Connotations of Newsreaders

News is newly received information about events that have recently occurred or even updating ongoing matters where newsreaders display themselves in a neutral way to tell us about these matters. News is important for everyone and is displayed in a sense of transparency as the news comes directly from the source and is told to its viewers. Before we picked a clip to analyse as a class we went through some iconography features that our found within the news starting sequences; We came up with the following things:

-Clocks and Time
-Rushing Graphics
-Technology
-World from Space
-Transparecy
-Landmarks from cities
-Music
-Voice overs
-Colours (scheme)

Looking at the introduction of BBC and it's news, I will be analysing it's starting sequence. The clip above is what I will be looking at and the first I notice is for a starting sequence sixteen seconds is a good time to try and portray the news in a whole, not only that but BBC have done it with the most obvious thing, the world. Also referring back to the list of features that usually appear, in this, I would say there are six out of the nine that appear and this is clearly of high importance. The first thing about this is the colour scheme as there are a few colours, red, white and black with a few hints of orange and yellow. This is the most basic structure where these colours easily pick up the viewers attention, not only that but it then further captivated by the speed of the world, this is also seen as urgency as the news is meant to be rushing to you fast to get the most recent and new information to you and having this kind of intro means that the sense of urgency is definitely there. Another important feature for news is transparency, as this indicates truthfulness, this motif is emphasised by the fact that the world in the intro is repeatedly seen through and only landmarks are highlighted, yet we know that it is the world, we are just 'seeing through it', the truth that the news what to display. I find this to be quite interesting as the world is see through but there are also other red rings that are circulating the world, showing that the news covers the entire world, every little feature in the sequence is rushed in the sixteen seconds yet it still grabs your attention and draws you in. After grabbing your attention it moves in to a beautiful shot of (usually two) newsreaders who are ready and waiting, with their urgency in the most neutral and unbiased way to tell you the news.

Newsreaders are a very powerful role in the world of news because they are also seen in certain ways, just like the intro, each newsreader is the same. Firstly their are usually two newsreaders, one a male and the other is a significantly younger female, the reason for this is because the man is meant to connotes wisdom, authority and maturity, where as the women is based on physical attraction, a very sexist point, but that's the way that it is. The importance of these two newsreaders who are ready and waiting to deliver the news to us is what draws us in with there sense of urgency shuffling papers and being ready, though they aren't rushing around in a messy state, it's waiting for us as they address us directly to the camera making us feel like the news is coming straight from it's source through them and to us. The newsreaders are a conduit in the way there deliver the news in a neutral way, pronunciation of words is always done with standard English as they use a limited range of facial expressions to deliver the news they always address the camera (well us directly). All of these represent the neutrality of the newsreaders making it more truthful and as unbiased as it can be without their own personalities being inflicted onto the news matter.

Finally there is the mise-en-scene within the studio, and this is also stripped back to the bare minimum, as there is a very large desk situated in the center of the room with a large wide background which is usually plain or has images of the ongoing news or places (depending on what the newsreaders are talking about). Back to the desk, this is the main feature in the room and is always seen as high importance, especially with those two newsreaders behind it, thus making us believe that what the newsreaders are telling is truthful. The room is also highly lit so that there are no shadows in the room, this is to connote the truthfulness even further as there is nothing to hide as the light beams into all cracks into the room leaving nothing hidden. Overall there are many features that make the news seem important, and the BBC definitely follow some of the common themes that occur in all news intros and then the delivery.