Case
Study
Channel 4 News is on at 7:00 till 7:55 in
the evening. This news programme is on Monday to Friday. The show was first
launched with the channel in 1982. Channel 4 News has won the International
Emmy Award for News; two British Academy Television Awards. This programme is
owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The programme is produced by ITN
and is presented by Jon Snow; Matt Frei; Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Cathy Newman.
In the news the usually wear formal clothing such as a suit and woman in
Channel 4 News wear dresses. This communicates to the audience that the News
show is formal however in their Youtube channel the presenter has taken off his
jacket and is acting more casually. This implies that by using Youtube, they
want to capture a wider range of audiences such as the younger population. The
news programme could want to use a variety of presenters so that they intrigue
a wider range of audiences to watch the programme. The audience of the same
group as the presenter might feel that the presenter represents them, making
the audience more comfortable by being able to watch a person from the same
culture as them. As Krishnan is of Asian culture, this could make the Asian
audience feel more acknowledged and represented. This will bring in more views
for Channel 4 News. The other presenters and reporters in the programme that we
watched in class are used to go to Rome so that they can find out about what is
going on. They do this so they can then share/report it with the Channel 4
audience. However one of the reporters stay in their HQ and report from there.
In Channel 4 News there is more of a balance in gender and race as one of their
aims is too include all culture and gender. The very first shot is the first
story, in the background Jon Snow is informing the audience about the story.
The opening sequence uses flashes of images, dramatic music and an introduction
of the stories. This grabs the attention of the audience as they can see if they
want to watch the news because they can see the stories that will be coming up
during the programme. The dramatic music is used to build tension to what is
going to happen in the programme. In the opening two minutes the presenter is
prioritising one headline story however at the end of the two minutes they
briefly talk about the other stories that will be on in the programme. In one
shot the audience can see the whole of the studio however after that the camera
is focused on the screen while Jon Snow is presenting next to it. The presenter
is standing next to a board, this is so when he is discussing the story we have
visuals to help the audience understand the news report and also to make the
report more interesting. Both Journalists and technology are visible in the
opening 2 minutes of the programme. A journalist is used to explain a story to
the audience at the scene of what happened in Rome. Also the board with images
of what the report is about is beside Jon Snow as he presents. This suggests
that they want the news to be more interesting and more informative by helping
people understand. This could mean that they are trying to target a younger
audience. The studio colour is a political colour showing that the news is
sophisticated. They could also use the colour as a trigger, meaning that when
the audience looks at the colour they could think about the brand. The news
programme usually has a format/layout when reporting a story. They usually
briefly inform the audience on the report then they go to an interview after
that there is usually a voice over. Techniques that are used in the news is
voiceovers, live interviews, videos and images of the issues to help some of
the audience understand some stories. Stories that are used in the news
sometimes are: sport fixtures, prices of appliances, oil drops, elections and
world issues such as ISIS beheadings. Links to social media are used to keep
the audience interested as they can talk about the stories. Also they use
videos so that the audience can see live coverage of issues that are going on
around the world. The top story of Wednesday 21st April Channel 4
News is that Tesco has lost 6 and a half billion pounds. This is briefly
reported right at the start then after a minute is explained in more detail.
This story is reported for about 6 minutes of the programme. The other stories
are: food banks have given out more than 1 million food parcels this month; interview
of a women who left Damascus to Britain by a dangerous boat from North Africa;
Pictures and report on the Hatton Garden Heist; Nigel Farage admits to feeling
wonky for overdoing it at the start of the campaign and finally an interview
with Robert Downy Junior for the premier of the Marvel News Avengers movie.
The other news is reported for about 4 minutes each. They make the headline story longer as that
is what the programme is based on and the other reports are side stories. They
made the headline report longer as they want to put more emphasis on it and
wanted to fit in an interview with someone high up in Tesco. Channel 4 News is
targeted at a more culturally diverse society in the use of a balance of
presenters and reporters. The programme is also targeted at the working class
and 60% male 40% female. Someone might choose to watch Channel 4 news other
than different programmes because the audience feels that they are being
represented with the balance that Channel 4 News has of different cultural
groups. Right at the start of the programme there is a hashtag for Channel 4
News for people to comment and see other reports. The programme offers a link
to talk about the news and uses technology for videos and images to make the
news less boring as not many people would watch if the camera just filmed a
presenter talking for the whole time. The Channel 4 Corporation and ITN owns
and produces the programme while Channel 4 broadcasts it. Channel 4 runs all
the other shows that are on the channel. ITN also produces news for websites
and channels such as Yahoo and ITV. The programme fits Channel 4 because
channel 4 aims too the working class and so does the news programme. Channel 4
also tries to be culturally diverse like the programme. OFCOM regulates the
news to make it impartial and informative. OFCOM also decides how much adverts
there can be on each programme. Channel 4 News has a dedicated website that has
all the stories and reports on it. You can also make an account so you can
watch catchup news and comment on the reports shown on the news. At the start
of the programme there is a twitter feed to comment on the issues going on
around the world. The twitter feed makes the audience feel more engaged so they
will watch more in the future. Citizen Journalism is not used on Channel 4
News.
