last updated 9/9/2011

News as Persuasion
 

I.  Dramatizing the news (technical stuff -- coding)

1. the screen - small (interpersonal codes don't fit media)

   1.  distance = objectivity??

   2.  close-ups = intimacy / personal

   3. in your living-room / bedroom

2. the camera - "angles"         [NV distance codes]

(1)          relation to the eye of a person in a similar encounter
(2)          high above- superior
(3)          low - awe
(4)          eye to eye - equality
(5)          medium distance - objective
(6)          slo-mo - tender
(7)          extreme close-up - significant, dramatic

3. special effects

(1)          freeze-frame
(2)          captions
(3)          3-D graphics

4. EDITING

1. cut-aways (v jump cuts) disguise editing out of material

2. reaction shots

3. "re-organized" interviews

4. ambush interviews

5. "recreations" of events with actors - crime-stoppers

4. News Anchors - boost ratings and provide security but are disconnected from the story / but provide "faked" credibility

II.  Unbalanced interpretations in the story (Jamieson pp. 103-110)

• insinuation by adjectives (women's clothes)

• ideology - favoring the establishment (protest and disruption are bad), Political Correctness, power, [schemata]

• self-censorship

• fairness doctrine - equal time for fringe views

• beat reporting - reciprocity when a government source needed

• government support

• audience taste

Discussion Assignment for Tuesday, 9/13

• View ABC World News for Monday, 9/12.
  It is broadcast live on MC Cable (or broadcast) WQAD channel 8 at 5:30pm.  You can view it later on the web at the ABC World News web site.  Just click on the navigation link (upper right) for "Watch Full Episodes" and then click on the correct date.

• Have with you a print out of this page and the previous web page on "What is News?"
  

• Make notes on any of the elements mentioned on either page that seem to be illustrated by stories on the news cast.  Especially look for

  • What made each story "news." Consider both form and content factors.

  • How visuals affect the meaning of the story.

  • How themes (schemata) seem to be created or referenced
     

• Be prepared to answer the questions below - perhaps in teams

• Identify news stories/ events that illustrate each of the content factors Identify news stories/ events that illustrate some of the form factors Identify news stories/ events that illustrate one or two of the external constraints on the news. Identify news stories/ events that illustrate one or two of the internal constraints on the news. Identify news stories/ events that illustrate one or two of the presentational factors that influence the news.