AS Media Coursework Task Research

After doing the previous media practise task which was to make a short interview with a guest of my choice, I was given the official task. I have to create a 5 minute local news programme.
The programme has to include outside broadcasts and interview as only some it it's features.
The first task is of course the research, I have to look at some news programmes to find out how they are done, and if I would like to do something similar.
I decided to look at 3 radio news programmes, look at the typical features, and then how different are they from one another.
This is what I managed to find.

Radio News Programmes Research

 

Newsbeat

News programme on Radio 1, targeting young audience.

It’s typical features are:

1.   Upbeat music throughout the programme

2.   Pop music used as a background sound in the different reports

3.   The programme features entertainment and music news

4.   The main story is repeated many times throughout the 15 minute show

5.   There’s a slot within the show for news presenter to read comments on a specific news report

6.   Lots of the interviews with the public are young people aged 15 to 29. Radio 1’s target audience age range to which it was changed in 2012 after a BBC trust review into radio 1.

Taken from the BBC Publications website.

 

The World Tonight

A BBC Radio 4 news programme

Typical features:

1.   The news reports featured in the programme are summarised at the beginning, featuring some clips of the reports.

2.   Then the BBC News are read out before the rest of the programme, featuring correspondent material for each news story.

3.   The stories are covered in extreme detail.

4.   The news stories are from the international spectrum.

5.   The main story on the programme is covered for a longer amount of time than the other stories.

6.   The language used is much more extensive and for a young person may sound complicated.

 

Differences between NewsBeat and The World Tonight

1.   The World Tonight does not use upbeat or pop music in the background of the programme or the news reports.

2.   The World Tonight is 45 minutes long unlike Newsbeat which is 15 minutes.

3.   The stories on The World Tonight are covered in much more detail than on Newsbeat.

4.   The World Tonight does not feature sport or entertainment news.

5.   The World Tonight doesn’t feature any comments from the public on the featured news stories.

6.   Both Newsbeat and The World Tonight use different language suited to their target audience.

 

BBC 3 Counties Radio Local News

Typical features:

1.   Main 3 minute news programme every hour.

2.   Short news update 30 minutes past the hour

3.   Main news story across the UK followed by local news and national sport.

4.   The news start with a radio news music bed which fades out at the start of the main news story of the programme.

5.   The news include local travel news every 30 minutes, every 15 minutes on the Drive Time show.