Communication: Body, Tone, Language: ABC

News is supposed to relay the facts and exactly how incidents happen. However, often times news reporters do not always relay the whole truth or they skew things to what their own opinion of the incident. When reporters decide to leave things out of stories it can cause the people that are viewing the news program form a warped perception on what happened and in many cases do not know the whole story. Thus making it hard to tell what is the truth. One can see this in the news reports done on the possible breaking dawn movie theater shooting.

In the ABC news report on the incident that a man was planning a shooting at the Breaking Dawn part 2 movie in a small town in Missouri they present the facts but they do it in a way that seems as if they are distant from the situation. The point of view of the ABC News uses in their report of this seems to be distant because they constantly relate back to the movie theater shooting that happened in Colorado. They also do not focus very much on how this affects the community or surrounding areas. (ABC News, 2012)

Throughout the report the reporter seems to be objective because even though he is not looking out the affect on the community he is looking at the bigger picture. He seems to emphasis on how the incident was possible but did not actually happen. Overall the reporter seems to do a good job reporting what actually happened. However, they should not have included a clip from the movie Breaking Dawn part 2 because this makes it seem as though they do not take the incident seriously. (ABC News, 2012)

Not only did the ABC New program ad a clip that they should not have. They also should have added more information about how the man was planning on doing a shooting at the local Wal-Mart and then moving on to the movie theater. Because they did not include this it does not inform the views as well. (ABC News, 2012)

The new show KY3 had a much more personal approach on reporting this incident. They showed more footage of local people and how they felt about what could have happened. In doing this it makes the view realize how the people in the community were being affected by this. (KY 5, 2012)

It seems as though the reporter in this news program was objective but they were slightly more subjective with the fact that these are real people that it affect. They demonstrate this point of view by showing the views of the locals and also saying that they personally asked the theater if they were planning on upping the security. Throughout this news report almost everything was relevant and needed to be in the program. However, the comment for the local about how there was concern that the man was going to hurt himself or someone else was unnecessary. The only thing that this news program omitted was that the man planned on first going to Wal-Mart and shooting then afterwards going to the theater and shooting more. They did mention that he was planning on shooting at Wal-Mart but not that he was planning on doing it right before the theater shooting. (KY 5, 2012)

KCT 5 News seemed to do an overall good job at reporting the incident. They seem to also be objective when they are reporting the facts. They do not seem subjective about the subject but they seem as though the emphasis with the people. They demonstrate this point of view by reporting only the facts and not adding their personal opinion. (KCT 50, 2012)

The only thing that was included in this program that should not have been was the shot of the red truck while the reporter was talking. It makes the view wonder, “Is this a random truck?” “Is this the shooters truck?” Because they do not explain this shot they should not have included it. The information that they did not include that they should have was that the possible shooter was mentally ill and that was why it was important for him to be on his medication. (KCT 50, 2012)

The various social groups in the KCT 5 news and KY 5 news are both portrayed in a way that they are concerned locals. The viewer sees these people as people that could have been victims of a horrible thing. However, in the ABC news program social groups were not represented at all. This makes the view not take what could have happened as seriously because they are not seeing the personal effect that it is having on people.

In the news program that ABC puts on they seem to sensationalize the incident for entertainment. They do this by continuously bringing up the Colorado movie theater shooting and by having the Breaking Dawn Part 2 movie clip in the middle of the program. This news segment does not affect my personal values because before seeing it I knew the facts and knew they were not presenting all of them.

The KY 5 program did not seem to sensationalize the incident. They reported the facts and detail that viewers would want to know about the shooter and what could have happened. This news program affects my personal values because I sympathize with the people living in the area. It makes me wonder what would have happened and how would I feel if I lived in that area. It makes my beliefs of not going to the movie theater even stronger after first the Colorado shooting and then this.

KCT 5 news seems that they are also not trying to sensationalize the issue that happened. They focus on all of the facts and do not add much that did not need to be. This program did not affect my personal values as much as the KY 5. This is because it did not focus as much on the locals and how they felt about the subject. This made it easier to separate myself from the subject more.

Overall all three of the programs presented the facts. While some did it better than others it seems as the they all wanted to portray what actually happened and tried to not skew the information as much as they could. All of the facts in each news program helped inform people about what happened in Missouri with that man that day.

References

ABC News [ABC News]. (2012, Nov 17). ’Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2’ Movie Theater Shooting Plot Averted [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S_wJWZtBMk

KCT 50 [HotBlockNews ]. (2012, Nov 16). Missouri Police Foil Mass Murder Plot At `Twilight Breaking Dawn 2 Show [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu2Xk0WGUWo&feature=related

KY 5 [MrViralNews]. (2012, Nov 16). Twilight Movie Theater Shooting and Walmart Mass Shooting - Blaec [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR8keggAiC

News broadcasters have an important job for their company and to the rest of the country. They are responsible for getting the news out on a variety of different subjects in a quick, accurate, and ethical manor. Many news programs attest to being the quickest and most accurate program but they are not all necessarily telling the truth. Some news programs do not use reliable sources to get their “story” and sometimes they are bias in the story that they are reporting on, this in turn leading to them sometimes fabricating the story to make it prove their bias accurate. Many times when a news program is trying to keep up with the compation they will report on things before they have all the information, this can lead to inaccurate information or to few details. The World Wide Web has started to have an effect on news programs accuracy because people can find more information in a quick manor, forcing more pressure on the new broadcasters and politicians to take a stance in whatever issue is happening in the world.

ABC News is a national recognized news program that is shown online and on television on a daily basis. Channel One News is a program that covers nation news, it is an online newscast. Both ABC News and Channel One News have their own way of attracting views and keeping their show popular. Both use completely different strategies that seem to work well.

ABC News is a well known news program. One of the strategies to keep their views is to keep a serious atmosphere on their program. All of the news reporters keep a straight face and a relatively monotone voice. They also use the slogan, “More Americans get their news from ABC News than from any other source” (ABC News [ABC], 2012). It seems that using this slogan and the atmosphere that they keep on the show they want to attract middle age to older audiences. In the atmosphere that they create is seems that they are also trying to portray that they are a reliable source for people to trust.

Channel One News does things quite a bit different on their show. In the beginning they do not have a slogan or any other verbal way of attracting viewers. They play music and show pictures that would attract a younger audience. As the show continues it is clear by their posture and the way that they talk that they are trying to attract a younger audience. This is because they are more informal and relaxed. Wear less formal clothing and showing their computers and other equipment in the background. While they are still professional they put on a face that would attract younger views because it is more exciting and interesting. (Chanel One News [Daily News Show], 2012)

The sources in both ABC News and Channel One News seem credible. ABC News seems to count on how reliable they are and their popularity and does not display as many sources as Channel One News. ABC News talks to only two different sources during the short segment (ABC, 2012). Channel One News talks to several different people varying from locals to politicians on the subject (Daily News Show, 2012).

Both programs seemed unbiased and that they were only presenting the news. This is probably because of the serious nature of the programs: Connecticut Elementary School Shooting. While both programs show the seriousness of the program and how important the views of gun control and more safety precautions are important, they do not seem like they are bias. This shows that the news programs are ultimately out to inform people and not push people towards what they believe personally.

Neither shows display any racial or gender stereotype. However, ABC News does show a stereotype forming, which was that all mentally ill people are dangerous. This was said by someone that was for gun rights that said that we need to keep guns away from “crazy people”. This stereotype is bad because while there is some truth in the fact that unstable mentally ill people are dangerous, not all mentally ill are dangerous. (ABC, 2012)

ABC News and Channel One News seem to both be telling the truth as they know it and not fabricating any of the stories. This is because they both essentially discuss the same topics and say the same things as all the other news programs that are reporting facts about the elementary school shooting.

Because both of the stories are a week after the event has taken place it seems that both programs are reporting all the facts and not leaving anything out the views need to know. This may have been different if these programs were the day of the event or even the day after because it took a few days for the police and the rest of the country to know the details of the event that took place.

I only have one suggestion and that is for ABC’s News cast, they need to make sure that they are not broadcasting anything that is stereotyping a certain population even if the news caster is not the one that said the stereotype. It is not appropriate and many people can be offended by it. Instead edit that part out because it is not politically correct. Channel One News did a good job overall in broadcasting the news, the only thing that I would suggest for them is to have a more formally background for their news reporters in their studio.

The World Wide Web seems to have an impact on everyone in the world in today’s society that includes politicians. The web is the most influential piece of media by far because it affects so many people in such a short amount of time. People in the United States can be reading the same articles as the people in Italy at the same moment and time. When this happens people are more informed and can form an opinion before a politician can even address it. This makes it harder for politicians to influence the views opinion on the subject at hand.

Overall the media has a huge impact on people’s lives and the way that they view the world. That is way it is so important for news broadcasters to report the facts and leave all biases and stereotypes out. When they do that it makes it easier for people to trust what they are reporting whether they are young or older. People need to have a news program to go that they can trust and get all of the real facts from. Both ABC News and Channel One News are programs that are trust worthy for viewers and come highly recommended.

References

ABC News (Producer). (2012, December 17). Newtown Buries First School Shooting Victims . In ABC News Video [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/video

Channel One News (Producer). (2012, December 18). December 18, 2012. In Channel One News [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.channelone.com/video/

News Perspective