Channel 4 News Case Study

Basic details

1. When is Channel 4 News on? Monday-Friday 7pm - 7.55pm
2. When was the programme first broadcast? November 1982
3. What awards has the programme won? Royal Television Society Television Awards, News Coverage British Academy Television Awards, 2004 International Emmy for the best news programme produced and aired outside the United States.
4. What is the media institution that produces Channel 4 News? Channel 4

Presenters

1. Who are the presenters? Jon Snow, Matt Frei, Krishnan Guru Mathy, Cathy Newman
2. What are the presenters wearing? What does this communicate to the audience? The two main presenters are wearing clothes that are generally for a formal occasion, e.g. a suit for the male presenter, and a plain black dress and tights for the female presenter. This communicates to the audience that the news is of high importance and is to be taken seriously as they themselves take it seriously.
3. Why might a TV News programme use a variety of presenters? There may be one presenter that some people really like, but some people may dislike, and the presenters that they like, the other people will dislike, so by regularly changing the presenter, you are pleasing different people on different days, but either way, you're pleasing someone every day.
4. How are other reporters or presenters used in the TV News programme? Other presenters are used to report live from the locations involved in the stories being broadcast. 
5. Is there a balance between male and female presenters? What about race/ethnicity? What effect might these aspects have on an audience? I think the majority of presenters are white British, and I think there is a even spread of male and female presenters, but the reporters are predominantly male. The fact that most of the presenters are white British will make people of other ethnicities feel disinclined to watch the news cause they could feel unable to relate to them or engage in the broadcast.

Opening sequence

Analyse the opening 2 minutes of the programme.

1. What is the very first shot? A busy airport
2. How does the opening sequence use graphics or images to grab the attention of the audience? They show a brief clip from a few of the stories that are going to be broadcast, which are surrounded by colourful moving graphics, grabbing the audience's attention, which could then make them wonder what the stories are about, subsequently encouraging them to continue watching.
3. How is music used in the opening sequence? It's not used until after the first brief summary of the first story is announced, and then it starts as the clips of other stories are playing. The music is clearly 'news music' and this could have the same effect on the audience as the graphics. 

Studio mise-en-scene

1. What aspects of the studio can be seen by the audience? (Desk, cameras etc.) At first, you can see the two presenters standing in front of their desk, but only for about a second, and then you can see a medium long shot of Jon Snow standing in front of a screen which slowly zooms in and stops so you can see just above his hips. 
2. Are the presenters standing or behind desks? Why do you think this is? I think they're standing to show the audience that they're confident to report to a large audience live, whereas reporting from behind a desk, gives them the desk to sit and hide behind, the desk being a symbol of protection so by presenting standing up out in the open they show their bravery and confidence.
3. Are journalists or technology visible? What might these things suggest to the audience? During this broadcast, no, no technology or journalists are visible.
4. How does the studio use colour? There is a fixed colour scheme which is blue, pink and white and they use those colours in graphics and some parts of the studio e.g. furniture and walls.

How news stories are presented

1. How does the news programme typically present a story? They usually start with the graphics, then transferring to the presenter/s and then start by with one of the presenters starting on the first story.
2. What difference techniques does the programme use to present the news? (E.g. presenter to camera, reporter on location, interviews, graphics, images, video etc.) Firstly, the camera is almost always moving, a technique that can keep the audience engaged/interested. Also, there is always something on the screen that we can see giving us information, whether it be the presenter/reporter or graphics.
3. What types of news does the TV News programme typically cover? Give five examples (e.g. politics, international, sport etc.) This news programme is known for covering international news, political news, national news and local news.
4. Give two real examples of how news stories presented to keep the interest of the audience. 

Running order
Watch the first 15 minutes of the programme – as recent as you can find.

1. What is the top story? How many illegal immigrants entered Britain after border controls were relaxed?
2. How long does the top story last for? 26 seconds
3. What are the other stories the programme does or will cover? List them in the order they are presented in (the ‘running order’). The Eurozone Crisis shifts focus here to Rome. (11 seconds)                                                              The details of who died in the M5 disaster are clarified. (11 seconds)                                              United in shock, the family of a man left in a mortuary for 13 years and the                                     Nigerians who were told it was a woman. (8 seconds)
4. Why do you think each story was shown for the time it was? I think the last one was shown for a shorter amount of time because it's not a story that everyone will be affected by, whereas loads of people drive down the M5 every day so more people will be interested in stories they will potentially be affected by.

Audience

What is the target audience for this TV News programme? Research online – you should be able to find plenty of suggestions to the target audience if not the official target audience of the programme. Statistics show that the majority of people that watch the news on Channel 4 are females under 35.

Why might someone choose to watch this TV News programme over others? It's less formal than others and it covers a wider variety of issues than others.


Institution

1. Who owns, runs or produces this TV News programme? ITN
2. Does the institution own, run or produce any other TV News programmes, channels or newspapers? Yes, it produces ITV news, and channel 5 news.
3. How does the programme fit the TV channel it is on? It's very informative but quite informal, like the other shows the channel consists of.
4. What role does OFCOM have in making sure TV News is fair and accurate? By making sure that the stories covered are balanced and show more than one opinion in certain circumstances, e.g. the election.

TV News and New/Digital Media

1. Does the TV News programme have a dedicated website? http://www.channel4.com/news/
2. What does the website offer viewers? Weather, TV catch up, and Snowmail
3. Does the TV News programme have a Twitter feed? Yes
4. How does the Twitter feed promote the programme? It's one of the main aspects of the website and people can tweet in whatever they think about issues raised in the news.