Is TV News a Window on the World?
The question is asking does TV News really show us reality or does it construct it? The News can't simply show us reality, there are rules about what the News can say/show and how they show it to an audience and the the Broadcast isn't freedom of speech. This makes the news impartial. The News chooses what stories get shown on TV from what they believe is "good news" for the audience. But how do they go about choosing what they think is "good news" from thousands of events happening everyday all over the world and they have to narrow this down to about five to show on TV. They decide this though a process called "The Gatekeeping Process" which a story has to go through before it can be aired on TV so the stories don't go straight to the audience. If a news story fails to meet the requirements it will get thrown away and never get shown on TV.
TV news tries to present itself in this way
TV News tries to present itself as unbiased, showing us reality as it is and impartial information about the world through a number of different techniques but this is simply not the case. I talk about how they do this here:
BBC News Analysis
The broadcast has a set of regulation codes it must follow because of these rules the broadcast is restricted what it can show. It can't cause harm or offense, it can't show material which may encourage crime etc. For this reason, the news can't completely show us reality because they are restricted what they can and can't show viewers.
However on the Ofcom Broadcasting Code section five there are a set of rules that the news must be due impartiality and due accuracy and undue prominence of view and opinions. Some of these regulations are:
Due impartiality and due accuracy in news:-
(Click To Enlarge)
The structure of a news story also tries to present reality through the way it's set out on TV:
The news will start in the studio with the news reader talking about an event then it would cut to an on location reporter talking about the event in more detail and makes it look like they are there on live on scene as the event is happening. The news would then show actuality or archive footage to act as evidence.
However TV news cannot, simply "show" reality
TV news can't capture reality as something could go wrong with a story, they need to be careful with what they can show on TV making sure it's suitable for the public and they can't always get actuality footage meaning the news would in fact use archive footage reflecting the reality itself but because this isn't actual footage of an event, it isn't really showing us reality. Because of these problems news companies go through a process called "The Gatekeeping Process" which is the steps a news story goes through before it can get shown on TV news.
The Gatekeeping Process is as followed:
1.An event will happen
2.Routinely Monitored Sources - such as courts, government departments, parliament, services - police, ambulance and army etc. Would tell the news company about the event.
News Values - Does the news story meet any of Galtung and Ruge news values - frequency, negativity, unexpectedness, unambiguity, meaningfulness, conflict, threshold, reference to elite nations, reference to elite persons etc.
News gathering process - News companies have to gather as much information about the event as possible to then talk about it to the audience on TV.
Law - Is the news story appropriate and follow the Ofcom Broadcasting Code
Late breaking news - If an event happens late when the news as begun and the news company consider it breaking news they would decide to cut a news story they think minor and less important to fit in the breaking news story as quick as possible as they're competing with other news companies they all want to try and be the first to show fresh in news.
Cost - News companies have to consider the cost of a story as it could be expensive. Depending where the event is happening news reporters may have to fly to the scene.News companies would have to take a risk if a news story will be worth the cost.
Competition - News companies want to get the best news stories and footage they possibly can, however this narrows down the range of stories shown as all the news reporters will be at one location, capturing footage of an event they consider important while other news stories they think insignificant will get lost.
Technical Problems - If an news story has any technical problems such as a camera stops functioning to an on location news reporter or the news station can't find the link to the news studio for an event. The news company would decide on a new story to take the one having technical difficulties place. However if the issues are fixed the story would get shown again later in the news.
Aired - Finally the news is shown to us on TV
TV news also uses continuity editing and narrative structures to make "events" into stores to help viewers engage with the story and get a their message across. Because of this the news can manipulate and change our perspective of what we think to what they might want us to think with the use of continuity editing. Making the news some what bias.
Conclusion
The news doesn't show reality completely because it's basically impossible with the rules put in place and the process the stories have to go through but the news definitely tries to show reality as much as they can. But I don't think this matter in the era we live in now as there are many different methods to receive the news. Such as the internet, newspapers, magazines, mobile phone apps, radio etc. Looking at news this way stops the continuity manipulating the story and structure. You can also find out more stories and ones which interest you without someone in the news company deciding for you. The Broadcast isn't freedom of speech because it only had one TV channel "BBC" and because of this there was no other views/opinions on broadcast at the time as there was only one channel but the internet does have freedom of speech.
TV news tries to present itself in this way
TV News tries to present itself as unbiased, showing us reality as it is and impartial information about the world through a number of different techniques but this is simply not the case. I talk about how they do this here:
BBC News Analysis
The broadcast has a set of regulation codes it must follow because of these rules the broadcast is restricted what it can show. It can't cause harm or offense, it can't show material which may encourage crime etc. For this reason, the news can't completely show us reality because they are restricted what they can and can't show viewers.
However on the Ofcom Broadcasting Code section five there are a set of rules that the news must be due impartiality and due accuracy and undue prominence of view and opinions. Some of these regulations are:
Due impartiality and due accuracy in news:-
(Click To Enlarge)
The structure of a news story also tries to present reality through the way it's set out on TV:
The news will start in the studio with the news reader talking about an event then it would cut to an on location reporter talking about the event in more detail and makes it look like they are there on live on scene as the event is happening. The news would then show actuality or archive footage to act as evidence.
However TV news cannot, simply "show" reality
TV news can't capture reality as something could go wrong with a story, they need to be careful with what they can show on TV making sure it's suitable for the public and they can't always get actuality footage meaning the news would in fact use archive footage reflecting the reality itself but because this isn't actual footage of an event, it isn't really showing us reality. Because of these problems news companies go through a process called "The Gatekeeping Process" which is the steps a news story goes through before it can get shown on TV news.
The Gatekeeping Process is as followed:
1.An event will happen
2.Routinely Monitored Sources - such as courts, government departments, parliament, services - police, ambulance and army etc. Would tell the news company about the event.
News Values - Does the news story meet any of Galtung and Ruge news values - frequency, negativity, unexpectedness, unambiguity, meaningfulness, conflict, threshold, reference to elite nations, reference to elite persons etc.
News gathering process - News companies have to gather as much information about the event as possible to then talk about it to the audience on TV.
Law - Is the news story appropriate and follow the Ofcom Broadcasting Code
Late breaking news - If an event happens late when the news as begun and the news company consider it breaking news they would decide to cut a news story they think minor and less important to fit in the breaking news story as quick as possible as they're competing with other news companies they all want to try and be the first to show fresh in news.
Cost - News companies have to consider the cost of a story as it could be expensive. Depending where the event is happening news reporters may have to fly to the scene.News companies would have to take a risk if a news story will be worth the cost.
Competition - News companies want to get the best news stories and footage they possibly can, however this narrows down the range of stories shown as all the news reporters will be at one location, capturing footage of an event they consider important while other news stories they think insignificant will get lost.
Technical Problems - If an news story has any technical problems such as a camera stops functioning to an on location news reporter or the news station can't find the link to the news studio for an event. The news company would decide on a new story to take the one having technical difficulties place. However if the issues are fixed the story would get shown again later in the news.
Aired - Finally the news is shown to us on TV
TV news also uses continuity editing and narrative structures to make "events" into stores to help viewers engage with the story and get a their message across. Because of this the news can manipulate and change our perspective of what we think to what they might want us to think with the use of continuity editing. Making the news some what bias.
Conclusion
The news doesn't show reality completely because it's basically impossible with the rules put in place and the process the stories have to go through but the news definitely tries to show reality as much as they can. But I don't think this matter in the era we live in now as there are many different methods to receive the news. Such as the internet, newspapers, magazines, mobile phone apps, radio etc. Looking at news this way stops the continuity manipulating the story and structure. You can also find out more stories and ones which interest you without someone in the news company deciding for you. The Broadcast isn't freedom of speech because it only had one TV channel "BBC" and because of this there was no other views/opinions on broadcast at the time as there was only one channel but the internet does have freedom of speech.
A good argument at merit level. For distinction would need more depth with more detailed examples drawn from current news.
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