Television Journalism

News

 

The journalism's role at the time was to act as a mediator or translator between the public and policy making elites. The journalist became the middleman. When elites spoke, journalists listened and recorded the information, edited it, and passed it on to the public for their consumption. His reasoning behind this was that the public was not in a position to deconstruct the growing and complex flurry of information present in modern society, and so an intermediary was needed to filter news for the masses. The public is not smart enough to understand complicated, political issues. Furthermore, the public was too consumed with their daily lives to care about complex public policy. Therefore the public needed someone to interpret the decisions or concerns of the elite to make the information plain and simple. The journalist's role was to inform the public of what the elites were doing. It was also to act as a watchdog over the elites, as the public had the final say with their votes.

Journalists should do more than simply pass on information. He believed they should weigh the consequences of the policies being enacted. Over time, his idea has been implemented in various degrees, and is more commonly known as "community journalism".

This concept of community journalism is at the centre of new developments in journalism. In this new paradigm, journalists are able to engage citizens and the experts/elites in the proposition and generation of content.

journalism's first loyalty is to the citizenry, journalists are obliged to tell the truth and must serve as an independent monitor of powerful individuals and institutions within society. The essence of journalism is to provide citizens with reliable information through the discipline of verification, as well providing a forum for public criticism.

Television

Television (TV) news is considered by many to be the most influential medium for journalism. For most of the American public, local news and national TV newscasts are the primary news sources. Not only the numbers of audience viewers, but the effect on each viewer is considered more persuasive, as described by Marshall McLuhan ("the medium is the message" in his book Understanding Media). Television is dominated by attractive, with short soundbites and fast "cuts" (changes of camera angle). Television journalism viewership has become fragmented, with the 24-hour united States cable news television channels such as Cable News Network (CNN) starting in 1980, Fox News Channel and MSNBC in the 1990s.

Local Television

The industry divides television into local .  Such television markets are defined by viewing area and are ranked by the number of audience viewers.

Ttypically broadcast local news 3 or 4 times a day . News anchors are shown sitting at a desk in a television studio. The news anchor read teleprompters that contain local interest stories and breaking news. Reporters frequently tell their stories outside the a formal television studio in the field, where the news is occurring, in a remote broadcast setting where Electronic news-gathering (ENG) techniques are used with production trucks.  Daytime television or morning shows include more "soft" news and feature pieces, while the evening news emphasizes "hard" news.

News anchors, serve as masters of ceremonies and are usually shown facing a professional video camera in a television studio while reading unseen teleprompters. The anchors are often in pairs (co-anchors) sit side by side, often alternating their reading. Meteorologists stand in front of chroma key backgrounds to describe weather forecasting and show "graphics" (maps, charts, and pictures). Any of those people can become the most recognizable television personality of the television station. Reporters research and write the stories and sometimes use video editing to prepare the story for air into a "package". Reporters are usually engaged in Electronic field production (EFP) and are accompanied by a videographer at the scenes of the news. The latter holds the camera. That person or assistants manage the audio and lighting. They are in charge of setting up live television shots and might edit using a non-linear editing system  too. The segment producer might choose, research, and write stories, as well as deciding the timing and arrangement of the newscast. An associate producer, if any, might specialize in elements of the show such as graphics.

Production

A newscast director is in charge of television show preparation, including assigning camera and talent positions on the set, as well as selecting the camera shots and other elements for either recorded or live television video production. The Television Director operates the video switcher which controls and mixes all the elements of the show. At smaller stations, the Director and Technical Director are the same person.

A graphics operator operates a character generator that produces the lower third on-screen titles and full-page digital on-screen graphics. The audio technician operates the audio mixing console. The technician is in charge of the microphones, music, and audio tape. Often, production assistants operate the teleprompters and professional video cameras, and serve as lighting and rigging technicians ("grips").

Interactive

Convergence is the sharing and cross-promoting of content from a variety of media, which in theory might all converge and become one medium eventually. In broadcast news, the Internet is key part of convergence. Frequently, broadcast journalists also write text stories for the Web, usually accompanied by the graphics and sound of the original story. Web sites offer the audience an interactive form where they can learn more about a story, can be referred to related articles, can offer comments for publication, and can print stories at home, etc. Technological convergence also lets newsrooms collaborate with other media. Broadcast outlets sometimes have partnerships with their print counterparts.