This document discusses several narrative theories and provides a brief explanation of each. It lists Todorov's 5 stages theory, Levi-Strauss's binary opposition theory, Barthes' enigma theory, and Vladimir Propp's character theory. It then analyzes coverage of a fatal stabbing of a teacher by a student in Leeds based on Galtung and Ruge's news values theory. Elements like threshold, frequency, negativity, unexpectedness, unambiguity, and personalization made the story appealing to cover. It also summarizes the plot, setting, and use of narrative theories in reporting the story on Channel 5 and Sky News.

1. Starter - List as many narrative Theories as you can and
explain the basic premise of each.
 Todorov – 5 stages, Theory of Equilibrium (A state of equilibrium, a
disruption, a recognition of the disruption, an attempt to repair that
disruption and a restoration of a new equilibrium.)
 Levi Strauss Binary Opposition – Good/Bad (The way in which we
understand words depends not so much on any meaning they
themselves directly contain, but much more by our understanding of
the difference between the word and its opposite.)
 Barthes, Enigma Theory – Creates questions for the audience e.g.
murder mystery.
 Vladimir Propp’s character theory – narratives feature 8 character
types.
http://edusites.co.uk/media/quiz/tvnewsquiz/quiz.swf

2.  We are going to look at the reporting of the fatal stabbing of a
teacher in a Leeds school
 Before we look at the coverage of this event, to what extent does it
fulfil the requirements of Galtung and Ruge’s News Values theory?
Elements of a narrative
Plot Setting Voice / Point
of View
Character Atmosphere
• Threshold – Large impact on the audience.
• Frequency – Doesn’t happen a lot.
• Negativity – Negative story = bigger press coverage.
• Unexpectedness – Unexpected story.
• Unambiguity – Easy concept to understand, doesn’t
happen a lot, but can understand the story.
• Personalisation – Does ring true with some
elements of ourselves i.e. everyone has been to
school/been around a school environment.
• Meaningfulness – We understand what the story is
(environment/people)
• Reference to the elite (nations and people) doesn’t
relate to any elite nations.
• Consonance (Willingness to report)
• Continuity
• Composition (of the news broadcast)

3. Channel 5 Lunchtime News Sky News – Breaking News on
24hr news channel
How does media language aid narrative?
News Event – Fatal Stabbing of
Teacher

4. Galting and Rauge –
 Threshold – a lot of people, big impact. Shwon through the mass brawl
of students
 Frequency – doesn’t happen a lot
 Negative – It’s very negative news, making it more interesting to the
audience.
 Unexpectedness – wasn’t expected, out of the norm.
 Unambiguity – The event is easy to grasp and understand. Teacher has
been stabbed and the suspect is a student.
 Personalisation – People are interested in people. (students, teachers
etc)
 Meaningfulness – Relates to lots of different types of people
 Composition – would be a top story, doesn’t happen every day and
there wont be another story of this type in the same day.
KR
News Event – Fatal Stabbing of
Teacher – Channel 5 News
Plot
 Teacher stabbed by student
 Teacher died, student arrested
 Voice over describing the scene of the crime
 Interviews by students (eye-witnesses, people who knew the
teacher/student)
Setting and Atmosphere
 Serious atmosphere
 Shock
 ‘Isolated incident’
 Police presence and statement
 Juxtaposition of story with surroundings.
Narrative Theories
 Todorov – Normal school day,
teacher stabbed, she’s treated
by medics by dies, student is
arrested, adjusting to life
without teacher/change at
school.
 Levi Strauss – student
Murderer= bad, pupils/staff
members = good.
 Enigma – Why did he do it?
What’s going to happen to him?
Family?
 Propp – Villain = pupil, Victim
= teacher, Helper = emergency
services, Dispatcher = pupils
raising alarm.

5. Galtung and Ruge –
 Threshold – a lot of people, big impact. Shown through the mass brawl
of students
 Frequency – doesn’t happen a lot, ref to events happening in USA
 Negative – It’s very negative news, making it more interesting to the
audience.
 Unexpectedness – wasn’t expected, out of the norm.
 Unambiguity – The event is easy to grasp and understand. Teacher has
been stabbed and the suspect is a student.
 Personalisation – People are interested in people. (students, teachers,
families
 Meaningfulness – Relates to lots of different types of people – school
community, wider community, close to many people
 Composition – would be a top story, doesn’t happen every day and
there wont be another story of this type in the same day.
 Reference to elite nations – Reference to USA (events such as this
happen there more often than in the UK.)
News Event – Fatal Stabbing of
Teacher – Sky News
Plot
 Teacher stabbed by student
 Teacher died, student arrested
 Voice over describing the scene of the crime
 Interviews by students (eye-witnesses, people
who knew the teacher/student)
Setting and Atmosphere
 Serious atmosphere
 Shock
 ‘Isolated incident’
 Police presence and statement
 Juxtaposition of story with surroundings.
 Lots of people present – staff/students/parents/police etc.
Narrative Theories
 Todorov – Normal school day,
teacher stabbed, she’s treated
by medics by dies, student is
arrested, adjusting to life
without teacher/change at
school.
 Levi Strauss – student
Murderer= bad, pupils/staff
members = good. More of a
focus on the bad/darker sides
of the story.
 Enigma – Why did he do it?
What’s going to happen to him?
Family?
 Propp - Villain = pupil, Victim =
teacher, Helper/Hero =
emergency services,
Dispatcher = pupils raising
alarm.

6. Analysing TV News
Channel 5 Lunchtime News Sky News – Breaking News on 24hr news channel
• More in depth report – 2:02
• Not so urgent, filled out report.
• The colour scheme of channel 5 is blue and pink
• Voice over
• ‘Reported to be’ – came out at the time of the
crime
• Story has a lot of continuity
• Interviews - longer police footage of the
statement
• No bugs/name supers/no rolling news feed
• Have to be fully interested in the story as it is not
a rolling news channel so would be hard to pick it
up if you tune in half way through.
• Not as dramatized (no over the top/exaggeration)
• More heavily focussed on the darker side of the
story – heavily focussed on the crime and the
effects it can have.
• Report was after the event – taken from the BBC.
• Branding of Sky News – Red/White. Logo appear
on the screen.
• Rolling news channel – tune in or out at any point
and still understand/know what news is being
reported.
• More frequent name super’s
• The length is shorter – 1.25m seconds
• Constantly reminded that it is Breaking News
• Voice over
• Vox-Pops (3) – more fast paced
• Interviews – those involved/affected by what has
happened
• Country wide news channel

7.  Does anything in the news coverage challenge us?
- It does challenge us to a certain extent as it raises questions as to why someone of a
young age do something as such as this.
 What viewpoint does it support which is dominant in the target audience of the
news (30-65yrs)?
- The news report doesn’t look at the 15year olds viewpoint or motivation. It focusses
mostly on the victim and on the pupils at the school. It assumes tat the audience is
slower to teacher’s age rather than the young boy’s.
 This is a good example of consonance (News Values theory). Think about why this
might be the case
- Common for young people to be causing trouble – what Stanley Cohen called the
‘moral panic’, young people are the ‘folk devils’, that everyone should be scared of.
Appeals to the TA pf 30-65years of age – negative portrayal of young people, what the
audience would expect.
Link to News Values

8.  71% of news story's regarding young
people are negative.
 14% were positive.
 15% were either good or bad.
 The update shows that while the number
of positive stories has remained about
the same (12%),
 Increased middle ground of neutral
stories (30%) that feature young people
but do not portray a clearly positive or
negative view of them. The majority of
stories that feature young people are still
negative (57%).
 Some people are classed as neutral
because they are informative articles
about education, parenting or lifestyle
which are about young people but do
seek to comment upon them.
(Mori Poll)
 E.g. Criminals are presented in a bad
light/negative within the media.
Immigrants’ story.
Young People in the Media

9. 1. Why do you think the majority of stories featuring young people are negative?
- The natural perception of young people is that they behave badly and do not have a
lot of respect for others/society. This is living up to the expectations of what the
viewer recognises/is interested in.
1. What effect might negative news have upon the viewer?
-It may encourage them to have a perception of young people which could created a
divide between younger and older.
- It could also be something that encourages them to carry on and live up to their
‘reckless stereotype’ and they wouldn’t see in any point subverting it, if they think that
the older demographic already have a negative perception of them.
1. Is there evidence that programmes created for a younger audience – e.g.
Newsround – may have a different set of “News Values” (Think back to the work in
lesson three).
- There may be as it is a younger audience, so therefore may need to be made up from
different news values. E.g. Threshold; even if it is a big news story then it will still only
be a news story to affect a younger audience, rather than a broader, older audience.
Audience and Bias

10. 1. Is negative coverage of their age group something which
would prevent young people watching the news?
- In my opinion yes because if they are watching something
which is a negative portrayal of themselves, then they are
constantly going to be reminded of the perception that people
have of them, which isn’t necessarily right.
1. Who do you think are the main demographic for TV news
broadcasts? Consider: Age, Gender, Race, Lifestyle.
- Majority white, middle class people on an average income –
trying to reach out to the biggest audience number in which they
have. It will also be about the things in which that audience is
interested in.
Audience and Bias