrat, Moyobambaor, or some other distant place you've never heard of, it will probably pass without notice. But there are exceptions.

26. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • Exceptional quality: • One exception centers on how the people died. If the people in Manzanillo were killed because of a bus or car accident, this would not be nearly as newsworthy as if they died from an earthquake or stings from "killer bees," feared insects that have now invaded the United States. • Exceptional quality refers to how uncommon an event is. A man getting a job as a music conductor is not news—unless that man is blind.

27. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • Possible future impact: • The killer bee example illustrates another news element: possible future impact. The fact that the killer bees are now in the United States and may eventually be a threat to people watching the news makes the story much more newsworthy. • A mundane burglary of an office in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, was hardly news until two reporters named Woodward and Bernstein saw the implications and the possible future impact. Eventually, the story behind this seemingly common burglary brought down a U.S. President.

28. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • Prominence: • The 15 deaths in Manzanillo might also go by unnoticed by the local media unless someone prominent was on the bus—possibly a movie star or a well-known politician. If a U.S. Supreme Court Justice gets married, it's news; if John Smith, your next-door neighbor, gets married, it probably isn't.

29. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • Conflict: • Conflict in its many forms has long held the interest of observers. The conflict may be physical or emotional. It can be open, overt conflict, such as a civil uprising against police authority, or it may be ideological conflict between political candidates. • The conflict could be as simple as a person standing on his principles and spending a year fighting city hall over a parking citation. In addition to "people against people" conflict, there can be conflict with wild animals, nature, the environment, or even the frontier of space.

30. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • The number of people involved or affected: • The more people involved in a news event, be it a demonstration or a tragic accident, the more newsworthy the story is. Likewise, the number of people affected by the event, whether it's a new health threat or a new tax ruling, the more newsworthy the story is.

31. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • Consequence: • The fact that a car hit a utility pole isn't news, unless, as a consequence, power is lost throughout a city for several hours. The fact that a computer virus found its way into a computer system might not be news until it bankrupts a business, shuts down a telephone system, or endangers lives by destroying crucial medical data at a hospital.

32. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • Human interest: • Human-interest stories are generally soft news. Examples would be a baby beauty contest, a person whose pet happens to be a nine-foot boa constrictor, or a man who makes a cart so that his two-legged dog can move around again. • On a slow news day even a story of fire fighters getting a cat out of a tree might make a suitable story. Human-interest angles can be found in most hard news stories. A flood will undoubtedly have many human-interest angles: a lost child reunited with its parents after two days, a boy who lost his dog, or families returning to their mud-filled homes.

33. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • Pathos: • The fact that people like to hear about the misfortunes of others can't be denied. Seeing or hearing about such things commonly elicits feelings of pity, sorrow, sympathy, and compassion. Some call these stories "tear jerkers." • Examples are the elderly woman who just lost her life savings to a con artist, or the blind man whose seeing-eye dog was poisoned. • This category isn't just limited to people. How about horses that were found neglected and starving, or the dog that sits at the curb expectantly waiting for its master to return from work each day, even though the man was killed in an accident weeks ago.

34. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • Shock value: • An explosion in a factory has less shock value if it was caused by gas leak than if it was caused by a terrorist. The story of a six year-old boy who shot his mother with a revolver found in a bedside drawer has more shock (and therefore news) value than if same woman died of a heart attack. • Both shock value and the titillation factor are well known to the tabloid press. The lure of these two factors is also related to some stories getting inordinate attention, such as the sordid details of a politician's or evangelist's affair—which brings us to the final point.

35. 12 Factors of Newsworthiness • Titillation component: • This factor primarily involves sex and is commonly featured—some would say exploited—during rating periods. • This category includes everything from the new fashions in women's swim wear to an in-depth series on legal prostitution in the state of Nevada.