A. NEWS UNIT - NEWS PACKAGE ANALYSIS

                                     News Package.

"A news package is in-depth coverage of news events investigating storeys of all kind" 

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-exactly-is-a-news-package-for-a-tv-newscast-2315185

What does a news package need to contain?

• storyline
• Visuals
• Audio
• Timings and cues
• Voiceovers
• Interviews

Last 3mins 45secs

What is the story?

Brown, S. (2019) Yorkshire flooding victims say they’ve been forgotten by government. At: https://www.channel4.com/news/yorkshire-flooding-victims-say-theyve-been-forgotten-by-government (Accessed on 13 November 2019)

It is about a an area in Yorkshire that has been affected by the flooding and the community feels that they have been forgotten about.

Who is in it?

The reporting Journolist, Symeon Brown and contributors, including politicians.

Analysis.

Story.

The story would only reach channel 4 local news unless it was looked up online but it only hit the headlines and got the reporters up there because the prime minister and opposing politicians attended a press conference in Yorkshire, the news of emergency on channel 4 which makes them different to the other terrestrial channels is that they put the human interset piece first, focusing more on the problem of the flood and the effects that it had on the community rather than focusing on the political view of what the MP'S's has to say, this makes channel 4 a different type of brand to the rest, however, the BBC has always had a duty to put the 'higher class' first in regards to politicians and the monarchy (See live news blog).

-Delivery.

This is evident of local emergency by observing the opening image and V/O from Symeon Brown:

This shot was pan shot of the farm indicating the scale of the damaged caused by the flood at the farm.

After the establishing shot, the Voice over of Symeon heads straight into an interview with the person it effects directly.

Having these elements on the offset of a package hooks us in emotionally as we have a connection with the working-class man/women struggling, it is also a sense of gratefulness of what we have, yet furthermore, how can we help? Channel 4 strategies that have worked for a long time.

Symeon also does a walkie talkie PTC in the 'field' making him apart of the reality of the disaster:

Technical Bits.

Getting information out in a short space of time has been proven on of the most hardest challenges that a network has to face, getting too much information needs to be cut down, on observation of the edited piece I noticed a jump cut, it makes me realise how much could have been said in this short space of time and what they said was to be made relevantly, see below the picture, observe the timings (at the bottom of the screen) and the space between them and the object that they are talking about:

The area between them and space = by a split second is not possible in real-time this just goes to show how crucial it is to deliver news quickly but keep it informative and relevant, news packages have a time restriction and have so much information that they need to get out without an audience being bored.
This was a bad jump cut but it wouldn't be noticed by the Audience necessarily because the story has a major impact and is engaging.

Interviews
There are 3 different types of interviews within the package:

• With a local person whom the flood has been affected by.
• Local 'Upper class' patron - this is clear that it is not just affecting the working class.
• Pre-recorded interviews of the politicians - to put the issue on the map as urgent.

Within the interview we see that Symeon is present but don't ask questions then we see him with a couple and they just talk, then we have a one-shot on a contributor who is just talking but we know he is there:

 

Cut Aways
The use of cut-aways and the reporter's voice help the audience acknowledge the sheer problem of the situation, it would not have worked if someone was just giving all the information to the camera, as an audience we like to see more then we like to hear information otherwise it is just hear-say:

A voice-over explains how deep the water is "It got to 6ft deep.." however with the evidence we would only just take his word for it.


Relating this package to our news package

• This is a piece of news that is a cry for help, our news is about awareness and change.
• We use cutaways with V/O's to tell the story.
• We have interviews with different types of people so that they can relate to our demographic audience.
• We use the two interview techniques:

- Two shot interview - where we hear the question from the reporter.

- One answer interview - when the reporter doesn't have to be seen.