LO1 Task 1

LO1 Task 1

Television is a very powerful form of media and can be used in various ways to do things like manipulate the thinking of some people, how they react to certain things happening in the locality and other worldwide occurrences. The television is something that has been invited into the homes of many across the world. It is able to communicate with anyone in the household, whether it be children or adults. Is as the users have the choice to turn it off or keep it on. The reason why this has been said is because the production of television programmes without rules would be very bad. This is because with no rules then people can just show whatever they want to. They can make people abide to certain made up rules and be rebellious against the actual truth. This is why the Office of Communications makes the rules that are set for television programmes. OfCom state that certain programmes have to be within the limits of that categorised genre. For example with news programmes, the information portrayed by the news reporters must be unbiased and impartial. This is so the programme does not lead anyone to a certain topic and allows the audience to make a choice of their own. News programmes also have to talk about the truth and the facts that are going on. They have to be accurate so people are aware of the real things that are going on in the world. 

Accuracy:

When it is said that a certain subject has accuracy it means that it is very close to the truth, or it is the exact truth. This means that a factual programme will contain facts and not lies. This is an important feature to have within a factual programme, as it will allow for the viewers to have confidence in what they are watching. This is something that is used a lot in news programmes, as they need to provide the viewers with facts and need to be accurate. Normally factual programmes are expected to be accurate.

Balance:

When a factual programme is balanced it means that there is a fair amount of time that has been spent on each side of the topic. It also means that the two sides will be shown with equilibrium. Equilibrium is when an object is shown in a way that the viewers know its bad and good points. In factual programming it is important for the argument to be balanced as it prevents any biases to be made within the programme. This will give viewers assurance, as they will have their own choice in picking which side of the argument they are for, or against, and will not have any kind of pressures on them while deciding.

Bias:

The bias of a factual programme is the way that a certain topic/event has been discussed within the programme. When a programme mainly focuses on one point of a topic and for example, tries to make that certain topic look bad in the views of the audience, it is called being biased. This in simpler words is when a programme takes one side of a topic/event and focuses on those points to try and make the audience choose a certain side of the argument.

Impartiality:

Being impartial means to not take any side of the topic/arguments, but instead be neutral (in the middle). Having this feature in a factual programme will allow for an unbiased programme. This is very good when a person is trying to get the views of someone. This helps when a person is asking a certain person about their opinion on some form of the topic. Being impartial in this situation will allow the person to speak freely with no boundaries, and what usually happens is that the person asking the question will usually agree to the statements of the person to allow them to speak what is on their mind. This shows viewers the true opinions of people. Usually when a person is told that they are going to be questioned they will usually change their whole perception of the topic and try to look innocent, but in reality they would be completely different.

Objectivity:

This is when a person thinks about a certain topic while being open minded about the subject. It is also when a person tries to get their point said and known without being bias or impartial. The person in this case will also make decisions in a situation by thinking about the person in the problem, rather than themselves in the problem. 

Subjectivity:

This is the similar to objectivity, but its difference is that rather than a person making a point while thinking about someone else or being opened minded, they would usually act on the situation by envisioning themselves in the problem and making decisions according to their preferences. This feature is normally avoided in programmes like the news, as they tend to rely and refer to facts rather than the personal views of the news people, which will try and prevent any controversial issues arising.

Opinion:

When making a factual programme it is very important to get the opinions of other people. Opinions are important as they will give more public views to the topic and will make viewers feel that they have not just thought about the research alone, but rather they have thought about the views of other people and what they think about the matter. Normally in a factual programme people are told to give their opinions on the already known facts to try and show the PROS and CONS of the facts that have been stated.

Representation:

This is when people/topics are stereotyped. Stereotyping means to segregate things into; race, age and even gender. The way that a person is represented in a factual programme is important, as it will set a view of the person in the entire programme. This will allow people to get the views of other people and observe how they have been portrayed to the public. These representations will make a viewer decide on how they feel about a certain person/topic and will force people to think of things in the way that those things have been represented. However, these representations can also be positive like how a person may be shown as a hero and this will also create emotions in the viewer and make them understand the topics more clearly.

Office of Communications:

All of these points will be used in our documentary to make it more reliable and trustworthy. Some of these points must also be used because of the Ofcom rules. Ofcom are the organisation that controls the different things that are shown on television. If they decide that a programme is not suitable to be shown on television they have the authority to stop it from being showed on television. 

Access:

This is when a certain factual programme director needs to get permission to use certain things or areas for his actual factual programming. When the directors have access to a certain thing, it means that they can use the facilities freely. Access is important, as it is needed to use a facility that does not belong to the directors.

Privacy:

This is when a factual programme has agreed to not invalid the space of a certain person. Making sure that privacy is conserved is important, as it will allow the director to know if he is allowed to film the certain person. Privacy also allows viewers to understand that there was no secretive filming included in the documentary.

Contract with viewer:

This is when a director has clearly shown in the documentary what the actual topic is about. This is a good thing to maintain, as it will allow the viewers to know what is going to be shown in the actual factual programme. The factual programme must stay on topic and be true to what they assured to the viewers.

Confidentiality:

This is when a programme director may find certain information about someone, or something, which may be damaging if it is released to anyone. The directors will have to keep the information with themselves and the person they have the information about, and make sure that none of the information is leaked.