Is TV News a window on the world?

Is TV News a window on the world?

The question above is basically asking does TV news show the world in a neutral and unbiased way. Is it Reality in its truest form or is it constructed from someone Else's view of what is important. do the news services get the news straight to the audience with no outside interference.

The News tries to make it look like it is

The news all over the world tries its best to make it look like it is fresh and has just come straight from the scene. News readers also act in certain ways to make it look like the news has just been prepared for you' the audience. I talk about how it does this in this blog post;

News starting sequence analysis.

The news also has many OFCOM rules and regulations it has to follow. These fall into different categories;

Due impartiality and due accuracy in the news

5.1:News in whatever form must be reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality.

5.2: Significant mistakes in the news must be acknowledged and corrected on air quickly.

5.3: No politician may be used as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified.In that case the political allegiance for said person must be made clear and present to the audience.

The exclusion of views or opinions

5.4: Programmes must exclude all expressions of the views and opinions of the person providing the service on matters of political and industrial controversy and matters relating to current public policy (unless that person is speaking in a legislative forum or in a court of law). Views and opinions relating to the provision of programme services are also excluded from this requirement.

The preservation of due impartiality

5.5:  Due impartiality on matters of political or industrial controversy and matters relating to current public policy must be preserved on the part of any person providing a service (listed above). This may be achieved within a programme or over a series of programmes taken as a whole.

5.6: The broadcast of editorially linked programmes dealing with the same subject matter (as part of a series in which the broadcaster aims to achieve due impartiality) should normally be made clear to the audience on air.

5.7: Views and facts must not be misrepresented. Views must also be presented with due weight over appropriate time frames.

5.8: Any personal interest of a reporter or presenter, which would call into question the due impartiality of the programme, must be made clear to the audience.

5.9: Presenters and reporters (with the exception of news presenters and reporters in news programmes), presenters of "personal view" or "authored" programmes or items, and chairs of discussion programmes may express their own views on matters of political or industrial controversy or matters relating to current public policy. However, alternative viewpoints must be adequately represented either in the programme, or in a series of programmes taken as a whole. Additionally, presenters must not use the advantage of regular appearances to promote their views in a way that compromises the requirement for due impartiality. Presenter phone-ins must encourage and must not exclude alternative views.

5.10: A personal view or authored programme or item must be clearly signalled to the audience at the outset. This is a minimum requirement and may not be sufficient in all circumstances. (Personality phone-in hosts on radio are exempted from this provision unless their personal view status is unclear.)

Matters of major political or industrial controversy and major matters relating to public policy





 5.11: In addition to the rules above, due impartiality must be preserved on matters of major political and industrial controversy and major matters relating to current public policy by the person providing a service (listed above) in each programme or in clearly linked and timely programmes.

5.12 In dealing with matters of major political and industrial controversy and major matters relating to current public policy an appropriately wide range of significant views must be included and given due weight in each programme or in clearly linked and timely programmes. Views and facts must not be misrepresented.

 But T.V news can't simply show reality

It is pretty much impossible for television news to show reality in its purest form. because of this television news companies have a series of 'Gates' that news stories have to go through before getting onto TV screens around the world. This is called the gate keeping process.

1. Event happens
2. Routinely monitored sources(Police stations, court houses, political buildings and so on) notify the media.
3. Does the event have the correct news values? news values; gulatng and ruge. 

•      Threshold:The bigger impact the story has, the more people it affects, the more extreme  the effect or the more money or resources it involves, the better its chances of making it onto the news.
•      Frequency:  Events, such as motorway pile-ups, murders and plane crashes, which occur suddenly and fit well with the newspaper or news broadcasts schedule are more readily reported.
•      Negativity: Bad news is more exciting than good news. Stories about death, tragedy, bankruptcy, violence, damage, natural disasters, political upheaval or simply extreme weather conditions are always rated above positive stories such as royal weddings or celebrations.
•      Unexpectedness: If an event is out of the ordinary it will be more likely to make it into the news than an everyday occurrence would.
•      Unambiguity: Events which are easy to grasp make for better copy than those which are open to more than one interpretation, or where understanding of the implications depends on first understanding the complex background to the event.

Audience Identification

•  Personalisation: People are interested in people. News stories that centre on a particular person, and are presented from a human interest angle, are likely to make the front page, particularly if they involve a well-known person.
• Meaningfulness: This relates to cultural proximity and the extent to which the audience identifies with the topic.
• Reference to elite nations: Stories concerned with global powers receive more attention than those dealing with less influential nations.( The recent trouble with Russia for example)
• Reference to elite persons: The media pay attention to the rich, powerful, famous and infamous. Stories about important people get the most coverage.

 Pragmatics of media coverage

• Consonance: Stories which match the media's expectations receive more coverage than those which contradict them.
• Continuity: A story which is already in the news gathers a kind of momentum – the running story.
• Composition: Stories must compete with one another for space in the media. For instance, editors may seek to provide a balance of different types of coverage.

    4. The next stage in the gate keeping process is The the news gathering process where the different stories are reported and gathered. these have to comply with certain laws and have to be OK in the eyes of the regulatory bodies.

The Laws:

Impartiality laws: This is where it is illegal for news corporations to show anything but 'Due Impartiality' on the news being reported.

BBC Royal Charter: The BBC shall refrain from showing any of the corporations views on the matters of public affairs.

However a few laws seem to contradict the laws above

The official secrets act: This law prevents the publication of any information that can be deemd as a risk to the security of the nation.

Prevention of Terrorism act: Prevents the broadcast of any material that can promote terrorist orginisations or acts.

Libel act: Stops the publication of sources that have ufounded accusations.

Sub-judicy laws: These laws prevent the publication of anything to do with ongoing court cases that can influence the jury.

Defence notices: Defence notices may be issued by a commitee consisting of the ministry of defence, the military and media where the government think that to publish or broadcast will risk British defence interests.

Regulatory Bodies:

OFCOM: This regulatory body regulates terrestrial television( ITV, C4 C5) cable and satellite channels and also some aspects of the BBC and radio.

BBC Trust: This is the main regulatory body for the BBC.

5. The next stage in the gate keeping process is the evaluation of cost of a story: If a more expensive story to cover happens later in the financial year for a company then they may not be able to cover it as well as another channel. the main example of this is when the Tienanmen square massacre happened in china. the event happened late in ITV's financial year so they had basically no money to cover one of the biggest news stories ever, however BBC where reasonably early in their financial year so they had a lot of coverage.

6. Competition: news companies are more likely to focus on the stories that have attracted the other news corporations. this narrows the range of stories but increases the coverage for bigger stories.

7. Then a technical run through is made to make sure everything will happened as planned when the news is broadcast.

8. The News finally makes it onto television screens around the world.

Conclusion

In conclusion I think the news isn't a window on the world. It has far too many hoops to jump through to meet the expectations of most likely a middle class older male. there needs to be more racial and class diversity in the news as the view from just one social class as what is important to one person may be completely different to the expectations of another
. However I do believe that television news is getting to the closest it can be because it is almost impossible to completely show reality.