News Analysis

A news bulletin is the main element of my radio, so to get an idea of how news stories work I am going to analyse how they are presented in different formats, by looking at TV news, online news and newspapers.

I am going to start by looking at and analysing the differences between 10 national news stories and 10 local news stories from Online news websites such as BBC. I am going to look at different stories to see if they contain the 5Ws and news values.

I am going to look at a various number of different story topics such as:

1. Politics
2. Crime
3. Sports
4. Science
5. Business
6. Education
7. Health
8.Technology
9. Celebrity/entertainment
10. Good news

News Values

News values are the factors that help journalists and editors determine if certain stories are newsworthy or not. The order in which news is presented depends on what and how many news values the story contains, as they often contain more than one news value. They apply these factors to newspapers, TV news and radio news.

Immediacy - Has it happened recently? Is the story "breaking"?
This news value often pushes stories to the top of a news radio bulletin or to the front page of a newspaper.

Familiarity - Is it culturally or geographically close to us in London/Britain/Europe/The USA?
This news value is very important in local radios or newspapers.

Amplitude - Is it a big event or one which involves large numbers of people?

Frequency - Does the event happen often?
This news value is not one of the prominent ones, but if the story is negative it will be part of the news as it pushes people to change what keeps happening.

Impact - Can we identify the story as having a profound effect on our own lives? Does the story contain elements that would make us feel threatened?
People are more likely to listen/watch/read a story that will effect them in some way, so this is an important news value and will push a news story up to the front page of the first news story we hear on the radio.

Predictability - Did we expect it to happen?
This news value on it own won't push the news story up the agenda.

Surprise - Is it an unusual or unexpected event?
This news value more than predictability will push the story up the news agenda.

Continuity - Lots of news stories contain continuity, but it will usually be further down the news agenda, unless it contains new significant information about the on going story in which case it is classified as "Immediacy".

Conflict - Does the story contain drama in describing disagreements, arguments,fights or battles between two or more people/organisations.
A vast amount of news stories contain this news value, especial political stories.

Elite people - Does the story concern well-known people, such as celebrities?
This element in a story immediately makes the story go to the top of a news bulletin, especially certain types of radio (capital FM), newspapers (the sun, the mirror and the star) and TV news stations (E News), these news broadcasts are dominated by this news value.

Personalisation - Is it a human interest story?
This is a very powerful news value as it gives the audience an emotional response. This is one of the most common new values as most people can relate to it.

Negativity - Is it bad news?
News bulletin are mostly dominated by this news value.

Scandal - Is the story likely to provoke moral outrage from parts of the audience?
News stories containing scandals especially if it involves an "Elite Person" is at the top of the news bulletin.

Balance - The story may be selected to balance other news, such as a human survival story to balance a number of stories concerning death.
Positive stories are often the last story you will hear on a radio news bulletin as it leaves the audience felling satisfied.

The 5Ws

The 5Ws are an essential piece of information viewers, readers and listeners expect to find within news stories. Journalists and editors usually include this information towards the beginning of the stories, this helps audience determine if they want to continue to watch, read or listen to the story. It also means if they edit some of the story out, the most vital information of the story is still included.

The 5Ws are:

Who is it about?




What happened?





Where did it take place?





When did it take place?




Why did it happen?





(How did it happen?)

Here is a news story including the 5Ws
Who - Migrants.
What - Migrants being moved to the Hungarian border.
Where Croatian/Hungarian border.
When - Currently
Why- Migrants flooding into Croatia

Here is a link to where I found the story.
BBC Migrant News story

Finished Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task Evaluation

While scripting, recording and editing my preliminary task, I learnt a series of things that will help me produce my five minute extract from an imaginary local radio station:

• The software Adobe Audition 1.5 allows you to edit out mistakes and pauses you might have made while recording, which meant if I made a mistake or there was a long pause I didn't have to record the whole section over again. 

• While choosing the people to be in the preliminary task, I didn't give much consideration to how their voices should be represented. When I do my full extract I will consider representation more carefully and direct the actors to sound more realistic. 
• You can add sound effects over the voices making them sound, for example, if they were in a city their voices would have an echo. 
• For my Jingle I used a simple format, using only two layers: The impact sound and the voice.

• For the presenter section I recorded the presenter and guest separately, then edited them together, editing out all mistakes and pauses.

• For my archive clip, I used numerous layers one being the voice, the others being sound effects.
• To create the archive clip I recorded and edited things separately, before putting them together, later with sound effects. 

• I learnt that compression makes everything louder, so that anything quiet is brought up to an equal level, giving the authentic effect of real radio. 

Preliminary Task - Potential Sound Effects

Before I record my preliminary task, I have to think about the sound effects and potential music I might want to use for my archive clip and the jingle.

Below is a list of sound effects I will be using.

• Impact sound for the station jingle
• Traffic noise for the archive clip
• Siren sound effect for the archive clip

This is a possible impact sound for my jingle.



This is a possible sound effect that I will cut down and use for my archive clip.

Preliminary Task Script

Before recording my preliminary task, I have written a script which includes a jingle, a presenter introducing a guest, the guest responding and an archive clip featuring the guest (or the guest's work). 

The guest on my preliminary task is an author who has had her latest novel made into a huge Hollywood film. She would be appearing on the radio station to help promote the movie.

My station is the radio equivalent of TV magazine programs such as The One Show and would be aimed primarily at women.

Here is the script for my preliminary task, including ideas for the sound effects I want to use. 

AS Foundation Production - Brief

For my Media AS coursework I will be scripting, recording and editing a five minute extract of an imaginary local radio station, which will include jingles, presenters, guests, adverts and a news bulletin (with its own jingle, specialist reporters, voxpops, soundbites and outside broadcasts).

Before scripting my radio I need to research and listen to various radio stations to get an idea of how news stories are structured, so that my radio extract will sound as realistic as possible. Before I start my research and planning, I am going to script my preliminary task, which is a small radio segment that will include a jingle, a presenter (introducing a guest), a guest (who will respond) and an archive clip of the guest (if the guest is an actor, for example, the archive clip could be an extract from their new film).