Super Awesome article about how the UK newsmedia have reported the Mumbai attacks...here's the start of the article...

'Everyone's taking cover now': reporting the Mumbai terror attacks

After news of the Mumbai terror outrage broke, how did news agencies cover the rapidly unfolding events?

• Caitlin Fitzsimmons
• guardian.co.uk, Friday November 28 2008 17.44 GMT
• Article history

"Sorry, everyone's taking cover now ... a certain amount of panic among the mediapress corp". This live report today from Sky News correspondent AlexCrawford outside Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace hotel, during which gunfiresent journalists diving for cover, dramatically highlighted the dangersfacing the media covering the terrorist attacks in India's financial capital.

Crawfordreported that two people, who she thought were journalists, appeared tohave been injured among the media gathered outside the Taj during theshooting incident.

The Sky News New Delhi correspondent and hercameraman can then be heard discussing withdrawing to a safer filminglocation, before the live report comes to an understandably abrupt end.Crawford later resumed her live report - lying on the ground.

Crawfordwas back in London attending an industry awards ceremony when theMumbai terrorist attacks began late on Wednesday, GMT, and became oneof dozens of UK journalists who rushed to the Indian city to cover thechaotic and bloody fighting, which has so far claimed nearly 150 lives.

TheSky News foreign editor, Adrian Wells, admitted Crawford's travelarrangements had been "slightly awkward", with the correspondentarriving in Mumbai yesterday lunchtime. Before that Sky News relied onfreelance Indian journalists and eye-witness reports from Britishtourists and business travellers.

Reuters

The Reuterssouth asia editor, Phil Smith, spoke to MediaGuardian.co.uk today fromthe back of the Taj hotel, where he was waiting for the authorities tostart bringing out the bodies of those killed in the terrorist attacks,believed to be the work of Islamist militants.

Smith, who is based in Mumbai, said he had been on the story since Wednesday evening when the crisis began.

"Iwas just going to bed when I heard banging outside. I thought it was afire cracker but then I heard another one and it sounded quite loud soI walked outside and around the building and found the wreckage of ascooter blown on its side and a shop front, with quite a large crowdgathering around," he added.

GO TO THE WHOLE REPORT HERE...

Catching up on what we’ve covered so far in NEWS

1. Initially you should have read through the pages on the History of News and you should have made notes. (There are VIDEOS available you should watch: How the Newsreels were made, How the news was made, how the news is made and the BBC history files (on m-drive only))
2. We looked at Section One of your packs – you should have notes on the conventions of news with analysis of the various opening sequences of different news broadcasts (1.3) and a comparison of the presenters on BBC and SKY news (1.11). You should have also applied the FOUR key concepts to NEWS (1.1). You should have started watching some broadcasts on your own to analyse them and the sheets 1.13 to 1.17 are there to assist you should you need some pointers/structure.
3. In Section Two we looked at News sources and where news actually comes from. You should have listed the stories on page 2.4 in order of importance and then applied the NEWS VALUES to them. We discussed News Values and you should be completing a CARTOON version of HARCUP & O’NEILL’s updated News Values. You should have read through the notes in this section.
4. You have started making notes on 17 Nov 08 BBC 6pm Broadcast and this should be finished in your own time.
5. You will be working on constructing your own script of the SHUTTLE story and this must be posted onto FRONTER.
6. Finally you must post 10 Bullet points on your reflection on the SHUTTLE activity onto misty’s everything news blog (on Latymer Media’s Blog).

As a pair/group, you will have been allocated the following task to be completed and PRESENTED at a special presentation session on THURSDAY 11th DEC 08, at 12.30. Refreshments will be provided. It should include a power point with moving images. Your images can be digitised from VHS should you need them BUT you must give us sufficient time to complete the process.

The Presentation:

Choose TWO stories (news items) to analyse. You should focus on the story’s presentation in detail on TWO channels (same day, similar time). This means a DETAILED analysis of everything – the language used, the VTs, VOX POPS, Graphics, The presenters, the news agenda for the day, the time broadcast, the channel’s identity, the length and you should COMPARE it with the same news item on a different channel. You should comment on implications of word choices, the point of view presented, the ideologies and ideas behind the ‘representation’ of the story.

You can CHOOSE the TWO stories and the TWO Channels.
Example; *STORY CHANNEL Time Date *
21bn Tax Gamble BBC 6pm 25 Nov 08
21bn Tax Gamble CH4 7pm 25 Nov 08
Housing Crisis SKY 9pm 18 Nov 08
Housing Crisis ITV 10pm 18 Nov 08

News Values

We've been focusing on NEWS VALUES this last week.

Make sure you now KNOW what they are for both GALTUNG & RUGE and HARCUP and O'NEIL. You should have analysed the news reports in the lesson and if you didn't finish you should have done this in your own time.

The NEWS VALUES are shown in the cartoon above and DON"T FORGET that your homework was to draw your own version of the cartoon for HARCUP & O'NEIL's news values...due Thurs 27th Nov 08...

Looking forward to it guys...

Forms & Conventions

Don't forget to watch the broadcast openings and programs to analyse how the broadcasts are actually formed. You need to look out for:

Mise-en-scene

Sounds

Graphics & Idents

Order of events

Presenters - looks, clothes, voice, pronunciation, seated? standing?

Technical aspects employed - OB, VT, Vox Pops etc

You should have analysed ALL the openings and compared them and at least TWO of the presenters - preferably BBC and SKY.

Make sure you're clear about the technical language relating to the construction of news broadcasts and that YOU are happy that you know the conventions and form of a news broadcast, how these might differ using/depending on at least 4 of the broadcasters we've covered and make sure you have made notes on the stories that have been reported.

Have Fun!

Let's get started then..

The videos we have been watching in class are on my youtube channel (see links on left). There are TWO playlists - one with all the related clips I've found and/or added and the other is called MUST see News videos. This list has all the videos that we have either used in class or are referred to in the Workpack or used for Homework.

I'll post more as we go along but in the meantime, toodle-pip!