ABSTRACT
Audience loyalty is important. Even where rival news programmes are broadcast at the same time and there is little to choose between their coverage, sections of the audience will have their favourite and will probably stick with it. Despite the hard work of the reporters, producers and other members of the news team, a station’s reputation will stand or fall on the performance of these few front line people. TV newsreaders will usually be seasoned journalists, who have graduated from newspapers and radio and had their baptism of fire as a TV reporter. Their move to presentation will usually have been as much for their proven news sense as for their on-screen presence. A ‘self-selecting’ survey by the National Union of Journalists for the Committee also found examples of an old-boys’ network or ‘blokeish’ atmosphere in newsrooms. Sports journalism was one area particularly identified as a difficult area for women to be taken seriously.
