In spite of the relative youth of CNN (it was founded in 1980 as a US cable news channel) the company managed to get into international gear relatively quickly. On the other hand, the international arm of the British Broadcasting Company flicked the switch to power up sometime in 1991. Back then, it was the BBC World Service Television (it turned into the BBC World in 1995, and then into BBC World News in 2008). For CNN, the massive bulk of content was formerly from the United States channels, and it was not until the year of 1992 that productions began to get ramped up. However, for BBC they started as a nightly show and it was just a half hour round up show which was developed rapidly into a 24 hour channel. With that said, both became worldwide success stories and this essay will give a clear content analysis of CNN and BBC.
The CNN page has the top five stories the minute the page is pulled up. However with BBC, it is different because there is a new button that has to be clicked on first in order to review the top five. What is interesting that one of the stories that are hot on both websites is Syria? On both of the web pages, it is placed in the top five but on the CNN website it is the number one story talked about. However, on the BBC page it is number three. There is an also a great read up on the Crisis in Syria whereas the BBC cover a different angel of the story, centering more in on how the Russians may be supplying them some weapons. It appears that politics dominant the American web page with the main events and it is the same for BBC. However, on the CNN page there is a lot of focus on celebrities and it is clear that on the BBC page that it is much less of a focus.
Who are the experts quoted?
At both CNN and BCC a variety of internal and external pressures are influencing journalists' choices on which stories are covered, how subjects are understood and the stress provided to them (Straubhaar). This occurs especially when it comes to the experts that are being quoted. On the CNN homepage most of the information appears to be political and a lot of those that are quoted appear to be the left and right wing politicians. These politicians such as John Kerry and Bill Clinton are people that come from upper elite backgrounds. Also some of the quotes are from celebrities and their opinions about the war in Syria. On the BBC page it appears to be people from all walks of life. In other words, there are not juts politicians weighing in on certain stories or a bunch of celebrity quotes. It appears to be unlike the CNN page that quite a few of their quotes are people that are in professional jobs such as lawyers, doctors and professors. BBC appears to get a lot of its quotes global which appears to be typical for the British news (Hatchen). Of course the threats really depended on what the main topics being discussed at the time.
Cultural/National Perspectives
On the CNN page most of the stories appear to be from a cultural point of view. This has a lot to do with a lot of the racial tension that has been going on in the nation. For instance, there are still pockets of the Traveyon Martin story still being broadcasted or the racial comments that were mentioned by Paula Deen a few months ago. There are other stories of some hate crimes on a much lower scale but nevertheless there website appears to be crowded with quite a few. On the other hand, the BBC does not have much on the culture perspective as it does on the national as whole. The British news page appears to be less cultural and more national because it touches on stories that are taking placed the entire nation (Hatchen). For example, there is a story on “Inner ear link to inneractivity” which is done in London. There is also the narrative on the new science inventions that are taking place in the country. This is extremely opposite from the CNN page. It appears there is a lot of intense and suspenseful news that involves the cultures. Almost like watching a movie with a bunch of intense new stories. CNN.com is known for delivering the latest breaking news and material on the newest top stories, politics, weather, entertainment, business, and more.
Who is the target audience?
When it comes to the audience, conventional models concentrate on what the journalist observes as being the news (Hatchen). But then again the news procedure is a two-way operation, connecting both news producer (the broadcaster) and the news receiver (the audience), even though boundary among the two is quickly muddling with the development of citizen reporting and interactive television. With that said, it is clear that CNN defined a progressive rebranding strategy, to target CNNI's diverse global marketplace, making the on-air look less openly (Burton). The target audience for CNN appears to be between 21 to 49 years of age group. Most of the new and information would probably appeal more to men because most to the stories evolve around war, politics and racial issue which are probably more masculine issue. More of the celebrity issued on the page most definitely appeal to a large female audience and this can be assessed easily through the blogs. Most women comment on celebrity issue whereas the men stick to things like Syria but there is a mixed audience when it comes to the story about George Zimmerman where it appears that women and men comment on the story (Burton). On the BBC page, the is some stories that cover a lot of art and that seems to attract a large audience of older adults in the late 20s, 30s and 40s. BBC has a lot of educational issues with their news and it is almost like watching the National Geographic channel and that appears to capture audiences rom about 18-65. CNN is considered to be the one TV news brand that is able to have some kind of understanding in regards to today's "now" customer. The "now" customer is upscale, sophisticated, tech-savvy and has made on-demand substance a part of day-to-day life.
It is clear that the advertising on BBC World News website is able to reaches audiences who are out there demanding balanced, trusted and unbiased news and programming, and discover it through the worldwide news organization looked at being the most sought after in the Media Brand Values survey on the web page. BBC World News offers their audience a great mixture of international reach across numerous platforms, valuable audience profiles and world-well-known broadcasting through which to link with the world’s most wealthy, educated and influential viewers.
What are the predominant news values?
News values, from time to time called news criteria, define how much importance a news story is given by a media opening, and the attention it is specified by the audience. Moran (2009) states that: "News reporting has a roughly agreed set of ideals, frequently referred to as 'newsworthiness'" (Hatchen). It is understood that news values are not worldwide and can differ extensively among different cultures. With that said, CNN brings to everyone headlines, video and news stories that are from all around the U.S. When it comes to values, CNN appears to provide live coverage of the hearings as news warrants and as the news environment authorizes. It appears that CNN would abandon its journalistic duty, shortchange those that watch them constantly and shortchange other news stories if it chose to broadcast hundreds of hours of hearings regardless of their news values. CNN appears to have less news values because it broadcasts a lot of personal things regarding innocent victims or people that clearly do not want their story told. It appears that CNN can invade the privacy of other just to get a story on their page. On the other hand, the BBC values appear to be at the heart of all the journalism - be it sports, health, entertainment, politics, health, or any other area - produced across radio, TV, and online. Concepts for example truth and accuracy, neutrality and fairness are dynamic foundations for BBC journalists and these resources will benefit pupils in getting an understanding why these values matter more than ever in the digital era. As well to fair and correct reporting, it is vital for journalists to stay inside the law. All of the BBC staff has an Editorial Guidelines book that has beyond 350 pages in length, to aid them make the sometimes hard judgments that come out of making news and various other programs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it appears that CNN and BBC both have very unique web pages. Some of their information as far as the news is concerned is similar but it is obvious the way the broadcast is different. What appears to be important on CNN may not necessarily be that big of an issue on BBC channel. It is obvious that CNN is a site that is more political whereas BBC leans more toward national concerns or even a little bit cultural as far as arts and music. Most would probably prefer BBC World News for the reason that it provides more Global news stories and appears to be more balanced. However, at the end of the day, CNN, an American news source, and BBC, an English news source, both put together stories that are very similar such Syria.
Works Cited
Burton, Graeme. "Talking Television. An introduction to the study of Television." New York: Arnold,, 2000. 13-40.
Hatchen, W. & Scotton, J. "The World News Prism: Global Information in a Satellite Age." Blackwell Publishing , 2009. 35-63.
Moran, A. " New Flows in Global TV." Bristol: intellect. , 2009. Pp.89 -109.
Straubhaar, J. "Talking Television. An introduction to the study of Television." Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2007. 13-40.
