How a News Channel Works

Contemporary World Media

How a News Channel Works

• TV news is often written by someone other than the person reading it.

• Is Anchor a Journalist??????• TV news relies on visual images and very short sound

bites and stories are rarely very long or in depth. • Newspapers have the "luxury" of space, so that

articles can go deeper and give much more information.

• Where do you think is more impact? Print or Electronic? Discussion Point.

Are Anchors Journalists

• 1. Knowledge base: An understanding of issues, names, geography, history and the ability to put all of these in perspective for viewers. It comes from the journalist’s commitment to being a student of the news.

• 2. Ability to process new information: Sorting, organizing, prioritizing and retaining massive amounts of incoming data.

• 3. Ethical compass: Sensitivity to ethical land mines that often litter the field of live breaking news — unconfirmed information, graphic video, words that potentially panic, endanger public safety or security or words that add pain to already traumatized victims and those who care about them.

Are Anchors Journalists • 4. Command of the language: Dead-on grammar, syntax, pronunciation,

tone and storytelling — no matter how stressed or tired the anchor or reporter may be.

• 5. Interviewing finesse: An instinct for what people need and want to know, for what elements are missing from the story, and the ability to draw information by skillful, informed questioning and by listening.

• 6. Mastery of multitasking: The ability to simultaneously: take in a producer’s instructions via an earpiece while scanning new information from computer messages, texts or Twitter; listen to what other reporters on the team are sharing and interviewees are adding; monitor incoming video — and yes, live-tweet info to people who have come to expect information in multiple formats.

• 7. Acute sense of timing: The ability to condense or expand one’s speech on demand, to sense when a story needs refreshing or recapping, to know without even looking at a clock how many words are needed to fill the minute while awaiting a satellite window, live feed or interviewee.

Desks

• Main Desk• Sport Desk• Business Desk• City Desk• Assignment Desk

Interviews

• Beepers• SOT (Sound on Tape)

Difference Between Newspaper and News Channel

• If you miss something on TV, it is gone. Is that really the case???

• A newspaper can be picked up and read at your leisure.TV is more "instant".

• If there's a breaking story, your TV program may be interrupted with a news flash. To read all about it, you'll have to wait for the next edition of the newspaper.

• Unfortunately, newspapers are folding as more and more people turn to television and/ or the internet for their information.

The Studio

• The studios and studio facility areas are an important part of any television station. It is where programs are recorded.

• Each studio has at least three cameras recording the studio action from different angles, so that the Program Director can switch between shots as the creative aspects of the program demand

The Studio

• On the studio floor the person in charge is the Floor Manager, who is responsible for ensuring that the Camera Operators, the Audio People who operate the microphones, and the Lighting and Stage Crew all follow the Program Director’s instructions.

• The Floor Manager is the link between the Director and every other person in the studio. He/she is always in touch with the Director by means of headphones with inbuilt microphone, and provides the signals or ‘cues’ for actors and presenters.

The Studio

• Studio facilities include the make-up andwardrobe area, where performers are prepared for their on-air appearance. There is also a graphic arts department where station and program logos and material such as weather maps and sporting results are produced by graphic artists using specialised software.

Studio Control Room

• The program is put together in the Studio Control Room, which is usually alongside the studio with windows looking into it.

• In the Studio Control Room the pictures from the different cameras are mixed and interchanged according to the director’s instructions, and material from other sources such as videotape or outside broadcasts is also inserted.

The OB Van

• Many television programs, especially sports and concerts, are transmitted live or pre-recorded from venues away from the station’s own studios.

• These programs are made possible by the use of Outside Broadcast (or OB) Vans which are really studio control rooms on wheels. The picture and sound signal from the OB van can be transmitted back to the TV station by a microwave radio link, by satellite or by fibre optic circuit.

Video Post Production

• The centre of a TV station’s daily operations is the video post-production department. Typically this is divided into an ‘on-air’ area and a number of rooms called edit suites.

• Most programs are pre-recorded in bits and pieces, either in a studio or on location. These

programs are finally put together in an edit suite.

The People Behind the Scenes

• Wardrobe Department.• Makeup Artists• Writers• Researchers – Why Researchers???

ENDS