Analysis of News Channels

In recent years, the importance of news broadcasts has increased. More people need to access the news to stay in touch with the rest of the world’s affairs. More TV channels have developed to give viewers more news. Both commercial and government networks are used to present the news to the general public. However, because of the different fundings and target audiences, different networks will focus on different aspects of the news, to make as many people of their target audience watch their particular broadcast. Therefore the separate channels can bring in a far larger audience, and take away another channels audience, therefore reducing competition.

Each TV channel has an audience, their own individual target audience. Ten News is seemingly aimed at a younger audience, around the ages of 18 - 39, mainly young adults, whereas on the government funded ABC news is targeted at a much older audience 40 - 50 years old. Set presentation is also dictated by the target audience, insofar as that the studio and set are designed to be as appealing to a particular audience. For example, ABC uses a contemporary backdrop, showing the world in a placid blue and the rest of the set being in a pale blue and silver colour combination. The idea of this backdrop is that it shows that not only is ABC reporting local news but that ABC is also in tune with the rest of the world. On the other hand, Ten’s Evening news features a clear image of known locations in Adelaide including the River Torrens. Even how the presenters are dressed is dictated by the target audience and the viewing age. On the government funded SBS (Special Broadcasting Station), the anchors dress in very conservative clothes, such as a suit, and the reporters are between the ages o...

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... a presentation of many views. Unfortunately each of the members of the Sunrise team will give their own opinions on each topic, which is a minor downside.

From viewing all of the above programs, I concluded the following details. All the news channels demonstrate bias. Government channels such as SBS and ABC are usually better at presenting the world news than other channels, but at times they can get tedious with their bias towards the Government. The best presenters of current affairs were probably channel 9, as they did not spend too much time confronting politicians, and alleged criminals. So in conclusion, I don’t believe that any of the free-to-air channels is better than the others at presenting the news. So I believe that the only way to get a decent sort of news is to observe a series of broadcasts, then take the information that you think is relevant.