Approaches to Television News Organization and Presentation
Approach to News
Establishing a point of view is essential when considering news. This approach involves strategically highlighting data to captivate the audience. Leveraging elements like impact, affinity, curiosity, and conflict enhances engagement. Personalization, focusing on the impact on individuals and social groups, is also crucial. Humanizing news with personal stories and perspectives, highlighting individual experiences, further amplifies its relevance.
The temporal approach prioritizes delivering the latest information, often utilizing live connections and correspondents to provide real-time updates.
Two other prominent approaches are:
- The emphasis on striking visuals to captivate the audience, often prioritizing entertainment over comprehensive information.
- The focus on efficiency, ensuring viewers easily grasp and understand the news’ scope.
Television news reacts to immediate events, demanding quick reflexes to identify and cover key aspects. This necessitates a comprehensive approach, considering various perspectives:
- Multiperspectivism: Presenting multiple viewpoints through narratives, interviews, features, and supporting documentation.
- Personification of the news: Showcasing the human faces and stories of those directly involved.
- Custom Show: Utilizing specific personalities to deliver news, enhancing brand recognition and competitive edge.
Organization of News
Developing a cohesive news narrative requires clear internal separation and a distinct beginning and end. News doesn’t exist in isolation; it’s shaped by context and various factors. Each program’s structure influences the presentation of news, often imposing specific formats. Contextualization occurs when news pieces are grouped thematically within a program.
Comprehensive Approach to News
News organization involves sorting facts, opinions, and data based on selection criteria, visual hierarchy, and sequencing.
1. News Headlines
Headlines distill the essence of a story. Content organization depends on the chosen summary style, each with unique characteristics explored in the study of news programs. Distinguishing news elements is achieved through various means, including visual bursts, concise titles, alternating voices, and more.
2. Structures of the News
A comprehensive news piece comprises several key parts:
Header
The story begins by establishing context, grabbing attention, and transitioning to the development. This typically takes about 20 seconds.
Development
Several structures exist for news development:
- Rigid and Flexible Structures: Flexibility is crucial, adapting to each story’s unique aspects. Television often leans towards an inverted pyramid structure.
- Common Structures: Most news stories follow a basic structure of an introduction and development.
- Chronological and Newsworthy Structures: Some reports follow a strict chronological order, while others prioritize newsworthiness, potentially rearranging events for relevance.
- Sandwich Structures: Stories with multiple aspects presented separately or juxtaposed, offering a layered approach.
- Tree Structure: Organizing news around a central element, branching out to cover various aspects connected to the main theme.
- Complex Repetition of Images: Repeating image sequences to reinforce complex information, though potentially leading to viewer fatigue or confusion.
- Contradictory Structures: Occur when visuals contradict the spoken narrative, potentially creating dissonance.
Internal Transitions
Transitions link different aspects or events within a story. These can be verbal, visual (like curtains), or sequential, driven by the flow of images.
Close
The closing provides a valuable opportunity for impact. However, many news stories lack a distinct ending, abruptly transitioning to the next segment. In some cases, a general plan or shot provides closure.
The Presentation as Part of the News
Presentation is integral to television news. The reporter’s voice and presence add another layer to the information. While reporters often specialize in specific areas, the presenter usually has a generalist role.
The presentation establishes a hierarchy among informants. The presenter’s ability to convey information fluently and seemingly effortlessly adds value to the news delivery.