Book Chapter - Production, News Presentation and Role of Journalists in the Television Media

Transcription

1 e-journalism New Media and News Media Edited by Kiran Prasad B.R.Publishing Corporation, Delhi, Book Chapter - Production, News Presentation and Role of Journalists in the Television Media Prof.Usha rani Narayana (N.Usha rani ) Only Few pages are on display and not the entire chapter Television has changed the perception of news. The gulf war in demonstrated that war could also be shown live to the world audience in the cozy comfort of their living rooms who till then were used to watching cricket, tennis and soccer matches live on television. When Bernie Shaw, the war correspondent of CNN showed a scud- missile, falling in the battlefield, live on TV to the world when all the major American TV channels were blinking in 1991, a new revolution was born. The CNN with its unique coverage of gulf-war revolutionized television journalism. Today in 2008, television journalism finds itself challenged by new communication technology. The technological integration of television, telecommunications and internet has given birth to convergence journalism. Television has become the platform for multiple media and has assumed the proportion of a monster that can effortlessly integrate radio, cell phone, internet and print media. Television can no longer be regarded as an independent entity and it has bonded with other media owing to convergence technology. Television has changed the way the audience consume news. Conventionally, in India newspapers were the major source of news but today it is being replaced by television like American society where every drama, political or others are fought on television. 1

2 TV News on Terrorist's Attack on WTC, New York, USA on September 11, 2001 Defining Television News: Charles Dana gave the definition of news in 19 th century and interestingly it holds good even to this day. He defined news as anything that interests a large part of the community and has never been brought to its attention before. News is any factual report of an event says 2

3 conventional journalists. In television, news is story telling and the art of story telling is as old as the humankind. With technological intervention, the TV journalist has better and powerful tools to make the story presentable. Many have the misconception that TV journalism does not require writing skill. Writing is a fundamental skill that is required for all the news media but the technique and style varies from one media to another. Television news is audience driven, the way people consume news has changed profoundly. New age journalists have to feed news round the clock for 24X7 TV news channels. Gone are the days when day used to begin with a cup of tea or coffee and a newspaper. Today the news is consumed in bits and pieces throughout the day. Television has redefined the news. Today news is perceived in present tense and not in past tense. When terrorists attacked the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, the images unfolded live to the horror of the viewers world over. People watched the collapse of twin towers in bated breath on television screen and TV cameras did not stop rolling. The essential feature of television news is it shows the event live and that is edge television has over other news media. Indian viewers also have had the opportunity of watching live or recorded news programmes pertaining to parliament or state legislative proceedings. TV channels have shown the video clippings of elected members manhandling each other, fighting, and assaulting each other. TV news shows and says it all. Convergence News Room: Today television, broadband, cell phone and radio have converged to give news round the clock for different readers/listeners/viewers signaling the varied ways the news is delivered at the convenience of the audience. The so-called convergence has changed the way journalism is practiced and delivered. The concept of Backpack Journalist first evolved when the first of its kind of converged newsroom in Sarasota, Florida,USA - the typical 3

4 converged media model of 21 st century was established. The converged newsroom was formed after combining all three media namely the Sarasota Herald-Tribune- a newspaper, SNN Channel 6- a TV channel and the Tribune.com an online media, all under one roof at Sarasota, Florida. The converged newsroom illustrated how a reporter would report and write a story for the next day newspaper and then write another version of the same story for broadcast and on-line and even appear before a camera. The converged newsroom at Sarasota besides having a traditional newsroom for newspaper also has a desk for on-line operation and on the wall hangs a 24hr cable news channel. In this model, the journalists produce multiple media stories. They do stories for newspaper, post the story on the web, upload live audio or do a video clip serving radio and television. This has resulted in the birth of what is called backpack journalist, who is a multiskilled journalist covering stories across media. It is the multitasking and multiskilled job with capability of working for across media. However, not every journalist can be a backpack journalist, as it requires skills for working for print, broadcast and web media simultaneously. Most of the TV news channels in India like NDTV 24X7, CNN-IBN, TIMES NOW AND CNBC are available online live and have partially converged newsrooms. So today, TV journalists must be prepared to write and post video and audio to television and web. The cross media ownership and collaborations have also increased the need for multiskilled journalists. TV News Production: It has been well said the news is not by appointment but rather news is a conversation and that there will be lots of resources that will be available to help news organization with this transition.(randy Covington). Globally news production has transformed beyond recognition. Nevertheless, news production requires some basic skills that are fundamental to all media and television is no exception. Technology has 4

5 been a big challenge to journalism educators in imparting the art and craft of TV news production. However, there are certain fundamental principles that are not going to change irrespective of what the media is. Any student of journalism is required to know basic skills: How to find information How to interview people How to write news How to express news in clear, concise and compelling way Essentials of News Production: In TV journalism, one should handle questions as well as story components. Story components are as important as the questions. Questions are interactive News anchoring is multitasking consisting of news reading, interviewing and coordinating TV journalist is required to think in terms of pictures and the sound Prepare for multiple media platforms by preparing to upload live audio and video clip, as today s TV news is also accessible online. One should be comfortable with both audio and video story content. The basic thing is to look at the concept of telling the stories for more than one media, TV and web media. In television, the gate keeping function is no longer the prerogative of the journalists. The citizen journalism has made inroads into the news front and citizens are encouraged to share the news in TV news broadcasts. Television has given recognition to the right of citizens to participate in the news reporting. 5

6 Blogs are treated as source of television news and anybody who has access to media can contribute to the news. Journalists are required to learn how to write stories for television based on blogs. Though television can show events in close ups, the TV journalists should observe discretion while shooting death. Now there is tendency to show close ups of the dead and victims of accident and murder and those who have committed suicide. The TV camera flashing the visual of a woman dangling under a ceiling fan in a suicide story in close up shots is neither necessary nor desirable. The detailed shots of the dead or the victims are required for police enquiry and investigation and therefore the police take pictures from all angles but they are the most disturbing pictures for a normal viewer and a TV journalist should observe restraint. The coverage of obituary by TV journalists is also much to be desired. A close up of the dead is not desirable in any case. Instead, a long or a medium shot that are suggestive in nature will convey the same message. The case of a man burning himself to death in protest against his eviction from the market place to pave way for the construction of fly over in Patiala in full view of TV cameras in January 2006 is a chilling reminder of the insensitivity of TV journalists to human life. The TV journalists involved in the filming of the episode cut a sorry figure as they have prioritized the marketing of the story over humanitarian concern. Technique of TV News Production: One must understand the way the newspapers and TV channels make news assignments and there are basic differences in their operation. 6

7 Newspapers operate on beat system viz, political, judiciary, parliament, crime, sports, so on, and so forth. It is more individual based and only one reporter is responsible for the reporting of the event. TV channels differ from the newspapers in the way the assignments are distributed among the journalists. TV channels have news assignment desks and are a team based work, as it requires three or more personnel. Principles of News Production: 1. Be innately curious about the story. 2. Identify what story you want to tell. 3. Think critically about the story. 4. Do adequate research in whatever little time one has. 5. Ask good, wide and specific questions. 6. Think of the best form of presentation. 7. Be creative to present the story in a way that we have not seen. Importance of Content: In television news, the news has visual component as well as audio component. However, one has to remember that content is more important than the technique. It is not good journalism, if one focuses much on form and not enough on content. At the outset, make sure you have some news to break. The credibility, factual, meaning and relevance of the content to the audience is much more important than the technique. No amount of technical finesse can make up for the poor content. Content needs to be captured in audio as well as video. Most of the news events are lengthy and it is impossible to record the entire event for the news bulletin. The duration of any news story component in a bulletin is less than two or three minutes. It is therefore necessary for the reporter to discuss audio visual inputs required for the story. The reporter therefore has to take elaborate notes of the event and has to be physically present to report the news. The cameraperson takes sound bytes as well as visual material in 7

8 consultation with that of the reporter. Sound bytes are very important even though it is brief and terse and lasts for less than a fraction of a minute, as it makes the story credible and instantaneously gets the viewer s attention. The technical quality of the camera work is important but in news, the content is primary and at times, it may be difficult to produce content of high quality due to poor lighting and acoustics. The locations are rarely ideal for newsgathering for television. The attention of the viewer is on the content of the visual than on the quality. As long as the visuals inform the viewers, it serves the purpose of news. Formally TV news story consists of three parts: Header Lead Amplified Lead The structure of the news story is based on the conventional inverted pyramid style with news placed in the descending order of importance. In the inverted triangle, the essence of the story is said in the beginning of the story followed by the background in the middle with information of secondary importance at the end of the story. This facilitates for quicker grasp of the story and time saving too. TV news ought to be quick and brief as multiple stories compete for time. Importance of Sound and Visuals: Television is an audiovisual medium. The ability to show events live makes television the most powerful medium the world has ever seen. The camera dominates the news gathering. The cameraperson/videographer should also be aware of the story idea and should not take the shots aimlessly. Always make it a point to collect interview sound when the camera is shooting and not to forget to collect natural sound. It is always safe to take extra footage in the form of cutaways as it makes editing easy. In shooting news unlike 8

9 shooting for documentaries, reporter cannot request silence on the sets. A cameraperson has to shoot news events in jam-packed areas and most of the times he/she will have to find his/her way in congested places and finish the job without complaining. The cameraperson will always have to compete with other media persons to take the most important shots. One has to learn to work with people cramming every inch of space in news location. The TV journalist has to carry the microphone and has to wade through the crowd, draw the attention of the person, and pose questions and record responses by thrusting the microphone close to the mouth. The cameraperson has to be attentive enough to record the interview and get as much visuals as possible. More footage helps in editing. One has to be agile, fast and be able to move around with ease carrying equipment in the harsh conditions whether it rains or shines. TV journalists may not be conversant with the technicalities of camerawork but they should be very well aware of the kind of shots and angles that a story needs and makes impact on the viewers. Television is a medium of close-ups and visuals in news ought to be invariably medium to close-up shots. Most of the time one may not begin with establishing shot unlike a documentary and what matters is the content of the visual and not the style. The content of visuals or sound dominates the news production whereas form and style take a back seat. Be prepared for very unpredictable events and camera positions matter a lot, as it can strengthen or weaken a news story. One cannot be very artistic in choosing the shots. Fast, alert, active and curious are the qualities one looks for in a TV journalist, as he/she cannot be expected to be seated comfortably while covering news. ENG/DNG System for News Production: There are two types of television production- single camera and multi camera production. News production is basically a single camera 9

10 production. This is technically referred as the ENG system or the Electronic News Gathering system consisting of camera, lights and microphones and the recorder. The digital technology has converted the ENG into DNG or the Digital News Gathering as the camera and the recorder are digital. ENG is a means of providing a visual and aural report of an occurrence of interest to the audience using sophisticated electronic equipment to bring that report quickly, efficiently and accurately to the viewer.(musburger 1991) ENG is an electronic or digital news gathering tool that is used for covering news stories. It is a comprehensive package consisting of single camcorder, camera and recorder, microphone and light. The advantages of ENG are as following: Facilitates video and audio recording of the news story without the help of elaborate studio infrastructure. ENG basically consists of camcorder, tapes, batteries, battery charger, cables, microphone, sun guns, tripod, headset and other small accessories. ENG equipment can be used for outdoor and indoor shootings of news stories. It is lightweight and therefore can be carried easily on one s shoulder anywhere and in any circumstances like rains, natural disasters, and fire mishaps. It helps in coverage of news events quickly. Thanks to ENG, the world saw the gulf war in the drawing room live on TV in 1991 and the terrorists attack of WTC in It gives mobility to the TV reporter. The news event can be shot either in space, earth or under water to see the magnificent world beyond human gaze. It requires a small team like one-person crew carrying lightest and minimal equipment. TV reporter is responsible for doing 10

11 research, reporting, writing and editing news stories. The videographer is in control of shooting the news event. Sometimes, the story is edited by the editor but is directed by reporter. However, most of the times, the reporter sends the footage along with the script and the news director sends it to the editing section for editing and other post production work. News coverage requires a small team of a cameraperson and the reporter. Flexibility is the hallmark of the ENG system. Miniaturization of the camcorder is one of the essential features. The bulky and heavy video camera has been improvised to produce some of the best miniature, high resolution, low light capable and light, sleek cameras which can produce broadcast standard video images. The U- matic ¾ inch tape gave way to ½ inch Betacam video tapes. The digital technology has given high-resolution tapes that are miniature in nature and are of the size of matchbox. The mini DV tapes for HI 8, 8MM, Digital 8 camcorder have revolutionized video shooting as the tapes are of longer duration. The tapes are being gradually replaced by hard disc thus ushering in the era of tape less shooting. Pen drives, memory sticks and other miniature devices can store enormous quantities of video and audio material in digital format in their memory space. These devises are easy to carry and store and are computer compatible. Format of News Production: 11

12 News Production Stages of News Production Idea for the Story News Gathering News Writing News Editing News Capsuling News Anchoring Idea for the Story TV stations have assignment desk and also looking for some or the other breaking stories. It depends on tips from trusted news sources, anonymous callers and regular invitations to various news events. This desk allots assignments for the reporters. The reporters keep in touch with police, hospitals and other essential services. Besides, the stations also get calls or invitations from Public Relations Officers inviting the reporters for coverage of their meetings, news conferences, press briefings, special programmes. The person who is responsible for running the news production is the producer. He works behind the scene and puts the news team s performance at the scheduled time. This requires special skill and extraordinary talent 12

13 to coordinate the news gathering effort by different members of the team. The business of newsgathering begins with that of assignment editor who arrives at the television channel ahead of other staff and scans the computer for the listing of stories, invitations received and future stories. The assignment list is always updated by night and day shift editors and due care is taken to see that they do not miss out on any important story. The newspapers too provide important clues for the story to be covered and therefore all-important papers of the region are searched for good story ideas. The assignment editor invariably looks for breaking stories. The other significant source of news is telephone and the assignment desk will receive most of the clues for stories over phone. The assignment editors make sure that the reporters and videographers know their assignments for the day. The unpredictable nature of news keeps the assignment editor and producer always on alert to see that the team is sent to cover the story on time. News stories are varied consisting of political, economic, development, scientific, human interest, crime, sports, entertainment and weather. Some news stories are predetermined and therefore newsgathering is much more organized than unpredictable ones like accidents, natural disasters, fire mishaps, violence and others. News Gathering Newsgathering is a team work shared by the reporter and the videograher. The producer is the team leader and coordinates the news gathering efforts by various reporters. The news team headed by producer consists of assistant producer, news editor, production assistants (PA), reporters, videographers, video editors, graphic artists, anchors/news readers/news presenters and technicians. The producer ultimately prepares the format, style and content of news bulletin. The reporter on the job of newsgathering carries the instructions of the producer to find information and the footage as per the needs of the channel. The news producer decides the length of the story, timing of it 13

14 and its style. The newsgathering therefore is a team effort that is guided and supported by a team. In television, the demands of visual media from news perspective are very different from working for print or radio. The newsgathering involves finding file footage from the archives, scanning day s newspaper for clues and visuals, preparation of graphic material exclusively for the news story and others. Here each such job requires a special skill and is handled by the assistant producer, production assistant, graphic artists or video editors prompting coordination by the all-important producer. It is in this perspective that the teamwork in newsgathering assumes importance. Today, the technology has advanced to great heights that the reporter and his/her team is sometimes sent with satellite dish equipped outdoor van, which facilitates not only newsgathering but also news casting from remote areas. The van is equipped with editing facilities and therefore, the news is telecast quickly and without loss of time. News Writing The news script has a format and is neatly divided into two parts. The top of the script is the header that contains information about the news story viz., slug, duration of the story, date, page number and the name of the reporter. The second part consists content that is further divided into video and audio columns. Video column consists of shots that are going to be part of the news story and are listed in the order of newscast. Audio column consists of sound part of the script and invariably that of words to be spoken by the news anchor and the sound bytes. The scripts also consists of cuing instructions viz., cue in and cue out for playing the video and audio tapes, conducting live interviews and rolling of CG( Character Generator). The instructions are capitalized in order to distinguish it from the script. News scripts are written in two ways. Conventionally, the script is written before the editing work begins. The reporter prepares the script based on the background information and on the information gathered at 14

15 the location. This may not be the case always. Sometimes news script is written after editing. This invariably happens when the reporter is using more video and audio inputs from different sources. Each news story is produced independently and is integrated into the newscast or anchor script. The anchor script is the final version that carries the details of how the news is presented to the viewers. It is a complicated script as it carries lot of instructions, reading material, cues and other technical details. Either news script or anchor script has to written for effortless reading and presentation. The words must be simple, easy to understand, precise, concise and not cliché ridden. The words must be simple enough for proper pronunciation by the newsreader. Avoid tongue twisters in the choice of words. The news reporter should not exhibit his proficiency of language and rather help viewers across different strata of society to understand the story in the way it is intended. The length of the news script is important because television news cannot accommodate lengthy stories. Here news writer should be conscious of the time and usually the story is planned for not more than three minutes. The length of the story and visuals are organized in terms of seconds and the story ought to be short. The average time of news is 30 minutes and it has to accommodate many stories each of 2-3 minute duration or less. The final and finished script is fed to the computer and the news anchor reads the script that is fed into the teleprompter mounted in front of cameras. The Production Assistant whose job includes assisting news director to produce the news programme is also responsible for editing the script and running the teleprompter. News Editing Editing can make or mar a programme. Editing is one of the important processes of making a programme. Editing is integrating images and 15

16 sound to tell a story. Editing is a process of building or constructing a story by selecting appropriate shots and sound and transferring them to other tape. Editing helps in deleting unnecessary shots and gives a structure to a news story. It enables the reporter to combine the various elements to build a story. The video editor in consultation with the news reporter does editing. The shots are logged before editing. The most appropriate, accurate and good shots are selected for editing. News script is prepared for editing. The video editor needs video footage that is shot on the location, sound bytes, file footage, still pictures, graphics if any, voice over and other recordings for editing. The video editor is also required to keep the titles, captions and text if any ready for editing. Editor always looks for best shots and good sound. However, in news production, one may not be that fortunate to get the best images and sound as type of news and the location from where news originates are such that one may end up with bad images. The editing principle as far as news is concerned is to select images not primarily for their technical quality but for their content. In WTC attack by terrorists, every inch of visual however bad it is becomes important as reporter is challenged to tell a story by constructing every moment of the attack and viewers are interested in seeing how terrorists executed their plan and how the two tallest buildings fell like a pack of cards. News editing is different from editing a documentary because news value is determined by timeliness, authenticity and credibility of the content. Editing each independent news story is a different process from preparing the rundown. Technically rundown is the final form of news that is scheduled to go on air. Different stories, voice over, recordings and feeds are inserted into the rundowns. Every second of the rundown is filled with material- visual, text, sound or/and other inputs. The final news rundowns tell us about the total length of the news and the number of news blocks. News blocks are made on the type of news 16

17 story like lead stories, national, international and local stories, and stories on sports, entertainment, business, sports and weather. News Capsuling News capsule is a string of independent news stories. A news bulletin is made up of few capsules. It is packaging of news stories on wide variety of topics. News capsuling includes identifying and selecting stories for the newscast and arranging them in a particular order. The news capsule consists of news stories and commercials. Separate capsules are also made for commercials consisting of a series of advertisements arranged in order of news telecast. News Anchoring/News Casting Anchor script is different from news writing. The script introduces the news story and paves way for the independent story to unfold on its own strength. The anchor script is the blue print of the final version of the news bulletin. The script gives importance to transition where the anchor has to hop from a hard news story to a soft news story. The words used in the script must connect, introduce, lead and transit stories effortlessly and without giving room for disintegration. The essential quality of an anchor script is integration- how best one can bring in all the different elements and stories together in one platter. The news anchor should be an attention getter and sustain the attention so drawn and she/he is a link connecting different story components and bringing together variety of news. A news anchor in television functions as a coordinator of news connecting different reporters presenting their stories from varied locations. He/She also reads news and the multiple tasks consist of news reading, interviewing guests live in the studios or in other locations and interacting with reporters and moderating discussion. The news anchor is the epicenter of the newscast. The news anchor is not a mere newsreader but a working 17

18 journalist with the knowledge of the current affairs. It is expected of a news anchor to introduce and interview guests. The following qualities are essential to a news anchor: Should be familiar with television terminologies and production procedure. Strong communication skills Speaking and Reading Skills. Good presence of mind and enormous self-confidence. Language proficiency Lucid and unmistakable voice Capability to handle multitasking Ability to speak calmly, maintain serene composure and has self-control and not shout or get agitated Knowledable about current affairs and great interest in worldly affairs Ability to speak to the camera with confidence and making eye contact with the viewers. N.Usha Rani Ph.D Professor Department of Studies in Communication and Journalism University of Mysore Mysore 18