Television: The Medium // Stewart C., Lavelle M., Kowaltzke A. аMedia and Meaning. Pp. 234-241, 250-262.

 

Television: The Medium

 

In just 50 years, television has stripped away our sociable natures. Cocooned in the glowing world of the cathode tube, people no longer know their neighbours. It has dammed the natural flow of human contact that builds friendships, neighbourhoods and ultimately nations. Millions of modern, well-educated people barely speak to strangers outside work and shopping trips.As a result, one of the most precious resources - simple human trust - has been all but eradicated. We don't trust one another as much simply because we don't know one another as much. Television has made our communities wider and shallower.

Dr Robert Putnam Dillon Professor of International Affairs Harvard University

 

Television is the first mass-produced symbolic environment.The significance of that can be reflected in the word that sums up the most distinctive element of human life, the most crucial distinction between humans and other creatures - story telling. We experience the world through stories. Whoever tells the stories of a culture defines the terms, the agenda and the common issues we face.

Television has replaced most stories told by parents and has either replaced or organised what we learn in schools or in church.

We need a new environment movement, addressing the environment that is most crucial to our humanity - the environment of the stories we tell; the environment that shapes so much of what we think and do in common.'

George Gerbner University of Pennsylvania

 

 

On the one hand, television has always attracted criticism for being an adverse force in people's lives - sapping their energies, substituting for imagination and sociability. On the other, it is claimed that it offers stimuli far exceeding any leisure activity that has ever existed before.

Television has been called 'the most awesome godless force' in the modern world. It is a force many people reckon they cannot do without.The US state of New York has enacted a law declaring the television set to be 'a utensil necessary for a family to survive in this society'. Should a New York family go bankrupt, the television - along with clothes, the water supply and kitchen utensils - cannot be taken from them.

Surveys say the average person watches about four hours of television a day.This is one-third of a typical person's waking hours. It is almost as much time as is spent in the classroom - except that it continues over a lifetime.The impact of television on human civilisation may yet prove greater than any other invention, except perhaps the wheel!

Why is television so powerful? The eyes are superior to the other senses as information receivers. Hearing is the second best.Their impact is formidable when combined. But above all else.it is television's apparent re-creation of actual life that makes it the most influential of all the media. We are led to believe that television is a'window on the world', showing us a supposed objective reality. Even in fiction-based programmes, there is a carefully constructed illusion of normality, of recognisable locations and characters, and of course believable incidents.

In fact, everything about it is completely artificial. What television actually shows to us is an endless parade of highly selective images of what goes on in the world - and that includes the news and documentaries.The process of selection is charged with ideological and other filtering mechanisms.Television could be said more accurately to create our picture of the world than merely to reflect what is already there.

The runaway success Big Brother, by Channel 4, goes even further by generating its own mini-reality, with its own, highly artificial rules and values. Not only has the station created its own environment, but also the contestants enter knowing that they, too, can add their particular outlooks to the programme - as indeed, in the voting, can the audience.

 

A domestic medium

'Anything on telly?' 'No, nothing!' This is a common household exchange, according to the University ofWestminster's Paddy Scannell. He argues people really mean that there is nothing out of the ordinary on television - only the usual programmes on the usual channels at the usual times.This ordinariness is precisely the intended effect of broadcast television, he says.

Television needs to be ordinary because it is present in everyone's living rooms. It is a domestic medium that is viewed while people are doing a variety of other things.Television is a regular part of day-to-day life.

INATTENTIVE VIEWERS Research shows that people pay attention to the television screen only 65 per cent of the time. By installing a small camera behind the television screen, researchers found viewers involved in a whole range of activities apart from watching the television set.

Even when they were watching, many people constantly switched channels - often in rapid bursts.The research also showed that many people do not bother to watch programmes all the way through.The average amount watched was 80 per cent of the whole programme.

PROGRAMMES Television programmes contain different and unrelated items, just as a newspaper or magazine does. Almost all programme material on television, however, consists of series formats. A series is a group of thematically related programmes - such as Friends, The X-Files or comedy series such as Absolutely Fabulous and Mr Bean.

The series format developed in the first half of the century as a way of answering the need for a ceaseless supply of programmes.The content of a show could vary from episode to episode, but the format remains the same and can be repeated over and over again. As a result, television became a medium of'difference within sameness', churning out repeated patterns of programming.

MULTI-CHANNELS The rapidly growing number of channels is likely to bring profound changes to the way we all watch television. In digital, cable and satellite formats, there are now many channels that are dedicated to single programme genres. MTV, UK Style, Discovery Wings, and Carlton Food, for example, all have particular topics that form the basis of the programmes that they offer. We are unlikely to watch any one of them for the whole evening - but we will turn to them when we want that particular kind of programme. This in turn will create much more dedicated forms of advertising, as marketing strategies will be able to identify niche audiences.

TIME SLOTS

On the more traditional terrestrial channels, the viewing day is divided into a number of time zones.The most important time zone is peak time, or prime time. Prime time is from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and it is at this time that the television audience is largest. Prime time gradually tails off until most viewers have left at around 10.30 p.m. Specialist programmes with small audiences are shown after 10 p.m.

Early morning programmes tend to be a combination of news, interviews and light enter-tainment.This time slot has not so far attracted a large audience. Early afternoon programmes feature soap operas, quiz shows, cooking, gardening and old films.The late afternoon (after 3.30 p.m.) concentrates on children's shows, comedies, youth and pop music shows and cartoons.

 

A dream-like reality

A recent American Surgeon-General's report on television and violence reported that those who watch more television tend to dream less.This has led some television scholars to contend that, if television can affect the dreaming of individuals, then maybe it is dream-like in itself.Television may therefore represent the collective dreams of society as a whole.

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Peter Wood, of Duke University in the United States, believes television shares six basic similarities with dreams.

■аа Television and dreams are highly visual

According to the founder of modern psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, most dreams consist of visual material.

■аа Television and dreams are highly symbolic

Both television and dreams transform experience into visual symbols.

■ааа Both television and dreams involve wish fulfilment

Many people have the experience of dreaming about something they greatly desire. Whether it be quiz shows or prime time violence, television performs the same function.

■аа Television and dreams contain disjointed and mismatched material

The editing practices of television, for example, offer the chance to 'collide' images the same way that dreams do.

■ааа Both television and dreams are forgotten in the same way

The content of television is enormously powerful, yet like most dreams it is pushed under the consciousness and forgotten except for a few memorable fragments.

■аа Television and dreams make use of recent experience

Critics accuse television of having no past. Television news, in particular, seems to report endless streams of events but never asks why these things happen. Dreams also tend to repeat what is known and has happened recently.

 

 

Television as a bard or town crier

Fiske and Hartley have developed the idea of bardic television.

 

TELEVISION AS A MODERN BALLADEER Whenever there was a battle, a noble wedding, or a murder, the balladeers of 200 or 300 years ago wrote songs and verse about it.The ballads were sung in every town and village and the ideas of the time were passed along from person to person.The verses of the balladeer showed what were the central concerns of the society.

Today, television fulfils this function, telling society at least one version of the concerns of the present day.When television was first introduced, this town crier function was very evident. Most people did not own sets and so they gathered outside electrical retail shops to watch 'the bard'. Television told them, and is still telling us now, of the world outside. As the home becomes a greater focus for leisure activities, the 'town crier' role of television will become ever more important.

 

TELEVISION AS MODERN FOLKLORE Folklore is the traditional beliefs and tales of oral cultures. It allowed individuals to be part of a group, a culture and a heritage. It promoted social solidarity. Television works in the same way. It presents a view of the current morality of society. It shows a selection of achievements, problems and meanings of life within the group of'folk' in the 'global village'.

 

Other purposes of television

Theorists have commented on a range of other purposes television fulfils in the most people's lives.

■аа Television can fulfil the need for information

All people have a desire for knowledge and understanding.Television can be a great educator on a huge range of topics.The reporting of current events is one of its duties as well. It therefore has a responsibility to be truthful.

■аа Television can provide entertainment

Television has taken over the role of the circus,аааааааа

 

■а Television can fultil emotional needsааааааааааааааааааа а

When the preschool child is sat in front of the television set, when the parent watches a middayа film to relieve boredom, when the tired office worker switches on the set after the evening meal, the television is being used to fulfil emotional needs. It may be the need for love, for company, for diversion or the release of tension, or for escape.The ability to fulfil these needs is one reason that television is so powerful.

 

How many hours a week do you watch television?
Less than 12		30%
Between 12 and 20		28%
More than 21		42%

 

 

Measuring Audiences Reasons for monitoring

The need to establish the size and nature of audiences has been recognised since the earliest days of television. For commercial television, this obviously relates to the broadcasters' ability to reassure advertisers that they are reaching their potential customers. As ITV depends almost totally on this source of revenue, the need to provide clear and accurate information is crucially important. It is not simply a question of numbers of viewers, but also of who exactly is watching when.

Although the BBC does not depend on advertising for income, it does have to justify the monies it receives from the licence fee. If its audience share were to fall significantly below its rivals', it would find its funding being questioned. The government would find it hard to continue supporting with a universal fee an organisation that might be seen to be a minority broadcaster.

With the present increased number of new channels available through cable and satellite, of course - and even more so with the further expansion promised with the new digital delivery systems - this does seem to be an increasingly likely event, in any case. How the BBC will cope with the pressures on its core funding that this will bring, is one of the hot issues for the corporation in the immediate future.

Raymond Kent identifies four principal bodies of people who need information on audience composition:

►ааа programme makes and schedulers

►ааа media owners

►аа advertisers

►ааа advertising agencies and media buyers.

 

PROGRAMME MAKERS AND SCHEDULERS need to know exactly what kind of audiences they are likely to attract on particular days and at different times of the day.

The allocation of resources for types of programme is closely related to likely audience-share. Equally, development of new material will require key information on most suitable times to attract the designated audience.

MEDIA OWNERS need to be able to offer proof of access to manufacturers of products to the right kind of audiences for the goods they wish to sell. Nobody wants to advertise at times when their target market is not going to be watching.

THE ADVERTISERS wish to know about both size and composition, or constituency of audiences. They will have allocated a budget to advertise their particular products, and will naturally want to make their outlay effective.

ADVERTISING AGENCIES AND MEDIA BUYERS will want to compare the costs of access to target markets across a range of media outlets, so that they can advise their clients on the most appropriate medium, or combination of media, for achieving their objectives.

 

Methods of monitoring

Data on television audiences is currently compiled by BARB (the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board).This is a private company, jointly owned by the BBC and ITV. Its work is governed by committees made up of representatives from all the major broadcasting organisations, including satellite, and advertising agencies.

In 1984, it introduced theAGB Peoplemeter, a set-top device for monitoring who was watching what programmes, and for how long. In addition, a selected sample of 40,000 households are surveyed throughout the year to gather'more detailed information on individual viewer profiles, and their viewing habits and preferences.

 

RATINGS

Television rating (TYR) is the term used to describe the size of audience for a particular programme. It is calculated by expressing the actual numbers of people who watched as a percentage of the relevant population size for a given area.'Teenagers rating for Buffy, the Vampire Slayer in the London area', for example, is the proportion of all the teenagers in that area who tuned in to a given episode of that programme. If three-quarters of this target group had done so, then its TVR would have been 75 - or 75 ratings points.

With advertisements, of course, these points can accumulate according to the number of times the advertisement is shown.This gives gross ratings points (GRP).

RATING THE RATINGS Ratings points were initially devised as a system of gauging audience sizes in order to supply advertisers with information.This was to assist them in selecting slots that would suit their budgets and target audiences. However, an entirely new usage is taking over within the industry: programming itself is increasingly being determined primarily by ratings success.

Programmes that gather big audiences are continued; those that do not are axed. No real surprises here, perhaps.There seems to be a clear commercial logic to this approach. However, there is also a danger in this appeal to populism. Size alone is no guarantee of merit. Many people feel that the 'lowest common denominator' factor often means that populist programmes are inherently lacking in content.They are 'easy viewing', providing entertainment only - there is never anything in them to challenge audiences or make them think. Should programmes that appeal to smaller numbers be squeezed out, simply because of their audience size? Documentaries on important social and political topics rarely appeal to large audiences: does this mean that they should not be made?

Of course, there is a very large debate around the notion of what constitutes 'quality'. It is impossible to get a universal definition, simply because people have very different priorities in terms of their programme preferences. Indeed, the same individual may have different requirements at different times of their day/week.

Apart from all the arguments that might be had on that topic, there is also a question aboutаа аdiversity in the schedules: shouldn't broadcasters be obliged to maintain a range of programmes? Minority audiences pay the same licence fee/ subscription rates as everyone else, and their tastes should surely also be catered for.

Moreover, what do you do about commissioning new programmes? If you use the proven success of a particular format as your only criterion of success, how do you ever bring in new ones? Many critics feel that a dire consequence of a ratings-driven policy for programming is that creativity is being slowly but surely strangled.

 

The future of audiences: globalisation

What we are seeing is the creation of a global oligopoly. It happened to the oil and automotive industries earlier this century; now it is happening to the entertainment industry.

Christopher Dixon, Media analyst for Paine Webber

 

A profound shift is taking place in the ownership patterns of media companies: previously they were primarily national in character, but now they are increasingly global operations.

A similar transformation is taking place in the nature and composition of audiences for television. The arrival of digital technology has ushered in two separate but distinct developments in television production. On the one hand, the number of channels available has been vastly increased; on the other, dramatic technical improvements have led to CD-quality of sound and the introduction of widescreen.Three significant developments are predicted as a result of these advances.

■аа There will be increased fragmentation of audiences

Viewers already have access to a wide range of channels.The tendency will be for people to pick and mix their programmes, drawing up their own individual schedules, perhaps storing them on extended digital recording devices.They can then 'time-shift' their viewing to suit themselves. Loyalty to any one station will simply disappear.

■ааа There will be a much greater thrust towards globalised production

Economies of scale and the pressures to create hit programmes will lead to greater standardisation; this in turn will have a huge impact on world culture. Hollywood films already dominate the world: fast-food culture has rapidly followed, with sitcoms, chat shows and confessionals in hot pursuit. Cultural colonisation of this kind is likely to continue, with the United States leading the way. So, does global culture really mean American culture? Do we really have nothing about our own society that is not worth representing?

■ааа Greater interactivity will emerge as a significant feature of the new digital era

Home shopping is already here, and increasing rapidly, as is the wealth of information services, such as films on demand, on digital television.The greatest leap, however, is likely to be in the growth of two-way communications facilities.As the technologies of broadcasting and the Internet converge, merely accessing content may not be sufficient to satisfy consumers: the opportunities for individuals to turn into broadcasters may well be what drives the next generation. Personal websites, often with cameras attached, are already commonplace.The next logical step could be for individuals to start generating their own content for transmission.

 

Analysing audiences

Broadcasters and advertisers have their own pressing reasons for wishing to know more about the people who consume their products. Media academics, of course, have an equal enthusiasm to study these groups, but a quite different agenda in relation to purposes and, especially, to methods.

The general history of developments in media audience analysis is outlined in chapter I (see pp. 25-32).The current trend is towards a much closer focus on the way that the people who make up the audience actually conduct their lives.

In a curiously striking way, this trend chimes in rather neatly with the possible scenario outlined in the last section. With the advent of greater

opportunities for two-way communication, the ways in which people communicate with each other will be the natural place to study the social and cultural forces that are shaping their lives. Discourse analysis has flourished in recent years as a new and exciting approach to tackling precisely these areas.

 

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Deriving in part from traditions in literary studies, discourse analysis is concerned with the analysis of modes of communication. It seeks to identify social beliefs and shared cultural values through studying the ways in which people talk and write. All human communication, it suggests, is composed of complex structural processes. If these can be clarified and scrutinised carefully, the underlying assumptions can be traced, and the processes of ideological transmission laid bare.There is in this discipline a particular fascination with social control, and the persuasive potential of dominant interest groups.

The French theorist Michel Foucault developed a sophisticated theory of social processes, which has been especially influential in this field. He saw society as a complex series of overlapping, but separately developing discourses.

Martin Barker, of Sussex University, makes the observation that language is never'innocent'.The very ways in which we talk and write are shaped and determined by the activities and interests of particular groups in society - to which we do not even need to belong, ourselves, for them to be influencing us.AII language uses 'contain forms that structure the contents of what we say'.What we say is laden with meanings that are predetermined, beyond our control, and above all 'create and maintain relations between people'.

Discourse analysis is especially interested in intertextuality: the ways in which media texts relate to each other. No text exists in isolation in our media-rich world.We are all so steeped in the images of the texts that have gone before, that we cannot help but draw from them as we encounter a new one: in the same way that the creators of that text anticipate and expect that we will do.

 

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Television News: Purposes and Functions

аThe world view of the middle-aged, middle-class male is being challenged by those who do not want to be patronised, or told what is really meaningful. We can make our own minds up.

Suzanne Moore, The Independent 7 November 1997

 

NEWS FROM THE FRONT DESK

Only a short while ago, television companies were being criticised for their over-reliance on male journalists and presenters.Today, the imbalance appears to have been addressed: all stations now have a range of women in key positions (although this still does not mean that they are represented in equal numbers). Now it is even possible to have a female presenter addressing female correspondents.The only surprise is in how long it took them to remedy this shortcoming.

The arrival of Kirsty Young on Channel 5 in the late 1990s helped to shake up ideas about the way in which the news could be presented. Perching on the desk, rather than sitting behind it, walking around a bright, busy newsroom, conversational rather than lecturing, she brought a new informality to the craft of newsreading. Other channels were not long in making changes of their own.

Some critics have accused television of 'tabloidising' the news, arguing that these changes have tended to trivialise and dumb down the contents - Channel 4's Big Breakfast, for example. Others have welcomed an overhaul they felt was long overdue, claiming that a less Westminster-dominated, more consumer-focused programme is more appropriate for the mood of the times.

Certainly, there has been much rearrangement of the whole business of news presentation - not least with the historic shift of ITV's flagship, News at Ten, to the later time of I I p.m. Subsequently, there was a tense confrontation over this move between the companies and the ITC, the regulator for commercial television. An early suggestion that the BBC might like to move into the vacant time slot was initially angrily rejected. Later, it did precisely that.

 

THE NATURE OF NEWS

Media analysts J. Galtung and M. Ruge say that all news is actually 'olds'.The regular structure of the story, the kinds of people interviewed, the sorts of pictures and so on - all are part of a pattern.The stories and topics that make the news today are just the same ones that have always made good news stories.They have become traditional: politics, murders, disasters, crimes and accidents are really endless repeats.

Even new and unexpected events are shown in terms of traditional and regular patterns.The old ways are not examined with new perspectives. Rather, the new is constantly evaluated using old perspectives.

 

THE SOCIAL PURPOSE OF NEWS

Coverage of the day's events has always been one of the key public service functions of television. Now up-to-the-minute and round-the-clock, it has also become one of its most keenly contested areas. CNN, the US-based news service, has turned аitself into a global industry,from quite modest cable origins. News gathering is big business, too.

 

THE NEWS AS MYTH

The television news is probably the first programme an adult viewer sits down to after a hard day at work.The events of the individual's day at work are still spinning in his or her memory.The television news presents the main outside world events of the day-the'big picture' to match the viewer's 'little picture'. In some indefinable way, it helps the individual to know it has been a 'big day' for everyone!

Entertaining as much as informing, the news programme is divided into short dramatic 'stories'. Many of these 'stories' are similar in nature to the police dramas and situation comedies that follow later in the night. Just as ancient societies used myths to pass on the tribal identity, attitudes and beliefs, the television news passes on modern society's view of the day's events. Social and cultural identity is generated around the events that are selected for presentation - particularly so in the ways in which they are reported.

It is this mythical aspect of the news that the individual uses to make sense of his or her world.

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THE FUNCTIONS OF TELEVISION NEWS

The essential features of news coverage can be summarised as follows.

FAIRNESS AND BALANCE The news should offer a balance of opposing viewpoints.The weight of differing opinion in the community should be reflected in the news services so that the community sees more than one viewpoint from each channel.

INFORMATION Television news should present an accurate and factual account of the events of the moment. It should broadcast all issues of public importance, including the most controversial.

EXPLANATION More than bare facts are needed. Events need to be explained, placed in perspective and analysed. News and current affairs programmes should examine issues from the variety of viewpoints that exist in society. Discussion should reflect the true weight of opinion in the community.

ENTERTAINMENT Television is an entertainment medium. News and current affairs should be prepared in an interesting and appealing format.At the same time, entertainment should not undermine the community's right to knowledge and information.

INDEPENDENCE The news should be 'reasonably' independent from the commercial pressures that apply to other sections of the television station. It also should be free of government manipulation.

 

THE SUBJECT MATTER

Although news on television is often thought to be about the unexpected and new, it is easily divided into routine categories. Anything that fall: outside the categories or is too unusual does no appear.

►ааа POLITICS covers government, parliament, politicians and policies.

►ааа THE ECONOMY features the stock market and the national economic performance, including trade, unemployment, interest and exchange rates, and inflation.

►ааа FOREIGN AFFAIRS presents news on international relations and also shows events other countries.

►ааа NATIONAL AFFAIRS concerns major crime, industrial relations, the environment, the law and so on. Conflict is an essential ingredient for audience interest.

►ааа HUMAN INTEREST STORIES concentrate on entertainment, rather than information. Celebrities make regular appearances, along with extraordinary animals and amusing'and finally ...' stories.

►ааа DISASTERS appear regularly on the news and the pictures are dramatic, the story could gc right to the top of the bulletin.

►ааа SPORT nearly always appears at the end of th bulletin. Conflict is the essential ingredient ai competitive sport the main focus.

 

This order does represent a rough hierarchy of importance, although position within it can vary according to the precise nature and scale of the particular story.

So what is it that we do not get? There are vast areas of social life that never appear on television news. Little is said about the lives of ordinary people. Men appear more than women. Public life is shown, while private life is seen as unimportant. Personal relations, sexuality, family life, working conditions and so on are all invisible.

Moreover, the point of view in the topics that are covered tends to favour the official and the managerial.Very little attention is paid to those without some kind of status. Locations used for interviews endorse and support the authority of the figures consulted - or lack of it!

 

Roles and relationships in news

The news ranks both people and events according to their significance or power. This gives them a position of importance in the bulletin. Further to that, the structure of the news story itself is also a hierarchy. Important facts go first, less important facts are stated later in the story.

THE NEWSREADER The all-knowing news reader speaks directly to, and looks directly at, the audience.The newsreader is shown in mid close-up and dominates the screen. He or she appears to be in command and delegates stories to the reporters.

THE REPORTERS The news reporter also looks the audience directly in the eye. Reporters are usually shown in a medium shot of head, shoulders and upper body.

AUTHORITY FIGURES Reporters ask questions of people with authority in a given organisation. These leaders are never given access to the newsreader. While talking, they look at the reporter. In fact,advisers often tell them not to look directly at the audience as it makes them seem shifty.

THE VIEWERS Those people at the bottom of the hierarchy are never seen (except in the ratings). They are the viewers.

 

THE NEWSREADER

Television news is a series of disjointed reports. The newsreader is the only link between them.The newsreader is also the only link between the reporters, the events and the audience. He or she appears to know how everything happening in the world has fitted together. This position of authority corresponds to that of a priest behind the pulpit or a schoolteacher at the blackboard.

Newsreaders aim for authority and credibility. The reporters are in the field and the newsreader is almost like a ringmaster, coordinating reports and calling for them from all quarters of the globe. They have to have an air of authority and a suitably serious manner; however, they have also to project an image that is warm and human

To give the viewers the impression that their presentation is 'just for them', newsreaders must constantly look the viewer in the eye.They avoid looking down at their pages by using the autocue.

 

 

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The Structure of Television News

Most news programmes begin with short, one-line summaries of the key news items.These serve as appetisers, or 'hooks' both to engage interest and to retain it once the programme has begun. If interest in the immediate item begins to wander, curiosity about the remainder should help to keep the viewer watching the programme.

On commercial television, the process is repeated just before the commercial break. The intention, again, is to keep the audience watching, to capture people's attention so that they will want to know the detail behind the headlines.The BBC news has a similar midpoint refresher, even though there is no formal break in its bulletins. Television news is constantly stretched between the need to keep things moving and the obligation to go into sufficient detail to do the story justice.

Television news reports begin with a lead of about twenty-five words.This is similar to the newspaper intro.The remainder of the report tends to be structured conversationally.As in a conversation between two people, the events naturally unfold in chronological order.

In contrast, a newspaper story is structured using the inverted pyramid model. Newspaper stories are much more inclined to ignore chronological order and jump all over the place (see p. 417).This structure is forced on newspaper reports because editors cut stories from the bottom paragraphs upwards.

Television news reports are not shortened by leaving out the last few scenes. Instead, scenes can usually be cut out from any point in the report, except the lead.

 

The lead

The first sentence (or sometimes two) of a television news story is called the lead. In television news, the lead is the equivalent of the intro in a newspaper story.

Television news is written for people who are probably not paying attention. Leads must catch and hold the viewer's attention and summarise the important parts of the story.

FEATURES OF THE LEAD

A lead is written in a conversational or narrative style. It is designed to highlight the most dramatic part of the story.The exciting and important parts of the news story should follow, just as they would if you were telling them to a friend.

To tell 'who','what','when' and 'where' is the aim of all news stories. Broadcast news leads tend to emphasise a couple of these aspects, rather than trying to force them all into the lead at once.

WHO is the most important element because the news is about people. Identifying the subject prepares the viewer for the likely nature of the item to follow. In television news, titles are often combined with the names of important or well-known people. Prime Minister Y of Israel, for example. Often first names will be left out if the name is familiar to listeners. Ordinary people are usually given labels such as 'a woman' or 'an unemployed labourer'.

WHAT is the next key element. Unless something has happened, there can be no news. Important new developments, or unexpected events for the people involved, are the most favoured.The hierarchy of importance will shift according to the scale of the particular story.

WHEN can be indicated with the verb tense. If the verb is in the present tense, the news is assumed to have happened today or else still to be happening. Otherwise, the time should be stated.A fresh story is always more interesting than an old one. 'When' also determines the importance of the news event.

WHERE the story is located is also important. It will determine the importance of the news. Faraway disasters rank lower in importance than nearby disasters. National stories take priority over local ones. However, local ones can go up the league of importance if sufficiently dramatic.

 

TYPES OF LEADS

There are four main types of leads and the choice is up to the writer.A number of factors can influence the writer's decision to use a certain type of lead. Some stories demand certain types of leads. News stories breaking right at the moment, for example, cannot be given leads suitable for feature stories.

 

HARD NEWS LEADS are used for first release stories and updates. These stress the immediacy of the event and rely on information that is timely. Hard news leads diminish in value as time passes. A hard news lead is shown below.

лTWO PEOPLE ARE DEAD AND 40,000 ARE HOMELESS TONIGHT IN THE WAKE OF

HURRICANE ANDREW.WHICH RIPPED THROUGH THE BAHAMAS LAST NIGHT╗.

 

FEATURE LEADS are used for background stories if 'when' is not a main factor. For example, a story on a terrorist group planting a bomb is hard news. A story about the growth of terrorism in the Middle East is a feature story and could be held for several days without losing its importance.A feature lead is shown below.

лTHOUSANDS OF TOURISTS COULD BE HOLIDAYING IN SPACE IN THE NEXT 30 YEARS UNDER A BOLD NEW AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAM╗.

 

SOFT NEWS LEADS introduce a story with a human-interest angle. Soft news focuses on celebrities and the unusual antics of ordinary people. A soft news lead is shown below.

лLOLLIPOP LADIES IN LIVERPOOL-THE LATEST VICTIMS OF ROAD RAGE-ARE SIGNING UP FOR SELF-DEFENCE TRAINING TO LEARN HOW TO COPE WITH AGGRESSIVE DRIVERS╗.

 

THROWAWAY LEADS were developed with the understanding that people are not paying full attention to the television set. They may be involved in any number of distracting activities. To help the audience, the facts are repeated later in the story - often in the second sentence. Viewers do not notice, however, because the wording is different and detail is added. The throwaway lead simply cues them to listen to the story and catch the details on the second time round.

A throwaway lead is shown below, with the repetition underlined. Note that a few extra facts are added to hide the repetition in this case, although many throwaway leads simply repeat the same details in a different way.

лTHE BRISTOL HEADQUARTERS OF A BIKERS-GROUP WAS BLOWN APART EARLY THIS MORNING.

THE FRONT OF THE HELLS ANGELS' BRICK HIDEOUT IN THE ST PAUL'S AREA WAS BLOWN OUT BY THE BLAST AT ABOUT 8.30AM╗.

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UMBRELLA LEADS are used to connect two or more stories to give the appearance of a flow of stories. A shared theme is found to tie them together.

аThis is the umbrella lead:

THE NATION'S ECONOMY DOMINATES THE NEWS TONIGHT.

This is the lead for story one:

BUSINESS HAS GIVEN THE THUMBS DOWN TO TALK OF FURTHER INTEREST RATE RISES ... Story one follows on from here. This is the lead for story two: THE JOBLESS RATE HAS GONE UP MORE THAN I PER CENT THIS QUARTER ... Story two follows on from here,

 

 

 

Television News Grammar

Television news has developed its own grammatical conventions in the half century or so since the first broadcasts. Both functional grammar and traditional grammar can explain how the news message is structured.

 

Traditional grammar

VERB TENSES

Television journalists write in the present tense or the present perfect tense.This is because these tenses go naturally with the pictures on the news clip, showing events as they are actually happening. Newspaper journalists, on the other hand, write in the past tense.

PRESENT TENSE says something is happening now. The immediacy of the present tense can be used to impress viewers with a sense of urgency. For example:

The government is launching a major new initiative in its fight against the drug trade.

The present tense should be used sparingly, however, as it can sound ridiculous at times.A comedy team once satirised the use of present tense on television news with the following lead:

Hitler,still dead tonight...

 

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE says something has just happened. It sounds almost as up to date and recent as present tense. Present perfect tense suggests the action has been completed or perfected.The finished event is then seen from the viewpoint of the present.

Present perfect tense is made up of two verb parts. One part is a present tense verb such as is, ore or being.The second part, the main verb, is in the past tense - the action is completed.The past tense verb combined with the present tense gives a feeling of greater urgency and immediacy than straight past tense.

Three people are dead tonight following a freak storm in Salisbury.

 

PAST IMPERFECT TENSE refers to something that was happening. It describes the action as still happening, but in the past. It is as effective as present perfect in conveying a certain sense of urgency and immediacy.

A man was riding down the street on a bicycle with a purse between his teeth, and a woman was running after him shrieking,'Stop, you'll not get away!'

 

FUTURE TENSE is commonly used since prediction is a part of the news service. Future tense says something will happen.

A government minister says free public transport will provide the answer to congested cities.

 

PAST TENSE is not often heard on broadcast news. Past tense says something has happened. Past tense uses a single verb alone, such as 'killed', or else combines two past tense words, such as 'were killed'. Past tense is often pushed towards the end of the sentence or story by present verbs at the beginning. In the following story, past tense does not appear until the second sentence.

The nation is in mourning tonight following the deaths of nine people in an horrific accident on the Mi at Nottingham.The victims died when ...

 

ACTIVE VOICE

Journalists usually write stories in the active voice. The active voice makes news more dynamic by focusing attention on the action. Consider the sentences below.

Passive voice: The man's car was struck by a train. Active voice: A train struck the man's car.

 

The active voice sentence focuses attention on the train, which was the cause of all the action. The passive voice sentence focuses on the man's car, which was simply receiving the action. Action makes for interesting news, so news writers prefer active voice.

The key to writing in the active voice is the word order.The subject must control the action.

In other words, someone or something must do the action, rather than have it done to them. A simple way to recognise passive voice is to look for the word 'by'. A passive object has something done to it by an active subject.

News writers use the passive voice when using the active voice would sound ridiculous. For example,'A man was killed by a car today' would not be written as ' A car killed a man today'.

 

Putting the news first

People watch the news so that they can find out what happened.The television news lead must try to summarise what happened and put it towards the front of the lead.The aim is to attract the audience away from whatever distractions they may be involved in while watching the news. In the television news lead below, the news is clearly towards the front.

A helicopter was used in a daring daylight escape from a Paris prison today.

 

In this lead, the most newsworthy item is that a helicopter was used in the escape, rather than the escape itself.

However, putting the newsworthy information first in the sentence can change the meaning, as it tends to remove considerations about who carried out the event and why. For example, in the lead above, the focus is on the means of escape, rather than the escapees. We are prevented from thinking about the motives that may have caused the escape - or the implications for prison security, among other things.

 

Functional grammar

In functional grammar, the first chunk of meaning in a sentence is called the theme. It may be a participant (who or what), a process (the action occurring) or a circumstance (where, when, why or how), journalists decide whether to make a participant, a process or a circumstance the theme of the story depending on which is more , interesting to the audience.

Participants who do something are called actors. Participants who have something done to them are called goals. In news writing, the actor usually comes first.This means the sentence is in the active voice. If the goal of the sentence comes first, then that sentence is in the passive voice.

News writers aim to put the most interesting part of their sentences at the beginning.This means that it will become the first chunk of meaning, or the theme.As journalists attempt to turn the most interesting details into the theme, they sometimes resort to the passive voice.

Protesters were thrust aside today when bulldozers moved in to the last remaining trees on the route for the new bypass at...

The theme of the sentence is the protesters. But the journalist could well have made the actors the theme (or the focus) of the sentence. It might then read like this:

Police and workmen thrust aside protesters today when bulldozers moved in on the last...

Television journalists are very careful about their use of processes (verbs). They choose processes with a strong action meaning and a sense of urgency.

News writers want the public to feel as though the news is still happening or has only just happened.

 

Attribution

A news writer has to make it clear who said any quoted statements in the news story. Failure to do this will lead the public to think the statements belong to the writer, drawing accusations of bias. Statements that lay blame, voice an opinion or may be disputed all need to be attributed to someone. Even first reports of disasters, often sketchy and open to question, must be attributed to someone in authority.

The listener needs to be warned beforehand if what he or she is soon about to hear is a quote or a summary of a quote. Later may mean never to the viewer. Something may cause a distraction and a quoted opinion may be remembered as a fact. For broadcast, attribution goes at the head of the sentence.

Usually the person's title is given before their name, so that the audience can be prepared or 'teed up' to catch the name.An example is shown below.

The Feed the World Foundation president, David Beckmann, says Britain has the second highest level of child poverty in the industrialised world.

 

аTight writing

Stories must be told in the fewest number of words. At the same time, they must be concise and informative. Being brief does not mean leaving out the facts. If there are, for instance, ten main points people need to know about a story, all of these should be mentioned.

American journalist Bill Small relates how, if Moses were to give out a modern Ten Commandments, the television news lead would start out:'Today at Mount Sinai, Moses came down with Ten Commandments, the most important three of which are ...'. His point was that stories should be simplified, but not at the cost of basic elements. Simple words, simple sentences and simple explanations make for tight writing. One sentence should equal one idea.