Techno Music

BBC Newscast

    Who anchored the newscast: Richard Mackintosh

    How many reporters contributed to the newscast: Four reporters

    Length of the newscast: 5 min

   

             Review

         The newscast covers wide variety of interesting international news which deals with political matters, environmental topics, scientific issues and musical themes. Some of the issues discussed are immigrants, US troops in Afghanistan, Sudan and Darfur situation, attacks in Pakistan, Russian spacecraft and the last concerto by Vivaldi.

          The newscast is interesting despite the lack of nat sounds, music and the two seconds gap between minute 3:13-3:15. The gap is a mistake as it happened in the middle of the anchor’s speech and obviously it is not required to end or begin the news. 

        On the other hand, the anchor is professional, expressive, and his voice keeps the listener paying attention to what is said. Also, the production is really good; it keeps me always interested in what is coming up. For instance, shifting between the anchor's speech and the reporters’ talk is produced in a way that does not allow one person to talk for a  long time accordingly the listener does not get bored. In the NPR News there is at least a one minute talk for either the anchor or the reporter. On the other hand in the BBC newscast almost every 30 seconds one person has to talk whether the anchor or a reporter. This style of production keeps me listening to more news and expecting new voices to come up with new subjects. Further, the diversity of the topics covering international domains makes this newscast more interesting.

            The sound quality is good, clear and strong. However, the lack of music or nat sound affects the production quality. Counting on reporters’ voices to break the dullness of listing to one voice is not enough. Applying an intro music at the beginning or the end of the newscast; as well as some nat sounds or distinctive ambiance sound for some news pieces can make the newscast more appealing. The recorded parts are really good.

         The announcer’s voice is a powerful vocal voice (not nasal), which makes it very clear. It is strong, vivid, expressive, and keeps the listener paying attention to the news. The anchor stresses on certain words from time to time, which draws the listeners attention and helps him/her to comprehend what is said. The voice speed is just right and the anchor does not rush or eat words. He may sometimes slow down to stress on a word or two then gets back to the normal speed. He reads smoothly and professionally.

               

          Though I found the British accent a bit wired; the British English might be easier to follow because they tend to pronounce all the letters in a word. On the other hand despite being familiar with the American accent;  the American English sometimes eats some letters from a word which makes it difficult to know what the anchor wants to say.

         Also, after three quarter of the newscast the anchor gives the listeners a one sec break saying “This is the BBC News”. I think they should have applied music at the background along with the anchor's voice at the foreground because it  draws more attention.

             The BBC news production is more interesting  than the NPR because it is easier to follow and comprehend. The shift between the anchor and the three reporters in the NPR sometimes took more than a minute to change the person who is talking.  On the other hand, in the BBC newscast the shift took place almost every 30 seconds with 4 reporters and an anchor to cover the news.

                The BBC newscast is just at the right length; it is not too long nor too short.

One thing I’ve encountered with the BBC newscast; it was difficult for me to access the BBC link enclosed on the AUC blackboard. I have to send the link to a friend to open it and  resend it to me.

NPR Newscast

Who anchored the newscast: Jack Spear
How many reporters contributed to the newscast: Three reporters
Length of the newscast: 4:46 min 

Review

      The newscast covers various local US topics which comprises the US war in Afghanistan, unemployment in the US, explosives in Philadelphia Airport and Haiti refugees to US etc.

 
       The newscast is a bit boring due to news content and  production technique. The content concentrates only on the US news which might not be interesting for many people. The anchor commences the newscast with a good speech rhythm and then all of a sudden he speeds up. This approach makes it a bit difficult for the audience to follow the newscast and affects the listener’s interest in hearing the upcoming news.
      By reaching two third of the newscast Jack Spear, the anchor, gives the listeners a one second break saying “This is NPR News”. Usually, this sentence coexists with an intro newscast music at the background. Unfortunately, the lack of music makes this break stiff and un relaxing for the listeners; especially after hearing a flow of news.
    Playing music is really significant as it makes the newscast less boring, gives the listeners a space to breathe after hearing a nonstop news and draws the audience attention to what is coming up. Also, the production can be more interesting by applying an intro music at the beginning and the end of the newscast. More important is to use nat sounds or distinctive ambiance sound with some news pieces. Relying on the reporters’ voices to break the monotony of listing to one voice is not enough to make the newscast motivating for the audience. Further, towards the end of the newscast (between minute 2:58 -2:59) the anchor says ‘This is NPR news’ and then two seconds of silence, this space of time on air is  long and boring.
     In addition, the use of nat sound can break the monotony of the on going newscast and makes us feel the location of the event. For instance when talking about war in Afghanistan I expected to hear gun fires and people yelling; and for the Philadelphia airport news I expected to hear the sound of airplanes engines. Such sounds help the audience to live the event and influence the listeners to hear more news. The sound quality is clear and good except for certain parts where the voice of the first reporter, Laurence, suddenly begins to faint and is barely audible, this happened between second 48  and  second 53.   Also, the sound quality of the third reporter’s voice, Paul Brown, is strong between minute 3:36- 3:37 and suddenly  the sound quality drops down or faints between minute 3:38- 4:18.  Un like the later, the sound quality of other recordings are good, clear and strong such as the one with Neguchi.
      The announcer’s voice is clear, strong and stresses on certain words which helps the listener to comprehend what is said. However, after the first minute he began to speed up and at minute 2:15 I was hardly following up on what he wanted to say. Also, I think the announcer’s voice is a ‘Nasal Voice’ (the source of the voice comes from the nose not the vocal cords), which makes it hard for me sometimes to hear the proper sound of the word he wants to say.  However, his voice is serious, clear and strong which is suitable for the type of news he is reading. All in all, the newscast is just at the right length. It is not too long nor too short. It is informative and covers various local topics.