Making the News

The concept of 'The News' is particularly broad in nature, having many implications whilst remaining vital to the adequate maintenance of communication channels and outlets throughout society. Yet most importantly, television news remains a commodity (Fiske, 1987:281), a product that for ongoing success requires constant access and promotion to a viable and absorbent audience. Through a close analysis and semiotic deconstruction of a particular news story I will seek to outline and explore some of the contentious 'News' related arguments of today's modern media theory.

This essay will take the following form. First I will explore the process through which the news is acquired, in accordance with a range of conceptual arguments outlined in Tiffen's News and Power (1989). In particular I will be focusing on the importance of institutions, source interests and structures, and the relationship between governments and the media. This will lead into a close analytical and cultural analysis of a recent news story about The Rolling Stones. And following on from this I will provide an in-depth semiotic deconstruction of the aforementioned text, in relation to semiotic elements such as signs and codes, as well as the way they interact to form meaning and narrative, whilst also alluding to the ingrained meanings and messages of a text.

THE ACQUISITION OF NEWS

"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter." (Tiffen cites Jefferson, 1989:50)

This rather acute comment by Thomas Jefferson alludes to the inherent lack of objective reporting in both the processes of news gathering and its subsequent presentation. This is evident as the final measurement of any news program will very rarely remain unaltered from the influence of bias and opinion from those involved in its creation. Thus the news is rendered subjective, a product laced with the ideas and opinions of others, and biased in nature. Even a light infotainment story about a Rolling Stones world tour remains heavily subject to institutional and governmental influence.

Institutions are the various societal bodies through which the news is obtained, from government departments to foundations they accommodate for the impracticality and impossibility of regular first hand reporting. Instead journalists perform 'rounds,' taking up positions at given institutions in the hope of obtaining prominent newsworthy material second-hand (Tiffen, 1989:31). These channels or sources so to speak transform the news into a selective interpretation of society, whereby many important or potentially news-worthy events go unreported due to impracticality. Evidently,

A journalists' considerations of source suitability 'have one over-riding aim: efficiency.' Their news gathering routines should offer the best news in greatest volume in the least time consuming way, with some protection against the competitive danger of being 'scooped', and the risks of unreliability and uncertainty in controversial areas (Tiffen, 1989:32).

In essence Tiffen is essentially reaffirming the aforementioned concept that the news is a commodity, a product, something that is bought and used by the consumer. It is this particularly pertinent element to the news which needs to be carefully noted when exploring its construction and subsequent deconstruction.

NEWS ANALYSIS

In this section I will be analysing a recent news story about The Rolling Stones, using a format derived from Fiske (1987:296-301), to outline some of the base conventions of news production. This analysis will in turn lead into a semiotic evaluation and deconstruction of the text.

CHANNEL TEN NEWS

INTRO BY STUDIO ANCHOR:

A milestone for The Rolling Stones, finally playing in China, after thirty years touring the world. Despite getting 'no satisfaction' from the censors who banned some of their greatest hits, the fans were thrilled.

This segment represents the first soft news story of the evening's bulletin, taking a break from hard news stories about hurricanes and hostage situations. These hard news stories are seen as a disruption to the norm, a deviation that is rectified through the presentation of soft news stories which reaffirm the norm (Fiske, 1987:296). Furthermore the program has immediately incorporated a song title (Satisfaction) into their program, asserting to the audience that they are familiar with and knowledgeable of the bands history.

REPORTER, ALI DONALDSON:

Over the years, many have taken up their offer to 'spend the night together,' but this date with The Rolling Stones was history in the making. For the first time, they rocked fans live in China. China and its censors ordered five of their more racier songs off the play-list, banning 'Honkey Tonk Woman,' 'Brown Sugar,' 'Beast of Bourbon,' 'Start Me Up,' and 'Let's Spend the Night Together.' But nothing could strip away the sex appeal.

"The familiar news reader: [her] individuality hooks the viewer through identification and familiarity, but does not affect the impersonality (objectivity) of [her] words (Fiske, 1987:296)." Also the term 'history in the making' implies a momentous occasion, thus cueing in the audience to something that is 'special' and 'to be remembered.' After setting up familiar association with the audience the program then indirectly attacks Chinese policy through a juxtaposition of Chinese censorship and a favourable representation of Mick Jagger's sex appeal. This in turn has the effect of casting Chinese regulations in an unfavourable light, whilst promoting the upcoming tour of Australia by the band.

FAN:

Mick Jagger has so much energy, sixty-four years old and he can sing and dance all night.

This brief shot is of a particularly elated fan of Asian decent. On one level the man can be seen as simply a satisfied customer, however, in relation to this news story the image serves as somewhat of a metaphor for the people's opposition to the government and their restricting (as implied by channel Ten) censorship regulations. In relation to news presentation the term metaphor takes on a particular meaning, for it can be seen as "a careful selection of people and incidents that stand for a more complex and fuller version of reality (Fiske, 1987:291)." Or in other terms, base or surface images or depictions that harbour deeper ingrained meanings and connotations.

REPORTER, ALI DONALDSON:

For decades China banned all of their music for being decadent and corrupting, the communist regime put a stop to tour plans in 1980, then another concert attempt just three years failed because of the deadly S.A.R.S. outbreak. Finally, last night, they not only played live their show was telecast to millions.

The words 'decadent and corrupting' conjure images of sexuality and reckless abandon, a concept which is then directly linked and subsequently juxtaposed with the rigid discipline of China's communist past. This pairing then portrays the concert as somewhat of a liberation as 'finally' the band was able to play a show on Chinese soil.

MICK JAGGER:

Which is really rare, they've never had a rock-show on network television before, so I'm told. And this is a real turn-around because they did not want to do this three years ago.

In this shot Mick Jagger represents a person of importance, someone familiar to the audience who they can associate with. His obvious and empowering presence again becomes indicative of some form of liberation from the distant and unknown Chinese censorship board that he simply refers to as 'they.'

REPORTER, ALI DONALDSON:

The stones touch down in Australia this week for the next leg of their world tour. Ali Donaldson, Ten news.

Finally perhaps the most important pairing of the whole story, the link between its content (including both its surface and hidden messages) and Australia, exemplified in the announcement of the band's Australian tour in the coming week.

SEMIOTICS

Semiotics or "the science of signs" is concerned primarily with how meaning is generated in texts. It deals with what signs are and how they function (Berger, 2005:14). It stems from the primary principles of linguistics, whereby the earliest practitioners of semiotics took the basic model of linguistics and applied it to cultural phenomena other than language (Berger, 2005:17). This transposition of practical theory is most easily explained in a quote by Jonathan Culler, whereby he states that,

Social and cultural phenomena are not simply material objects or events but objects or events with meaning, and hence signs; and second, that they do not have essences but are defined by a network of relations (Berger, cites Jonathan Culler, 2005:17).

In essence Culler proposes that the different elements of a text can potentially relate to one another and form meaning in the same way that the letters of an alphabet can be put together in a structured way to form and convey meaning to the reader.

In this section I will be deconstructing the elements of The Rolling Stones news story in accordance with semiotic theory, with a particular emphasis being placed in the text's visual components. In particular I will be focusing on selected shots and sequences from the news story that relate to the 'liberation' concept briefly outlined in the preceding section on 'news analysis.

Throughout this entire story there is a large number of pairings between Chinese culture and rock music culture that can be explained in relation to semiotics (see accompanying shot list). The opening image itself is of a Chinese Rolling Stones poster, which tenders a relationship between the two cultures through some obvious iconic and symbolic signs. Iconic signs refer to signs that resemble what they signify (O'Shaugnessy, 1999:117), in the case of this poster the most obvious one is the image of the band. Symbolic signs on the other hand are often more complicated, for they are signs which stand in for, but have no resemblance to that which they signify (O'Shaugnessy, 1999:117). They are most often seen in the form of language, and generally rely on previous cultural experience or knowledge to be understood, in the case of this poster the Chinese language characters are symbolic signs that would generally only have significance to those from a Chinese background. Thus through semiotic theory we can see a very obvious pairing between two very different cultures, a pairing that in turn implies some sort of union between the two. This notion is continually reinforced throughout the entire new story, but most obviously again when we see an image of Mick Jagger on stage performing with a Chinese musician. Again an image that is metaphorically representative of a liberation from Chinese discipline and a subsequent union between two cultures. Furthermore, they are performing the widely recognised romantic ballad 'Wild Horses,' which intensifies the cultural union through its association with a notion of love or longing.

CONCLUSION

Thus as proved by the above textual deconstruction even a simple and light infotainment story about a band cannot remain free of the constraints of subjectivity and the commercialisation of the news. Instead we are presented with an institutionally biased product aimed at a specific target audience that will deliver the greatest profit, for as Fiske adamantly points out "News has to be popular, it has to produce an audience (Fiske, 1987:281)." This standardised system of news production is so rigid and so calculated that at times we often fail to even acknowledge potential fictionalisation of stories and an obvious distortion of facts. An element to the news which in turn makes it rather difficult to associate terms such as "freedom of the press, objectivity, fairness, impartiality, balance, and the reflection of reality (Carey cites Halloran, 1988:67)" with its production at all.

SHOT LIST

1-Intro by studio anchor and graphic

2-Chinese Rolling Stones poster

3-Chinese authorities checking tickets

4-Mick Jagger performing

5-Ronnie Woods performing

6-Keith Richards performing

7-Pan of the audience

8-Mick Jagger interview

9-Mick jagger live singing with Chinese musician

10-c/u Chinese Rolling Stones poster Bibliography

Berger, A.A. (2005). Media Analysis Techniques, 3^rd Ed. California: Sage Publications.

Carey, J. (1988). Media, Myths And Narratives. California: Sage Publications

Fiske, John. (1987). Television Culture. New York: Methuan and Co .Ltd

O'Shaugnessy, Michael (1999). Media and Society: An Introduction. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Tiffen, Rodney (1989). News and Power. Sydney: Allen and Unwin