Tuesday, 18 November 2014

Digital News Production Unit- Analyzing BBC News

I order to improve our News Network, and also in order for me to get a better understanding of News setups, I have decided to investigate BBC News in order to analyze their presenting style, and how they operate in terms of how they present a story, how it leads in to following stories, and whether or not the order in which stories are shown have an impact.
I began my investigation by simply watching an episode of BBC News. This episode in fact:


Something I found interesting was the way in which the episode started. As with most reports, the show started with a teaser of the stories that would be shown on the episode. I found it quite interesting that the stories that were shown mostly involved quite violent and edgy current events, discussing terrorism and overpopulation.
This- I think would be enough to attract an audience in passing, as these two subjects alone garner a lot of interest from the general public. The teaser then ends with a light-hearted story on Comic Relief in which there is a celebration of a 25 year milestone of the charity event raising money.
I think this is an important factor when creating a news teaser, as most of the stories advertised were quite depressing or "voyeuristic", suggesting that only bad things are happening in the world. This could unintentionally leave the viewer feeling quite bad, and as such adding the comic relief story at the end is a really good way for the BBC to end on a high-note and something positive.

The first story discussed was the case of alleged terrorist threats, in which a package was shown. This package contained the use of videos which suggested terrorists had uploaded to the internet, while a narrator voiced over. The piece also contained a piece to camera by the narrator appearing on a busy street. I believe this setting was intentionally chosen, as terrorists often choose to attack places which are busy. Subliminally, this may be suggesting that "attacks could happen here", and can leave a lasting effect on the viewer next time they are in the same kind of area.
This package also contained an interview with Anjem Choudary, somebody who is often assosiated with terrorist threats and pro-extremist muslim views. In this interview, Choudhury defends himself against allegations that he was responsible for somebody becoming an extremist muslim.
Several graphics are shown of the people involved, (due to the fact they couldn't be there in person) while the same narrator voiced over.

This report has shown me the effectiveness that showing stories in a certain order can have, and also taught me the basics of how to properly transition from a studio segment to a package and also how a studio presenter would introduce a package etc.

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