Forms and Styles of News Reporting

Forms and Styles of News Reporting

There are many features involved when creating a radio news bulletin:

·      Bulletin- this can last between 90 seconds and 15 minutes. They include a multiple number of stories that are either, local, national or international depending on the station.

·      Headline- this would be the main story of the day, which is usually mentioned first in a bulletin as it is seen as the most important. Headlines are short, snappy and not in depth. They are often played on the half hour. It gets the main story across without audio clips so it teases the audience for the main bulletin.

·      Copy Only- when the newsreader is reading a news story with no audio attached so it will be just them speaking throughout that story. It may be a story that is not very important so that there has not been any need for interviews

·      Copy with Audio- where the news reader reads the story with the facts and with the audio that links in with the story, the audio could be an interview or a sound-bite. By adding the audio more information can get across and give more depth to the story and creates an atmosphere. The clips normally last between 8-20 seconds.

·      Wrap- the main newsreader gives the main facts from the news story and then it cuts to an audio clip of either a vox-pop or interview and after the newsreader continues to speak about the topic.

·      Vox-Pop- this is where a story could use the public’s opinion about a story so they answer simple questions. The journalist approaches people in the street. Normally about 3-5 different people are in a vox-pop to get a range of opinions.

·      Two Way- is the reporter having a conversation with the correspondent, so the reporter can then ask questions and the correspondent can then give more vital information. The correspondent can be on the scene or in the studio and a mix up of voices keeps the audience listening because it is not just one voice

·      Live Cross- this is when the main news reporter on the show is introducing a reporter who is live where the action is happening. They give information about what is happening so the listeners can understand more about what is going on.

·      Ident- radio or television stations or networks identifying themselves on air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name.

·      Voicers- when the main reporter is giving the information and facts from the news story, then it cuts from the reporter to a different reporter giving more facts. By using two different voices it keeps the listeners interested and adds a break up from just the one voice, it also allows more facts to be included.

The two news broadcasts that I have decided to listen too is Metro Radio and Radio 1 Newsbeat. Metro Radio broadcasts normally last for 90 seconds on the hour, whereas Radio 1 lasts for 15 minutes from quarter too- to the hour.

Metro Radio News

Introduction of reporter by presenter (the majority of stories are local)

Story 1- Labour budget day (national- copy+audio)

Story 2- Unemployment fallen in region (copy only)

Story 3- Shotgun in Ashington (copy only)

Story 4- Stretch of coastline in Seaham closed (copy only)

Story 5- New £1 coin (national-copy and audio)

              Weather.

BBC Newcastle

Introduction of reporter by presenter

Story 1- Malaysian Airline flight MH370 (international story- copy+audio)

Story 2- 23 year-old soldier charged with murder of 32 year-old soldier in Shrewsbury (national- voicer)

Story 3- Michael Schumacher improvements (sport/national- copy only)

Story 4- Football influential on younger generation (sport- copy+audio)

Story 5- EU Referendum (national- copy only)

Story 6- 30 years since North East miner’s year, long strike (local- copy+audio)

Story 7- National no smoking day (national and local- copy only/slightly two way)

Story 8- Sports relief backside challenge (national/sports/local- copy+audio)

Evaluation

The one thing that I noticed with the stations is that BBC Newcastle has eight stories whereas Metro Radio only has five. This is because Metro has 90 seconds to do their bulletin compared to BBC Newcastle who have five minutes.

On both stations, the category for the first story is national, but both are different stories. The reason why BBC Newcastle has the missing Malaysian plane is because it is a major story and continuing story that everyone is talking about. Since BBC has a short piece of audio with the Vietnam Transport Minister it makes the situation more serious and therefore creates an audio impact. The BBC let the audio tell the story to create an atmosphere. Metro Radio mainly stick to local stories with the odd national story, if it is interesting and they can relate it to their target audience. The reason why Metro have put the story about the budget is because it because it effects everyone and is current news. In the script they have only included the information that effects the North East because the audience do not care about the rest of the country so the news value become proximity and recency.

Metro’s second story focuses upon the recent statistics of unemployment falling in the North East. This is local news and the target audience will be interested plus it is current news which metro radio tends to focus upon. Compared to Metro, BBC Newcastle’s focuses on the negative second story about a soldier being charged of murdering another soldier in Shrewsbury. I can see why they included the story because it is quite unexpected but it does not relate to the North East however because the style is a copy only and voicer it makes more of an impact on the audience and allows more detail in the story.

The third story for BBC Newcastle is about Michael Schumacher current condition, which is a continuity and personality story since Schumacher is a global icon so people especially in the sporting world would like to know what his current condition is. Metro’s third story I thought should have been above the second story because it more unexpected since it is not an everyday event to just find a gun in bushes of a populated area. But I agree that it was a copy only story because not many details would have been released about it so it would be pointless to drag the story on even more.

BBC’s fourth story still carries on with the sports category but is about how football is influential on the younger generation. It follows the recent event of Newcastle United boss, Alan Pardew having been given a seven-match ban following a disagreement which resulted in a violent action by Pardew when he head-butted a Hull player. I think that by having an audio clip of a psychotherapist it makes the story more serious and again creates an atmosphere which gets the audience to feel as if football is having an effect on their child because of how competitive the sport can be. Metro does not have a story about sport at all, but instead the fourth story I think should have been broadcasted on TFM, since it is about part of Seaham beach closing. The reason I think this is because it is not relevant to the geographical area where Metro is broadcasted. Also the story structure is a bit all over the place because it contradicts itself. One minute the beach is closing and the next the reporter says it “maybe” closing. I think the reporter put that story in the bulletin because it could not find another story about Metro’s local area.

The fifth story on BBC is about the EU Referendum and how UK citizens will get to vote on if they want to leave the EU or not. Since this is a big story I would have thought it would include an audio clip but because the decision will be made in a few year time, it would be pointless and the audience would get bored. Metro’s fifth and final story again effects everyone in the UK but, again that is not happening until 2017. Unlike BBC Newcastle, this story included audio in the form of a vox-pop. Collecting people’s short snippets of opinions about the new £1 coin especially if the vox-pops are from the local area because it gives those people a voice and brings the story closer to home.

In Metro Radios bulletin there is five stories and the news, whereas in BBC Newcastle have 8.

BBC Newcastle sixth story is more local since it has been 30 years since the North East year-long miner’s strike. I thought that because of Metro Radio’s target audience this would have been a better story, as it could possibly replace the story about Seaham beach. This story includes an audio clip of a former miner who went on strike and he gives a little anecdote of what life was like during the time of the strike. I thought this was good because for the people who lived during the strike it would bring back memories and again create an atmosphere for the audience.

Another story from BBC Newcastle’s bulletin which I thought would be good on Metro, is their seventh story on National No Smoking Day. This was a copy only with a slight two way because the presenter interrupts the reporter by saying that he “didn’t know that”. I thought that this was good because, although their overall style is formal, by interrupting it makes it slightly less formal and something the audience can relate too.

their last story was about sports relief and local hero Alan Shearer and Robbie Savage doing the “Backside Challenge” to raise money for the charity by sitting on all 90,000 seats in the Wembley stadium, so that is half each in five days. I thought that this was a nice heart-warming story to end the bulletin with and the audio clip makes an impact on the audience to make them feel as if they have to do something for Sports Relief.

Overall I thought that Metro’s news bulletin was weak and could have had better stories in and that BBC Newcastle’s order of stories could have been better with, stories relating to sports all together and the story about the EU referendum should have been the third story.