Television news reporters are under strict time constraints when reporting the news. This often prevents them from giving in-depth news coverage of current events. Viewers can take extra steps to find the rest of the story and increase their media awareness.
What Television News Media Reports
Television journalists are in the business of bringing the headlines to the news. The reports are very short, designed to cover the breaking news as it happens. A small amount of information is given, and the information may be repeated many times during the course of the broadcast or the day.
Some television news shows are designed to have conversations about the current news. These broadcasts usually have a news anchor interviewing different experts about the story. The television station may appear to be unbiased, but opinions often creep into these conversations.
The media strives to find news anchors that the public trusts and likes. Walter Cronkite, the famous CBS Evening News anchor from 1962 until 1981, was hailed as the “Most Trusted Man in America,” because he was devoted to impartiality and honesty in reporting. This reputation brought millions of viewers to the CBS nightly news program.
Evaluate the News Coverage Broadcasts
Television news can be watched without putting any thought into it. At this level, it doesn’t provide much information value for the viewer. It may have an emotional impact, but the viewer does not become intellectually engaged. To become interactive with the news broadcasts, a viewer can:
- Monitor ongoing stories for new developments.
- Seek out other information about the story development.
- Use alternative sources for more information, including newspapers, news magazines, editorials, the Internet, and citizen journalists.
- Confirm the authenticity of what they see and hear with outside sources.
- Determine the impartiality of the reports.
Viewers can go even deeper into an evaluation of the news by becoming aware of the strengths and weaknesses of reporters and news organizations. They also understand how the use of visual effects such as angles and lighting affect a message, and evaluate how those are used in the television broadcast.
Watching the nightly news does not make a person media literate. Rather, watching the news with an awareness of how the reports are presented, how the techniques used affect the viewers, and using the information as a launching pad to learning more, will increase media literacy.
The television news organizations report the news in small chunks that can be presented repeatedly throughout the day for viewers just tuning in. They do not have time for in-depth analysis. It is up to the viewers to do their own analysis. In closing, this trademark quote by one of the most revered journalists of the 20th century, Walter Cronkite, sums it up.
“And that’s the way it is.”
Resources:
Biography of Walter Leland Cronkite Jr.
ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication
 |
 |
