1. British News Discourse The discourse structure of the news story

2. The discourse structure of news stories Broadcast news News reports in newspapers

3. “Journalists do not write articles, they write stories – with structure, order, viewpoint and values” Bell 1998 You need to learn how to notice the choices made and the indications they give of the values underlying those choices

4. structure First we will look at broadcast news structure and then at the structure of written news reports

5. Broadcast news News programme Opening signature visuals, theme tune and logo Headlines News items (1 - n) Signing off Closing visuals

6. Openings Before the news A continuity announcer will typically announce the transition from the prior programme in the schedule to the news programme This serves to identity the channel, the upcoming programme, the upcoming speakers, and the present time

7. Opening trailers Like headlines in newspapers they give us an idea of the content They provide focus and project us forward temporally into the programme They provide clues to the overall structure and give us a reason to continue viewing

8. Idents News programmes usually open with signature music, signature graphics and logo (often a spinning globe or a map) which blend channel identification with notions of both time and space. What are the differences between the idents of Al Jazeera, France 24, CCTV and RT?

9. Contextualising shots of news presenter E.g crane shot of studio setting with news presenter shown in long shot position (sometimes sitting sometimes standing) Followed by zoom in to NP now given on face to camera This is the cue for the presenter to greet the audience in direct address

10. Openings may last well over a minute Openings therefore amount to a complex multi-layered introduction to the structured nature of the anticipated programme placing the programme within the schedule, inserting it into the broadcast flow and into a temporal moment (9 o’clock, ten o’clock, early evening), signalling the channel and the genre, and anticipating the structure of the programme

11. News item News presentation (+ news subsidiary) News kernel (+news report) (+live interview with reporter/ correspondent) That is to say a news item consists minimally of a news presentation of a news kernel by a news presenter

12. News item = [news presentation (+news subsidiary)] It may also consist of a sequence of a news presentation of a news kernel from the studio coupled with additional optional subsidiary material in the form of a news report where News presentation = news kernel News subsidiary = news report

13. News subsidiary= [news report+(live 2 way interview)] There is a sequential constraint. A report or an interview will always be preceded by a studio presentation. This reflects the hierarchy of news discourse all voices of tv news are subordinate to its institutional voice from the news studio (deictic point zero of enunciation) It is possible to embed a news report within a live 2 way

14. More is an evaluation The more time spent on a news item and the more complex the item, involving editing, footage, 2 way live, switching from studio to outside broadcasts etc the more it costs. Longer and more complex items signal a higher value of newsworthiness being assigned to the items.

15. Who gets to speak? NP/Reporter (to camera or voice over?) (split-screen or photo?) LP legitimated person (interview, press conference/speech, visuals only? Translation or actual words?) Vox (interview?/turns?)

16. transitions Sequences can become the focal point of the discourse with phrases which project forward in the programme structure such as Coming up later… After the break…

17. Closings Closings are more perfunctory than openings Some kind of a reprise of main items (sometimes preceded by a reprise preface our headlines tonight, our main headline tonight) A closing to indicate there are no further items to come (that’s all for now) Optional trailer of later bulletins Leave-taking (it’s goodbye from me) Final signature graphics, theme tune, logo and credits