All 12 entries tagged Broadcast Journalism

6 O'clock holiday EXCLUSIVE!

As coverage continues of yesterday's "terror plot" and the disruption its caused to passengers in all UK airports, the BBC's 6 O'clock news was on hand to bring this disruption to our screens.

Intrepid Scotland reporter Lorna Gordon went a step further from the repetitive airport terminal vox pops and got herself and a camera on an easyjet flight to…Barcelona.

She tried to dress it up as news, earnestly insisting "just an hour into the flight and without books or toys, the children on this plane are getting really bored."

Kids? Bored? On a plane? Dear God! Just look what those terrorist monsters are doing to our country!!

We're not convinced though. Let's work out the story justification ratio (SJR):

Because it was an important angle on a major news story: 3%

Because she wanted a free weekend in Barcelona: 97%

Got to hand it to the old girl though.

: 11 Aug 2006 18:22 |  Tags: Broadcast Journalism News |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Less valuable lives?

Writing about web page http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/07/the_statistics_of_war.html

This week, the Editor of the BBC Ten O'Clock News made an interesting point about deaths, body counts and statistics. He pointed out that on average 30 – 40 people are dying every day in Israel and Lebanon. Time devoted on the average news bulletin: 10–15 minutes. Meanwhile in Iraq 100 die daily. Time devoted: 3–5 minutes (provided its something more substantial than your average car bombing). And in the war in the Congo, 1,200 people die every day. Yes, there's a war in the Congo.

What's important?

To their credit, the Ten ran a piece on the conflict on Monday night, but the programme's editor Craig Oliver felt it neccessary to justify his running order:

…our judgement is that Middle East (sic) is currently the biggest story in the world – by a wide margin – and it has the greatest implications for us all.

The Congo conflict is "desperately" important he says but it's being going on for decades. Does that make it any less important?

Yesterday, Holly argued that the Lebanese are getting more media "sympathy" because more people are dying in Lebanon than in Israel and so appear more readily as the victims. Surely then, by this rule, the Congolese should get more attention, as their daily death toll is 30x greater? Of course this isn't the case – the death toll is but one facet in any conflict.

So why is the Middle East conflict more important? Well as most people point out, the Middle East has oil and Israel has nukes. And of course our glorious western governments have their grubby fingers in many a pie in the region so we all follow the Bush/Blair party with interest – it's a British angle on an international conflict.

I fully appreciate this, but I'm sorry, I can't ignore some of the world's more severe conflicts on the African conflict as not as important. Even putting Congo aside, there's a potentially devastating war about to erupt on the Horn of Africa as Somali Islamists steadily take over more of the lawless country with Ethiopia and Eritrea sharpening their bayonets ready to fight over the spoils. And this weekend, hugely significant elections are taking place in the enormous D.R. Congo, which have been marred by scores of deaths. And the Democratic Republic has its own fair share of oil and diamonds.

Will these events get a dozen correspondents plus their entourage of satellite trucks? No.

Media racism?

One person responded to Craig Oliver by accusing the media of being institutionally racist:

The main reason wars in Africa get barely a mention in the mainstream media is obvious: The media is owned, controlled, and bought by white people…White people don't care about starving blacks killing each other.

Unfortunately, I believe this is a sad truth. Do editors in London give a toss about Africans killing each other? And even more sad, do audiences in Britain give a toss?

The complexity of it all

Craig Oliver's second justification for the importance of the Middle East over African conflicts went simply:

The sheer complexity of the situation requires space to help provide context and analysis.

The Middle East conflict is complex. But so is the Congolese conflict. And the Somali one. Even more so, and I'd wager a bet and say while the average joe on the street could profer a vague explanation of the Israel/Lebanon crisis, they'd be flicking through an atlas trying to find out where the hell the Congo is.

Context and analysis are vital – in all serious conflicts. But the mainstream media has conclusively failed in "context". The BBC et al have had 6 years to explain and analyse the rise of Hizbullah. Similarly, they've had decades to explain and contextualise why Israel and Palestine don't get on. They had two years to explain and contextualise the genocide in Darfur.

But they didn't.

Instead the mainstream media waits for a situation to explode in a television friendly way before they cover it, and thus find themselves talking to an audience who they haven't prepared.

It was decent of the Ten O'clock News to try and justify their editorial decisions, but Craig Oliver's explanation doesn't even begin to accept nor address the deeper more worrying trends within the international news media, contextual, racist or otherwise.

: 28 Jul 2006 10:13 |  Tags: Africa Broadcast Journalism Israel Lebanon News Politics |  Comments (11) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Football vs.

Follow-up to Have they got it the right way round? from Adam Meets World

The response to my earlier post on the ordering of last weekend's television bulletins (which put David Beckham's resignation as England Captain above the death of two soldiers in Afghanistan) was decidedly pro-broadcaster.

Yet as I expected, nearly two hundred complaints hit the BBC a week ago, prompting responses on both Newswatch, the BBC's post-Hutton Points of View programme, and on the latest addition to editorial transparency, the Editors' Blog.

The daytime editor of BBC News dismissed criticism saying the Beckham story was a "national issue". Yet the criticism was harsh: "disgusting" "sheer tabloidism" and "shame on the people who made these choices" were just some of the comments read out on Newswatch. Martin Bell even chimed in with similar sentiments.

The BBC remained resilient, but you'd think other news outlets were watching and taking note wouldn't you? Clearly not. The top story on today's Channel 4 News at Noon? Zidane's player of the tournament award of course.

: 10 Jul 2006 13:58 |  Tags: Broadcast Journalism News |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Have they got it the right way round?

Yesterday England were knocked out of the World Cup, with a 3-1 loss to Portugal on penalties. It was the end of a long campaign that many people really thought we could win; thousands of fans, not to mention the players, left Germany in defeat with tears streaming down their faces.

And, two British soldiers died in Afghanistan, taking the total to five within the past three weeks.

The two men were with the 3rd Para Battlegroup. Four others were injured in the attack in the Helman Province in the south of the country.

Two undoubtedly big stories for today's broadcasters. What do you think they led their bulletins with?

Now I'm not one for being pernickity, but does it seem right for both the BBC and Sky News to give the resignation of David Beckham as England captain greater editorial importance than the death of two serviceman in what is becoming a more violent and dangerous mission in Afghanistan? I can't imagine the families of the two soldiers taking that decision well.

There are other factors to consider of course.

The World Cup is over for England and so it's the broadcasters last chance to make lengthy air time out of it. The events on the pitch certainly held the nation for over two hours yesterday and the media should reflect that too. Also, for television, the pictures of events in Afghanistan were sparse, in fact a map of the country was all we were treated to on BBC News 24. Compare this with emotive images of a teary Beckham trying to read his handwriting. The war in Afghanistan, much like Iraq, has become one of those chronic events dragging on without conclusion; it seems the public has lost its taste for war coverage.

Perhaps I am being to Points of Viewish. Middle aged men with balding hair wearing shorts with socks up to their knees will undoubtedly write into Raymond Snoddy and complain; and equally a BBC editor will stand up and say "we felt it was the right decision under the circumstances" and perhaps they're right. But I can't help but feel that we only lost a football match yesterday, and when two soldiers who would rather have been watching the game lost their lives, the media should step back for a second and consider what's really important.

: 02 Jul 2006 22:58 |  Tags: Broadcast Journalism News |  Comments (5) |  Close comments |  Trackbacks (1) |  Report a problem

RaW – what a load of luvvies

Writing about web page http://media.guardian.co.uk/

Well a few of us got a bit cross about the annual Guardian Student Media Awards, which in spite of the name serve only the written media, excluding the exciting, vibrant, sexy world of student television and radio.

So we wrote a letter to the Guardian, which you can read in today's Media Guardian.

It's even got our names on it.

For ego-massage purposes, I'll put up a picture of it or summat later….

=======================================

For those of you who just had to see it once more:

: 10 Apr 2006 10:42 |  Tags: Broadcast Journalism RaW |  Comments (12) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Deadly!

Writing about web page http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/bjkeates/entry/have_your_say/

Writing about an entry you don't have permission to view

Thinking about Ben’s post, among others, accusing the media of over hyping today’s Bird Flu announcement, got me annoyed at the extreme, unneccessary overuse of the phrase “The deadly strain of Bird Flu”when referring to all things avian flu.

It begins or appears in every report on TV and radio. Aside from the fact all journalists seem to have given up coming up with new ways to introduce bird flu stories, it’s just completely out of proportion to emphasise the “deadly” element of bird flu. Yes people have died from it but not enough to justify the prefix.

If we’re going to start calling something that has killed (on average) 36 people a year since 2003, then surely everything else that kills as many or more deserves the title too. So, newswriters and readers of the world, are we to start hearing any of the following?

• “The deadly activity of driving” (which kills 44,000 a year in US)
• “The deadly task of taking the bus” (which kills 43 people a year)
• “The deadly action of getting out of bed” (which kills 785 people a year)
• “The deadly bee” (which kills 40 people a year)

Any more suggestions are gladly welcome. Bird Flu is potentially deadly, but it amazes me (as well as many others on here) that the media seem intent on scaremongering the public.

….Or maybe they know something we don’t…oooh-errr, spooky!

: 06 Apr 2006 16:53 |  Tags: Broadcast Journalism Politics Stupid People |  Comments (8) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Is TV reflecting the real world? No!

Writing about web page http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,1745303,00.html

It was the 2nd of July 2005, and Live8 was in full swing amid extraordinary hype. That afternoon, I wrote a short blog entry, expressing my concern that Geldof's crusade would only damage the world's view of Africa, mashing dozens of diverse countries into one desperate famine ridden lump.

Nine months on, and I've been proven right.

A report released this week by the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association and VSO has found that in 'the year when the world cared about Africa' the public's opinion of the continent is more stereotyped than ever.

The survey, entitled "Reflecting the Real World? used focus groups to assess how television had changed our views of Africa. The results showed that nothing had changed since a similar report four years ago: people still primarily viewed 'Africa' as a continent of war and hunger.

According to the VSO:

Even the Make Poverty History campaign and the Live 8 concerts, which enthused millions of people, appear to have inadvertently contrived to confirm a stereotype of Africa as a continent on its knees and added to a sense that nothing has changed over the last 20 years.

The people surveyed gave an overwhelming impression that they wanted a more balanced view of the continent, with more "good news" stories.

I wholeheartedly agree. This shouldn't mean propaganda, but balance. Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby puts it better:

I do not expect, or wish, news and current affairs programmes to become ‘good news’ propaganda, but they could offer a wider and more balanced perspective. Similarly, documentary, drama, and entertainment producers should use their range of talents to embrace people of the ‘poor’ world as well as the rich world.

There was some praise offered to broadcasters last year. The BBC's Africa Lives series, and Rolf on African Art were picked out for their creativity. It was their mixture of factual and entertainment that won them favour, and the a Holby City episode set in Ghana was similarly applauded.

The answer then is that broadcasters need to produce programmes like this, that bring a realistic/balanced reflection of Africa in the 21st century, not just in straight news programmes but in entertainment as well.

The key is creativity.

News producer need to be more creative in the stories they find, reporting the good and the bad, in new and original ways that are more reflective of the continent, as well as the rest of the developing world.

And producers from other genres must broaden their horizons. The survey has found that audiences do want to see more from the outside world, but they're tired of the same repetitive formats.

I hope broadcasters will take note of the report, because as I see it right now, the media is yet another institution that's letting the developing world down.

: 04 Apr 2006 11:06 |  Tags: Broadcast Journalism Politics |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Newsnight: Latin America

Writing about web page http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsnight

Hot off the heels of (and no doubt because of) Channel 4 News's Week in Iran, BBC Newsnight is this week bringing us a special week of programmes live from various Latin American countries. A worthy idea, but having just watched Monday's programme, it was hardly up to Newsnight's usual standard.

Gavin Estler was our man in Lima, introducing two interesting reports the first about the upcoming elections in Peru and the second about Argentina's maverick president.

The first – by Estler – was an interesting portrait of the tip for the Peruvian presidency, Ollanta Humala, but ruined by a terribly fake interview with the candidate, over – believe it or not – a game of chess. Pull the other one Gavin. Seeing as the two participants spoke different languages it was clear the interview wasn't much of a conversation, but incredibly it was Gavin Estler's wooden questions that gave it away the most.

Greg Palast's film on the Venezuelan's president Hugo Chavez was more my kind of report. Witty, irreverent and well written taking us through Palast's trip to the country. It too had a multilingual interview, but Palast didn't try and con us by conducting during a tennis match or something. Although he did let the president try on his trademark hat which was nice. Most of all it was an interesting insight into a president sitting on supposedly the biggest oil well in the world, who spends all his time planning a weekly 6-hour TV programme which he presents from behind a desk. Not sure what Paul O'Grady would make of that.

It was also a chuckler, because Channel 4 News in learning of Newnight's plans apparently tried to pre-empt the Beeb by getting the Chavez interview first. In doing so they pissed off Chavez so much he went straight to Newsnight anyway.

And finally back out to Gavin, given the demanding task of interviewing 4 people, 2 of whom were via satellite. The most interesting was Otto Reich a former US politician who specialised America's Latin America policy. It should have been a good chance to challenge the American's highly dubious policy in the region. Instead Estler spent most of the time trying to cut Otto off, which is rather hard given the time difference (try interrupting your elderly granny over the phone), and ended up cutting the poor guy off half way through his answers with little remorse.

So much to improve on. And obviously Paxman wasn't too impressed - the look on his face I should imagine resemblant of that when his children come home and tell him they only got a B in their last exam.

: 03 Apr 2006 23:39 |  Tags: Broadcast Journalism |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

WTV awards success!

Writing about web page http://www.warwicktv.co.uk

Big congrats today has to go to Warwick TV for some significant awards success at the annual Nastas last night.

Four programmes were awarded in total – 2 winners and 2 'highly recommended' (although not sure what that means)

The current affairs programme we produced for Go Green Week last term, reporting on the fate of all our rubbish was highly recommended, as was the famous 'Is this the way to WSAF?' video, which launced last years Arts Festival.

And the Big Decision 06, which I raved about here, won gold in the Best Live event category.

Massive props to all at WTV - the best year awards-wise to date!

: 02 Apr 2006 13:52 |  Tags: Broadcast Journalism Media Whoring Wtv |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

French protests get violent

Writing about web page http://news.bbc.co.uk

One of the most remarkable pieces of television news in some time is taking place right now on BBC News 24. Jon Sopel is live in the Place de la Republique, on a hotel balcony, offering what is effectively football commentary on violent confrontations between riot police and a small group of protesters.

There seems to be two protests going on similtaneously – a peaceful protest about the French government's new youth employment laws passed this month, and – at the other end of the square – a small hardcore of rioters who are sporadically attacking the police. It all seems to have started at around 4pm.

The BBC have several cameras feeding in so Jon Sopel can literally pick out a skirmish and have it covered very well.

===============
And as a late edition, this website has put up some pictures of 'the fearless Jon Sopel' really getting in the thick of it

He had retired to a balcony before I tuned in but the pictures suggest it was the most memorable piece of rolling news in a while…

On the left he's dodging missiles and in the right shot he is being confronted by an angry protester…keep your cool Jon boy!

: 28 Mar 2006 18:02 |  Tags: Broadcast Journalism News Politics |  Comments (7) |  Close comments |  Report a problem