- Peter Barron
- 19 May 06, 04:55 PM
On the wall of my office there's a chart entitled the Newsnight cone. This is a rough aid to help us think about who are audience are when deciding what to put in the programme. It was inspired in fact by the head of Radio One, and since he's just won an armful of awards including station of the year I feel confident enough to say it's not what Jeremy might call "bollocks"
At the sharp end of the cone in our case are "opinion formers" - politicians, public bodies, media organisations - people who watch Newsnight as if their life depended on it. These are a highly influential, highly desirable audience, but they are few in number.
Next are what we call the "dedicated loyalists". Often related to members of the production team, they lap up what we do, watching maybe three or four times a week. If you're reading this you could well be one of them. They love our agenda, laugh at all our jokes, and some of them - like Jeanette (hello Jeanette) - commune with us one to one on an almost daily basis. There are more dedicated loyalists than opinion formers, but perhaps not many more.
Continue reading 'The news cone' on
Peter Barron is editor of Newsnight
- Peter Horrocks
- 19 May 06, 12:39 PM
The House of Commons leader Jack Straw has . We think he means us, as 大象传媒 News recently launched dramatic new studios in which our presenters spend a brief part of the bulletin standing (although not walking, prancing or dancing).
Changes to TV News often occasion protests. When the 大象传媒 first introduced illustration of its TV bulletins with film and graphics, the Daily Mirror attacked the 大象传媒鈥檚 鈥渃rass stupidity鈥 for 鈥減resenting us with the creaky, stiff-jointed pages of a particularly silly scrapbook.鈥
Then, when newsreaders eventually appeared on camera, one critic insisted it was vital that no attempts were made by newsreaders to look friendly, as that might end unintentionally in a smirk. Audiences now seem to take newsreaders and graphics on screen in their stride.
Maybe the few viewers who have expressed concern about newsreaders standing up now might eventually come round, as previous generations did.
So why are newsreaders standing up? In the new 大象传媒 studios we have the ability to demonstrate a much wider range of graphical and visual illustration. Those marvellous big screens are best seen in 鈥渨ide shot鈥 and a presenter standing up simply fills the frame more effectively and allows us to see the spectacular images properly. Those images give viewers a window on the world and allow us to display graphics vividly that aid audience understanding.
We know some viewers are concerned about movement by presenters, so we have asked them to stand still and not move their arms too much. We will continue to listen to the concerns of those of the audience who are worried and we鈥檒l experiment with the way we present to make it as comfortable and accessible as possible. But we do have a duty to present the visual side of TV news as effectively as possible, to attract as wide an audience as possible to the news. We are not changing to annoy people or to drive them away, so we鈥檒l continue to weigh up how we are doing.
Peter Horrocks is head of 大象传媒 Newsroom
- Ian Prince
- 19 May 06, 12:04 PM
Looks like Newsround is setting a bad example again. We've done it before and we'll do it again, although we won't go a far as Jeremy Paxman's use of slang.
Our complaint referred to a caption during an item about school bogs (sorry, toilets) which have been equipped with CCTV to cut down on bullying and bunking off (sorry, avoiding) lessons (read the story ).
The caption read "the new loos cost 100 grand" while the voiceover said "doing up the loos has cost the school a hundred thousand pounds".
Our captions reflect the way our audience watch TV. They are not news junkies who listen to every broadcast word. They have an interest in the world around them, but are probably doing other tasks while watching TV. The straps are another way they may absorb information. This is the age group who play games which are multi-layered with music, on screen instructions, action, narrative and hand controls to operate all at the same time.
"Grand" can be found in the dictionary. It fits our style of being informal and accessible to a primary school audience and children feel that Newsround is "their programme".
If children took away from that story an understanding of how school design can be used to make pupils feel safer, that there are decisions to be made about how money is spent in a school, and that the English language is a rich resource with often more than one word for something, then that's well good.
Ian Prince was editor of until mid-2006
- Andrew Steele
- 19 May 06, 11:30 AM
Every morning I wake up to an inbox stuffed with news releases, official statements and the usual load of 'unmissable' bargains offering to make me a million or two.
Most of it never makes it past the delete button. The convenience of the internet means I'm reached just as easily by government departments, official spokespeople, snake-oil salesmen, conspiracy theorists and outright loonies. Being based in the United States means that I probably get more than most from all of the above.
The American sultans of spin would give Alastair Campbell a run for his money, so I read any official release with a sceptical eye, trying to root out the inconvenient fact or the concealed truth buried in the eighth paragraph. News releases give a convenient heads-up, but it's lazy journalism to swallow their contents hook, line and sinker just because it comes from a 'respectable' source.
Similarly, there are many bloggers and commentators out there who go to great lengths to convince the world that Elvis is alive, George Bush was born in Nicaragua or aliens are alive in the Nevada desert. It would be rash to believe any of these theories, but what about claims of government-sponsored massacre in a distant part of the world? Or a junior clerk blowing the whistle on a multinational? Or abuse of women in an ethnic community in New York? Possibly such stories come from a disgruntled employee, or a government malcontent. But again, possibly not...
The argument rages over what we as editors should take seriously in the 'stuff' out there in the blogosphere, and what we should discount. To me, the answer seems rooted in our basic training as journalists. A sceptical eye is necessary, together with oodles of commonsense, and of course a load of fact-checking using trusted sources.
Just because it's a government department doesn't mean that it's necessarily the whole truth. And just because it's an anonymous source with a jaw-dropping claim doesn't mean that it's not.
Andrew Steele is the 大象传媒's bureau chief in Washington
- Peter Rippon
- 19 May 06, 11:09 AM
In today's interactive world we are constantly bombarded with random scraps of information about what our viewers and listeners think of us. I now get daily accounts of what listeners liked and disliked on a whole range of 大象传媒 programmes I never get time to see or hear.
But what do we do with all this new information? How can we identify what is valuable and can help us make better, more relevant programmes from the chaff? For me there remains one Oracle, one place where the owl of Minerva really spreads her wings... The Audience Log.
Yesterday on PM we were treated to a gem. A clear, weighty and beautifully honed view:
"The report on Sir Paul McCartney's marriage was not newsworthy."
For a vast number of Radio Four listeners the above truth is self-evident. That is why we constantly shy away from so called "Entertainment News'. This particular example was actually on the easier end of the spectrum to judge.
Macca is a big deal for our audience, he is one the few figures in popular culture who is. For me the strength and appeal of Radio Four has always been the eclecticism of its journalism. We should be comfortable telling stories about anything, so long as we do it with intelligent and engaging narrative techniques. We should do entertainment news in that spirit.
So I am sorry to the anonymous listener who felt so moved to leave such a carefully crafted comment in the log. I think you're wrong... this time.
Roll on the World Cup.
Peter Rippon is editor of World at One, PM and Broadcasting House
- Ben Rich
- 19 May 06, 09:23 AM
Days when you do an on-air correction about what the prime minister said in the House of Commons are never going to qualify as a high point. But that's what happened when, on the Six O'Clock News on Wednesday, we quoted the prime minister on illegal immigrants, without making it explicit that he was quoting a former Conservative home secretary. As soon as the piece went out, Downing Street were on the phone accusing us of unfairness.
The problem arose because the prime minister used one of those "delayed drop" answers beloved of MPs (John Prescott had done one just that morning defining the job of deputy prime minister to Tory jeers before revealing that his words were in fact those of Michael Heseltine).
Mr Blair had said (once again to Tory jeers): 鈥淭here are no official estimates of the number of illegal immigrants into the United Kingdom. By its very nature, illegal immigration is difficult to measure and any estimates would be highly speculative," before revealing that he was quoting Michael Howard. Except that alert Tories found him out and interrupted before he could do the drop properly. In the rush of the edit we cut the clip off right there, thus denying him his point that no Government has ever known these figures.
So with the minutes ticking away to the end of the programme, we had to decide what to do. The problem was that in one sense it was misleading (we didn't make it clear he was quoting) but in another it clearly did represent his position. Being a well-brought up 大象传媒 person, I referred up and we decided that we should make the factual correction and tell the viewers, once they had made it through the weather, of our mistake. It wasn't an easy decision, but in the end if we're to say we're open to admitting our mistakes, then sometimes we just have to put our hands up.
Ben Rich is deputy editor, One and Six O'Clock news
The Guardian: Interview with Newsnight's Martha Kearney - "Jeremy Paxman winds her up about doing Woman's Hour endlessly - she will walk into the Newsnight studio and, in front of guests, he'll tweet: 'Any jam recipes, Martha?'" ().
The Telegraph: "Jack Straw, the Leader of the Commons, said he believed newscasters were overpaid and mocked those who "prance" around studios" ().
The Guardian: "Breakfast DJ Chris Moyles yesterday clashed with Oscar-winning actor Halle Berry after she accused him of having "a racist moment" live on air" ().
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