Essay on Television Broadcast News

In todays journalistic world it is sometimes difficult to decipher between parole broadcasts rendered as presumptive information as opposed to merely pastime. It is safe to say that the media does have got a responsibility in reporting the news truthfully and with honesty. As we begin to look more closely on the role of the News Media, local and subject bea, we will find many interesting facets of the broadcasts to be analyzed. It is likewise expected that the media deliver news that is detailed, informative and credible.Unfortunately the content of the information sometimes broadcasts has other insignificant foc uses such(prenominal) as, news regarding celebrities, entertainment (especially here in Los Angeles so close to Hollywood) and other tragic but un needful news. The content seems at times un all-important(prenominal), weak, and falsely dramatic rather than a factual honest and necessary report of important occurrences local, national and international. At times the n ews seems more like a dramatic soap opera rather than news. Competion and monetary boost seems to drive the media to serve information that can be sometimes manipulated or sometimes just simply inappropriate.Another facet of the news media is the status of female anchors and reporters on network and local newscasts, which will be examined in this paper. It is important to note that the media has been known to be a field of study influenced by gender, racial and ethnic biases. These important topics will also be examined. It seems that the News Media is not very particular in choosing quality journalism these days. Some exceptions do exist although it seems that shows which function as informative shows argon merely just entertainment and tabloid-like journalism.Such shows include, Entertainment tonight, The E channel programs, Inside Edition, and Access Hollywood to name a few. Even reality shows like Cops which are credible and reflect real life experiences are packaged for enter tainment and sensationalist viewing. in any case, when analyzing the role of local and national television broadcast news we still need to view the content of these programs with a grain of salt. News broadcasters are more influenced by events that will baffle an immediate impact and sensational effect on the viewers than actual, credible and significant news.It is common for news broadcasters to begin the newswith such broadcasts finish such events as a Wild Pursuit or freeway car chase. Or, other such glamorized topics may include the arrest of famous actors or musicians whom have committed crimes. The O. J. Simpson case was a perfect example of such media frenzy or, the famous pop musician George Michaels being arrested for masturbating in the Beverly Hills Park restroom. How can the media make out to cover such insignificant events when the local areas, the nation or the international community has so many other important social, economical, political and humanitarian proble ms and events that are hardly addressed.Also, when we pursue to analyze the credibility of broadcasters, how are we sure that the information given to us is factual? Are we to recollect everything that CNN reports is untainted and free of immoderate nonfactual events and information? It would be justified to question the source of reported events and news stories. There has been so many times in which different views and different versions of the akin story have been reported by varying news channels. Therefore it is sometimes difficult to decipher between fact or fiction and credible information or merely entertainment.It is also interesting to note that the media tries to maintain an air of social and political correctness when it comes to choosing its journalists although certain biases still due exists in the journalistic field. It is only in recent times that the news media has decided to hire more ethnically diverse journalists. Also in a field that had been closelyly domi nated by men, in recent times we have seen the hiring of more female anchors, reporters and journalists. Sometimes broadcasters use attractive journalists to gain the interest of the viewers.One of the most important TV news personalities of the last 40 years has been the famous Barbara Walters. She is one of the first women to gain acceptability and credibility from television news viewers. Also Christian Amanpour remains the first female TV broadcaster in our history who commands the same kind of respect as the long line of preceptor figures that started with Murrow and continues with Rather, Brokaw and Jennings. Women journalists such as Walters and Amanpour have gained respect and stardom through many years of hard work and struggle through journalism.Nowadays, historic news stories have rick the journalistic fast track to celebrity. And this happens so routinely that the search for the new media stars automatically built into coverage of the events themselves. Within hours of the attack on the World shift Center, you could already hear people in the media world asking, Whos going to be made by this one? Such celebrity came to female anchorwoman Ashleigh Banfield, a 33-year-old Canadian-born journalist when on September 11, Banfield covered groundzero in New York for MSNBC.Standing firm as she became coated with ash, network executives were so dazzled by her on-camera savvy that, although she had just about as little international knowledge as our president, they jetted her off to Pakistan, where she began anchoring the week-nightly news show Region in Conflict. Since then, she seems to have been everywhere for the cable channels covering a variety of important news stories and issues. A similar story occurred when Andrea Thompson made headlines when she recently revealed that she was quitting ABCs N. Y. P.D Blue to do a three-month mental testing at the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque, N. M. to become a TV anchorwoman. Shortly after Andrea Thompson wa s hired by the CNN as an anchor. The 39-year-old actress and model has said that she believes her skills as an actress are transferable to TV news, even though she does not have any background in journalism. Although its not a matter of acting the news, its hard to fake a journalism background if you do not have one. Again this proves how todays news media functions more as entertainment than credible responsible journalism.Some may say that it does not take any journalism skill to read a news script, and most stations indigence an appealing person, so why not have a pretty person reading a copy of the news? Personally I believe that this is unfair to other journalists male or female who have pursued a career studying and experiencing modern journalism. It is unfair to hire sexy or sexual attractive journalists to report the news when the most important factor is the content and truthfulness of the news itself. It may be appropriate to flaunt ones sexual practice in the fictional soap opera or fictional TV show arena, but not in the modern journalistic forum.Gender and sexuality should not be a factor. It would be hopeful to expect the News Media to cover more events with greater importance and significance to all people rather than to use journalism as a form of entertainment for the masses. Furthermore, it seems to me that the actual event and truth in media shouldnt be tainted by such factors such as gender, ethnicity, age or how one presents him or herself physically, the events and news topics covered should speak for themselves, not the other way around.