"Broadcast News" (1987): Shifting Into The Digital Age
- ANGEL STEFANIE CODERA
- Jun 25, 2019
- 3 min read
The film “Broadcast News” directed by James L. Brook offers a new perspective on the evolving use of media platforms in broadcasting. It tackles the challenges encountered by a news industry investing in entertainment over the content and competencies of news delivery. Jane Craig, a producer for a news network based in Washington DC advocates against this, believing in the content over the entertainment aspect of news reporting. During her speech to educate the audience on this issue, Tom Grunick approaches her, expressing his agreement with her, despite his status as an inexperienced news anchor beyond sports. He reveals further in the film that he is set to work in the same network as Jane. As the story progresses, the struggle of network competency over entertainment is more apparent, seen between characters Tom Grunick, a charming, well recognized, news reporter, and Aaron Altman, an eloquent and skilled reporter who does not garner the same opportunities. “Broadcast News” presents the difficulties news networks experience in communicating their content, showing the impact of entertainment factors on the importance of competency in the industry.
Newspaper newsrooms operate through producing daily type-written content and printed media that their customers may purchase and read more than once. Their content follows a process that follow drafts, creating layouts, choosing stories, and being able to view their content before mass producing it. Newspapers are utilized by newsroom as a printed media that relays their news. This greatly differs from the process of television newsrooms despite producing similar content. While both communicate through visual aid and news content, television considers more visual factors over written words.
Television newsrooms relay news through videos, pictures, talents, and other factors that focus on more mediums for entertainment. Newsrooms capture content that their audience can see and listen to, broadcasted through their televisions at certain time frames. They follow a process that collects their information, before they write a story that will be brief and verbally delivered as a video is shown, along with the clips and visual aids that help deliver their story. Their content is done in real time, with great pressure to deliver content immediately and accurately as it is broadcasted. Producing their content merges much other aspects that print media does not have, such as incorporating visuals, sounds, technology, talents, and content into one product. Although a struggle in competency is sometimes present, television newsrooms offer a communicative tool for the audience to understand and digest the content of news better and quicker.
As the disparity between the process of newspaper newsroom and television newsrooms develops, this creates a shift in the priority of news content and delivery, which reveals the difficulty of communication on content creation that Jane Craig had advocated against. The most apparent difficulty would be the importance given to the aesthetic and traction their reporter had, over the skills and competencies that the individual has. The news industry requires a vast knowledge of facts and being well versed in relaying the content, which character Tom had lacked in, and Aaron was much better in. Despite this, as the news network invested more in the entertainment industry, they had chosen to prioritize Tom. This also reflected that this was a reflection of the expense the industry has, showing the financial struggles a network undergoes. This is seen in the film when it is revealed that the company must shift into a 24 million budget cut forces them to lay people off. Beyond this would be the immense pressure present in delivering a story, as they must look for and produce content under time pressure. There is also risk for television newsroom employees who must go to the locations where their report is on, as some areas report in violent environments.
The entire industry of journalism presents the many risks of being a journalist, from risking your life, to investing much of their time into creating content. Despite these challenges present, what stays true to all those in the industry is the importance of delivering news to the people. The film had stood as a reminder to view news broadcasts as a source of information rather than a platform for entertainment. It had shown how the world has shifted into a more visual world, and the newsrooms had to follow this trend while staying true to their purpose as reporters. The most remarkable part of the film had been when Tom had shared he did not want to report on something he did not have enough knowledge on, because this reflected the competency and awareness a journalist must follow when feeding the public with facts. “Broadcast News” is a reminder to the entertainment industry to have purpose in every story they present, and to prioritize the truth and the content beyond the entertainment of their audience.
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