Television News

The Heart and How-To of Video Storytelling

Teresa Keller

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351002646
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Television News is a comprehensive resource for newswriting, reporting, shooting and editing video, and producing a newscast. This book provides instruction in the basic steps of telling video stories, and is perfectly suited for preparing young professionals for entry-level positions as television or multimedia journalists. Moreover, the text goes to the heart of storytelling with guidance appropriate for advancement in an industry that is challenged more than ever to retain the public trust. The reporting and video storytelling skills found in this book can also be applied in non-traditional video communication jobs in both businesses and nonprofits. Conversational and easy to understand, this book grounds readers in the ethical and legal consideration necessary to do the job right. New to the fourth edition is coverage of social media, shooting and broadcasting with cell phones, and a discussion of "fake news." This book can be used in standalone introductory broadcast courses or across multiple, specialized modules. It features a website with ancillary material that helps students learn to write, shoot, and edit video with practical activities.

Part I

Video Story Fundamentals

1

What Is News?

It’s simple. You’ve got to know right from wrong. Tell the truth.

Eric Scott, WJZ, Baltimore, MD.

News provides factual information that is important to us. News affects how we live our lives, how we perform our jobs, and how we make decisions, from whether to carry an umbrella to how to vote.

In this book, we begin by discussing the importance of news as the product of credible journalistic organizations that are committed to truth, and we look at today’s very real danger to our system of getting truthful and important information to the public.

Knowing that trust and credibility is all they have to sell, ethical media outlets and their journalists present the news—careful fact-based reporting without a particular viewpoint. Traditionally, these primary news sources have been known as mainstream media. Along with our local daily newspaper and local television and radio newscasts, the mainstream media include national network news broadcasts, some major national news magazines and major national newspapers, news programming on National Public Radio, and The News Hour on PBS, the nation’s Public Broadcasting System. As a culture, we have long trusted the major news outlets to give us the facts so that, above all, we would be accurately informed and able to cast educated votes, choosing good leaders and protecting our democracy.

The process of a mainstream media presenting factual information and serving as a watchdog of the government is currently under serious threat. The growth of cable news has included entire networks that blur the lines between news and commentary, and these days anyone can post information to websites and social media. This great freedom to express ourselves and interact with others on websites and social media provides many advantages. The problem arises because people can post anything, even when it’s false. People also tend to share information when it supports what they already believe, and false information can look like legitimate news, making it harder and harder for citizens to identify the truth. Even worse, foreign governments and other individuals post lies and disguise them as credible news in an unethical effort to influence voters. Sometimes even the most educated and aware have a hard time identifying and evaluating news sources.

I encourage people to go into television news. I did it because I want to fight for the little guy and help people who don’t always get heard. There will always be abuses by politicians and businesses and threats to our freedoms. If you like the idea and the challenge of helping insure that our system works, you’ll love the career.

Bridget Lovelle, KSPR-TV, Springfield, MO.

Despite the challenges, this book is committed to principles of journalism and is aimed at those who want to be journalists—those who seek the truth and report the facts. The role of the journalist and the need for fair and accurate news is more important now than ever before.

WHY IS NEWS IMPORTANT?

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees protection for free speech and a free press. Nearly every American can recite these respected freedoms, but few understand their full implications. Our founders believed that if all ideas were present in the marketplace of ideas, citizens would be able to evaluate the information and distinguish truth from the lies. Reporters and newspapers would be free to reveal information about the government, including much information that the government would want to keep secret.

However, there is another part of the equation: citizens must pay attention and become involved. For example, if local government repeatedly cuts the budget for schools, reporters may examine the effect of the budget cuts on education. When the media play their roles, voters have the information they need to exert influence and control during social conversations, public meetings, and in the voting booth.

Our courts and our laws have maintained an enormous amount of protection for free speech and a free press so that reporters and media outlets are almost never punished for criticizing the government. In this system, the primary role of journalists and media is to serve as a watchdog of the government. A watchdog, of course, barks to warn owners about possible danger. The media present facts about what’s happening with elected officials and government agencies. The public decides what is good or bad, safe or dangerous, and votes accordingly.

People entering the news business need a better understanding of the world: how the court system works, the three branches of government, how a city operates, how to get a meeting agenda, or an arrest record. If it’s not being taught, pay attention and figure it out.

Bob Walters, KWTX, Waco, TX.

Citizens also establish guidelines for acceptable business practices and social values through the democratic process. If prescription drug prices increase much faster than overall price trends, the public may demand government regulation of the pharmaceutical industry. If individual levels of anger and frustration reveal themselves in increasing incidents of road rage, people may begin to look for solutions to the problem. The interactions between government, media, and public opinion are complex, but there is no doubt that presentation of information by media is part of our self-governance.

It has never mattered more that every single journalist is completely honest. When so many people doubt the motives of the news media, we have to work harder to prove that truth and integrity provide the foundation for the work we do.

Josh Smith, WJHL, Johnson City, TN.

WHAT IS FAKE NEWS?

In this book, we use the term “news” to mean information that is factual, journalistically based, researched, and confirmed as true. Since “news” is by definition true, there is no such thing as “fake news.” However, since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016, the simple word “news” has become so closely associated with the term “fake news,” that people in our country now accept the use of the term and are becoming widely skeptical of the information they get, even when it is from long-trusted, credible news sources. People don’t know whom or what to trust and too often conclude that they can’t trust anyone. Much of this dangerous trend can be attributed to President Trump’s constant and consistent criticism and negative labeling of the media.

In this world where people claim that news is “fake,” and information comes from multiple platforms, it’s more important than ever that reporters get it right. You should know that you could defend the truth of every word of your story—under oath and on a witness stand.

Jay Webb, WHSV, Harrisonburg, VA.

Billionaire Donald Trump became a candidate for the presidency and campaigned in shockingly unconventional ways. He became known for criticizing, ridiculing, name-calling, and applying simplistic labels to people and institutions. He nicknamed and branded his opponents. Senator Ted Cruz became “Lying Ted”; Governor Jeb Bush became “Low-Energy Jeb”; and Senator Marco Rubio became “Little Marco.” Trump labeled his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton as “Crooked Hillary.”

When reporters wrote about the campaign, pointed out inaccuracies in Trump comments, and included quotes from critics when covering his speeches and events, Candidate Trump began attacking the media and insisting that the very organizations the country had always trusted could not be trusted: they were FAKE NEWS! He went so far as to call the media “the enemy of the people,” an expression associated with Russian dictator Joseph Stalin.

According to Donald Trump’s name-calling, the New York Times, long recognized as one of the nation’s best newspapers became “The Failing New York Times.” Trump snubbed reporters from media organizations and refused to take their questions after stories that included criticism of him or his campaign. At his rallies, he led his followers in taunting the media, pointing to the media area and calling the reporters the “dishonest media.” At one rally, he pointed out NBC reporter Katy Tur. “Look back there! ‘Little Katy,’ she’s back there,” “She’s such a liar, what a little liar she is!” (Torregrosa, 2017).

While many disapproved of the name-calling and taunting, many others simply took Candidate Trump at his word. He was a candidate to become president of the United States, and therefore people believed he must know what he’s talking about. If he said the media are dishonest, they must be. If he said NBC reporter Katy Tur is a liar, she must be. If he said Hillary Clinton was crooked, she must be.

When people talk about “fake news” and “the media,” they often talk as if there’s one big group of people who are single minded in trying to get everyone to believe what they do. In fact, the media is comprised of thousands of people in a variety of organizations who have their own personal opinions, and the real journalists are working hard every day, just to get truthful information to people.

Bridget Bennett, KSFY, Sioux Falls, SD.

Polls now show that public trust in the media has plummeted with 66 percent believing that “most” news organizations mix fact and opinion. More Republicans than Democrats have an unfavorable view of the media, 70 percent versus 54 percent (American Views: Trust, Media and Democracy, 2018).

What Is the Role of Social Media in News?

Increasing percentages of people get most of their news from social media and many people get all of their news from social media. Older people are usually more accustomed to reading a newspaper while younger people rely on their phones to access information. Despite the fact that people depend on Facebook for news, the site is intended to connect people and is not a news site. Often, social media posts originate with newspapers and traditional media, but the common posting of false and misleading information from other sources has contributed to the overall declining trust in the media. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Facebook, the most popular social media site with billions of users worldwide, carried ads and information that presented outright lies as if they were news. It is now widely recognized, based on reports by the FBI and other intelligence agencies, that Russia was involved in posting false information and was trying to influence people to v...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• PART I: Video Story Fundamentals
• PART II: Advanced Reporting and Beyond
• Glossary
• Index