Accuracy:Accuracy is a vital for any reputation as a news provider. You have to ensure the audience has trust in your stories, if you consistently make mistakes and provide wrong information your audience's patience will eventually wear thin and their interest and trust will be abolished.
Accuracy is very vital if you wish to please and keep an audience, they will much prefer to read a story with straight facts rather than information that may or may not be true, for example if you were reporting live on a breaking news story and you are interviewing eye witnesses you have to remember that some people may not remember all the events as they took place and will often exaggerate or even make things up to provide an interesting story. Many interviews will have to take place with eyewitnesses to ensure you get the best possible story to ensure everything you report is as factual as possible.
Before they produce it is very important to take notes that are precise ad reliable, as well as knowing as much information as possible on the speaker, for example their name, job title, description and age. It is also important to note the context in which they made their comment, the way they annunciate their words can be the difference between a fair comment and a biased comment.
Accuracy is more important than speed: if you they can provide a detailed, factual story the audience will be far more pleased, even if it takes longer to gather the information necessary to create your piece.
The presenters should take care to tell the whole truth and exaggerated anything. In the show 'supersize man' the presenter often states facts that are correct, however often exaggerates things to make them seem ridiculously bad making them inaccurate, biased and subjective towards fast food.
Balance:What balance does is to keep factual TV programme fair to both sides of the topic. There are always two sides to a story and the information told to the viewers should be correct, fair and equal. It is important to keep a balance on views and investigate to find information told to the viewers should be correct, also fair and equal. It is also important to keep a balance of views and investigate to find information for both sides of the story. Ensuring that both sides of an argument are shown. In factual TV programming is vital as it prevents a certain opinion being glorified to a viewer, making them believe what they're told without knowing all the facts from both sides.
If your show isn't balanced and doesn't show all the relevant facts of each side of an argument a lot of viewers won't bother watching anymore of your shows as they feel your judgement came into your research process forcing you to become biased and unfair. They must try to remain as neutral and fair as possible as the show isn't about their opinions on a topic it's about showing the viewers both sides of the story, with very precise, accurate information and allowing them to make their own judgement. Towards the end of the programme is when the conclusion comes and this is usually results in the argument becoming biased towards a certain opinion. The end of a programme is the only time it is acceptable to become biased towards a certain subject. Providing there is enough information that backs up your point the viewers shouldn't react in a bad way. For example if you were to do on drugs amongst teenagers and throughout the show you used accurate information, statistics and facts that shown the good and effects of drugs then went on to the conclusion where you become biased towards drugs being negative and effecting teenagers badly it would be acceptable providing you had the knowledge and information to back up the points you make.
Impartiality: Impartiality means to view both sides and opinions equally, to not take sides or make your own personal judgement. It doesn't mean that things will always be fair and it doesn't prevent reporting fair judgements that have a lot of evidence backing them up.
To make an impartial judgement journalist have to gather relevant arguments and present them properly so they don't appear to be biased. If you aren't impartial and persistently bring your own opinion and judgement into a topic your viewers will be displeased and will probably think other information you say will be biased, unfair and based around your own personal judgement. You can get into deep trouble if you make your own judgement based on your own beliefs as it isn't necessarily a fact. An example of a factual TV programme that views both sides of an argument equally is supersize vs supper skinny during that show the presenter discusses how bad both guests diets are, one who overeats massively and one who under eats massively. The show then progresses to switch the diets of the guests for a week in order to show that they don't need to be live on their current diet and that it can be changed for their benefit. Even though the show does not mention how bad takeaways and fatty foods are it also shows how bad under eating or just eating a certain food group can be. I think the show is quite balanced and relies that even though takeaways aren't the best food available still agrees that they can be enjoyed responsibly and speaks about how people should ensure they get all the correct nutrients needed to make their body function properly, balancing the show and making the impartial to both sides of the argument.
Objectivity: The objectivity is to see the whole truth and using evidence and facts and to be fair about it. This means that the reporter or presenter has to show their fair views from both sides of an argument so they don't appear to be biased and this also allows them to have different ideas and explore different opinions. To achieve objectivity firstly you have to be able to stall your judgement whilst looking at all of the facts. Some of the facts you may find may not be enjoyable or make you feel good, but to achieve objectivity all the facts need to be accepted and analysed. After you have been through both sets of facts and analysed them correctly. You need to portray them both equally without being biased in any way shape or form.It is important to get your point across as quickly and as accurately as possible. A good example of this issue being addressed properly is from a documentary called ‘Cannabis; Whats the harm?’ the presenter admits to smoking when he was younger instantly letting the viewers know he won’t be as biased as they make think. He then proceeds to talk directly about the positive effects of marijuana and just how common it is to be grown and smoked illegally. He shows impressive facts, statistics, interviews with daily smokers who have successful lives, basically suggesting there’s nothing wrong with marijuana. However, he then goes onto to talk about the darker side of smoking marijuana, he looks into the negative effects, the negative facts and the lives ruined by marijuana. Towards the end of the show, after stalling his judgement he speaks about how hw thinks that, if enjoyed responsibly there’s nothing wrong with smoking marijuana and believes the laws should be revised, so telling all the negative effects and stories of turmoil may have seemed a bit unfair to him and his opinion, but he was persistent and fair which made him a good presenter.
Subjectivity:Subjectivity is the term given to your opinion or judgement you make whilst discussing a certain topic and is basically the opposite of objectively.
Subjectivity is usually avoided during factual TV programming as this can prevent the facts being used and may result in the programme being slightly biased towards your views, however some presenters may use it to help manipulate an audience into seconding their opinion. It is acceptable to state your opinion on a discussion but it’s vital you mention it’s your opinion and that your opinion isn’t necessarily the opinion of anyone else, this will prevent the viewers from thinking you will be biased towards your beliefs.
Bias:During a factual TV programme it is important that the producer looks at different opinions, views and facts and focuses equally on both concepts. It’s often easy for someone to become biased especially if they feel there is no room for another argument to pose, however presenters have to be careful not to make biased statements or judgements as it can offend some viewers. It is vital that factual programmes stick only to correct information and don’t make statements that support one side of the argument and not the other. A perfect example of a biased factual TV programme is ‘Supersize me’. That show is about exactly how unhealthy fast food and takeaways can be. They use facts and statistics to make up their show, however only focus on just how unhealthy and how bad that food is for you, neglecting the benefits it can have. The show probably feels that it’s better to have people aware of how bad fatty fast food can be rather than discuss alternative suggestions or times it’s acceptable to eat it. The show could potentially focus on what kind of people eat it and look into how you should enjoy it responsibly so you don’t affect your health.
Task 2
News
Studio news reader: The studio news reader are people hired by the BBC news company and have to sit behind a desk and read out factual news to the whole world. The studio part means they can only report news from the studio which is usually owned by the news company. The large majority of the studio news readers keep a serious faces and dress formally and keep a constant eye contact with the camera. This makes the news channel look more serious but informative. For example the news show they all dress in suits and dress's when presenting the news and they also keep straight faces and constant eye contact.
It is important to use the eye contact when reading the news because if you do the audience will feel like you are informing them as if you would in a face conversation if you don't then the audience will think that you being rude and uninterested in the news you are reading. The same goes for how the studio newsreaders present themselves because if they are in casual clothes like jeans and a hoodie then that would be informal to the audience however they would seem formal to the audience if they were dressed in suits.
Field reporters: Field reporters are pretty much like studio newsreaders except they report the news from outside of the studio. They usually report live from areas out side the studio to the studio when the news show is running. They also known as off-scene reporters. The scenes they go live at are usually linked to what has been discussed on the news show by the studio news reader earlier. For example the news report every night at 10pm when the show starts they always have at least one news reporter reporting live from a scene somewhere in the world.
It is very important when presenting the news to make sure that your surroundings are not too loud otherwise if the audience can't here you they will most likely switch channel. The best way to overcome this would be to do a sound check before going live. It is also important to look formal just like the news readers from the studio because you would give out the wrong impression to the audience if you were dressed like a tramp, however if you dressed more formally then you would be much more appealing for the public viewers to listen too and watch. Field reporters doing live reports on certain parts of the news and makes the audience feel much more involved and informed where they can actually see in the video what is causing all the fuss.
Interviewing:Interviews are an important role in the media industry's. They are mainly used to obtain information on certain subjects from people who are experts on the subjects or they can be used for finding out people's opinions on topics. Interviews give most TV viewers the opportunity to find out information they would never have known until they saw this interview. For example on the TV show they interview a lot of football players managers, coaches, etc to get information out of them such as '' who played the best in the match today''. That was an example of what the football players could be asked. It is important getting feedback from these people because football fans would want to know why a player maybe played badly or why they weren't playing in defense. These interviews are important for people because it's usually the only way they can find out what's going on with their favourite football clubs or players.
Experts and witnesses:On alot of the news channels you can also get experts who sometimes come on the show or do interviews with the news channels to give their expertise on certain topics such as global warming, politics, natural disasters and many more. This is very important to the viewers because it fills them with knowledge they may not have known before which could turn out to be useful for them in the future.
News reporters usually do interviews with witnesses on topics like murders, assaults or disasters. The most recent example is where a witness is describing to the reporter what they saw happening when a 15 year old boy was stabbed across the street. These kind of interviews usually have more detail in them because it feels like they are being told the story as exactly as it happened.
Report structure: The inverted pyramid is the model for news writing. It simply means that the heaviest or most important information should be at the top of your story, and least important information should go at the bottom, and as you move from top to bottom, the information presented should gradually become less important. This techniques is used by the BBC news The same applies for the news show structure itself going from most important or dramatic story's first until it reaches the last news story which would be the least interesting or important.
I think its a good structure to use because that way as soon as the viewers switch on to the news they see the main dramatic news at the beginning of the show which would captivate them and keep them watching through out the news show. However starting with least important news first and ending with most important news would have a bad impact on the audience because they would become quickly bored if they switch on to the news on to hear about someone talking about a cat being stuck up a tree.
Documentary
Documentary formats (realism): A documentary format is simply a format which follows the conventions of a documentary. Six different modes have been identified. These are poetic, expository, observational, participatory, reflexive and performative.
Reflexive: A reflexive documentary reflects on real life. for example of this is David Attenborough frozen planet.
Expository: this is a documentary which is less formal that contains visuals which are more pleasing and entertaining to the audience. these don't follow the strict contentions of a documentary. For example 'Nanock of North'.
Observational: this is where the documentary uses only one camera which observes the world. For example 'Lift'.
Performative: This is a documentary which empathizes the subjective nature of the documentary. It also empathizes the emotional and social impact of the audience. For example Martin Riggs 'Tongues United'
Poetic: This is a documentary which focuses on the subjective interpretation of the subject rather than the objective interpretation. For example Robert Flattery's 'Man of Aran'.
Participatory: This is where the film maker has direct address with the subject and is actually included within the documentary. For example Nick Broomfields 'Kurt and Courtney'.
Realism: Realism means interest in actual or real world, which is different from the abstract side. Realism documentaries are based on real life people and their lives, and show what their lives or the people themselves are like. Some documentaries go into detail of the persons experiences using re-enactments of events to show this.
Dramatisation: These documentaries are also known as docudramas which is genre of radio television programming, feature film, and staged theatre which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. On stage it is sometimes known as documentary theatre.
Narrativisation: These documentaries try to communicate events and experiences in a narrative form to gain a greater understanding, e.g. documentaries that try to narrative the holocaust.
