News Analysis

In news reports on TV they use many different devices to put across the piece of news, add bias and encourage the audience to watch their news program or channel. These can be from the angle of the camera to the sound that the audience hear but how does it differ between a news program or a news channel. To look at the this I am going to take a piece of news from BBC News 24 and  from the News at 10. I will be looking at the camera angles, camera shots and editing among others. In the news program the story is about the riots that affected the Tottenham area of London last year and the news channel story is the last flight of the Enterprise space shuttle on the back of a 747.

First off I will compare the use of camera angles, shots and editing techniques. In the news program it starts off with a medium shot of the reporter with them looking straight at the camera, this gives the audience the impression that they are talking directly to them making it feel more of one to one conversation. Next there is some edited footage from the night of the violence taken from the perspective of the police. This uses a variety of camera angle and shots to give the viewer a feeling of what happened and the scale. After this there is footage from the aftermath  using high and low camera angles giving a view of the scale of destruction and showing its location right in the middle of a highly populated area. Then there is a statement from the metropolitan police witch uses the medium shot at eye level to make it feel as though he is talking to you. After this more aftermath footage using the same techniques continuing with a statement from the local MP. After a little more footage from the night it cuts back to the studio where the reporter introduces the next part of the story which gives the context of the event and how it came to occur. This part mainly contains  interviews or statements from people in the area using the medium shot at eye level with a small narrated clip about the context of the event. The last of this report is they go live to the correspondent at the scene who gives the latest bits on information. In the other news report from the 24 hour news channel it starts with live footage of the space shuttle Enterprise on the back of a 747 as it is flying over Manhattan. This is the footage of the whole news story and uses cuts between cameras in the area to always maintain a view of the shuttle. The shots used are mostly middle and long also using panning and tilting to keep the shuttle in the frame. The angles is nearly always low as it would be difficult to film from the air.

Next I will look at the audio in the footage. First off the news program starts with the reporter introducing the stories of the day with a bold tone. After this she introduces the story in more depth giving context and a summary of what happened. Then we have footage with a voice over commentating on the footage. The interviews and statements of people only includes their voice and the reporters with a small amount of background noise. This is all the audio types in the report. In the news channel report the footage just has the voice over of the reporter gibing some facts and a bit of chit chat with the other people in the studio.

Last I will look at bias in the reports using the above as evidence. In the news program report it appears to be quite a balanced report with lots of information and context of what happened also interview with people from the area and from poorer background. Possibly the footage only being from the police's view gives people only their view of events. In the news channel report it is difficult to find bias as the report only really contains a few facts and the view of the shuttle with point of view trying to be made other than it being big news the end of the shuttle era where as some may thing that it allows the way for better space flight.

In conclusion there is a great difference between a news channel and program. In the news channel the news is happening live and thus it is difficult for the channel to add bias, edit the footage well or have all the context and information. On the other hand in a news program all the stories are planned before hand making it easy to edit clips well, add bias and gather all the information and context on the story allowing for a single short time to give all the information to the audience where as the news channels give the information as  they receive it.

News Analysis

24 hour news channel


Shots and Framing:
They use mostly long and medium shots to show space shuttle on the back of the aircraft as it passes over the city. This also allows the viewer to see famous places over which it passes or places they may know allowing the person to feel a part of the story.

Camera Angles:

It uses mostly low camera angles not to create an effect but just because of the logistics of trying to film it from the air.

Camera Movements:

The camera moves with the shuttle as it passes over the city, using panning and tilting, to keep the audience with the action.

Lighting:
The light was just the natural light at the time which slight is slightly gloomy possibly adding to sadness of the end of the shuttle era.

Editing Techniques:
The only technique is cutting between cameras to keep the shuttle always in view and not a to far a distance.

Sound:
There is background noise of the area where the camera is allowing the viewer to feel closer to the action. Also the presenter gives a voice over with some interesting facts of the shuttle and the era.

Bias:
In this report it is difficult to have bias because there is only footage of the event that is live and the can only be a bias in the mood of the event which is made to be slightly sad because its the end of the shuttle era but this will allow the way for a new age of space flight.



Normal news program


Shots and Framing:
The story starts with the reporter introducing the biggest stories of the day, it uses a medium shot to show the reporters face and area around this give the audience the feeling that they are talking directly to them. Next they cut to clips from the main stories. After this is the first story in detail where the reporter starts by giving the important information with the same shot mentioned above to give the same effect. As the story advances they go over to their correspondent who voices over some footage of the event that uses different shots to show the scale of what happened and the destruction caused. Also they have interviews that use the medium shot to make the audience feel as though they are there in the conversation.

Camera Angles:
In the report they use eye level for anything where they want the audience to fell as though they are in the action or viewing it themselves. Also used are high and low shots to show the scale of the destruction and the area as a whole.

Camera Movements:
The camera pans and tilts to look around at the area when the show the damage or footage from the incident but is always fixed on the person if they are talking to the camera.

Lighting:
The light in the studio is quite high to give the feeling of space but during the other shots from the area and event it is ambient or dark like in the case of footage of the rioting.

Editing Techniques:
They cut between the different parts in a way that takes you from the beginning to the end of the story giving you the context of the story and lots of other information.

Sound:
the sound is of the reporter or one other person. in some place the audio contains background noise like the footage from the night.

Bias:
In this report it puts heavy emphasis on the bad and destruction but does give lots of content and information the back this up. The low and high camera angles make the destruction possibly look bigger as it was confined to one street. This is the use of Dramatisation making things look big but if we think that this is very rare in a modern developed country.