Can the news media continue to act as producers of meaning whilst remaining within the structures of formal rules about impartiality
The Press refers to themselves as the fourth estate,
watching over all the other estates as a ‘watchdog’ for the general public and
claim to be non-biased. However, from studying media discourse analysis we can
see that there are a number of ways in which the media can weave a story
together in order to get across their preferred meaning or to set their own
agenda. The audience sees these events as a whole, but part of this whole is
constructed by journalists.
For this essay I am going to analyze and compare two news
broadcasts from within Ireland. One from a public service broadcaster and one
from a commercial broadcaster. A public service broadcaster is non-profit. In
Ireland it’s financed by the public through the payment of a TV licence. This
licence costs €160 annually and must be paid by every household, business or
institution in Ireland that is capable of receiving a TV signal (www.citizensinformation.ie).
These channels have to provide programming that entertains, educates and
informs all members of the public aswel as providing news and current affairs
programming (Ibid). A commercial broadcaster is owned by a
company that finances it themselves. This is generally done through
advertising. Commercial broadcasters are for profit and aim to attract large
audiences. Pippa Norris states that private television should be used as a
supplement to public television and not as a replacement as an increase in
private television watching leads to less political knowledge (Glenn Doyle, Private Vs Public Broadcasting,
lecture notes).
The two news broadcasts I have chosen are from RTE Six One
news (Public), and TV3 The 5.30 (Private).
TV3 “started as Irelands first free to air channel not dependent on
state aid at taxpayer expense. It offers viewers a quality alternative to the
country’s three state-owned networks”, (http://www.tv3.ie/corporate.php).
“RTE’s vision is to grow the trust of the people of Ireland as it informs,
inspires, reflects and enriches their lives”, (http://www.rte.ie/documents/about/rte_06_eng_annualreport.pdf).
Both broadcasts are from the 7th May 2013 and
cover the story about the three women found in Ohio who were kidnapped 10 years
ago.
RTE Six One: http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10146656/
TV3 The 5.30: http://www.tv3.ie/3player/show/450/0/0/The-5%3A30
Each news report begins with a headline on the story. RTE’s
headline gives us the most information on the story. It begins with the
newsreader saying “A dramatic escape of three women held captive in Ohio for
more than a decade.” TV3’s newsreader opens with “Kidnap drama that appears to
have a happy ending.” I think that while RTE’s headline is dramatic, TV3 try to
make their headline sound more ‘Hollywood’. RTE then go on to show ‘missing’ posters while they play the
Audio of the 911 call saying “Help me, I’ve been kidnapped and missing for ten
years.” They then show footage of outside the house they were held captive in
of police, crime scene tape and members of the public in the street. The newsreader
then informs us that one of the kidnappers is a former bus driver. An expert at
the scene then says ”All three girls are healthy and doing well.” Whereas TV3
just show pictures of the ‘missing’ posters with the caption ‘Women Found’ and
the newsreader tells us “Three women who went missing 10 years ago, all found
alive in the US state of Ohio.” Here RTE are giving the audience a lot of the
information all at once and then they address it in more detail in the main
story, but TV3 are giving us a quick snippet to draw our attention. You could
turn off RTE at this point and still know most of the story, whereas you have
to stay tuned to TV3 to hear what happened. You can see here that RTE are
providing us with the information and TV3 are trying to draw us in because they
rely on viewers to make money.
Once the main story begins in the news report we can see how
TV3 try to make it more sensationalized than RTE. TV3 put the raw events
together like a narrative in a series of events as they happened to create
drama for the audience. RTE try and give us as much information as they can at
once where TV3 try to create a build up. In this way TV3 use connectives to
weave the story together. They begin with a map that points out Cleveland,
Ohio. A video then shows a crowd cheering in the street as police cars drive
past. The newsreader narrates and explains how the crowd cheers after the ‘shocking’ discovery and how the ‘breakthrough’ came when a neighbour
heard Amanda Berry ‘screaming’ and he
broke down the bottom of the door for her to ‘crawl’ through to make the ‘emotional’
911 call. All the words I have highlighted here are describing it as a very
dramatic escape. They then play the audio of the 911 call with the pictures of
the women on the screen. They also play more of the 911 call than RTE chose to
play. At the end of the call, which RTE didn’t include, Amanda Berry could be
heard saying to the operator that you need to get a police car out now before
he comes back. This adds an element of suspense and drama for the audience as
there was the fear there that he would come back and catch her. This adds to
the ‘Hollywood type’ story that TV3 are trying to create.
By this point TV3 have still not mentioned anything about
the Kidnappers, where RTE have mentioned them twice at this stage, letting us
know it is a former bus driver and two of his brothers but TV3 try to keep us
interested by withholding this for now. They then link up the audio clip with
the man who helped her by saying he was at a BBQ with the house owner and never
suspected a thing. This is followed with a clip of the neighbour, Charles
Ramsey, giving his account of events and how he got the woman out. This gives
the audience first had information from the ‘hero’, and makes the audience feel
like a witness to these events. RTE also chose to show footage of the man
recalling what had happened. We can see here that this is a genuine event as
this has happened without the media present but once the news broke it turned
in a huge media event with interviews with the ‘hero’, audio recordings of the
911 call being released and images of the scene and the house they were held
captive in. It turned into a huge orchestration by the media.
The TV3 narrator then describes when the girls went missing
and gives details of each disappearance while they show a photo of Amanda Berry
in the hospital with her sister and a little girl believed to be her daughter.
A photo of Amanda smiling with her daughter is also shown where they look like
a normal happy family, this would make the audience empathize with them even
more. When RTE describes how they went missing, they show a map pinpointing
each area they vanished from with a photo of each victim. The map also shows
where they were recovered less than a mile away. The way this is shown keeps
the audience disconnected from the victims and is just providing the
information.
TV3 then show Amanda Berry’s sister talking to the
reporters. She talks about how excited she is and she constantly repeats the
word excited numerous times and she is laughing and smiling. This also makes it
more personal to the audience. They then contrast this with a photo of one of
the kidnappers. They inform us that this is the man who owned the house and
drove the bus.
RTE show experts talking such as the doctor describing the
women’s condition and a policeman giving a statement about the kidnappers.
Whereas TV3 shows the Mayor of Cleveland giving a statement and then the
newsreader talks about how they were examined in hospital and that the police
called Amanda Berry the ‘real hero’.
RTE chose to use more credible sources here with the doctor and the
policeman rather than just having the newsreader report on it. Each report then
finishes with very different but very rememberable conclusions. TV3 end it with
you typical ‘Hollywood type’ line, “The ‘nightmare’
is over for then women and the ‘healing’
can begin.” RTE finish the report with a talking head claiming at the end,
“Cleveland is great, God is good.”
However RTE don’t finish there. They go back to studio where
the newsreader talks to Richard Downs ‘live’ from Washington. A split screen
shows him with pictures and videos from the scene with the caption ‘OHIO
KIDNAP’. He then goes deeper into the story talking about the tell tale signs
that included coverings over the windows and how no one was allowed into the
house. He then goes on to say that the house was in foreclosure because the
owner didn’t pay his property tax. This gives the audience a further insight
into the character of the kidnapper.
We can see the selection process that went on here with both
news reports. RTE selected the information and gave it to us in a matter of
fact form where TV3 selected the information that sensationalized the story and
gave it to us in a way that we can empathize with the victims. RTE
have also given us extra information on the story telling us about the tell
tale signs and the house being in foreclosure. I also feel that while they are
both getting the message across RTE’s sources for this information are more
reliable, coming from the doctor and the policeman. In this news report I think
that RTE are living up to their mission statement to grow the trust of Irish
people and inform them. From watching this news report I would certainly trust
RTE’s information in the future and I feel like I have been given all of the
information I need to understand what happened. In regards to TV3 I think that
their report is more theatrical. The are going for entertainment value rather than
just giving us the information but as a private broadcaster this is what they
need to do to generate revenue. Going back to their mission to provide a
quality alternative they are certainly providing an alternative in the way of a
more sensationalized approach, whether this alternative is of a certain quality
is up to the viewer. Personally I believe RTE’s quality to be better and more
professional. Based on all the information given to us in these two news
reports, I feel that a public service broadcaster is more capable of producing
meaning while remaining impartial as they are not trying to turn a profit,
while a commercial broadcaster produces meaning to make it more dramatic and
entertaining for the audience so they tune in and therefore earning them a profit.
Citizens Information Board (2013) Citizens Information - Television Licence [online], available from:
[accessed 8th May 2013].
Doyle, G. ‘Private
Vs Public Broadcasting’, lecture notes
RTE (2006) Radio
Telefis Eireann Annual Report and Group Financial Statements 2006 [online],
available from: <http://www.rte.ie/documents/about/rte_06_eng_annualreport.pdf>
[accessed 8th May 2013].
RTE Six One News (2013),
RTE One, 7th May, 6.01 p.m.
The 5.30 (2013), TV3, 7th May, 5.30 p.m.
TV3 (2013) TV3 –
Corporate [online], available from: <http://www.tv3.ie/corporate.php> [accessed
8th May 2013].
