BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat: Blog tasks

 Newsbeat analysis

Use BBC Sounds to listen to Radio 1. Select a Newsbeat bulletin (8am or 12.45pm are good options) and then answer the following questions: 

1) What news stories were featured in the bulletin you listened to?

Music news 

Podcasts

2) How does Newsbeat appeal to a youth audience?

Allowing quick information keeping up to date with trends and having a large social media presence and having audience talks and polls. 

3) How might Newsbeat help fulfil the BBC's responsibilities as a public service broadcaster? 

Newsbeat provides news as well not only music. 

Media Factsheet #246: BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat

Read Factsheet #246 BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat. You'll need your Greenford google login to access it. Answer the following questions:

1) How is the history and launch of Radio 1 summarised in the factsheet? If you studied this as part of GCSE Media you will already know much of this.

Newsbeat started in 1973 but to understand this CSP you need to know a bit of history around Radio 1, the home of Newsbeat. For many years BBC radio had a monopoly of the airwaves, it was the only radio station that people in the UK could legally listen to. However, this monopoly was challenged in the 1960s when pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg started illegally transmitting commercial programming via ships in international waters and on land.

2) Look at page 3 of the factsheet. How is Radio 1 attempting to appeal to its 15-29 age demographic? 

Today, Radio 1 is supposed to cater for the 15-29 year old demographic. It aims to entertain and engage young listeners with a distinctive mix of contemporary music and speech. The programmes showcase a wide range of new music styles and support emerging artists, in particular those from the UK; with at least 60 hours a week dedicated to specialist music programming.

3) What did young people used to get from radio? Focus on audience pleasures / Uses & Gratifications here (see top of second column on page 3).

To connect themselves to popular culture products (identity). To gain an insight into the world beyond their own experience: relationships, romance, politics (information and surveillance). To build para-social relationships with media personalities (both musicians and DJs) – create fandoms. For pure entertainment.

4) How has Radio 1 and Newsbeat in particular diversified its content for the digital age? 

Nowadays many of those are better served by other products and platforms. Whether it is learning about politics, what to wear, how to dress, who to follow, e.g. Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat and other social media platforms are where young people go to access content and this, along with the pull of Spotify and other music platforms, is why radio is losing listeners. In order to try and cater for young people’s needs and compete with rival platforms, Radio 1 has diversified its content beyond the studio, from Live Lounge sessions to a Big Weekend of live music, its output is wide and diverse.

5) How is Newsbeat constructed to appeal to audiences? 

Newsbeat was launched on 10 September 1973 and is broadcast during the week on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network at 12:45 and 17:45. It is fifteen minutes long. Short bulletins are also heard throughout the day on three stations on the half-hour with extra bulletins broadcast at peak times. Newsbeat is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC›s other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically younger audience. There is an expectation that the news it provides for young people will be a reliable source of accurate reporting in the context of rising concerns about fake-news.

6) What are the three key ideas from David Hesmondhalgh and which apply to Radio 1 Newsbeat?

Content production is made by ‘symbol creators’. The diverse output of Radio 1 and Newsbeat is huge. Creators are governed by professional guidelines but they are also free to be creative to make products to excite youth audiences. The internet has not challenged the centralised power of providers or allowed audiences to challenge content. Radio 1 and Newsbeat is finding it difficult to challenge the social media giants in targeting a youth audience, but it does try to utilise these platforms with its content.

7) Now look at Curran and Seaton. What are their key ideas and can they be applied to Radio 1 Newsbeat? 

The media is concentrated in the hands of powerful commercial media giants.No PSB are supposed to hold power to account by offering impartial news which is not driven by economic and political ideology. Furthermore, the BBC is funded by the licence fee which is set at by the government. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has announced that the fee will remain at £159 until 2024, and then rise in line with inflation for the following four years. The plans for the new licence fee settlement cover a period of six years and will take effect from 1 April 2022 until 31 March 2028. It’s also important to remember that the government could get rid of the BBC should it say so, but it cannot tell it what to say or do. Culture is controlled by social elites. No The BBC has its remit written into The Royal Charter, which states that it must remain independent and that the mission of the BBC is to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain. This means it is diverse, different and caters for all, not a small minority.

8) What key idea for Livingstone and Lunt is on the factsheet and how does it link to the CSP?

Media can have a citizen- based approach to regulation. Yes The BBC is an example of a citizen-based approach to regulation. Citizen-orientated regulation is concerned with content-based issues. Citizen-based regulation is a positive form if regulation that directs media content so that it can improve the lives of citizens and contribute the wider well-being of society. Citizen-based regulation promotes forms of media that can hold powerful groups to account.

9) How can we apply Hall's Reception theory to Radio 1 Newsbeat?

Media producers encode media products in a way that they think will appeal to them. This is not always successful. Yes The BBC tries to appeal to young people with its content, but it faces competition from other platforms that appear to be catering for them in a better, more appealing way.

10) Choose one other audience theory on the factsheet and explain how it links to Radio 1 Newsbeat.

Audiences select media products in an active way, for various reasons. Yes Newsbeat could satisfy the need for information and surveillance. Radio 1 has many aspects of entertainment.

Industry contexts: reading and research

Read the first five pages of this Ofcom document laying out its regulation of the BBC. 

1) Pick out three key points in the 'Summary' section.

The BBC is the UK’s most widely-used media organisation, providing programming on television and radio and content online. The public has exceptionally high expectations of the BBC, shaped by its role as a publicly-funded broadcaster with a remit to inform, educate and entertain the public, and to support the creative economy across the UK. 

1.2 To meet these expectations, the BBC must deliver the mission and public purposes set out in its new Royal Charter (the Charter). For the first time, the BBC will be robustly held to account for doing so by an independent, external regulator. Alongside responsibilities for programme standards and protecting fair and effective competition in the areas in which the BBC operates, the Charter gives Ofcom the job of setting the BBC’s operating licence (the Licence). This sets binding conditions, requiring the BBC to deliver for licence feepayers. It is also our job to scrutinise, measure and report on the BBC’s performance. 

1.3 On 29 March 2017, we consulted on a draft Licence setting out requirements for the BBC to fulfil its remit, and plans for Ofcom to measure the BBC’s overall performance. We have carefully considered more than 100 responses from members of the public and industry. We have taken account of the BBC’s interim annual plan for 2017/18, published on 3 July 2017. We have also carried out bespoke research into audience opinions and expectations of the BBC

2) Now read what the license framework will seek to do (letters a-h). Which of these points could we relate to BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat?

Require the BBC to reflect the full diversity of the UK population. We are requiring the BBC to put in place a new commissioning Code of Practice for Diversity, approved by us, by April 2018. This will ensure that on- and off-screen diversity considerations are embedded in the commissioning process. We will also ensure the BBC is publicly accountable for achieving its workforce diversity targets. It must now report in detail on its progress towards these targets each year.

3) Which do you think are the three most important aspects in the a-h list? Why?

b) Increase requirements around programmes for children. CBBC must show at least 400 hours – and CBeebies at least 100 hours – of brand new, UK commissioned programmes each year. CBeebies has to provide a range of programming that supports pre-school children’s learning; 

c) Secure a more distinctive BBC across all its services – a central feature of the Charter – through a range of new measures. At least three-quarters of all programme hours on the BBC’s most popular television channels should be original productions, commissioned by the BBC for UK audiences. There will be new requirements on Radio 1 and Radio 2 to play a broader range of music than comparable commercial stations and more music from new and emerging UK artists;

d) Support social action campaigns on BBC radio. We are requiring Radio 1 to offer a minimum number of major social action campaigns each year. Providing information and raising awareness of social issues affecting young people and giving them a platform to engage with is one of the key ways Radio 1 can set itself apart from other radio stations; 

4) Read point 1.9: What do Ofcom plan to review in terms of diversity and audience? 

The review will ask what audiences expect from the BBC to understand whether it reflects and portrays the lives of all people across the whole of the UK, ranging from younger and older audiences to diverse communities. We will take into account the outcomes of the review as we shape our future oversight of the BBC, and we will take further measures where needed to ensure that the BBC is delivering for all its audiences. 

5) Based on your reading and research, do you think BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat offers licence fee payers good value for money?

Yes