Journalistic+Video-+News+Cast



News: It's Everywhere These Days There is so much news on the air waves these days. It is hard to realize just exactly what the news is really supposed to be. Some cable TV news networks broadcast news all day. Often these newscast rehash and create hype around a given news story to generate more interest in it. Media hunger and availability feeds this frenzy to know what's happening...to know the latest. Often these privately owned TV stations and broadcasts are reporting from a less than objective point of view. It wasn't always like that.

News started out a bit differently.... there paper fliers that were handed out on street corners or if you go way back in time, public proclamations hung on buildings in public squares. Now in the 21st century we can hold news in the palms of our hands on cell phones and ipods. All of the news originally was based on an objective fact-based concept called journalism.

===Journalism is the objective, factual reporting of the details of a specific event. Usually the event is deemed newsworthy because it affects a significant number of people. It may have to do with a celebrity, a leader of a country or natural disasters that have impacted many people. ===

World, National and Local News
===Some news is considered "hard", that is, news that is serious in nature and based in facts. Usually world, national and local news stories are hard stories based on factual, non-opinionated reporting. ===

 Sometimes serious news moments become touching due to the nature of what is being reported. The following broadcast is a national news broadcast that broke into the all other programs because of the historical and serious nature of what was being reported. **Notice the professionalism of Walter Cronkite**, the reporter as he tries repeatedly to confirm the facts of the story. He is considered to be one of the greatest news casters of all time and this specific segment is part of the reason why. Notice too, how the camera zooms in on him during moments when the news becomes challenging and poignant. It is one of the first times that a newscaster let his own personal feelings show on national television. I**t is also an example of a story that had a local interest (Dallas, TX), a national interest (the USA) and a world wide interest.**

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This video is another example of a story that started as a local news story and became a national sensation because of the heinous nature of the crimes committed.

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Special Interest or Feature Stories
 Other news is considered to be of **special interest** to certain people because of what they like or enjoy. It is still fact based, but the nature of the news is not earth-shattering. This sort of broadcast is called a **special interest story or feature story**. Sometimes it is of special interest because of the timeliness of the topic. For example reporting on Santa Clauses at the mall during the holiday season and what kinds of hours they work or the weirdest thing they've had happen to them. This would be a special interest feature. ===This sort of story is also considered to be a "soft" news story because it isn't as serious usually and often makes people feel good or nostalgic. === It may also be kind of touching or moving.

The local Milwaukee NBC affiliate, Today's TMJ4 has a feature they call //Positively Milwaukee//. Each of the stories in this feature qualifies as a special interest/feature story. Usually it leaves viewers with a hopeful feeling about the subject of the story. Often it is about someone who has faced a challenge and overcome it. Many of the stories inform about local charities that people could choose to connect with to make a difference.

Here is an example of the //Positively Milwaukee// Segment on Today's TMJ4

Other News Components: Weather and Sports
For some people the whole reason they watch the news is to see the weather. Usually news producers will put the weather and sports towards the end of the newscast. This is a marketing ploy since they know that these are two of the most popular segments that people choose to watch. By making them wait it forces people to stay with the news and see the entire broadcast before they get what they want. They will also use a shorter teaser segment with a one or two sentence attention grabber, such as "Will you need your shovels and boots tomorrow morning?" We'll let you know next on the weather." Next may not literally mean the next segment. Now that people can get instant information from their portable hand held devices some news casts have taken to giving news and sports blurbs at the start of their broadcast to try to hook people into to sticking with the show. Although news is supposed to be objective there is a lot of marketing and sales involved with promoting a newscast.

Watch this weather segment to see what is included in a weather report. There is usually a reporting of the current conditions, the conditions for the day and then a future forecast of upcoming conditions. Sometimes there is also a traffic report with the weather as weather can often affect travel. Often, too, the weather becomes the main news story if it is causing other problems like power outages or flooding or road closures. In some instances like Hurricane Katrina the weather became a National and World news item due to it's grave circumstances and devastation.

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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sports casts are usually known for lots of fast language and puns. Usually the sports caster tries to be funny or dramatic. Often they have certain jokes or segments that they show regularly. Fred Roggin a Los Angeles sportscaster had a segment called Roggin's Heroes. Eventually this segment became its own spinoff TV show that featured a half hour of sports heroes from the week. The sports cast here features a longer segment from KTLA in Los Angeles. There are actually 2 sport casters discussing the news for that day.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">A lot of what is said is more opinion-based. This is what is called an editorial.
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">This second example is a more normal newscast from KNBC in Los Angeles. Note how long this segment is.

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