Broadcast news is gathered, edited, produced and distributed by both news broadcast institutions like the BBC and independent news agencies like Reuters. News agencies employ journalists worldwide to collect stories and footage that is then sold to broadcasters. Broadcast news is manufactured through the way it is collected, constructed and transmitted. News broadcasters buy footage from agencies and also gather their own regional/national news to construct stories that suit their target audiences. A news editor decides the daily news agenda and story selection based on pre-planned and breaking news events.

1. Broadcast News

2. What is Broadcast News?
• News attracts mass audiences who want to be
informed of local, national and global events.
• It is gathered, edited, produced and distributed
on two levels: by the institutions that broadcast it
(e.g. BBC) and by independent news agencies
(e.g. Reuters) who employ journalists to collect
stories and footage globally so the agencies can
sell them on to broadcasters.
• The institutions that produce news help to shape
audience response to current stories/issues and
social attitudes

3. Production and manufacture of news
• The word, ‘manufacture,’ has connotations of
artificiality, but broadcast news IS manufactured.
• The way it is collected, reported, edited,
constructed and transmitted is not just the
responsibility of the journalist
• News is big business and is heavily monitored by
the institutions responsible for its production and
by the authorities that monitor its output

4. News Agencies
• Commercial companies who research, collect
and distribute news to broadcast news
institutions
• They employ/deploy journalists and crews
around the world to record events
• The news is then sold to global broadcasters
to edit into their own features. Footage can be
edited to suit the broadcaster’s style and
purpose

5. Reuters
• Oldest (founded 1851) and most established
British global news agency
• Has a reputation for independence and neutrality
and its journalists are sometimes allowed access
to stories when others have been denied
• Their neutrality means that raw footage can be
easily edited to suit the needs of the broadcasters
who buy it
• Now uses live streaming to transfer raw footage
and packaged reports to broadcasters

6. ITN
• One of Britain’s largest global news agencies and
produces news and factual programmes for all media
channels and various platforms (excluding print)
• Initially funded by various ITV companies to collate and
distribute news to the UK regions
• Now a successful global company responsible for
distributing news across the globe to news
broadcasters. In this country alone: ITV, Channel 4,
London Tonight, More 4, Google, all mobile phone
operators, Independent Radio News (supplying 260
local independent radio stations; some commercial
radio stations like Classic FM, Talk Radio and Atlantic
252

7. BBC
• Unique – it’s a news agency and news broadcaster
• Global company, funded by the licence fee and commercial
ventures
• Economic and institutional strength – distributes journalists
around the world to source, edit, report and broadcast
• Responsible for how its news is collected, produced and
broadcast throughout its global franchises.
• Public Service Broadcast (PSB) status – must remain impartial
and promote positive representations of minority and
majority groups
• Still buy in images or footage from commercial news
agencies
• Caters to a wide and varied audience – news on BBC1 at 10
in the evening will be noticeably different to that on
Newsround, reflecting the difference in target audience and
channel

8. News Broadcasters
• E.g. ITV, Channel 4 and Five News
• Buy news from agencies, edit raw footage to
suit the news features being shown and the
needs of the target audience.
• Generally employ in-house journalists to
gather regional and national news because its
cheaper to buy raw global footage from
agencies for international news

9. News Sources
• The use of news agency footage is the decision of the
broadcast journalist and editor, but a broadcast
journalist must source the news too – from a variety of
sources, such as the courts, armed forced, sports clubs,
trade unions, parliament, politicians, hospitals, local
councils, emergency services, European parliament,
local and national businesses and industry, educational
institutions, as well as press releases, private contacts,
news conferences, news agencies, publicity stunts,
press briefings, members of the public
• Combined with additional footage from an agency, this
produces varied and current features

10. News Production and Construction
• Stories can sometimes take months to research and
then have to be edited to convey the whole story in
five minutes or less
• Equally, broadcast news can be dealing with a story
that develops while the show is on air
• Broadcasters have to ensure that the tone and emotion
of the story can be effectively communicated
• The broadcaster has to consider the use of narrative,
representations, location shots, witness accounts and –
occasionally – non-diegetic sound- to help position the
audience.

11. News Saturation
• When an event dominates news coverage
• E.g. July 7 2005 bombings in London
• E.g. 2006 terror scares at British airports
• Saturation coverage effected regional and
national broadcast news – little else was given
priority over these stories for almost a month
• Sometimes, foreign events dominate the news
E.g. The Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris 2015 – but
they rarely affect regional news UNLESS a ‘local’
person has been caught up in the event

12. News Output
• Varies each day
• Responsibility of the news editor to continue follow-up
stories and plan the day’s news events
• Coverage of some events – or aspects of them – can be
planned in advance e.g. charity and PR events and, to a
certain extent, political party conferences
• Remaining news – result of surprise events which can
alter the news agenda for the day – could saturate
coverage or bump other items down or completely off
the agenda, depending on their importance so news
editors must change and deploy journalistic teams
when such events occur.

13. The News Editor
• Decides on selection and priority of news events – in
charge of news agenda, setting and selection of news
features
• Events will be constructed using news agencies,
freelance journalists, broadcast journalists and news
sources.
• Acts as a GATEKEEPER for news stories.
• Checks day’s diary for events that have been pre-
booked into the news – if no surprise events – editor
will select the news stories from the sources available
• Will direct reporters and crews to locations specified
• Will also have to consider what the competitors are
doing

14. Gatekeeping
• Filtering information prior to dissemination (i.e.
putting it on the news) – usually done by the
editor but also how the journalist selects lines of
questioning or uses some words to discuss
people or an event
• Bear in mind news will have been mediated by its
original source
• It’s the way for a news institution to control the
flow of information passed to the audience

15. Gatekeeping
• X1 – TAXES HAVE BEEN RAISED BY 1.5%
• X2 – A HIGH PROFILE CELEBRITY COUPLE HAVE
ANNOUNCED RTHEIR DIVORCE
• X3 – THE GOVERNMENT HAVE ANNOUNCED A NEW
ROAD LAW PENALISING YOUNG DRIVERS WHO ARE
CAUGHT SPEEDING
• X4 - A NEW PLANET HAS BEEN DISCOVERED
• X5 - SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THEY HAVE DISCOVERED A
GENE THAT HELPS DISTATE YOUR NATURAL WEIGHT
• THE GROWTH OF FREE NEWSPAPERS IS AFFECTING THE
ENVIRONMENT

16. Categorisation of News Stories
• Hard News – events happening at the time they are
reported e.g. death of a high profile figure, rise in
interest rates, acts of terrorism or war, serious
accidents
• Soft News – human interest stories e.g. lottery winners,
daredevil charity events etc
• Soft news provides light relief from hard news and
sometimes allows audiences to imagine how they
would react if they were in a similar position
• News tries to get audiences to identify with or connect
to the events that happen and Hard News cannot
always engage audiences as well as Soft News.

17. Truth and Realism – how are they
conveyed?
• What do these features bring to a story?
• 1. Speaking to a victim or relative after an attack
• 2. Images of a bereaved parent
• 3. CCTV film of suspects
• 4. Suspects refusing to contribute/hiding
themselves from the camera
• 5. Footage of a scene where a crime took place
• 6. A reporter talking to the camera outside of 10
Downing Street or Buckingham Palace or …