5 News Review and Analysis

Top of today's bulletin was the continuing floods. This was a repeat of yesterday, where the floods dominated around 11 minutes of yesterday's 5 o'clock bulletin, and was followed by a Flood Special at 6:30.
It was great to see a quote from David Cameron in the headlines for the flood story, and the fact he was filmed beside a river was great.
The norovirus headline had no real problems and is somethintg that channel 5's audience would likely be itnerested in.
The decision to put a still image of Nadine Dorries in the headlines was an odd decision, mainly because the story didn't have much depth when it happened. I imagine it was mainly because she attracts a lot of attention right now.
The 'Sports Personality of the Year headline was fine, although I was unsure of the decision to have a cliff hanger in the headlines, although I can see how that sort of style would appeal to the 5 News target audience.

The link to the first flood story was particularly long, and I felt some of the information could have instead been used in the news package, or said by the reporter during the live OB.
It then through to a Live OB with a reporter standing in front of an ambulance. I've noticed that many live obs are used for the stories. There were 3 for the floods yesterday, and 2 today. On top of this there were others including the Nadine Dorries piece.
The vox pops in this were fine, as these were people that were directly affected by the floods. It's a story almost completely about people, and the news package reflected that.

The graphics in the flood package, showing the UK was fine, and provided decent information, it was the same graphic that was used yesterday but with updated stats which I thought was good for regular viewers.

Going back to the presenter allowed a smooth transition to the second live OB, which then lead to the second package which I thought was well done. I enjoyed the interview with the man through his upstairs window. It was a technique which emphasised his unlucky position, although I'm interested to know how they managed to get great sound, I would imagine he was wearing a radio mic to get the good quality.

The norovirus was a solid report, although I wasn't too keen on the opening shot(which was strangely also the final shot) mainly because of the music that was in the background. I assume it was a way of creating natural sound, but just seemed to be an odd inclusion.
The graphic was good, I thought it was a good use of the still image of doctors, and placing the information on the paper was a creative way to display the stats.

The eon oov was fine, the story was put across quickly and with ok pictures. But I don't really remember much about it, which could suggest it was an easily forgettable story, although it might be of more interest to your audience.

The Nadine Dorries news piece was an odd one. There was a mini oov which was just the still shot of nadine, followed by a short 30-60 second live OB from Westminster. The story didn't have much to it, and could easily have been dropped as the OB didn't provide much to the story. It could have just been an oov or dropped altogether.

The 'coming uo...' was good, and is something similar to what we do for our news broadcast, to try and wake up the audience and let them know that their are lighter stories still to come. Although I suppose the channel 5 'coming up' serves a slightly different purpose, as it has to convince the audience to stick around through the adverts, and has to entice them to return.

The story about the ex-palestine president Yasser Arafat was something that many people would have interest in, in terms of an international story.
I think the footage taken from the Al Jazeera documentary added a lot to the story, and provided some good natural sound. The archive footage was also good and helped fill out the piece for something which would otherwise struggle visually. The grags were fine, of the journalisrt and the scientist, and gave decent quotes.

The coronation street package had a good opening line 'Millions grew up watching him', and yet it had a shot a family watching on, instead of a shot of a large group of people which I felt would have been more appropriate.
The style choice of having reporters in shot for most of the interviews is an interesting one. I find it slightly odd, but may be because I've never tried it while reporting. It seems to take up room that doesn't need taking up, but as an editorial decision, I assume that theirs a good reason, possibly to appeal to the target audience. The interviews were relevant and had recognisable faces.

The crane fire oov was a bit of a strange one, it was definately interesting, I just wondered what the alternatives were.

Sports Personality of the Year had a good opening, with footage from BBC and Channel 4 to illustrate the nominees, and they were all shown in a good space of time, and I felt the music did a good job of creating that slightly upbeat feel, awards are to celebrated after all. It was good that both Chris Hoy and Ellie Simmonds were interviewed beside the sport that they're known for. Chris had bikes in the background, while Ellie was next to a swimming pool. It was also a nice touch to include the current odds of who would win, it's genuinly of interest, and also linked nicely to the vox pops and athelete predictions.
I was a bit unsure of the vox pops, it seemed as though they were there to fill time, I can understand the desire to include some 'regular people' opinions for this sort of story, but seemed odd to go from that to the athelete's opinions.Not sure if both were needed, although their was no real problem with having both.

The coming up to end the news broadcast made sense, considering their is another news broadcast at 6:30, and it was good that fresh stories were showcased. And things like 'and I'll be quizzing Nigel Farage' made me want to tune in again.

Notes on Monday's bulletin
The flood package from Simon Lane, which had a misted lens throughout. It was a shame that he had that, but I understand why the editorial decision was made to keep the package into the bulletin. It was a strong piece that fitted well with the top news of the bulletin, and could also be defended by it's surrounding of high water.

The UKIP story had some of the same shots (at least 3) at the beginning and end of the package. The black corners at the start of the package was odd, and made things seem very eerie, I didn't really understand what it was for, except possibly to add some drama.
I didn't really like that a quote was lifted from the Daily Telegraph for the story, although I can understand if it was a last resort, such as the reporterer being unable to get hold of the Rotheram parents. The Nigel Farage grab was good, but it is to be expected as he is quite a good speaker.

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