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News in the Online Age

Radio news conventions and Today on BBC Radio 4

  • 3 things to know
  • AS Unit 1

Overview

Broadcast pattern of Today across the week, role of the presenter in a radio news programme and why radio news depends so heavily on the human voice.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

On which station is Today broadcast, and in which year did the programme begin?

Key term

Describe the broadcast pattern of Today across the week.

Key term

Why is a morning news programme influential in setting the day's agenda?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    On which station is Today broadcast, and in which year did the programme begin?

    Model answer

    Today is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and began in 1957.

  2. 2

    Describe the broadcast pattern of Today across the week.

    Model answer

    Today is broadcast on weekday mornings from six until nine o'clock, with a shorter edition on Saturday mornings.

  3. 3

    Why is a morning news programme influential in setting the day's agenda?

    Model answer

    Politicians, editors and broadcasters listen to it before the working day begins, so the stories and interviews it leads on are taken up by the rest of the media through the day.

  4. 4

    What is the role of the presenter in a radio news programme?

    Model answer

    The presenter links items, introduces reports, conducts interviews and gives the programme a consistent voice and personality the audience recognises.

  5. 5

    Explain why radio news depends so heavily on the human voice.

    Model answer

    With no image available, tone, pace, accent and emphasis have to carry the authority, urgency or sympathy that a photograph would supply in print.

  6. 6

    What is a package in radio news?

    Model answer

    A package is a pre-recorded report combining a reporter's narration with interview clips and actuality sound, edited into a self-contained item.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

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Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
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The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Contexts of Media
Media Language
Media Representations
Media Industries

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Submarine is set in .
SwanseaCardiffAberystwyth

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AQuantitative data counts how many.
BQualitative data explains why.
CA production usually needs both.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

An audience receives what is offered.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

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Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in News in the Online Age, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

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