News Values

Negativity: Nepal Earthquake - Sky News

This is bad news as it involves both a natural disaster and death. This story could also come under 'Closeness To Home' as some people may have relatives that live or are from that country.

Closeness To Home: Ed Miliband - Sky News

This is a story that is closer to home as people in the UK are going to care more about the elections as it is happening in the UK and people in the United States wouldn't really care about it. This could also be a story that fits into 'Immediacy' because as soon as the politicians deliver the speech, it is in the news.

Immediacy: Taiwand Plane Crash: Passenger Jet Hits Bridge


Simplicity: Nurse Jailed For Life After Stepping Hill Deaths


Uniqueness:  Mum Disciplines her son after he joins the riot - Sky News




This is unique as some mothers wouldn't really care if their sons were involved in a riot however, this mother, in front of everyone, put her son straight. It is an unusual story that made it to the news because it has a video to go with it. which i rather a humiliating feat for the young irresponsible boy.

 Elite nations: president of america gives a meaningful speech of two Pakistani men who gave their lives for the better good.

Representation and gatekeepers

Representation and Gatekeepers.

1) Whose perspective have Sky News used to present the story?

 - Sky News have used the polices perspective to present the story. Out of 100%, 80% of the news story focused on how police officers were injured, or and over the shoulder shot of young teenagers attacking the police officers.

2) How are the police represented in this coverage?

 - Police officers are represented as vulnerable beings when the news presenter said that some officers are injured and in hospital and also how they are not in control of the situation. They also make police officers seem weak and defenceless as they do not defend themselves whilst being attacked.

3) How are young people represented in this coverage?

 - Young people are being negatively represented as most citizen journalism clips being shown includes young teenagers with their hoods up, stealing clothes, electronics etc. They are also presented as uncontrollable, raging humans as clips of them burning down a bus and a building is being shown.

4) What images and videos are selected by Sky News to accompany the story?

 - Sky News chose the videos which portray the young people negatively, for example, when the young people are throwing rocks at them and chose clips were police officers seemed to look very stable and had most of the power. Citizen journalism videos are being used, however, they have only used video clips that make the young people look over-powering and make them look dangerous.

5) What choice of words is used to present this news event?

 - They didn't use many sophisticated words. However, they did repeat a few words such as 'young people' which suggests that young people have a big part of this riots.

6) What aspect of the story is chosen as the most important detail and included at the very beginning of the report?

 - The most important aspect of the story is the police officers because in most sentences they are mentioned.

7) How is narrative used to engage the audience with this news story?

  - Young people star in this story therefore people the same age as the ones in this video will relate to them.

8) How can we apply Todorov's equilibrium theory to this coverage?

 - Personally, I think there is a disequilibrium which is the riots as this story is filled with negativity and there isn't really a positive angle to it.

9) What examples of Propp's character types can we find in this coverage? Are there heroes and villains?

 - The protagonist in this story is the young people doing damage to the town. However, they are not the hero. The hero of this story is the police officers that are injured/trying to stop the riot as they are being positively represented and the news programme shows more of an angle of the police officers.

10) How might citizen journalism have been used to provide a different angle on this story?

 - To provide a different angle to this story, citizen journalism clips of police officers attacking young people could have been used to make the young people look more vulnerable. They could also use citizen journalism clips of other young people peacefully rioting and not stealing clothes and electronics.

Extension task: Find another news story on Youtube that offers a particular representation of young people. You could look for a story such as the three South London schoolgirls who ran away to Syria to join ISIS. Embed the video on your blog and write an analysis of the representation of different people and groups in the clip.

Case study 4( news round and BBC 60 second news)

News round

1) Newsround doesn't use the key conventions of TV news as they don't present their sports story last, they present it at the beginning with the serious stories.

2) The presenters of Newsround are Jenny Lawrence, Hayley Hassall, Martin Dougan and Sonali Shah. Newsround has a variety of presenters so that they don't get told that they are only employing one race and one gender of presenters. They are trying to have a variety of ages, races and both male and female to widen their viewing figures. 

3) John Craven was the original presenter however he died.

4) The studio is quite colourful and the presenter sits on a sofa while presenting news which shows that the programme is quite informal and friendly unlike BBC News which is formal and traditional news. Technology like an iPad is used in the programme to read the news from. The presenter has a laptop and iPad in front of them most of the time.

5) The opening sequence to Newsround fits the key conventions of TV news because it has graphics and lasts around 3 to 5 seconds.

6) Newsround typically presents a news story with the presenter to the camera and then shows clips of the news story that it is presenting. It has many graphics and makes the story clear and understandable.

7) The target audience for Newsround is 8 to 15 year olds.

8) There is an opportunity for the audience to get involved in the programme by visiting the website and sending in their views. Young people are always featuring in the programme. For example, they were interviewed about what they thought about Scotland becoming and independent country. They were also given the chance to interview a labour party politician. This indicates that the programme's target audience is young children as they could have chosen adults to be interviewed or ask questions however they used children which indicates that the audience is supposed to be a young audience.

9) The royal baby is first story covered which explains why the baby was called 'Charlotte Elizabeth Diana'. The second story was a positive representation of the migrants in the sea trying to find a safe place to live. The third story was a story about what children thought about Scotland becoming an independent country. The fourth story was a sports story. The fifth story was of young children interviewing a labour party politician.

BBC Three 60 second news

1) BBC 60 second news does not use key conventions of TV news as it is completely the opposite of a normal TV news programme. It's news is presented on two graphic and animated iPad's. They do not have TV news packages and they present their news stories really fast. They have words written on the bottom of the screen that go really fast and are written informally when telling serious news.

2) The main presenter is Sam Naz. Previous presenters include Tasmin Lucia-Khan, Andy May, Matt Cooke, James Dagwell and Claudia-Liza Armah. Their ages vary and they are dressed formally.

3) No.

4) The studio is not brightly coloured however the presenter wears formal clothing and presents the news formally but once the screen changes to two iPad's, which the news is presented on, the news and everything that is presented becomes informal. Graphics are used in the presentation of the news throughout the whole programme as there are many things shown on the screen at once.

5) The opening 30 seconds of 60 seconds news do not fit TV news' key conventions. The first 3 seconds are the graphics and 4 after that are of the presenter presenting the news.

6) BBC 60 Second News typically presents a news story with graphics, animations and images.

7) The target for 60 second news is mainly a young audience of 12-20.

8) People can get involved with the channel by sending in their views and news stories. They can visit their website to find out more.

9) The stories that they cover are about the elections and the royal baby.

General Election

Testing what you've learned...

1) What is the angle of a news story? Give an example to explain your answer. This is the way it is perceived due to  the perspective it is shown from e.g. protester violence could be triggered by police rioters violating the protesters but on a news show it could be shown the other way around that the protesters start the violence due to the government demanding them to do such a thing.

2) What is the difference between tabloid and broadsheet news coverage? the difference is that broadsheet is serious and is more about politics whereas tabloids are more celebrity gossip and the new things to wear and buy. Also the layout for tabloids are more big headline with colour whereas broadsheet have more simple an sophisticated layouts with sand serif headings.

3) What would be an example of a tabloid-style TV news programme? A tabloid style programme could be news round because it has flashy animations which is a form of dummying down which also shows that it is a tabloid news programme.

4) What would be an example of a broadsheet-style TV news programme? An example of a broadsheet TV news programme would be BBC news at 10.

5) What is the difference between international, national, regional and local news coverage? The difference between these 4 types of news coverage is international is world wide, national is country news, regional is city news and local news is town news.

Answer the questions on the election coverage clips...

BBC News election story - via YouTube

1) Is this international, national, regional or local news? How can you tell?this is national news because BBC stand for British Broadcasting Corporation therefore its British news which is national also the election effects the united kingdom therefore its a national news added to the previous fact that it is being broadcast by a national tv news programme.


2) What angle does the report take on the story?They take a wide UK angle. They look at different locations in the UK and state what the parties have to offer.

3) Is this more tabloid or broadsheet-style coverage?I would say its fifty fifty because the manor that they discuss the election in is really posh and intelligent and respectful so they don't speak out of line and give others a chance to talk rather then going at one another but as well as that you may have  noticed there are quite a few forms of dumming down like the animations shown that contain data of the number of votes and seats in the house of parliament for each party which is fits into tabloid.

4) What kind of audience would you expect to watch this type of TV news programme? Why? i would expect a  more mature and elder group to watch this tv news programme because the news is presented in a rather upright formal way as elders would be perceived to talk and act like.


Sky News election story not available online - use your notes

1) Is this international, national, regional or local news? How can you tell? National as this story affects the whole nation.

2) What angle does the report take on the story?t was far more right-winged than any other news programme as they offered far more coverage to political parties and only a few seconds to left-winged parties such as Labour.

3) Is this more tabloid or broadsheet-style coverage?I would say sky is a bit of both because it has a fair amount of animations to declare it b being tabloid and a fair amount of formal news telling to suggest its broadsheet.

4) What kind of audience would you expect to watch this type of TV news programme? Why?Right-winged people who have very traditional views on society as the coverage of political parties such as the Conservatives are greater represented.

STV (Scottish) coverage of the election story

1) Is this international, national, regional or local news? How can you tell?I would say it is national because iot presents Scottish news stories as well as England news story's like the general election.

2) What angle does the report take on the story?The views of people living in Scotland.

3) Is this more tabloid or broadsheet-style coverage?I would say its more broadsheet

4) What kind of audience would you expect to watch this type of TV news programme? Why?I think most of the Scottish population would watch this as their country is a part of the story.

Channel 4 News coverage of the election story.

1) Is this international, national, regional or local news? How can you tell?This is national news because only people in the UK will be interested as this election will determine the prime minister of the UK.

2) What angle does the report take on the story?Channel 4 has an angle on all parties.

3) Is this more tabloid or broadsheet-style coverage?i would say its more broadsheet

4) What kind of audience would you expect to watch this type of TV news programme? WhyChannel 4 is most likely going to be viewed by 16-32 adults or ABC1 adults.