News: A window to the world?

Starting sequences are the first visuals that the viewers will see and they are the first subconscious influence that the viewer will be affected by out of many. The starting sequence can influence your opinion through showing many different visuals that appeal to importance and urgency. As shown in the pictures below, the majority of News intro sequences will use the world to show that they can see over the whole world and suggests they bring you the news from all over the world (International). This can also suggest that the news station is looking over the world without interfering or interacting but giving an unbiased and observational view. This can make them seem like a bystander and gives an impartial vibe to their company. The News also like to use transparent objects to portray this impartial and observational type vibe. They use transparent objects as a metaphor for being able to see through the objects, just as you are able to see through the news and suggest that nothing is hidden from the viewers however, that is clearly not the case. The news also often uses a transparent background so the viewers are able to see through their backdrop and see into the media room behind. This will show the viewers how you can see them working, this suggests impartiality to the viewers. This shows hard working people who will often be informed they will be in the background  which means they will usually look a lot busier to maintain the illusion of importance and urgency for the news.

The law on impartiality is very strict and essential for a news team to follow in order to stay on air. The news are legally required to be reported with accuracy and impartiality. This means they are not allowed to report anything that hasn't happened and they are also required to have the correct info on the event otherwise they are legally not allowed to report it. If they are to show anything that isnt impartial or something that is inaccurate they must instantly correct it on air otherwise their station will most likely be shut down. When it is corrected, they must state clearly what they have reported wrongly and correct it, admitting their mistake. This law is stated in 5.1 and 5.2 of the OFCOM broadcast code. This is a certain amount of rules which TV stations/channels must abide by to be able to produce content and continue showing content which will be shown to the public otherwise it will not be shown.

 As many people would say the News is fair and impartial, this is clearly not the case. The News are clever and find ways to avoid being impartial as it is impossible to be completely impartial. It will often be masked and not very clear to see such as when attacks such as the London stabbings and Manchester bombings recently, have been shown in a point of view against ISIS. This is clearly not an impartial view when it is reported as they are referred to as terrorists. They are only classified as terrorists as that is how our government recognizes them as such. In their eyes, they are people just doing what they think is right. The News is also not impartial when it comes to what they are reporting. The content which they choose to report on the news is chosen carefully through different characteristics. This was closely analyzed by two media researchers called Gultang and Ruge. They identified a set amount of principles which the News would use to decide which is more important and going to be reported to the nation. These principles were:


Just as the News has a process for what will be put on the air and reported, they also have a process for the stories too. This is called the gate keeping process. This process is essentially all of the people and obstacles which the story will have to go through to be decided if it will be going to be broadcast. It will first start off at the source of the News. They will have to consider if it is a solid source, their reliability and the information has not been falsified. They are more likely to take a story from a high ranking celebrity who is well known rather than a drunk homeless person in the street. They must also consider the evidence into which the story will be based on. They cannot report a story which has insufficient evidence otherwise they may report something which is incorrect and will lose their credibility to the public. The next process is economics. This means will they be able to fund the story and the research into it. These costs can come from having to travel to these locations if they are further away or if it is a last minute story. They might also have to pay for accommodation of the employees if they are to stay there over a longer period of time. This funding may be shortened if the stories which they are reporting may be pointless or do not get good ratings. This means that their funding must be spent carefully throughout the year to make sure that they get the best stories with their budget. Competition is a big factor that may influence a decision to put something on the news. Their competition with other news companies to get the most amount of viewers is important to win to the news companies and helps a lot if one company is to cover a story before the others as it is an uncovered story, it is new to the public and will therefore be more appealing. However, if it has been shown by other news companies and someone clicks onto material that has already been shown they will not want to view it as they may already know all about it from another news company. News companies will always reserve stories just in case their news story is earlier covered by another news corporation so they can have fresh material to report. The News gathering process can be a difficult process as it requires all/the majority of the characteristics of Gultang and Ruges specifications which make up news stories. If they do not have the majority of these, they will most likely not make the cut or will be pushed back to be used as a reserve story if the main stories do not go to plan. Late breaking stories can be a difficult issue and requires a lot of work in order to be able to be presented by a news company. This can set the main story back and may even shorten down the length or cut out the original length of some of the other stories. The one which are cut are decided upon by how many of the specific qualities of Gultang and Ruges theory are in the story. This can often take a lot of work to be able to fit in and will be essential to gather the information for that story before another news company covers it first. Technical issues can be a major setback if it comes to something as important as the main story which is going to be used. Technical issues can occur for any piece of technology whether this is  during the gathering process or during the reporting section of the production. If a camera is to break during filming something as important as a terrorist attack they may lose vital footage which may attract a lot more viewers or may even be used for evidence.

Is TV News a "window on the world"? To what extend does TV news show reality, and to what extend does it construct it for us? 

Please write an illustrated blog post to answer this question.

Begin by looking at how starting sequences certainly try to suggest we are seeing a raw, unmediated and impartial view of the world.

Explain that the law also requires tv news to be impartial (see if you can find some of the legislation about this).

 Then look at the following areas to show that actually it's much more complicated than that:

1. News value (Galtung and Ruge etc)

2. The gatekeeping process - news sources, economics, competition, newsgathering processes and newsroom routines, late breaking stories and technical problems

3. The use of the continuity system and narrative structures we more often think of as used in fictional media

 Finally draw a conclusion answering the original question. Please illustrate your post with links, images, examples etc.