Case Study 1: Channel 4 news

Channel 4 News Case Study

Basic Details

11)     7pm

22)     1982

33)     “International Emmy Award for News, British Academy Award for Best News Coverage, Best News and Current Affairs Journalism.”

44)     Channel 4.

Presenters

11)     Jon Snow, Krishan Guru- Murthy, Cathy Newman

22)     The presenters are wearing formal clothes like suits, shirts and ties; however, Jon Snow wears brightly coloured ties and socks to show that the show is more energetic.

33)     A news broadcast would use a variety of presenters to show a diverse variety of presenters.

44)     The other presenters are used for interviewing, undercover investigating and international coverage.

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Opening sequence

1)      The opening shot is a shot of the logo to show brand identity of Channel 4.

2)      The opening sequence shows clips from the main story so the audience knows what it will be about.

3)     Music is used in the opening sequence to open the news broadcast, also to show synergy with the show because the theme tune is well known.

4)     The other news stories are shown by sliding across the screen so that you only see it briefly.

Studio mise-en-scene

11)     In the video, the audience can see: a desk with 2 chairs, two screens facing opposite each other, the two main anchors and a window with the studio behind it.

22)     The two anchors are standing in front of the desks to connect with audience so that it makes it feel like someone is right in front of you, having a conversation about the news.

33)     The technology on set is visible (2 television). I think that they did this to show that the show is more modern rather than more traditional and old fashioned.

44)     The studio uses purple a lot to show that you are watching Channel 4 News and not any other TV News programme.

How news stories are typically presented

11)     The anchors presents a news story by standing in front of the screen so that a relevant picture appears on the screens when talking about a news story.

22)     The channel will go to a medium close up on one of the anchors when talking about a specific story, however, when a reporter is speaking from a different country, they only record his chest up, instead of waist up when in the studio.

33)     The news programme typically covers stories about: politics, economics, the internet, conflict in other countries and international stories.

44)     News stories are presented and keep the audience entertained by using video clips and exclusive clips from undercover reporters to keep the audience engaged and entertained.

Running order

11)     The top story is about immigration and mass amounts of immigrants entering Britain.

22)     The main story, briefly described by Jon Snow, lasted 0:25 seconds.

33)     Channel 4 news also covered: international stories, news about deaths ("M4 Disaster" and news about the politician), and happier news stories (the Nigerian family being reunited)

43)     Most of the news stories covered lasted 10-20 seconds, with the exception of the main/top story

54)     Each story may have been covered for the certain amount of time because of its importance.

Audience

1.      The target audience is from 18-65 as there are some shows, for example documentaries, which the elderly may watch.

2.      Some people may choose to watch this News programme as it covers a wide range of news stories.

3.      The audience can interact with the programme by using hash tags on twitter to comment about the news stories. The audience can also do this by going to the Facebook fan page and comment about the show there.

4.      The audience may be pleased by the shows broadcasts as it may talk about the country/area which they're from.

Institution

1.      Channel 4

2.      Channel 4 does not produce any other type of news broadcast.

3.      The broadcast fits the channel as it talks about news stories which they show as TV shows, an example is documentaries.

4.      Ofcom makes sure that the news shows are not bias and are presents accurately.

TV News and new/digital media

1.      The broadcast does have a dedicated website.

2.      The website offers catch up with the broadcast so you can watch it online. It also offers you to meet the news anchors. Finally, it offers news which they cover, "UK News," etc.

3.      The titter account for Channel 4 news is @Channel4News.

4.      It promotes the news channel as it promotes the YouTube channel for the news broadcast.

5.      The twitter account does give the audience a chance to submit news stories.