introduction to media studies

PART 1
Introduction
Prime TV is one of the oldest news channels in New Zealand that has managed to gain a large customer share in the market. A lot of people get information and entertainment from this channels and the most important fact is that it has become so popular that today it is the “word of mouth” in the whole world. The following paper explains the strategies used by Prime to grab and retain customer attention.
Question 1:
The introductory title, music, graphics and images of the news are all designed in such a way that they tend to grasp the attention of the users. A strategy used by Prime to do this is to portray real pictures or real life experiences of people. This means that Prime is always interested in hearing from people what they saw or what they felt about a particular instance and then portraying the same thing to other users.
Similarly, with regards to the graphics and visionary effects created by Prime, it is clearly visible that they are distinctive and attracting so that they can convince people to watch them. This holds true for all sorts of dramas, news, reality shows and other sport related programs. The example shows the use of distinctive graphics, catchy colors and striking illustration to grab viewer’s attention.

Get Help With Your Essay
If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!
Essay Writing Service

Question 2:
The number, appearance and style of the presenters are also designed in a unique way. Apart from the graphical and visual effects of news, Prime has also focused on the efficient way in which the presenters deliver those news to the users. The style, appearance and number of the presenters portraying the news have been designed in such a way that could give more authenticity, credibility and reliability to the news. This makes Prime more prominent than other similar channels in the same capacity.
The major presenters are Eric Young, Alistair Wilkinson and Charlotte Bellis. All of them are from highly professional journalism backgrounds and then expression, their style of speaking, their postures, their gestures and their tone are all good enough to convince people to watch the news. Thus, it can be said that the strength of Prime is multidimensional. On the one hand, the news are designed in a perfect way to capture attention and on the other hand, the presenters have an excellent tone and expression. Both of these factors collectively add to the success of Prime and maintain its strong position among other competitor TV channels.
Question 3:
The language, vocabulary and general discourse used to describe various news events is highly distinguishable and unique. The headlines of the news are written in such a way that they grab reader’s attention instead of describing a general abstract which is already known to the public. This can be illustrated by using an example of news from TV3:
“Silent Leadership channel coming up” – This news creates some sort of curiosity and suspense among the readers and convinces them to click on and read the actual news. In the original description, TV 3 has used highly professional vocabulary and expression to portray what is expected to be the future of leadership. For example: the author of the news says that the aim is to change the present attitudes towards those people who are hearing impaired. After describing why it needs to be done, the news promoted a general discourse in such a way that by the end of this news description, the reader is convinced to change his mind towards charity.
This means that the TV 3 or Prime news are designed in such a way that they become different and catchy in the beginning and descriptive and convincing in the end.
Question 4:
Sometimes, the viewers agree to the assumptions made by the news programs and thus, it can be said that these news programs are quite convincing for the people. An important factor that is used to convince people is appeals. There can be appeals to logic, appeals to character, and appeals to reasoning, emotions and so on and so forth. The examples of Prime show that in news related to sports and entertainment, usually the appeal to characters is used. This is done by giving description about some famous sportsman, some celebrity and so on.
In the example related to leadership described in the above question, emotional appeal has been used by the news makers. The news describes that hearing loss is becoming quite common in New Zealand particularly in workplaces. The description of news tells about preventive measures to control this hearing loss by describing what would happen if precautionary measures are not taken. Thus, we can say that hearing is important for every person and hearing loss is a big disease and problem. Therefore; this news has targeted at people through using an emotional appeal which means that Prime and TV 3 are using appeals as a strong tool to convince people in certain direction.
Thus, the above analysis indicates how Prime has maintained its strong position by gaining attention from a large number of customers in the market.
Part 2

Campbell live is a New Zealand current affairs TV program which involves series of 30 minutes each. These short news programs are shown at 7p.m from Monday to Friday and their host is John Campbell. These documentaries follow a typical pattern or sequence of stories and discussions that are shown to the people.

The prominent feature is that the host as well as other presenters make use of their efficient personal style and tone to make this show a great success. Some of the major presenters are Auckland, Jendy Harper, Dan Parker, Rebecca Wright and so on. Firstly, the topics selected for this show are different and attractive for the customers. After this, these topics are discussed and explored in such a way that they could provide maximum information and critical analysis to the people.
The host himself adds to the credibility of the show. His style, tone and expression are such that he grabs attention of his viewers through discussion. His basic quality is that he promotes a healthy discussion and discourse among the competitors involved. Interaction is the best way to encourage discussion among the people. Thus, it can be said that by promoting interaction, John Campbell has made his program very popular and attractive for his viewers.
Another important aspect is the structure of 30 minute program. From beginning to end, the whole program is designed in such a way that there exists a proper flow of information in the discussion. This structure is efficient in a single program as well as in the whole series from Monday to Friday 7 p.m.
The Campbell Live consists of national as well international news. From a diverse range of topics for example: recorded stories, interviews, news material, events and happenings, current affairs and so on.
Thus, it can be said that all of these factors collectively contribute towards the success of the program. This impact can be proved by exploring the following example:

What does the future hold for legal highs?

This show was displayed on the Campbell series of 28th April, 2014 which explains the impact of synthetic cannabis on the lives of people. This case study shows that the host as well as the presenters focused on communities and people throughout the country. The discussion showed that Campbell had travelled across the country to illustrate the examples he described in his show. The other presenters also gave their viewpoints on the subject in a proper sequence.
Thus, it can be said that the narrative of this cases study was structured in a highly interactional way. This was not a one sided story rather an effort had been made to describe both sides of the story. It explains the impact on community as well as their reaction.
Conclusion
Thus, the above mentioned analysis indicates that Prime TV and News 3 have been highly focused in terms of their structure, style and portrayal of news. The use of strategies have been deployed according to the need and type of the news being described. Moreover, by using the case study example from Campbell Live, the paper also showed the role of presenters in the delivery of these news programs. Hence, it can be concluded that the way news is structured can play an important part in shaping the opinions and views of the people and society at large.