ABSTRACT
Viewers consuming news both on the TV screen and online are accustomed to masses of information on display. They have the studio and presenter in their face. Then the reports and the live reporters at the scene and that endless rolling and zipping scroll of latest news, plus information about what they are looking at now, and next, plus the local time and the weather and the station logo so you know which of 200 news channels you are tuned to. Business channels like Bloomberg have the screen bombarded with visuals, graphics and text information. But that’s what their audience target expects and wants. A lot of money is spent on marketing research to get the overall look just right. The term ‘visuals’ covers a multitude of tricks, from stills, slides and captions, to computer-generated charts, graphs and stylish images that establish corporate identity and appear to fill the wall behind the newsreader. Virtual reality is part of the storytelling. Graphics andAstons (the terms for text and data in the lower third of the screen)
are used to convey updated information in a clear and concise way.An older word – ticker, from the noise made by telegraphic machines a century ago – has come back into use for changing information on screen. Research has shown that increasingly people are watching TV as background and are doing other things (in a way that people traditionally used radio). In all channels these changing bottom third tickers and other on screen graphics
also enable the journalists to carry on providing the wider headlines whilst focusing on one big or breaking story as and when necessary. Those watching need as many visual clues as possible as they often don’t have the sound up. Most of the viewers to news channels expect this text information on screen.
They want it because it aids them in the way they use the channel. In view of this the graphics are increasingly important.You need them to grab the attention of the viewer and draw them to the story. Interactivity and regular headlines are a key part of the tools that a news channel needs to inform its audience. People use the channel to dip in to get the latest headlines.
