The purpose of this essay is to contrast and juxtapose the BTV and NovaTV evening news bulletin openings on the 3th of April, 2018. In general, both evening news place emphasis on the escape of two prisoners from Central Sofia prison. The other sections of the news bulletins differ in their sequence, content and importance for the two openings; the case of food poisoning of children at a green school in Dobrinishte has not been reflected in the evening news of Nova TV.
Most bulletin openings comprise in voice-over; however, within the case of BTV, the anchorwoman does not appear on the screen until the opening is finished and a significant transition is made.
Excerpt 1 Nova Evening News Broadcast, Tuesday 3 th April, 2018
Anchors: Nadejda Uzunova (no introduction on her part, by voice. Large capital letters on the screen introduce the anchorwoman);
Dress code: navy blue dress
Preferred shots: Long shots;
illustration not visible in this excerpt
Excerpt 2 BTV Evening News Broadcast, Tuesday 3 th April, 2018
Anchors: (no introduction for the anchorwoman after the opening of the bulletin)
Dress code: black official dress
Preferred shots: Mid shots;
illustration not visible in this excerpt
Comparison of News Bulletin Openings
The purpose of this essay is to contrast and juxtapose the BTV and NovaTV evening news bulletin openings on the 3th of April, 2018. In general, both evening news place emphasis on the escape of two prisoners from Central Sofia prison. The other sections of the news bulletins differ in their sequence, content and importance for the two openings; the case of food poisoning of children at a green school in Dobrinishte has not been reflected in the evening news of Nova TV.
Most bulletin openings comprise in voice-over; however, within the case of BTV, the anchorwoman does not appear on the screen until the opening is finished and a significant transition is made. Unfortunately, after that she does not present herself with her name to the audience and only greets the viewers with “good evening”. In comparison to that, the anchorwoman of Nova news also does not present herself but there is a large inscription with her name on a blue background. Hence, the Nova “good evening” greeting seems a bit more individualized, due to the “straight eye contact” that apparently “captures the viewers attention” and shows care and interest in their reactions (Allan, 125). The navy blue (greenish) of the NovaTV anchorwoman is in resonance with the Easter mood in Bulgaria, but also strict in relation with the presented news. Regarding, Nova TV bulletin opening the greatest part of it consists in music, making it in this way more unbiased and preparing the viewer for the fore coming news.
As a whole, BTV evening news uses more informal expressions such as “Обрат за ЧЕЗ“, „саботаж“, while the texts at the bottom of the Nova news screen resemble catchy newspaper headlines. Whether or not via this method it is showing impersonal approach to the viewer is not certain. Furthermore, for some scholars (Allan, 1998) a kind of informal strategy, showing the viewer that the evening news are “closer to him”. In a some ambiguous case this implies that news footage is unbiased and trustworthy. As a matter of fact, even if there is a hidden encoding it will not be easily perceived by the viewers in front of the TV.
In fact, there are no significant differences between the way both medias present the main news of “the escape of prisoners from Central Sofia Prison”; also, both of the news bulletins start with the piece of news, marking it as the most significant. Anchorwomen use the words “особено опасни рецидивисти“, placing emphasis on the seriousness of the situation. All things considered, the emphasis is on the couple of convicts, escaped from Central Sofia prison.
Serious grimace marks the faces of both anchorwomen when announcing the refusal of the Bulgarian state to participate in CEZ deal; no patriotic or any other feelings are observed and the transition is made to the news regarding the “Novichok” case and the burned train Sofia-Bourgas.
Moreover, both bulletins have quite different intros. BTV displays the globe as a symbol of space and time, and as the globe rotates, the days come and go. However, after focusing on the world the camera zooms on Bulgaria, showing what is important who are the viewers that needs to be valued. In contrast, the Nova intro focuses on the voice-over and it is a little bit more impersonal.
In summary, the BTV evening news utilizes more unbiased approach presenting the news from of a point of view closer to the public opinion and comprehension. No patriotic feelings are displayed by both anchorwomen, as well as both of them sound impartial in their statements. The approach of Nova TV evening news is more indifferent trying to show Bulgaria in relation with the world news and urgent issues like the case “Skripal”. The video footage on the case gives the impression of deep-investigation, founded on solid evidences and real facts. In comparison the BTV evening news does not reflect the situation from this angle.
Works cited
Allan, Stuart. News From Nowhere: Televisual News Discourse and the Construction of Hegemony. pp.105-142 In Approaches to Media Discourse. Ed. Bell, Allan, Peter Carrett. Blackwell Publishers, 1998, Print
BTV evening news broadcast, 3th April, 2018
https://btvplus.bg/produkt/novini/9721
NovaTV Evening News Broadcast, 3th April, 2018
https://play.nova.bg/programi/novinite-na-nova-kusna-emisiya
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- Quote paper
- Silviya Stamenova (Author), 2018, Comparison of News Bulletin Openings. Nova Evening News Broadcast and BTV Evening News Broadcast, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/427705