News and reality, a paradox? There are so many different news programs these days, with news from all over the world just jumping in our living rooms. In the Netherlands you have the for instance: Het NOS Journal, RTL Nieuws, Hart van Nederland, Het Jeugdjournal, Netwerk and many more. When you watched the news during the Iraq war you could see it was a media circus. However not every channel or program brings the same information. There are differences in focus, in language, in presentation, but how does this work? Is there an effect on interpretation?.
In this paper I will set up a proposal of how to research construction of reality in TV News and how this is decoded. In my opinion it's interesting to look both ways, as well the production of the news as also the receiving and interpretation of the news. .
First I will note something about how news items are selected. What are the criteria and how is it presented. Then I will take a closer look on reception and interpretation.
Finally I will present a framework of how this research should take place. I did not conduct this research because it was not necessary for the assignment. I doubted, because I wanted to do the first part of my research, but the news is not really newsworthy in the summer. It's much more relevant to conduct a research when a war is started, a disaster has happened, in election time or when there is a Royal event happening.
What's news?.
As Fiske points out, 'the basic definition of news as factual information that its viewers need in order to be able to participate in their society gives us only half the story' . Of course every news bulletin is produced by a company. Some companies are commercially focused others are public owned by the state. Nevertheless both sides need to find an audience for their programs, so it's interesting for advertisers. All these companies also are a part of society. In this society there are moral codes and these codes having an effect on what is shown and what's not.