Typical Conventions of Radio News Bulletins

In this post I will be writing about the typical conventions of a radio news bulletin apart from the presenter reading the story.

1: Correspondant:

A correspondent is a co-worker, in a different location speaking at the news story's live event.

2: Vox Pops

A member of the public giving their input on the story. It could be a few different people, with different point of views, and there might be an extended vox pop.

3: Sound Bites:

Sound Bites are important well know people (elite) or signifiant professionals giving their opinion but unlike vox pops they are not members of the public. E.g press conference.

4: Experts/ Guests:

They come into the studio and discussing a certain subject.

Khloe Kardashian

5: Outside Broadcasts

5: Archive Clip:

This is a clip which has been recorded in the past. Could be done when people die or extracts from previous interviews ect. 

I listened to 3 different radio stations, news bulletins from completely different days and times.

1: I listened to a news bulletin at 8 PM on BBC Radio 4 and I heard a correspondent in the first story. 

2: I listened to a news bulletin at 5 PM on Capital FM London and none of the above were included. Just to check I listened to another Capital FM news bulletin and none of the above were included.

3: I listened to a news bulletin at 6 PM on BCB Radio and I heard a

Overall Comparing National and Local Radio News Stories.

After listening to 2 local radio stations (Manchester and Oxford) and 3 national radio stations (talkSPORT, BBC Radio 2, Heart Radio.) I came to the conclusion that:

local news:

- contained stories which involved the people from each region which would unlikely be mentioned on national news unless it involves the news value 'amplitude.'

- mentioned a few national news stories.

-the most important news value was familiarity because the story would be mentioned if it involved the audience in each region.

national news:

-National news rarely had a local story.

-Concerned larger regions then local news. 

HELP

Comparing Local Radio - News Stories

I listened to two different local news radio stations at the same time and day. 

1: BBC Manchester

2: BBC Oxford

The purpose of this task is to compare and contrast the running order facts and 'news values' of each bulletin.

Both local stations shared the following same stories:

-David Cameron and President Obama have agreed to establish a joint group to tackle islamic radicalisation.

-Police in Belgium have charged five people following a series of anti terror raids. Further arrests were made in France and Germany.

BBC Manchester mainly focused on stories which happened in Manchester. Surprisingly BBC Oxford had more national stories.

BBC Manchester (Local News) at 11 PM:

Full verbatim of the news bulletin: 

Jingle for news:

1: Half of the force in connection with the death of 36 year old,  Mr Grainger who was in a car being followed by police in Culcheth in Cheshire - Gale Grainger doesn't feel like justice has been done. "It actually feels like this is a game. It is not a game. It is something that is set up that they have all control and all the rules are set up by them and we have to go through the motions and every single time something happens its just another kick in the stomach." (Mrs Grainger says."

News Values for Story 1^:

Familiarity: This story is geographically close to the reader in Manchester.
Surprise: This is an unexpected event.
Continuity: This story is part o a long running story.
Conflict: The story contains conflict between Gale Grainger and the Police.
Negativity: The news story is bad news.
Scandal: The story is likely to provoke moral outrage from parts of the audience who agree with Gale Grainger.

2: Seven people have been sentenced for their part in smuggling nearly £900,000 worth of heroine into greater Manchester. The gang most of whom lived in Oldham were taking packages of the drug from Pakistan over the course of the year. Six were given custodial sentences totalling 41 years and one was given a community order. Chief inspector Andrew H says the sentences send out a clear message "I do think it will stop people who might choose this lifestyle. This shows that we will find you, we will arrest you, convict you and we will give you lengthy prison sentences."

News Values for Story 2^:

Familiarity: This story is geographically close to the readers in Manchester.
Impact: The reader in Manchester may feel threatened due to the fact that a large amount of a class A drug was smuggled into Manchester over the course of a year.
Predictability: We did expect the drug smugglers to have a jail sentence.

3: a 16 year old girl has denied starting a fire which claimed the life of a firefighter in Manchester.  38 year old Stephen Hunt died after he fought a blaze in a shop in manchester city centre in July 2013. REPORTER  "60 firefighters tackled the fire at Paul's Hair World in Oldham street as Mr Hunt got into difficulties inside the building he died later in hospital. The teenager who cannot be named for legal reasons appeared in Manchester Crown Court and entered  a not guilty plea for committing arson the teenager was granted unconditional bale until the trial which is scheduled to last 5 days and will begin in April. "

News Values for Story 3^:

Familiarity: The story is geographically close to the reader in Manchester.
Continuity: This story has already been defined as news and is part of an ongoing story.

4: Britain and the United States have agreed to set up a joint group to counter Islamic extremism and it will look what to do about Jihadist fighters when they return to their home countries from conflict zones such as Syria.

News Values for Story 4^:

Immediacy: This story has happened recently.
Familiarity: This story is geographically close to the readers in UK and USA as well as many other countries in  Europe who are targeted by Jihadist Fighters.
Amplitude: This is a big event which involves a large number of people who are under threat from Islamic Extremists.
Impact: The story has a profound effect on our own lives as Britain and United States are teaming up to protect countries from terrorist problems.
Predictability: The story was predicted after the France 3 different occasion terrorist attacks it was known that Britain and the United States would set up to counter Islamic Extremists.
Conflict: This story contains fights/battles between Britain and United States agains Islamic Extremists.
Balance: This story is positive news which balances out the negative news.

5: Police in Belgium believe they have broken up a Jihadist cell arresting 13 people and seizing machine guns, false papers, and police uniform two suspects were also killed by police in a shootout last night  in a town called Verviers Islamic militants are thought to have been plotting to murder police officers.

News Values for Story 5^:

Familiarity: This story is geographically close to the readers around the world who are affected by Islamic Extremists.
Impact: This story contains elements that would make the reader help
Surprise: 

HELP WITH NEWS VALUES

BBC Oxford (Local News) at 11 PM:

Full verbatim of the news bulletin: 

Jingle for Oxfordshire news.

1: David Cameron and President Obama have agreed to establish a joint group to tackle islamic radicalisation but taskforce will report back to the two leaders within six months. Speaking at the White House after talks with the  Prime Minister. Mr Obama said last week attacks in Paris has made him more determined than ever to defeat terrorism  "I know David joins me when I say that we will do everything in our power to help France seek the justice that  is needed and all our countries are working together to prevent attacks and defeat these terrorists networks."

News values for story 1^:

Familiarity: The story is geographically close to the reader in the UK.
Amplitude: This is a big event and involves a large amount of people regarding there safety regarding the issue of terrorism.
Impact: The story has a profound effect on our lives are terrorism crimes are increasing recently the public need reassurance that they are safe.
Predictability: The reader did expect this to happen because after the France terrorist attacks it was predictable that the Prime Minister (and President) would make an announcement to tackle the issue.
Continuity: The story has already been defined as new and is part of an ongoing story.
Conflict: The story contains a battle between a group of countries against Islamic Extremists.
Elite People: The story contains well known people such as President Barrack Obama and Prime Minster David Cameron.
Balance: This story is positive and balances out the negative stories.

2: Meanwhile police in Belgium have charged  five people following a series of anti terror raids in which weapons, false papers and police uniforms were seized. Officials said there was an imminent threat from suspect Jihadists to kill police officers there was further arrests were made in France and Germany.

News Values for story 2^:

Immediacy: This story is recent.
Familiarity: This story is geographically close to the readers in England. As England is one of the countries in Europe where three countries in Europe was targeted by Jihadists.
Amplitude:This is a big event because the same event has occurred in three countries within Europe.
Surprise: This is an unusual and unexpected event.
Conflict: This story contains fights/battles between police and Jihadists.

3: Figures show that accident and emergency departments across the UK are continuing to miss there target of  dealing with 95% of their patients in 4 hours. In Northern Ireland the figure dropped to 77% in December, in Wales it fell to 81%. A health correspondant Jeffery's says the government in England has announced plans to change ambulance response times to make better use of the service at this time of growing pressure. "So in two areas London and the South West ambulance call handlers will be given 3 minutes instead of 1 to make that decision. Labour says now is not the time to experiment when the NHS is under so much pressure but these will carefully monitored pilots and of course they will be under a lot of scrutiny."

News Values for story 3^:

Familiarity: The story is geographically close the readers in the UK who are effected by the decrease in the percentage of patients being dealt within 4 hours.
Amplitude: This story effects a large amount of people who are effects by the NHS problems.
is it predicted or suprise?
Continuity: HELP
Scandal: This story is likely to provoke moral outrage from the reader.. help.

4: A man who accidentally shot his friend dead has been jailed for seven years. Ian Catley who is 40 and from Cambridgeshire has admitted a charge of manslaughter he told police his friend, 46 year old Phillip Harper, had asked him to test his bullet proof vest.

News Values for story 4^:

Familiarity: This story is geographically close to the readers in Cambridgeshire. 
Surprise: This is an unusual and unexpected event.

5: Prince Andrew will appear in public next week for the first time since a woman claimed she was forced to have sex with him when she was teenager more then ten years ago. The Duke of York who denies allegations will host a reception to promote British entrepreneurship  at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. 

News Values for story 5^:

Familiarity: This story is geographically close to the readers in the UK.
Amplitude: This is a big event because it involves the Royal Family in a negative way.
Surprise: This is an unexpected event because it is unusual for a member of the Royal Family to be accused of rape.
Continuity: This story has already been defined as news and is part of a long running story.
Conflict: The story contains drama between Prince Andrew and the woman who is claiming him of rape.
Elite People: This story contains a well know person, from the Royal Family, Prince Andrew.

Weather which is aimed for people in Oxford.

Introduction of Analysing News Bulletins on 2 Existing Local Radio Stations (Different Genre):

I will be listening to 2 different local radio stations at the same time which have audiences from two different regions to find out if the news stories will be different. I suspect that the news stories will be different and aimed for each area specifically.

I have chosen BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Radio Oxford.

Comparing National Radio - News: Stories

I listened to three national radio stations on the same day at the same time (10 PM). 

1: talkSPORT

2: BBC Radio 2

3: Heart Radio

The purpose of this task is to compare and contrast the running order facts and 'news values' of each bulletin. 

Heart Radio and BBC Radio 2 share three stories in common. 

-Car transporter ship which was lying stranded in The Solent of the Isle of Wight.

- 13,000 + (Heart Radio) 16,000 people signed a petition against Oldham Athletic signing Ched Evans. 

- Coastguards have suspended search for the crew of a cargo ship which sunk in the north east of Scotland.

talkSPORT share one story in common with Heart Radio and BBC Radio 2 which is: 

-Coastguards have suspended search for the crew of a cargo ship which sunk in the north east of Scotland.

Surprisingly talkSPORT did not mention the Ched Evans news story. The reason could be because talkSPORT is a radio station which primarily speaks about sports so the news story would of been mentioned already. 

BBC Radio and Heart Radio have the most news stories. I think the reason being is because the audience for each of the mentioned radio stations have an older audience.

Heart Radio at 10 PM:

Full verbatim of the news bulletin:

1: From globals news room, the owners of a 50 tone car transporter ship which got stuck on the Sand Bank in The Solent say they had to ground it deliberately or it would be capsized it will take several days to re-float the vessel which has 14,000 cars on board.

News Values for story 1^:

Immediacy: The story has happened recently.
Familiarity: The story is geographically close to the reader in the UK.
Amplitude: This story does involve a large number of people because the 14,000 car owners have damaged cars.
Surprise: It is an unusual event for a ship to have sunk.
Negativity: This story is not good news.

2: More than 13,000 people have signed a petition urging Oldham Athletic not to sign Ched Evans. It's understood in an announcement will be made by the club tomorrow.

News Values for story 2^:

Familiarity: The story is geographically close to the reader as Ched Evans was part of Sheffield United which is an English football group.
Amplitude: This is a big event which involves a large number of people (13,000 +) who have signed a petition against Ched Evans.
Predictability: We did expect this to happen because it was unlikely Ched Evans would be singed by Oldham Athletic  after being convicted rapist and serving 2.5 years in prison.
Continuity: The story has been defined as news and is part of a long running story.
Conflict: The story does contain conflict between Ched Evans and (13,000 +) people who signed the petition.
Elite People: The story does contain elite people being Ched Evans.
Personalisation: The story is a human interest story as a teenager was raped by an adult man.
Scandal: The story has provoked moral outrage from the audience because a majority of the public are urging Oldham Athletic not to sign the convicted rapist.  

3: Coastguards have suspended the search for the crew of a cargo ship which overturned off the north east coast of Scotland yesterday. 8 people are missing.

News Values for story 3^:

Immediacy: This story happened the night before it was reported on Hear Radio.
Familiarity: The story is geographically close to the reader in the UK.
Surprise: This is an unexpected event which is breaking news.
Negativity: This story is bad news as 8 crew members are presumed to have died.

4: Three Britain's have been charged with attempting to smuggle cocaine on a flight from Jamaica to the UK. It is alleged that one of the men from Birmingham had 3 pounds of cocaine on him whilst 2 others allegedly had nearly 8 pounds of the drug in their bags.

News Values for story 4^:

Familiarity: This story is geographically close to the reader as the 3 men smuggled the drugs to the UK.
Frequency: The event of drug smuggling does happen often but the quanitity of drugs is unusual. 
Surprise: This is an unexpected event.
Continuity: The story has been defined as news and is part of an ongoing story.
Conflict: The story does contain drama between the authority and 3 men who smuggled in the cocaine to the UK.
Negativity: The story is bad news as drugs are lethal and illegal.

5: and Prince Andrew has returned to the UK after a skiing holiday in Switzerland. Last night Buckingham Palace issued a second statement denying claims by an American woman that she was forced to have sex with him whilst underage.

News Values for story 5^:

Familiarity: This story is geographically close to the reader in the UK.
Surprise: The story is an unusual one because it's an unlikely event for a member of the royal family to be accused of raping someone.
Continuity: This story is part of an ongoing, long running story.
Conflict: The story contains drama between Prince Andrew and the American woman who is accusing him over rape.
Elite People: There is a well known/ celebrity in this news story which is Prince Andrew.
Negativity: This is bad news as  rape is a crime.
Personalisation: This is a human interest story as the American woman was underage when Prince Andrew "raped" the woman.

BBC Radio 2 at 10 PM:

Full verbatim of the news bulletin: 

1: The owners of a huge cargo ship lying stranded in The Solent of the Isle of Wight says she was run aground deliberately to prevent her capsizing. Marine officials say it could take up to a week to re-float The Hoegh Osaka which was carrying nearly 1,500 cars and 25 people when it started listing after leaving Southampton last night. Those onboard were taken to safety.

News Values to do with story 1^:

Immediacy: The story has happened recently as it was reported the day after the night it had happened therefore making it breaking news.
Familiarity: The story is geographically close to the audience in the UK.
Amplitude: This story is a big event because 25 people were at risk of drowning although they were taken to safety and the people/person who own the 1,500 cars are most likely damaged.
Frequency: Recently another boat has sunk but this is a rare event to happen.
Surprise: This is an unexpected event.
Negativity: This is bad news.

2: The 8 crew members of the cargo ship which has sunk of the north east coast of Scotland are presumed to have died. The Cypriote registered Fraser, the cargo ship was spotted in trouble in Peatland Firth near Orkney, yesterday, the search has been called off tonight.

News Values to do with story 2^: 

Immediacy: This story happened the night before it was reported on BBC Radio 2. 
Familiarity: The story is geographically close to the reader in the UK. 
Surprise: This is an unexpected event which is breaking news.
Negativity: This story is bad news as 8 crew members are presumed to have died.

3: More than 16,000 people have signed a petition urging Oldham Athletic not to sign the convicted rapist Ched Evans. The player who's 26 was released from prison in October after serving half of a 5 year sentence. He's always protested his innocence. He's understood the legal and football club have held talks about giving Evans a contract.

News Values to do with story 3^:

Familiarity: The story is geographically close to the reader as Ched Evans was part of Sheffield United which is an English football group.
Amplitude: This is a big event which involves a large number of people (16,000) who have signed a petition against Ched Evans.
Predictability: We did expect this to happen because it was unlikely Ched Evans would be signed by Oldham Athletic after being a convicted rapist and serving 2.5 years in prison.
Continuity: The story has been defined as new and is part of a long running story.
Conflict: The story does contain conflict between Ched Evans and the 16,000 people who signed the petition. 
Elite People: The story does contain elite people being Ched Evans.
Personalisation: The story is a human interest story as a teenager was raped by an adult man.
Scandal: The story has provoked moral outrage from the audience because a majority of the public are urging Oldham Athletic not to sign the convicted rapist.

4: Egypt says archeologists have unearthed the tomb of a previous unknown queen dating back to the Fifth Dynasty of the pharos. The tomb was located by Czech archeologists in an Acropolis south west of Cairo as Warren Bull reports "Egypt antiques minister Mamdouh Danasty, said the tomb was discovered in Abu-Sir which served as a cemetery for the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis. Inside the tomb he says was inscribed the name of the woman, Khentakawess, she's believed to be either the wife or mother of Pharo who reigned around four and a half thousand years ago. The Czech archeologist also found around 30 utensils made of limestone and copper. They say the discover would "help shed light on certain unknown aspects of the Fifth Dynasty, which along with the Fourth Dynasty, witnessed the construction of the first pyramids.

News Values to do with story 4^:

HELP WITH NEWS VALUES

talkSPORT News Bulletin at 10 PM:

Full verbatim of the news bulletin:

1: Rescue teams have suspended there search for 8 missing crew who were on ship which sank off the northern coast of Scotland. The up turned hull of the Cypriote registered cargo boat was spotted in the north sea yesterday. Now 50,000 ton car transporter remains stranded on the southern bank outside Southampton. Engineers are assessing how to move the ship after high water failed to get it to float on The Solent it ran aground last night prompting a major rescue operation to get the crew off the listing vessel.

News Values to do with story 1^: 

Immediacy: The story is breaking news and happened recently.
Familiarity: The story is close to the reader because Scotland is part of the UK and talkSPORT is a national radio station.
Predictability: The reader expected rescue teams to have suspended their search for the 8 missing crew as it is most likely the few people missing are dead.
Personalisation: It is a human interest story as 8 men are most likely dead due to the ship which sank.
Negativity: It is bad news.
Scandal: The story may provoke moral outrage from parts of the audeince due to the lack of concern from rescue teams to stop the search.

2: A woman's being arrested on suspicion of murder after two men were found dead in a house fire in North London. The men one in his 50's, the other thought to be in his 40's was discovered in a house in Islington on Friday. Police says they are holding a 42 year old woman.

News Values to do with story 2^:

Familiarity: The story is geographically close to the audience in North London although this story is not to the UK.
Frequency: The event where an adult gets arrested on suspicion of murder does happen often but it's rare for the sex of the adult to be a woman.
Surprise: This is an unusual and unexpected event.
Conflict: The story contains drama between the woman who is on suspicion for murdering two men.
Negativity: This is bad news.

3: and a gunman has snatched a 3 week old baby after shooting her mother, father and uncle at their home in California. All 3 were taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds and are in critical but stable condition. Police are looking for Eliza Delacruz who weighs 10 pounds and has been missing since Saturday evening.

News Values to do with story 3^:

Immediacy: This story has happened recently as the event happened the night before it was reported as well as the story is breaking news as a baby has been missing.
Surprise: It is an unexpected event for a 3 week old baby to be missing.
Continuity: This story would of been defined as news the day the event occured therefore it is part of an ongoing story.
Conflict: The story contains conflict between the murderer and the people who were shot and kidnapped.
Personalisation: This is a human interest story as the fact the missing person is a 3 week old baby makes the story more sympathetic to adults who have children of their own.
Negativity: This is bad news as 3 people have been shot and are in "critical" condition and a baby is missing.

Introduction of Analysing News Bulletins on 3 Existing National Radio Stations (Different Genre):

I will be listening to 3 different types of national radio stations which play different types of music and the audience intended by each station is different. The reason I will be doing this research is to find out if the news stories will be related to the type of station or if certain stories that appear on all three stations.

I will be focusing on the running order to see what order each story is ranked E.g  (- if it is a rock news story being said on a rock radio station then it will most likely be the first news story released by the station.) I will also be analysing the news values. 

I have chosen Heart London, talkSPORT and BBC Radio 2.

As the most important part of this task was to record all the 3 radio stations at the same time and I knew that it would be very difficult because some of the radio stations don't have play back or they have podcasts and don't include the news. I installed an app called TuneIn Radio Pro on my iPhone to enable me to record two of the radio stations news at 10 PM and listen to BBC Radio 2 on their catch up feature.