Newsreaders - A Connotational Analysis

Title Sequence:

In this extract of ITV News at Ten from several years ago, ITV presents the news with the presence of an overview of London, gradually zooming further in with the use of camera movement. 

The use of this landmark shows the significance of this place, also suggesting that the news is taking place in London. This landmark is seen in the background of the new presenters, again reminding the audience of the capital of England. The use of fast-moving camera movement when presenting an overview of London, also suggests the idea of bringing the news to the audience quick. 

Another example of typical iconography is from the overview of London to zooming into the Big Ben which represents a sense of urgency and time. A reference to time can also be seen to present to the audience that ITV News are watching, at all times. Throughout the presence of London and the Big Ben, a fast beat driven pace is used as another way of showing importance. A transparent clock is also seen in the background of the news presenters, which is another typical iconography, suggesting that ITV News is unbiased and that they do not tamper with it. The main colour scheme used in this extract is; blue, black, and white. Using a colour scheme introduces a fancy business environment, making ITV look more professional looking. 

Newsreaders:

Newsreaders are used as a source of information for the audience. Neutrality is presented with the lack of facial expressions which the newsreaders use, which is what an audience typically expects to see on any news channel to reinforce a serious effect. 

This also suggests and reminds the audience that the newsreaders has no input or opinion on what the newsreaders are informing the audience, which is emphasized by their lack of facial expressions. The newsreaders also uses direct address to involve the audience and catch their attention, showing that the newsreaders are directly talking to us. The presence of newsreaders also introduce the UK's sexist culture where men are most likely to be used as newsreaders. Also female newsreaders are considerably younger compared to male newsreaders which tend to be much older than the women. This difference in age presents wisdom and authority in male newsreaders, however female newsreaders presents young and attractiveness. In this extract this sexist culture is seen as the male newsreader begins speaking to the camera, followed by the female newsreader where only her voice is heard over a voice over seen at 1:00.

Studio:

The studio almost always consists of the presence of 1 or 2 newsreaders sitting behind a huge desk. The newsreaders desk is also very modern and professional looking, using the colours black and white to stick with their colour scheme. On the desk, there is also stereo-typically a piece of paper in front of the newsreaders which is used as a prop to represent intelligence and power. In this case, technology has made itself presence with the effects used to present an overview of London and a transparent clock as the background. This background gives a transparent effect in general so that the audience focuses on the newsreaders and the information which they are informing the audience.