media coursework AS

1. CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF
THE LOCAL RADIO NEWS
By Ellie and Danielle

2. WHAT IS NEWS?
News is newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent
events. There are different types of news however in this presentation we will
be focusing on radio news . The broadcast that we have chosen has been
broadcast from Newcastle and is therefore slightly different to a broadcast
from London. The London broadcast will only focus on headlines which have
a huge impact on the wold and stories which will have be interesting to those
London viewers. A story that has been broadcast in Newcastle about someone
who is a resident of Newcastle will not be one of the top stories in the
London broadcast. There are many code and conventions of the local radio
news; in this presentation I will be focusing on; timelessness. Proximity,
impact, human interest etc.

3. IMPACT
The news has a big impact on all of its listeners; it has such an impact that it
can affect a persons psychological health. It can do this by directly affecting
your mood, and your mood can then affect many aspects of your thinking and
behaviour. If the news broadcast generates negative mood experiences (e.g.
anxiety, sadness, anger, disgust), then these experiences will affect how you
interpret events in your own life, what types of memories you recall.

4. HUMAN INTEREST
The headline story of a news broadcast will always be a story which has a
impact on a large group of people. It is the interest of many which means
that it will be mentioned as soon as the news broadcast starts because this will
keep the listener engaged and want to listen to the whole broadcast.
There are different interest for different broadcasts for example a radio show
broadcast in Newcastle will speak about events that will only interest the
listeners that have happened in Newcastle.

5. PROXIMITY
Proximity is nearness which means that an incident which is to be reported
as news has taken place near the people; the news bulletin has been put on air for.
We, naturally, tend to take more interest in the news story
that is about us, or our city, or our province,
or our country. The closer the accident, the more the interest
will be.
For instance, though tsunami was, more or less, equally devastating for humanity but ear
thequake took place in Pakistan's northern areas and Azad Kashmir had more impact on
the lives and minds of Pakistani people likewise the news of
a train meeting an accident in Pakistan will be heard with far more attention and
concern than news covering an accident of train anywhere in any other part of
the world. The obvious rule
hence is, "big problems for them are less important than small problems for us.

6. TIMELINESS
"NOW" is more newsworthy than "THEN”
Timelessness In news is about what is happening now.
“Radio news is what happened five minutes ago and its impact on what is
going to happen in the next five minutes” – Richard Besti
“The strength of radio is its immediacy. Exploit that by constantly up-dating
stories and keeping them fresh. We are telling people what is happening now”
– Malcom Shaw-news editor independent radio

7. NOVELTY
Novelty means something different, something against the general routine of
people, something amazing,something incredible, something astonishing, som
ething unusual. Anything, any action, any hobby, any incident,
people would hardly prepare to believe in is something novel and hence
carries the characteristics of novelty. The birth of twins is not very common
however it is considered normal and is believable. A mother giving birth to
quadruplets is capable enough to surprise people.

8. PROGRESS
Progress means any improvement in any field. If the progress is really
significant it will be a part of the news
bulletin. Some leading walks of a society are as under
in which if there is any remarkable progress; it will be noted by
the reporter.
Progress of a student- Outstanding performance in education or sports or
in any co-curricular activity such as debates, speech
competition, poetry, essay competition, etc.
Progress of a political party - Any political party wins the polls
or clean sweeps the elections.
Any Department -Progress in any project initiated by any government
department may be good news