Forms

Bulletins
A bulletin is a short programme announcing a brief summary of the news
including the most important parts of it. An example would be news summary
on BBC radio 4, newsbeat on radio 1 or the BBC news summary. This is a good
method to use because it gets the point of the news story across and hooks the
listener without it being too long and going into too much detail.
Example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nlwjd
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02st6pl#auto
In this example, you can see that it is a news bulletin because it is only 5
minutes long which is quite short for a news programme, so this would be a
bulletin. They go into enough detail without giving you too much and reporting
on too many stories. It only reports the top stories, e.g. the first woman in
Belgium who used ovarian tissue to give birth to a baby after having single cell
anaemia, the remains of the first victims from the German wings air disaster was
been discovered, etc. These are the stories that are rated most important and
because bulletins are only short so they have to report on the most important
stories as they cant talk about every news story.
Reference: http://thcvibeproductions.weebly.com/lo1--lo2.html
Headline
A headline is the short and catchy title of the news story summarising what has
happened to grip the audience and make them want to hear about the story.
Examples are UK inflation rate remains at zero or Greens urge: Join our
revolution. Headlines get the listeners hooked without giving too much away.
They need to be interesting so that people want to stay to listen to the full story.
In this example, the headlines are short and about one sentence long for
example; twelve people have been arrested on suspicion of the recent attacks
last week in Paris. This short but quite interesting because it shocks the
listeners to make them want to hear more details about it.
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6WwXI7Zi6o
0.00-0.10
Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
News Programme
A news programme is a series announcing details on recent events that have
happened. The stories are prioritised with what they think their audience would
most prefer to see and they often include interviews from people who have
witnessed the event. These programmes are made to inform people on the local
or national important events.

Examples: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nlwjq
This is an example of a News programme; you can notice that there are a series
of events reported, in order of importance. They start with a headline, and then
the reporter goes into more details on the story. This example is only short
because it only lasts two minutes, but it includes lots of typical news programme
traits, e.g. voicers, copy only stories, headlines, two ways and end with wraps.
Reference:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/programmes/genres/news/player/episodes?page=5
Copy only story
A copy only story is when the reported commentates on the story but doesnt
interview anyone about the story, cross overs or broadcast any pre-recorded
audio clips. Copy only stories are to the point and doing include lots of opinions
on the events shown with interviews from people.
Example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05r6pvq#auto
2.52- 3.04
This example displays a copy only story because the story is reported without
any cross overs or interviews. It is very simple and doesnt go into too much
detail, but it has enough to give you an idea of what the story is.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nk8b4 0.00-0.38
Reference: http://thcvibeproductions.weebly.com/lo1--lo2.html
Voicers
Wraps
Wraps are used to complete the news story and move on to another. Examples
could be in other news or now over to They are used so that the
audience can determine when the reporter moves on to talk about another
event.
Example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qdx2z 0.45- 0.49
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05xqb90#auto 59.27- 59.33
This example shows a wrap because the reporter ends the conversation with the
interviewee by saying alright, thanks very much by thanking him he ends the
interview, then he says thanks very much for listening everybody. This ends
the programme by rounding it up and bringing it to an end.
Reference: http://people.uwec.edu/kapferja/02Fall08/335/GlossaryofBroadcastNewsTerms.htm
Live cross
A live cross is where the reporter crosses over to another reporter reporting from
the location of the event or another reporter interviewing people from the scene
of the event. This gives the audience more information and when it is reported
on location it makes it sound more believable because you know they are there
and might be experiencing it first-hand so it sound more honest.

Live cross example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05pklrj#auto 0.26

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05xclw0#auto 00.32-1.20
This is a live cross because he says our correspond James Robins reports then
it crosses over to James reporting the story. This makes it more interactive and
gives you more information because they cross over to an expert who reports.
Reference: http://thcvibeproductions.weebly.com/lo1--lo2.html

Two Way
A two way is where the reporter crossed over to the pre-recorded audio of
another reporter. This can be played at any time because it is not live. This
makes the radio show sound more interactive and interesting. Some interviews
can be displayed on a two way because they cross over the audio to something
that has been pre-recorded because the guests cant always be interviews live.
Reference: http://thcvibeproductions.weebly.com/lo1--lo2.html

Styles
Related to audience
Some radio news programmes relate their content to their audience. For example
what articles are prioritised and what kind of language the reporters use, e.g.
whether it is formal or informal. For a radio station such as radio 1, the language
use would be more informal because the audience for radio 1 are younger people
who would respond better to a chattier reporter who can make it more
interesting and exciting for the younger audience. A radio station such as radio 5
would be more formal because they have an older audience who would prefer to
listen to something more serious and sensible, giving them the most important
news.

Examples:
Radio 5 are more related to their audience because they prioritise more sensible
subjects that affect the country such as politics or the war because it is what
their audience of older people would want to be informed about.

The radio 1 newsbeat prioritise most dramatic and exciting subjects, such as a
Russian secret agent being poisoned or ice climbers who have gone missing. This
suggests that their target audience is the younger generation such as teenagers
or young adults because these news headlines would grab their attention
because they are more dramatic and less sensible than politics.
They address their audiences by telling the different stories first to grab their
attention and make them want to hear more about it.
The scripts differ because the radio 5 live is very formal and more sophisticated
whereas the radio 1 newsbeat is informal, the style is quite chatty and uses
exciting phrases to grab the attention of the listener. Being younger and from
listening to both radio stations, I prefer the chatty vibe from radio 1 rather than
the formal radio 1, but I can understand that some people might want to listen to
the radio purely for news and would want something more serious and less
entertaining.
I can tell this is a national radio programme because the news shown related to
the whole of the nation and one specific area. If it was a regional area it might
just address an audience from Henley and just report local sporting events like
the Henley Regatta news.

Public service
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qfhz0#auto
A public service radio station is a radio station that doesnt have commercials
because it is publically funded.
BBC Radio 5 is a public service broadcaster because it is funded through licence
fees and does not rely on advertisements for its funding. Therefore, it doesnt
include any bias opinions and everything aired must be truthful. This is different
to a commercial radio station because it doesnt take any money from
companies to fund itself. I think public service is better to listen to because
generally, I dont want to hear advertisement when I am listening to the radio so
I would prefer to listen to stations on BBC because I dont have to hear them.

This radio station meets the target audience of older people by playing older
songs that they might remember and focusing on more sensible news whilst
keeping the reporting quite formal.

Commercial
Commercial radio stations generate their income through advertisement and
sponsorships. Examples of commercial radio stations are Heart, Capitol, classic
fm, x fm, etc.

Example: http://www.xfm.co.uk/radio/ http://www.classicfm.com/radio/

http://www.capitalfm.com/ .These are links to the radio stations online where you
can see the advertisements such as an advert for O2 and other adverts such as
Google.
Many of these commercial stations are owned by Global, Bauer and UTV. For
example, Global owns many national stations, such as Heart, Capital, Capital
XTRA, Classic fm, Smooth, LBC, Xfm and Gold. They specialise each radio station
to their location, for example, for a station in Berkshire they might prioritise the
local news in Reading, whereas a radio station in London would prioritise news in
London and probably wouldnt commentate on any news from Reading because
it wouldnt affect anyone in that area.
This is an example of a news story shown on Heart which is a commercial
station: http://www.heart.co.uk/news/uk-world/nasa-spaceship-prepares-tosmash-into-mercury/#ZlGq8TJ9LUKXQYkH.97 . From seeing this news story I
would know it is a national station because it is a story that would affect the
whole station and something everyone would want to hear about. If the story
was about a small protest in a local area that would be shown on a community
radio station because not many people would want to hear about it but
something very important like the NASA spaceship smashing into mercury after 4
years of collecting data for the world, everyone should hear about it because it is
a part of important national history.
References: https://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/261637210?access_key=keyNkeiTxZS4EEpTuNgsrzd&allow_share=false&escape=false&show_recommendatio
ns=false&view_mode=scroll
http://www.thisisglobal.com/radio/capital-fm/

Community
A community radio station is one that is specifically suited to an audiences
interests, such as a specific sport like the Henley regatta.
http://www.regattaradio.co.uk/

This is a community radio station because its audience would only really be
people who live in Henley or locally to Henley or people with similar interests, in
this case; rowing. This is very specific news that not the whole country would be
particularly interested in so wouldnt be aired on a national radio station. The
voicers and workers on the station are usually amateur and they wouldnt earn
money from the station and the radio probably wouldnt gain a profit but it is a
good way to talk and share your interests and for someone who is looking to
work in the radio industry it is a good place to start, getting experience as you
work. This Henley regatta radio is only shown online because it reduces costs,
rather than airing it on the radio.
You can tell it isnt a national radio station when looking at it because the voicers
dont sound quite as experienced or professional and they just report on a very
specific subject without talking about national news or playing lots of music. A
national radio station has very experienced voicers who are comfortable talking
to the radio, they play lots of popular music to their audience and talk about
news that happens all around the world rather than just in one area.

Small- Scale
A small-scale radio station might be Blast 1386 because it is run by the local
Reading College and is a very small station. This is run by the college and often
by students so the news is often prioritised to information about the college, e.g.
events or sport results or information on changes to the college and general
news to the local area.
http://tunein.com/radio/Blast-1386-s6837/
You can see from the link that is isnt very professional, it is a very low-budget
station with the commentators who dont seem particularly experienced and the
workers are probably amateur because they are working on such a small-scale
station, whereas for a national station, the stations run very smoothly with lots of
professional and experienced workers.
Reference: https://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/261637210?access_key=keyNkeiTxZS4EEpTuNgsrzd&allow_share=false&escape=false&show_recommendatio
ns=false&view_mode=scroll

Local
A local radio station is one that talks about only very local news, such as BBC
Bristol. They talk about local news because it is what the local people might want
to know about because it directly affects them, rather than national news. Their
target audience would be people who live in Bristol.

This is an example of what they might cover in the news of BBC Bristol:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nxrfb
In this clip, they talk to their local young people who live in Bristol. They talk
about their opinions of the election and whether they will vote and about the age
restrictions of voting. You can notice that this is quite informal and uses amateur
newsreaders who have less experience than a newsreader from a national
station.
You can tell it is a local news station because they interview people who live
locally and it is a very low priority news story that most likely wouldnt be aired
the nation on a news station such as Heart or capital.

Regional
A regional station is a larger station than a local station because it targets an
audience of people who live regionally with much more views because it applies
to more people who would want to hear the news that might affect them. Many
large-scale radio stations like BBC have regional stations because lots of people
want to hear their regional news so they have more of an audience.
An example of a regional BBC radio station would be BBC Berkshire.
Example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02n92p2
At 00.50 of this example you can tell that it relates to the region of Berkshire
because it specifically uses Basingstoke as an example within the news. This
relates to the target audience of Berkshire by talking about local news. This news
wouldnt be shown in the Yorkshire region because most people would probably
be confused because they wouldnt know where Basingstoke is and why they are
hearing about it.

National
A national radio station is the largest radio station that reaches the biggest
amounts of people throughout the UK. This would show the biggest news stories
off events around the world as the biggest priority. Examples of these national
radio stations would be BBC Radio 1, radio 2, radio 3, radio 4, radio 5, capital,
classic, etc.
Example: Radio 1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nk9vk
They meet the target audience which is young people from anywhere in the
United Kingdom by talking about national events such as the national Ladies day.
You can tell this is a national station because they talk about national events and
one that affects women around the nation so is one that applies to most people.

This is different to a community radio station because community stations might

be targeted at a more specific audience or a specific hobby like the Henley
rowing station, so it would be odd if they mentioned national womens day
because it wouldnt fit in with what they usually talk about and might not appeal
to their audience.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_radio_stations_in_the_United_Kingdom#Natio
nal_analogue_and_digital_stations

Internet
The internet is a good way to air radio stations. National radio stations post their
stations online with catch-ups so you can see what was aired the previous day
or any other time within the last few weeks. Small-scale radio stations that dont
earn a profit for their radio often air theirs on the internet because it keeps the
costs low.
An example is http://www.regattaradio.co.uk/ because this is aired online to save
money because it doesnt make a profit.

Satellite and Cable

Satellite and cable radio is the radio stations shown on the TV, for example BBC
radio 1 is aired on TV along with many of the other national stations.
http://absoluteradio.co.uk/listen/tv/ This is an example of the radio station
Absolute aired on TV. This is good because sometimes if people dont have a
radio in their home, or a computer to listen online it gives them the option to
listen on their television.
Local, community or smaller stations arent usually shown on TV because there is
less of a demand for them from most people because they mostly have the
demands for national stations because they have a much wider audience.

Legal and regulatory constraints

Handling of stories involving minors

When handling stories with minors, you have to withhold information about them
for their safety so that they cant be identified. This includes any information that
could lead to their identification, such as; their name, address, their school or
any photographs of them.

Example:
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2015/news/stories/04/19/mother-fourchildren-homeless-after-farm-demolition/

BBC Guidelines
We will always seek to safeguard the welfare of children and young people who
contribute to and feature in our content, wherever in the world we operate. We
will preserve their right to speak out and participate, while ensuring their dignity
and their physical and emotional welfare is protected during the making and
broadcast of our output. Content which might be unsuitable for children will be
scheduled appropriately.
This shows the importance that children in the news are to the BBC and how they
take responsibility to protect them because it says they ensure their dignity and
their physical and emotional welfare is protected. Often this is done by phrasing
it differently, such as their daughter/son or a child instead of mentioning
names. The BBC has individual guidelines because due to being a public service
broadcaster they have specific rules, giving the license fee payers a balanced
view whilst still following basic laws when handling minors.

OFCOM Guidelines
Principle
To ensure that people under eighteen are protected.
Rules
Scheduling and content information
1.1 Material that might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral
development of people under eighteen must not be broadcast. 1.2 In the
provision of services, broadcasters must take all reasonable steps to protect
people under eighteen. For television services, this is in addition to their
obligations resulting from the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (in particular,
Article 27, see Appendix 2). 1.3 Children must also be protected by appropriate
scheduling from material that is unsuitable for them.
Meaning of children:
Children are people under the age of fifteen years.
Meaning of appropriate scheduling:
Appropriate scheduling should be judged according to:
The nature of the content;
The likely number and age range of children in the audience, taking into
account school time, weekends and holidays;
The start time and finish time of the programme;
The nature of the channel or station and the particular programme; and
The likely expectations of the audience for a particular channel or station at a
particular time and on a particular day.
This means that OFCOM believes that it is important that people under the age of
eighteen are protected in all ways so that being involved in a crime doesnt
affect their safety. OFCOM must abide by these rules or it could result in arrest.

Contempt of court
This is where someone interferes with the administration of justice. This might
affect how guilty the court thinks the suspect is because if someone has reported
them as guilty, the public might believe it and this could change the courts
decision. Another example could be revealing someones identity, e.g. a name or
a photograph when the person is meant to be protected by the courts. This could
result in being sent to prison for betraying the justice system.
Example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-32331559

Libel and defamation

This law effects a persons reputation being lowered, makes them hated or
avoided by the public or belittles them in their office, trade or profession. If the
person is affected in any of these ways, they can sue them for not protecting
their reputation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13751454

Coverage of elections
These are rules that broadcasters must follow around the time of election and
referendum periods, stating that all major parties must have equal coverage as
well as appropriate coverage time for other parties. These rules are stated by
OFCOM:
Principle
To ensure that the special impartiality requirements in the Communications Act
2003 and other legislation relating to broadcasting on elections and
referendums, are applied at the time of elections and referendums.
Rules
Programmes at the time of elections and referendums
6.1 The rules in Section Five, in particular the rules relating to matters of major
political or industrial controversy and major matters relating to current public
policy, apply to the coverage of elections and referendums.
Example: http://www.london24.com/election2015/live_coverage_of_the_opposition_leaders_debating_on_the_bbc_election_de
bate_1_4037783
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/apr/16/bbc-election-coverage-davidcameron

Official secrets act

The official secrets act was made to protect secrets of the government because if
made public they could damage national security and put the country at risk.

No one has been prosecuted for breaking the act but David Keohg and Leo
OConnor were jailed for six months after making public a memo between the
President and the Prime Minister. The public have found this act controversial
because they arent being told what is happening and dont want things to be
hidden from them if it might affect them.
Example: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6639947.sm
This example shows the debate between whether the official secrets act is a
good thing and is in place for the sake of the public or whether it is more
damaging hiding it from the public.

News Values
Story Priority
Story priority is the importance of news stories on a radio in regards to the order
of which they are read out.
Stories are prioritised differently on different radio stations. For example, the
radio 1 newsbeat prioritise most dramatic and exciting subjects, such as a
Russian secret agent being poisoned or ice climbers who have gone missing. This
suggests that their target audience is the younger generation such as teenagers
or young adults because these news headlines would grab their attention
because they are more dramatic and less sensible than politics.
For the radio 5 live news, I think it is targeted at older people because they
prioritise more sensible subjects that affect the country such as politics or the
war because it is what their audience of older people would want to be informed
about.
They address their audiences by telling the different stories first to grab their
attention and make them want to hear more about it.
The scripts differ because the radio 5 live is very formal and more sophisticated
whereas the radio 1 newsbeat is informal; the style is quite chatty and uses
exciting phrases to grab the attention of the listener.
A former Russian secret agent's critically ill after claims he was
poisoned.
An ex-Russian spy's under police guard in hospital after claims his
governments tried to kill him in a London restaurant. It's thought
Alexander Litvinenko's was poisoned with a chemical called thalium.
He'd met a contact to try and expose who murdered a reporter who'd
heavily criticised the Russian President Vladamir Putin. Alexander
Goldfarb's his friend.
5 Live
Tony Blair has said remarkable progress is being made in Afghanistan
- and Britain is committed to supporting the country. He was talking
after meeting the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, in the capital, Kabul.

At a news conference, Mr Blair said the people of Afghanistan deserved

to live in a proper democratic state.
Although I dont agree with it, things like Prince Charles walking around Brixton
are more prioritized than subjects like an earthquake in a third world country
where thousands have lost their lives. I think it is wrong that something clearly
not as important should be prioritised more but it is something that more people
would want to hear about. Radio stations often choose to prioritise things that
shock their listeners and are quite exciting, rather than an earthquake because
although it is shocking, earthquakes and other natural disasters happen quite
frequently. However much important an earthquake is, radio stations have to
prioritise what they think their audiences would prefer to hear and often,
especially for younger audiences like radio 1, that would be things like Prince
Charles walking around Brixton.

Local
With a local radio news station, what is prioritised would be very different to that
of a national news station because things like a local building being knocked
down or local protestors would be seen as really important news when on a
national radio, this probably wouldnt be reported, or would be reported last,
behind the major stories. This is because for a local station people listen
especially to hear local news and wouldnt listen to hear news about the nation
because they could just listen to a national news station. Their audience is
specifically targeted to the local area, so it wouldnt make sense airing the news
that this audience doesnt want to hear about and can find out about anywhere
else.
These are the prioritised headline examples for a local area:
http://www.henleynews.co.uk/
These news stories are about the local area and much less important that the
national stories because they only affect a small area of local people, for
example a local schools artwork, a cake sale or a tribute to someone who lived in
the area rather than the national stories that affect the world. These small stories
are deemed as very important to the local area but wouldnt be shown in the
national news stories.

National
A national news station would prioritise articles differently to how a local station
would. When a local station would prioritise small, local news, this would most
likely not be displayed at all on a national station because the news doesnt
affect most people who listen and they wouldnt want to know about it, they
would want to hear about big, important stories.
These are the prioritised headline examples for national news:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk .These news stories are much bigger stories that
affect the UK and parts of the world.
Domestic

Foreign
A foreign policy is a news story that might have happened in another country.
This is usually not reported on in the UK, but occasionally it is when something
really important happens, therefore foreign news would be a high priority
because it has to be really important to be reported. For example, the plane
going missing because although it hasnt happened in the UK, it is something
that doesnt usually happen and is an important event in history.
Immediacy
Immediacy is the speed that the events are reported on. For example, if the story
is not deemed as important, the news might wait till the next day or for a few
days before reporting it, whereas if it is a really important event, such as a
terrorist attack or someone of royalty dying, they might stop what they are doing
to report the breaking news that has only just happened. This might be
because a story like a terrorist attack is a very important event that will be
remembered in history and could affect many people listening, whereas less
important news like inflation rising could wait till the next day to be reported
because it usually isnt as shocking as inflation levels often change frequently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGj5uHX0wlo In this example, you can
notice that they interrupted programmes people were watching to tell them the
news because it was so important.
Follow-up angles
Follow-up angles are used to give the public any additional information that they
didnt have about the story before. This is often used in stories involving Police
investigations because they have to report any new breakthroughs in the case,
for example, the example shows the case of a child abduction follow- up story of
the another child being abducted. This should be reported because it might
affect the public, warning them that this has happened twice and could happen
again.
Example: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2473971/3-Roma-Gypsiesarrested-ANOTHER-child-kidnapped-Greece.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2476772/DNA-test-confirms-Bulgarianwoman-IS-natural-mother-blonde-haired-Maria.html
This is then followed further to show that the woman who they reported to have
abducted a child was actually her mother due to a DNA test being carried out.
They do follow- up angles of any more details, new developments or reactions.
Availability of audio
Availability of audio is whether audio for their story is available to them, audio
makes a story more interesting because often the audio is someone reporting
from the scene or someone being interviewed who knows about the case. This
makes the story more detailed and more in depth and makes it seem to be more

reliable because you can hear an interview who have actually experienced what
happens.
Example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05q5w75#auto 1.37
Newsroom policy
Newsroom policy is the guidelines that are specific to each radio station. This
might be how they report on stories or which stories they report on. They have to
follow these policies along with the larger guidelines that all stations must follow,
such as OFCOM. For example, if they are reporting on political parties, they might
decide that they will be slightly bias towards conservative in their newsroom
policies.
Example:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/public_editor/2011/12/07/toronto_star_newsroom
_policy_and_journalistic_standards_guide.html
This is an example of a newsroom policy that a newspaper has, although this
isnt the same as a radio station foreign policy, it would be similar.
Human Interest
Human interest is where presenters aim to sympathise with people involved with
the event and build emotion for people watching. This builds more attention from
viewers because they use words to make the story more dramatic and therefore
want to hear about it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3045468/Up-700-feared-dead-migrantboat-sinks-Libya-newspaper.html
This example shows how they sympathise with its audience by using words such
as tragedy, terrified and disasters to make people empathetic and have
more of an understanding of how horrifying it much have been for the migrants
on the boat.

Public interest agenda

Public interest agenda is where news stations provide information on news
events of significance to different audiences.
Example: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/feb/06/mid-staffs-hospitalscandal-guide