Factual news programming information

Conventions of TV news shows:

• Voiceover - leads us through the footage helping us to understand whats happening
• Statistics
• Graphics
• Title sequence
• VT Inserts
• There is a reporter at the screen so that we are directly addressed about the story 
• Interviews with people at the scene
• The clothes which the presenters wear and the studio are both very formal so to look sophisticated.

Definitions

A fact is a piece of information which is true and is weighed up by substantial evidence which can prove that it is real. News programmes which are unbiased (such as BBC, ITV) use facts so to appeal to all audiences without upsetting or angering anyone with something which is false. 

Whereas the difference with opinion is that it is someone else's view of a fact and it is not neccesarily the truth. An example of an opinion would be "David Cameron is a bad prime minister". However a fact would be "David Cameron has had losses in his first term as prime minister which has angered many Conservative supporters".  Bias is similar to an opinion in that is is someones opinion which is more their view and does not take into account other view. 

The opposite of bias would be unbiased and that is where the piece of information correctly addresses all views. An example of bias would be "Andy Murray is better than Rodger Federer because he is born in the UK the place where the best tennis players are". If you read that you could assume it was said by someone who lived in the UK and was biased because it is there home country. 

Research types

Primary

Primary research is information which you get yourself. For example if you was to interview someone, or go to lectures and find out things from your own knowledge.  This is the approach which news companies take, the reason for this is because it is more authentic and they cannot get copyrighted for taking something from someone else.

Secondary

Secondary research is also a popular method of research. Many people use this (including news researchers). It consists of finding information out of books, documentaries and most popularly the internet. All of these methods of secondary are often someone else's account or they have been fictionalised so therefore they could be false. However secondary research out of books is usually very reliable.