A linguistic analysis of BBC Radio News

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION

2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1 Radio as a medium of news language
2.2 The importance of the news slot
2.3 What is news?
2.3.1 News selection
2.3.2 Hard news vs. soft news
2.3.3 Home news vs. foreign news

3 INSIDE THE British broadcasting corporation
3.1 The formation of BBC news
3.1.1 Origins (1922-26)
3.1.2 The pre-war period (1927-39)
3.1.3 The war-years (1939-1945)
3.1.4 The post-war period (1946-1960)
3.1.5 The recent past (1961-present)
3.2 Taste and standards
3.3 BBC English

4 The PROFILES of BBC radio STATIONS
4.1 BBC Radio 1
4.1.1 News on Radio 1
4.2 BBC Radio 4
4.2.1 News on Radio 4

5 The language sample and its peculiarities

6 MACRO-STRUCTURES OF BBC RADIO 1 AND 4 NEWS
6.1 The design of news bulletins on Radio 1 and 4
6.2 News content
6.3 Updating in radio news
6.4 The structure of radio news stories
6.4.1 The make-up of the lead
6.4.2 The inverted-pyramid-principle
6.4.3 Attribution to news sources in radio news
6.4.4 Direct comparison of a comparable news item

7 MICRO-STRUCTURES
7.1 Sentence types
7.1.1 Alternative means to measure complexity
7.2 Noun phrases
7.2.1 Premodification
7.2.1.1 Premodification by adjectives
7.2.1.2 Premodification by nouns
7.2.1.3 Premodification by participles
7.2.1.4 Premodification by genitive
7.2.1.5 The distribution of premodification types
7.2.2 Postmodification
7.2.2.1 Postmodification by relative clauses
7.2.2.2 Postmodification by appositive clauses
7.2.2.3 Postmodification by nonfinite clauses
7.2.2.4 Postmodification by prepositional phrases
7.2.2.5 The distribution of types of postmodification
7.2.3 News actor labelling
7.2.4 Determiner Deletion
7.2.5 Nominalisation
7.3 Verb phrases
7.3.1 Types of verbs
7.3.2 Tense
7.3.3 Voice
7.3.4 Speech act verbs
7.4 Contractions as an indicator of audience design

8 CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

1 INTRODUCTION

Everyday, many people tune in to radio news. In Britain alone, every week over 12 million listen to news bulletins from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on five radio networks. Whereas BBC Radio 1 (henceforth referred to as R1) is still the most popular radio channel, particularly since its music output is aimed at a young audience, Radio 4 (henceforth R4) sets the national agenda in domestic and international news, as well as current affairs.

The language of the news media, especially of radio news, offers a plethora of areas which are worth researching and investigating. Bell (1977), for instance, built a corpus consisting of 35 hours of radio news broadcasts studying "style, audience and subediting variation" on radio stations in Auckland (New Zealand). Burchfield, Donoghue and Timothy (1979) assessed the standard of spoken English on BBC radio. Leitner (1980) gave an account of the differences between "BBC English" and "deutscher Rundfunksprache". Aditionally, he investigated the "social background of the language of radio" (1983b). Jucker (1986) carried out an extensive study of the conversational structure of news interviews on BBC R4 programmes. Floreano (1986) compared "quality" and "popular" newspapers with news bulletins on R1 and 4. In addition to this list, we should not forget Schlesinger (1987) who compiled an unequalled study of the production of radio and television news at the BBC. However, to my knowledge, so far there has not been a study concentrating exclusively on the language of BBC R1 and 4 news broadcasts.

An investigation of the linguistic features of the language in radio news — similar to any other investigation — needs a definition of what is to be studied. The problem I faced when I prepared this paper was to precisely define the amount of data, which, on the one hand, would be comprehensive enough to draw conclusions, but, on the other, limited enough as to remain manageable.

I shall start by studying the peculiarities of radio as a medium of news language. After an assessment of the significance of radio news not only for the listener but also for programme-makers, I shall take a "look behind the scenes" of the BBC beginning with the sluggish start of radio news and ending at a stage when, contrary to large parts of the British press, British broadcasting had long reached a "worldwide reputation" (Allaun 1988: 28) for its independence and authority. Today, the Corporation is widely considered as "one of the great creations of social and cultural policy in the 20th century" (Seymour-Ure 1991: 63).

After this foundation, I shall have a look at similarities and differences on R1 and 4. In the first part I shall investigate macro-structures concentrating on what type of stories appear in the news broadcasts on the two channels and see how the bulletins are arranged and presented stylistically. In the longer section on micro-structures following thereafter, I shall describe the radio news output of the two radio stations in linguistic terms and I expect to find striking differences here. A full transcription of the corpus material can be found in the appendix.

Clearly, because of the limited scope of the present paper, one cannot produce a representative investigation, but rather an exploratory study of radio news. True representativeness and, thus, highest possible reliability could only be achieved by large-scale random samples. However, due to my profound interest in the language of radio, in particular the structure of radio news and my curiosity over how the British, especially the BBC, make use of the fastest mass medium, I have nevertheless decided to undertake this study on the linguistic features of BBC R1 and 4 in the hope it would at least be possible to show different stylistic and linguistic approaches, whether they are of conscious or subconscious nature, of two distinct radio stations.

2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 Radio as a medium of news language

In the 1920s, when radio was introduced as the first electronic mass communications medium, it was unrivalled both in immediacy and audience figures. It could also claim to be the mass medium of the Second World War. For instance, BBC radio was listened to by over 70 per cent of the British population during Winston Churchill's audience appeals in 1941 and 1942 (cf. Tunstall 1983: 111).

Whilst today nobody would seriously question that radio is still the fastest medium able to almost instantly informing us about the latest developments on earth, no one would doubt either that, for the majority in Western countries, television has long replaced radio as the main source of news. People, rather naively, tend to trust television news more than radio news "on the basis that if they see something happening, it must be true" (Edwards 1994: 6). Table 1 illustrates the continuous rise of television in the 1980s contrary to radio, which, after its heyday during the war, has been marked by an opposite trend (Seymour-Ure 1991: 148):

Table 1 Sources of most world news (in %)

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Despite this development, no fewer than 12.1 million people tuned in to BBC radio news on Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Live at least once a week in the first quarter of 1994, which is an increase of 17 per cent as against 1993.^[1]

Depending on whether we deal with radio, television or other media, the same event will be formed and trimmed differently. This is to say that the medium itself works as a type of "gatekeeper" shaping a news item in a way so that it fits the distinct medium's purpose and its target group(s). For instance, if we consider the flood disasters affecting Germany and other countries at regular intervals during late winter and early spring, television is particularly strong when it comes to conveying an overview of the situation "enriched" with gripping pictures of streams turned into rivers carrying cars with them. Radio, on the other hand, could try and create pictures here (but it remains doubtful whether it could ever reach television's impact concerning the given example). It makes some sense, therefore, that, as will usually happen in this context, radio journalists concentrate on their medium's peculiar trump card which is immediacy (cf. Fleming 1993: 104) and provide the latest information on water levels, announcements of road disturbances and the like. Horstmann (1993: 51) summarises radio's particular strengths as opposed to other media as follows:

From the earliest days of broadcasting the presentation of up-to-date news has been a major element of radio programming. The capacity to be truly topical gives radio a marked advantage over all other media. Newspapers have to be typeset, printed and distributed. Even television, with its more cumbersome equipment, can only match the flexibility of radio by luck or careful pre-planning. The radio reporter needs no more than a telephone line to feed his story directly into the middle of a news bulletin. Eye and voice are the tools of his trade, closely supported by his trusty tape-recorder.

Radio programme-makers and editors must know whom they want to talk. The "morning listeners", for example, will be interested in knowing: "is the world the same place this morning as it was when I went to bed; will I get wet when I leave the house, and will I be able to get to work on time?" (Boyd 1994: 119). During the day the constitution of the audience is constantly changing.

Moreover, programme-makers and editors know the particular character of radio listening since for most people it only represents a "secondary medium" (Tunstall 1983: 45) — the majority tend to listen to the radio while doing something else. Although the BBC reports its peak audiences at breakfast time with "half of all radio listening" taking place "before 11 a.m." (op. cit.), it is also true that especially this morning audience generally is all but attentive as nicely described by Fang (1985: 368-9):

Morning audiences are distracted. They consist of commuters, rural families, business people and adults up early to get the kids off to school. They're rushing around [...]. They sit still for five minutes as they gulp down their corn flakes. They're not really awake until after that first cup of coffee.

Day et al. (1984, quoted in Twyman 1994: 90) have compiled a list (table 2) which shows the activities of an early morning audience. It does, unfortunately, not specify which station(s) were comprised in this survey as a channel with mainly news and speech content is likely to be listened to much more keenly than a station playing music most of the time.

Table 2 The early morning audience: adults 15+, London weekdays

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Not only are early listeners distracted, but there is also another difficulty in that radio is a live medium. This implies that, apart from recorded pieces, the moment of speaking and hearing (but not of decoding!) is the same (cf. Scannell 1991: 1). Accordingly, the message has to be understood very quickly if it is not to vanish in the ether forever. In trying to decode, the listener largely depends on the speaker who sets the pace as explained by Geißner (1975: 138-9):

Bei der Sinnvermittlung in der Sprech-Hör-Kommunikation spielt [...] die Tatsache eine entscheidende Rolle, daß es keine Simultan-wahrnehmung extendierter Sinneinheiten (Texte) gibt, sondern immer nur eine sukzessive. Das heißt, der Hörer hat im Unterschied zum Leser nie eine Chance, 'zurückzublättern', für ihn gibt es kein 'siehe oben', er kann sich die Verstehensgeschwindigkeit nicht wählen, Pausen machen, wiederholen. Er kann nur verstehen in der unaufhaltsamen Zeitfolge.

One of Geißner's remarks should not remain uncommented. It is an underestimation of the medium radio to speak of "texts" in connection with radio language implying that listeners are similar to readers. Although being at first sight an impersonal one-to-many medium of informative and possibly persuasive nature (commentaries) making direct feedback virtually impossible (cf. Lüger 1983: 66), there is, as rightly stated by Scannell (1991: 11), a "communicative character" in most of radio news' output. "Write as you speak " is heard on many occasions at radio stations. Using plain language, which is not to be mistaken with being dull, is perceived paramount as is illustrated by Boyd (1994: 44):

Plain English is about rat-catchers and road sweepers, never rodent operators or highway sanitation operatives. It is about straightforward writing using commonly understood words, rather than those of a Greek or Latin origin. As journalist Harold Evans put it, it is about calling a spade a spade and not a factor of production.

Furthermore, piling up all facts available together with abstract conceptions and technical information is utterly inappropriate in radio language as the human short-time memory can only absorb a limited amount of facts and numbers (cf. Boyd 1994: 47). To avoid difficulties in making himself understood, for the journalist writing for radio often implies neglecting grammar conventions (op. cit.: 49):

The only rule, which supersedes most rules of grammar, is, if it sounds right, it probably is right. In the end the copy has to communicate, and if that means driving a coach and horses through the flower beds of the Queen's English, then so be it.

The language of radio news is an interesting area of investigation, especially since in many instances we find it is on the borderline between written and spoken language as was observed by Elsness (1983: 159-160). It exhibits typically spoken features in that "the moment of utterance, the deictic zero-point [...] is easily identifiable" (op. cit.: 159) and, as was suggested above, because of its "high degree of structural simplicity" (op. cit.) it is aimed at facilitating comprehension. We shall see later in this paper whether the latter feature facilitates linguistic analysis. On the other hand, to use Chomskyan terminology, the language of radio news bulletins, just as written language, is, at least in theory, not marked by major discrepancies between competence and performance. Thus, "anacolutha and slips of various other kinds do not normally occur" (op. cit.: 161). Moreover, in dealing with radio news we can neglect such non-linguistic elements as gestures or facial expressions although I shall not completely ignore such factors as intonation, emphasis and pauses.

2.2 The importance of the news slot

Responsible citizens must know what is happening around them. News on the radio enables the listeners to be both quickly and concisely informed about the most important and latest developments in their country and abroad. It is well known that audience peaks when news bulletins are broadcast (cf. Schmidt 1991: 27). In addition, more than any other programme, radio bulletins are usually followed attentively. Thus, the news slot largely represents a "figurehead" contributing to the public image of a station. Yet, also from within a station the news is regarded as the most significant output (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 114). Fluck (1989: 250-1) illustrates the weight of the news slot for any radio station as follows:

[Hauptnachrichten oder Standardnachrichten] bilden [...] das Gerüst des Hörfunkprogramms und bieten den Nachrichtenkonsumenten als Fixpunkte des Programmschemas Orientierungshilfe beim Abrufen der Informationen. Den Programmachern bieten sie die Möglichkeit, Zäsuren zu schaffen und einen Wechsel im Programmcharakter vorzunehmen.

Whereas, in most cases, the editors and not the announcers are in charge of gathering, writing and compiling the different news items, for the audience, the newsreader becomes the main actor, the main representative of a radio channel. BBC R4's chief newsreader Peter Donaldson, in a conversation I had with him on 29 December 1994, said he recognised this responsibility feeling his task was to meet three basic demands: "speaking with informed authority, displaying credibility and speaking without any trace of bias."

The traditional form of radio news is the bulletin, which is a summary of the most important news items and varies in length from some 2 ½ to 10 minutes. The BBC World Service has maintained the plainest, most traditional and least complicated way of a straight read bulletin. Meanwhile, most other services prefer "illustrated" bulletins with a newsreader traditionally reading out text copy but enriched with inserts (cf. Fang 1985: 78; Boyd 1994: 212-3, 383) in form of:

Voice reports or voicers (on-the-spot reports or explanations of a correspondent — either live or recorded) in which one or two particular aspect(s) of a story are stressed and / or

Actualities (recorded interview extracts or, less frequently, pure sound inserted into a bulletin).

It is with those voicers and actualities that news persons try and breathe life into a bulletin and give more impact by presenting the freshest developments as they are actually happening (cf. Boyd 1994: 126). In this feature of authenticity, inserts are similar to pictures in the print media. Equally, illustrations in radio news can convey an "authoritative opinion which would be inappropriate coming from the mouth of a newsreader" (op. cit.: 207).

Frequently, it is difficult for the listener to decide whether an insert as described above is a report or a commentary as, in fact, there appear to be more and more combined forms. Ideally, however, a report consists of providing the listener with additional information sometimes enlarged by a condensed chronology of events. Moreover, the reporter or correspondent will also give causes and effects (cf. Burger 1990: 141). This could hardly be achieved in the traditionally short news item format. However, the speaker will not communicate his own evaluations, but present views of news actors and confront their opinions with each other (cf. op. cit.). A commentary, on the other hand, should not be part of a news bulletin, which, strictly speaking, should renounce all interpretation. However, is not even the selection of news a form of interpretation?

My sample is too limited as to draw representative conclusions, but take the case of one voice insert (R4/3/1/V2) which is announced as an "assessment". 'Assessment', according to the OALD, means "evaluation or opinion". It would be interesting to further investigate whether this overt interpretation within a R4 news bulletin is an exception to the rule or not (cf. 7.3.4).

2.3 What is news?

The following definition of how 'news' is perceived within the BBC is relatively concise and, ideally, should be valid worldwide (Burger 1990: 105):

Nachrichten sind neue sowie wahrheitsgemäß und sorgfältig wiedergegebene Informationen, die

aktuelle Ereignisse aller Art überall in der Welt zum Gegenstand haben, die

gegenübergestellt werden anderen wahrheitsgemäß and sorgfältig erarbeiteten Hintergrundinformationen, die zuvor jedoch wie Nachrichten behandelt werden müssen, die

auf faire Weise von ausgebildeten Jounalisten ausgewählt werden, dies jedoch ohne künstliches Ausbalancieren und ohne persönliche politische Motivation oder redaktionelle Einfärbung, die

in eine Nachrichtensendung aufgenommen werden, weil sie interessant, von allgemeiner Bedeutung oder aber in den Augen der erwähnten Journalisten für die Zuhörer von persönlichem Belang sind, und die

ohne Furcht objektiv gestaltet werden mit Blick auf die geltenden Gesetze und auf die Programmgrundsätze der BBC bezüglich guten Geschmacks und journalistischer Grundsätze.

It is self-evident that there is rarely only one factor contributing to a story's newsworthiness, but it is more likely that the news value of one particular news item is made up by a variety of elements. The more factors are involved, the greater will be the newsworthiness of the story in question. Bell (1991) and Boyd (1994) gave a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of factors deciding on a story's newsworthiness, and I shall largely concentrate on the work of these two in the following:

NEGATIVITY — "Doom and gloom"

Negativity, according to Bell (1991: 156), is the "basic news value" to most people. However, the author does not give us an answer to the question why the "bad news" seems to be more appealing than the "good news". In my opinion, this is probably so because the ordinary (or "bad") news breaks instantly, often having immediate consequences on our lives. The "good news" exists as well, but the positive things in life either happen in our own privacy or they are a "long-term process" such as, for example, the fact that Germany has lived in peace for 50 years. At any rate, dramas are simply more obvious and therefore "easier" to be reported — and there will be dramas of all kinds as long as the world exists. However, it is up to the news persons to select the most dramatic ones. Boyd (1994: 5) gives four of many possible examples: "shotgun sieges, violent crimes, car chases, cliff-top rescues [...]."

RELEVANCE — "That's interesting — but how does it affect me ?"

Boyd (cf. 1994: 4) stresses that news values are measured differently by each individual according to personal experience, education and views. Whilst some news items might be gripping for one listener who feels he is directly concerned, it can be boring for another. Similarly, editors will also have different and subjective priorities. As there are no clear-cut rules of what precisely can be broadcast and what not, it is the news person's intuition which often assumes a key role as believes R4 newsreader Peter Donaldson.

IMMEDIACY — "Yesterday's newspaper is used to wrap fish and yesterday's broadcast does not exist at all" (Martin Mayer, quoted in Boyd 1994: 4).

News is about novelty, e.g. today or, even better, about something which just has happened. However, news is also a "perishable commodity" (Bell (1991: 201) that generally does not provide much background information. This opinion is shared by Negrine (1989: 139):

Because it [the news] only deals with overt, and usually recent or immediate, signals — a strike, a murder, a disaster— it necessarily overlooks processes which are, almost by definition, complex and ambiguous. News is about the planting of a seed, its germination and its flowering, but not about the intervening period, the struggle for food and light and the general processes of growth.

Therefore, news' strength of absolute immediacy is probably also one of its major weaknesses. All the same, the more recent and the more "unexpected" (Bell 1991: 156) a story is, the more likely is the event to appear in the news.

Proximity — "Small earthquake in Chile — not many dead" (Boyd 1994: 3)

This headline, thought a joke made by a former sub-editor of The Times, from a European point of view includes all which news is not — undramatic, insignificant and far off. To express it positively: to have an impact, a news item should bear some relevance, possibly have a dramatic aspect and be marked by some "geographical closeness" (Bell 1991: 157). It should be noted that proximity is not necessarily to be equated with relevance and vice versa. The destruction of tropical forests in South America and its effects are certainly relevant to every individual on earth, despite the fact that these massive deforestations are actually happening some 10,000 kilometres away.

(mass) INTEREST — "The Queen and John Major"

We must not forget that news is not aimed at satisfying a minority's taste, but it has a mass appeal. Thus, depending equally on the channel and its house-style, much of the news deals with people — something the majority is supposed to be interested in. A news actor's "eliteness" (Bell 1991: 158) surely contributes to a story's news value. Moreover, if the person in question is "elite enough", he or she will perform the role of both a news actor and a news source. Boyd (1994: 5) mentions categories of "interesting people": "business personalities, celebrities, big-name politicians, royalty [...]."

ENTERTAINMENT —"Leave ' em smiling" (The overt policy of Independent Television News (ITN), quoted in Boyd 1994: 5)

The private stations and even the BBC accept a light story here and there (in jargon called light tailpiece as it mostly occurs at the end-of-bulletin position). With negativity largely determining the news, people are supposed to long for entertaining elements. Thus, the more unusual and unexpected, the more likely will a story appear in the news, as colourfully illustrated by Boyd (1994: 3): "When a dog bites a man, that is not news, but when a man bites a dog, that is news."

SUPERLATIVENESS — "' More' is good, 'most' is better"

It is rather the spectacular than the unspectacular bank robbery, rather the bigger than the smaller earthquake, rather many deaths than a few injuries, which, whether we like it or not, contribute to more newsworthiness.

2.3.1 News selection

Before considering selection in news, we should first know which are the sources news editors usually make use of. Bell (1991: 57) classifies news input sources into the following categories:

interviews, either face to face or by telephone

public addresses

press conferences

written text or spoken addresses

organisationally produced documents of many kinds: reports, surveys, letters, findings, agendas, minutes, proceedings, research papers, etc.

press releases

prior stories on a topic, either from own or other media

news agency copy

the journalist's notes from all the above outputs, especially the spoken ones.

It seems to be a main feature of broadcasting in general to heavily rely on news originating not from within the actual radio news rooms but coming in ("breaking") from external sources. The easiest method for broadcasters, of course, is to retell stories which were run already or to largely (or fully) adopt press releases, news agency material and the like (cf. Bell 1991: 58). Strictly speaking, news production, contrary to the original meaning of "new or fresh information" (OALD 1989), is also another word for recycling (cf. Bell op cit.).

It is also important to note that many news items exclusively consist of recounting what newsmakers have said and what one newsmaker thinks of another newsmaker's statement — not few have acquired some skill in using the media as a vehicle for their individual purpose. Bell (1991: 60) calls such sequences of statements and reactions, which are particularly common in politics, "verbal tennis".

With an infinite number of events taking place every day, provoking a continuous flow of information that comes from diverse sources, there must be selection. Most events are, indeed, excluded from news coverage. Thus, BBC news editors openly acknowledge that some 90 per cent of all information finding its way into the newsroom is rejected and ends up in the wastepaper basket (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 60). Therefore, "news" represents only a routinised selection of the truth and it will always be a condensed "artificial human construct" (Hetherington 1985: 21). 'News' and 'truth' clearly are not the same (cf. Negrine 1989: 139-140).

The selection process is largely determined by a variety of "gatekeepers" (Hood 1972: 417) such as, for example, the editor who decides on the day's coverage or the sub-editor who writes the story. Hood (op. cit.) lists a number of factors that influence the choice of one and the rejection of another news story:

[T

he editor's] class background, his upbringing and education, his attitude towards the political and social structure of the country. More specifically his judgements are determined by what he believes to be possible, tolerated and approved by the organisation for which he works."

2.3.2 Hard news vs. soft news

Traditionally, most news items in radio bulletins are hard news meaning straightforward information about important events (cf. Boyd 1994: 52). Bell (cf. 1991: 147) distinguishes between two major categories of hard news — on the one hand, spot news (accidents, disasters, catastrophes, human drama etc. all being of unforseeable nature) and, on the other hand, the field of diplomacy and politics ( comprising political debate, elections or negotiations).

Typically, traditional (hard) news reporting, especially in the print media, is marked by an inverted-pyramid style (cf. 6.4.2; Bell 1991: 169) meaning that the basic information is conveyed first and less important facts, if at all, appear towards the end of a news story. As a general rule in news language, the first sentence, the lead, should contain the five W's: Who, What, When, Where, and Why with additional details coming later if time allows (cf. 6.4.1; Boyd 1994: 54) . The advantage of this style is that, if necessary, stories can be trimmed from the bottom and, despite this, the basic information is not changed. Yet, we should not confound radio news with newspaper journalism, the language of news agency material or even ordinary narrative. The human ear simply could neither bear nor follow a complete chronological retelling of stories (cf. Fang 1985: 39). The flow of incoming material must be cut. Thus, as a rule, the average item length in radio news bulletins is some three to four sentences (cf. Bell 1991: 76).

With soft news, on the other hand, the emphasis is mainly on a story's entertainment value with informative content being of secondary importance (cf. Boyd 1994: 57). Soft news stories are marked by a less tight structure than their hard news counterparts. Perceived as bringing a "moment of light relief to the audience" (Boyd 1994: 57), the amazing, the funny or the moving element becomes more important than strict order according to the 5-W-formula. Thus, in a light tailpiece (cf. 2.3) the style will be more casual, probably personal and anecdotal.

In Britain, the royal family has frequently served as a human interest item as becomes clear from the following example coming from a sub-editor of BBC Television: "It was decided to obtain pictures of the Queen at a Highland dance; newsworthy, as one newsman said, because they'll show what she's wearing; she'll twirl her knicks around decorously" (quoted in Schlesinger 1987: 119).

2.3.3 Home news vs. foreign news

With the rise of television we have visual access to the most remote spots in the world. I believe television has contributed to widening our perspective providing us with pictures from all parts of the globe, given they appear newsworthy enough. Probably due to this positive influence, I equally think that modern radio covers much more international topics than in the past. However, the British perspective is reported to be "generally parochial" implying that "British interests and British home news normally come first" (Hetherington 1985: 10). This view is also supported by a Diplomatic Correspondent of the BBC (quoted in Schlesinger 1987: 117-8) who stated that foreign news are "hard to sell" in Britain (and probably not only there):

When I was in Vietnam a while ago I could never interest people. It was a quiet period — there were a thousand casualties a day. Nobody cared; they'd heard it all before — you couldn't tell them anything new.

After having presented in due brevity the theoretical framework of news on radio and before we deal with the practical analysis of the corpus, I shall in the following give an overview of the milestones in the history of the BBC by concentrating on the historical development of news on the Corporation's channels.

3 INSIDE THE British broadcasting corporation

3.1 The formation of BBC news

In retrospect, two major crises had a positive influence on the growth of BBC news broadcasting, firstly, the General Strike of 1926 (a national crisis) and, secondly, the Second World War (an international crisis). In both cases, the BBC became a means of state information (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 14). Briggs (1961, 1965, 1970 and 1985) gave an unparalleled survey of the history of the BBC and Schlesinger (1987), in admirable detail, wrote about BBC News, so this outline heavily draws on the work of those two.

3.1.1 Origins (1922-26)

The BBC started as the British Broadcasting Company on 15 December 1922 when it was incorporated as a private company mainly composed of manufacturers of wireless sets. Basically, the move was a pragmatic attempt as stated by Negrine (1989: 96):

[...] the need to satisfy set manufacturers by ensuring that all participated in the birth and development of broadcasting, the need to avoid chaos on the airwaves on the American scale, and the need to guarantee an efficient and satisfactory service to all listeners. It was only later that the company came to acquire a social and political direction [...].

In April 1923, the Postmaster General appointed a committee which, under Sir Frederick Sykes, was to review broadcasting in all its aspects. The Sykes Committee set the pattern of public service broadcasting run by the BBC with its three main objectives "to inform, educate and entertain" (Seymour-Ure 1991: 65). Sykes (quoted in Briggs 1961:168) stressed the desire for "uncoloured" news from the BBC implying a clear educational approach and responsibility for those who were to be served.

From its start, the BBC was confronted with problems. For obvious reasons, the British press was afraid of the new competition. One restriction which followed from this was the 'seven o' clock rule'. Thus, to protect the newspaper industry, there were no news broadcasts from 1 a.m. until 7 p.m. In addition, the first BBC news bulletins were not a product from within the BBC, but they were compiled by news agencies and officially attributed to them (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 15).

Provoked by the General Strike of 1926, there suddenly was a burning desire within the public to be constantly provided with the latest and most comprehensive news. The BBC was heavily criticised because of its alleged pro-government stance in this conflict. For instance, it readily gave in to the Conservative government's wish not to broadcast appeals of the leader of the Labour opposition. The following statement of the then Director-General of the BBC, Lord Reith, speaks for itself:

Assuming the BBC is for the people, and that the Government is for the people, it follows that the BBC must be for the Government in this crisis too (quoted in Briggs 1961: 364-5).

From today's point of view, it is important to note that the BBC was henceforth considered as an "organisation within the constitution" (Briggs 1961: 366), but it had also been used as an "instrument of state information policy" (Schlesinger 1987: 18). On the level of news output, however, the Strike "helped" the BBC as, with an increased interest for news, the press agreement came under more and more pressure, and the BBC began to broadcast five daily news bulletins (cf. Schlesinger op. cit.: 19).

3.1.2 The pre-war period (1927-39)

After the BBC had shown "its importance and reliability as a national institution during a time of crisis" (Schlesinger 1987: 19), it was turned into a Public Corporation enabled to broadcast from 1 January 1927 operating under a Royal Charter financed through a licence fee (cf. Watson and Hill 1989: 19).^[2] From January 1927 onwards, the BBC was given "freedom to arrange early news bulletins, running-commentaries, and eye-witness accounts" (Briggs 1961: 265), which helped the Corporation enliven its news with the human element. Yet, even in the early 30s, news production at the BBC, then a monopoly, was both a very passive and amateurish procedure. Deprived of its own newsgathering section, news reporting basically meant filtering news agency material. And in situations where there was not enough news felt worthy to report, the newsreader even dared to say "there is no news tonight" (quoted in Briggs 1965: 154).

In 1932, an agreement was signed between the BBC, the press and news agencies that enabled the Corporation to go on the air with live news bulletins at any time where a matter of major importance occurred (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 21). However, it was only in 1934 that the Corporation opened its own News Department. Three further years after this, the BBC appointed its first professional News Editor, R.T. Clark (cf. Boyd 1994: xi).

In 1937, the BBC was called on by the government to begin foreign-language broadcasts with the Arabic Service being the first operation of this kind. Provoked by the Crisis of Munich in September 1938, news bulletins were broadcast in French, Italian and German. Briggs (1965: 648) described the double role the BBC was prepared to play in the war: "First for the home audience to give orders and maintain morale; and second for the world — to spread reliable news and views." Indeed, the Second World War and, prior to this, Hitler's mobilisation pushed ahead the growth of the BBC, which, among other broadcasters in Europe, was slowly turned into a mass medium. Barnouw (1968: 22) summarised: "half reluctantly they [the European broadcasters] had met a challenge and moved forward."

3.1.3 The war-years (1939-1945)

Being an important part of the war effort, the Corporation was "officially guided" by the Ministry of Information in most of its activities (Briggs 1970: 31). As far as the news department was concerned, the wartime news chief executive and top advisor to the BBC, A. P. Ryan, even argued the Corporation should act as a "fourth arm" in the war supplementing the army, navy and air force (Briggs: 1970: 308). However, the BBC remained formally independent and its policy was above all determined by the desire to act in the British interest. Following the full coverage of A. N. Chamberlain's declaration of war, the BBC finally began to broadcast regular daytime news (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 27). The press and the news agencies, from the start displaying their unwillingness to accept the new competitor, gradually lost of their constraining influence since "the expansion of radio news was plainly in the national interest, particularly in countering Nazi propaganda" (cf. op. cit.).

An entire BBC News Division was established in 1942 and after a humble start BBC News became a distinctive part of the Corporation. From newsgatherers, in form of war reporters, to recorded inserts into news programmes, the BBC and its news were soon praised for being marked by an "advanced sense of professionalism" (Briggs 1970: 49). This was also encouraged by the fact that, during the war, the public became increasingly interested in radio news. Accordingly, by 1940, four out of six Britons regularly tuned in to BBC news bulletins (cf. Briggs 1970: 48). Slowly but steadily, BBC radio news adopted a more modern and lively design.

BBC newsreaders have always represented "an important bridge between the Corporation and its audience" (MacLeod 1947, quoted in Schlesinger 1987: 30), but they did not lose their anonymity until 7 June 1940 when their names were first mentioned. However, this move was not motivated by an attempt to humanise the news (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 30) but to guarantee news bulletin listeners became familiar with the BBC newsreaders, "so that there may be no confusion in times of emergency" (McInnes 1970: 6). Accordingly, immediately after the war, the BBC turned back to anonymous newsreaders (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 30).

3.1.4 The post-war period (1946-1960)

By the end of the Second World War, the BBC radio news programmes were highly appreciated by the audience and had acquired a worldwide reputation for integrity and reliability. On the other hand, few critics reprimanded the BBC for its sophisticated and conservative approach (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 33). Indeed, BBC officials considered the British society as a social pyramid. To quote the then BBC Chairman Lord Simon of Wythenshawe (1947-1952), the target group BBC news were aiming at were the "three million comprising Britain's élite" (Simon 1953: 203), composed of grammar-school educated persons with university background and readers of the high-brow press (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 33).

Nevertheless, the BBC felt also compelled to do something for the rest of the nation since the news was supposed to be a source of "information and education" for the majority (Simon op. cit.). Admittedly, Simon talked down to many, but he was right in assuming that there is not just one uniform audience with similar desires. So, the idea of what is known as generic (i.e. specialised) broadcasting was born. As Schlesinger (op. cit.) pointed out: "broadcasting openly recognised the existence of a class structure. Programming was streamed into three networks: the Light Programme, the Home Service and the Third Programme."

Despite the efforts to cater for different audience tastes, the post-war period was marked by a slow decline of radio. Seymour-Ure (1991: 152) argues it was due to "the gradual increase and specialisation of radio channels" that the audiences were increasingly disintegrated. However, is the slow decline of radio as the major news medium not primarily due to the swift rise of television in the post-war years?

After all, whilst in 1950 only 10 households in 100 owned a TV set, in 1963, 10 in 100 did not (Schlesinger 1987: 34). Thus, in the early 60s, television news had finally overtaken radio as the main source of news (cf. BBC Audience Research Report 1962). In fact, the growth of television (news) is the major characteristic of the post-war development with, in 1954, ITV 's (Independent Television) first appearance marking the end of the BBC's monopoly (cf. Gray / Lewis 1992: 157). Another crucial issue at the time was the rise of private competition in radio, which started a little later (cf. 4.1).

3.1.5 The recent past (1961-present)

Despite the rise of private and more downmarket competition, which have traditionally been aiming at a more personal approach in news, it took the BBC until 1963 to definitely break with its tradition of not mentioning the names of its newsreaders. Paulu (1956: 160) writes that the style of BBC news in the early 60s was persistently that of "a foreign office communiqué". Comparing BBC radio news with American news broadcasts, Paulu (op. cit.: 161-2) underlined the "hard" and "heavy" news content of the former. Sensationalism was as much mocked as elements of fun or trivial stories, unusual or colourful expressions were entirely missing (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 38).

More recently, BBC World Service's editor Alexandra Schöffel mentioned in a conversation I had with her on 2 January 1995 that she approved of the strict observation of editorial correctness within the BBC. But she did not forget to add that the importance attached to accuracy during the editing process occasionally proved to be at the expense of speed. Almost 40 years earlier, Paulu (1956: 159) defended this policy: "there is no hurry to be first, to 'scoop' the newspapers or anyone else. When facts are indisputable they are broadcast, not before." Whilst this is criticised by Schlesinger (op. cit.) as being in line with the "agency origin of broadcast news", I think the traditional ideas of news agency being accuracy, impartiality and soberness, altogether quality signs, are nowadays too often sacrificed to speed in order to obtain more attention and higher ratings. In an increasingly competitive environment, accuracy has surely remained the BBC's main prerogative.

However, to keep up with competition, speed has more and more become a crucial criterion in the BBC's newsgathering activities. The Corporation is equipped with its own internal news agency, the General News Service (GNS). It also takes advantage from the widespread net of BBC Local Radio serving as a quick supplier of news from all over Britain (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 81-2). The Corporation's major competitive advantage lies in the fact that BBC Radio and BBC Television are increasingly working together thus enabling a synergetic "crossover of ideas" (Boyd 1994: 28).

Is it typical of the BBC that most of the time it brings about changes only if it is urged by outside pressure to do something? After the General Strike and the Second World War, the BBC once again only reacted when ITN (Independent Television News)^[3] challenged the Corporation with a modern style of news presentation. Although ITN is a television competitor, it is safe to say that the private channel equally influenced the design of BBC radio news. Imitating the Americans' approach of presenting the news as a package of information and entertainment, ITN set out to introduce personalities into news presentation. ITN's main objective was to steer a middle course between impartiality and accuracy on the one hand and a more populist manner on the other (cf. Briggs 1985: 306-7). Elements of humour and emotional human interest stories were just a few characteristics of ITN's news broadcasts (cf. Day 1961: 114). ITN was the first to discover the importance of news as the front page of its own organisation (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 41) feeling one needs an opener in the running order of each news broadcast that will be gripping enough so that the reminder of the programme will be followed attentively by the audience.

Though at the BBC "primary emphasis is still given to items of long-term value, [...] there now is coverage of human interest stories, which previously were ignored or minimised" (Paulu 1956: 89). BBC newsspeakers on television have become newscasters (according to Schlesinger 1987: 41, an "American import") who now are all "authorised" to use both their "knowledge and personal style" (Day 1961: 10). And their radio colleagues, says BBC R4's newsreader Peter Donaldson, have meanwhile become "national celebrities" being even allowed to read out a light tail-piece at the end of a news bulletin. However, the use of amusing elements in news bulletins is not practised at any cost. Fang (1985: 73) rightly states that "grim" stories should "remain grim". But he advocates (op. cit.) making other items more interesting with a "touch of sparkle here and there" and suggests using rhetoric devices such as puns or allusions.

3.2 Taste and standards

We have seen that the BBC, over the years, has often been somewhat slow in recognising the need for change (cf. 3.1). Yet, the fact that the BBC is more than simply a communication system was swiftly recognised from the start. In fact, the BBC has never hesitated to clearly display its convictions and values.

The Scotsman John Reith, the BBC's first Director-General from 1922 to 1938, was marked by his strict "Scottish Presbyterian values" (Seymour-Ure 1991: 65) embodying the link of the public service broadcasting concept with Christian belief and moral values (cf. Schlesinger 1987: 20). Thus, Reith would not accept that a staff member about to become divorced could stay at the organisation (cf. Morris 1987: 2), nor would he give in to the secularising of Sundays he criticised as "one of the most significant and unfortunate trends in modern life" (Briggs 1985: 54). With the BBC's funding and its existence as a public service organisation assured, Reith was convinced that a paramount pillar of broadcasting for the Corporation consisted in its "moral obligation" (Negrine 1989: 98).

Reith's persuasion that the BBC should try and "lift people's sights" (Cain 1992: 23) also meant that, despite the admittedly high standards it has always preserved, broadcasting was marked by a patronising approach implying that the masses were provided with what was considered to be educationally beneficial to them rather than with what they actually wanted — entirely corresponding with Reith's conviction that "few know what they want and very few what they need" (Briggs 1985: 55). The creation of the label 'Auntie BBC' was, it seems, mainly due to its patronising tone, the coinage "cultural dictatorship" (Cardiff and Scannell 1976: 6) obviously was another form of expressing dissatisfaction. However strongly the BBC and the way it treated its audiences might have been criticised over the years, especially in its early stage, it seems unlikely to be exclusively due to its long-lasting monopoly status that it has always been able to attract considerable audiences. Wainwright (cf. 1986: 181) believes that this has been possible as the Corporation was able to create a "worldwide reputation for independence and authority."

Meanwhile, our modern Western societies have become much more pluralistic than ever before — pluralistic also in moral and religious respect. As early as in 1969, the then Director-General of the BBC, Sir Charles Curran, came to the conclusion that broadcasting had entered the "post-Christian era" (Morris 1987: 3). However, alluding to the fact that prayers take place before each session in Parliament, Morris (1987: 15) believes the British are "pluralist with a Christian face". To give another example: R4's Today programme broadcasts the Prayer for the Day at 6.25 a.m., which is regarded as a national institution and widely appreciated.

Thus, despite a much more libertarian spirit than a few decades ago, the British society has probably remained the most conservative among the Western European countries. Accordingly, the BBC Programme Complaints Unit receives, now as in the past, a fair amount of programme complaints of which 20 per cent concern perceptions of "poor taste" such as the portrayal of sex and violence (cf. ARIEL 1994: 2). As I do not have any comparative figures, I cannot really state whether a total amount of 590 investigated complaints within the first eight months of 1994 (cf. op. cit.) is significant. It shows, however, that the BBC is critically observed by the public and often seems to be "personalised" as a "moral being" (Morris 1987: 5). As put by Morris (op. cit.: 7):

The broadcaster is a guest in the home of the [...] listener, and there are things which guests can be expected not to do whilst enjoying their hosts' hospitality. The public have the right not to be outraged by language and behaviour [...]. When broadcasters introduce offensive language [...] into the family setting, they are guilty of a double offence — they have forced into consciousness issues which may be embarrassing across the generations, and as guests in the home they have breached the laws of hospitality.

Accordingly, although exaggerated supervision can lead to problems, there is no such thing as complete editorial freedom within the BBC. Besides the internal monitoring groups and review boards (cf. op. cit.: 13), it regularly publishes "editorial and ethical guidelines" (A Guide for Licence Fee Payers 1994: 8) for its producers. Thus, the BBC both recognises the powerful force broadcasting represents and assumes social responsibility.

Given that the BBC has recognised that today's British society is by no means comparable with the status quo at the time of the Corporation's origins — being nowadays much more secular — it still remains doubtful how and, more importantly, from which sources those editorial and ethical guidelines on taste and standards are to be deduced. After all, what is fine with one person might be insulting to the other and vice versa.

3.3 BBC English

"If the BBC is not to set standards, who is?" (The Listener 1979)

Is it because of the fact that the British are particularly sensitive as regards the use of their language or is an eventual decrease in the quality of the English language within the BBC responsible for the steady amount of public complaints as regards "mistakes of usage and of pronunciation" (Gough 1982: 244) people believe to hear on BBC radio? To answer these questions, a proper approach would imply a survey among the British audience of BBC radio. However, the significance of the BBC in connection with the English language should be given some space and will be dealt with shortly in the following.

Until the BBC was created as a Public Broadcasting Corporation in 1927 (cf. 3.1.2), the representants of Standard English mainly came from a highly educated southern English background, from public schools and the prestigious universities of Oxford or Cambridge (cf. Zimmermann 1982: 420). It is widely acknowledged that Standard English is the most highly regarded form of written and spoken English (cf. Zimmermann 1982: 421), but it has also represented an accent of considerable prestige spoken by the upper classes, which, naturally, have always represented a minority. In 1926, Daniel Jones was the first to call this standard speech received pronunciation (RP). By silent agreement, RP, "a non-regional prestige accent" (Leitner 1983b: 61), became the only correct pronunciation spoken in virtually all public domains (cf. Zimmermann 1982: 422).

Towards the end of the 1920s, Daniel Jones became a phonetic advisor to the BBC. An Advisory Committee on Spoken English, composed of, among others, George Bernard Shaw and the phonetician A. Lloyd James, was formed (cf. Gough 1982: 244-5) along with training sessions for newsreaders and the publication of pronunciation guides (cf. Zimmermann 1982: 423). The BBC set language standards. Especially its wartime newsreaders and reporters were marked by conformity of speech (cf. Leitner 1983b: 60), and the expression BBC English was soon coined (cf. Gough 1982: 244). After all, to my knowledge, the BBC is the only broadcaster worldwide whose way of speaking is named after it.

From the beginning, the BBC was swift to adopt a rather prescriptive language policy using RP both to "convey the Corporation's authority" (Leitner 1983b: 63) and as a means for its educational objectives. This was obvious through the approach of its then Director-General, John Reith, who was to become Lord Reith a little later. An approach which, to put it positively, displayed the desire to stimulate the masses' spirits or, to interpret it differently, was overtly condescending:

[...]

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^[1] These figures were given to me by the BBC News and Current Affairs Publicity Department.

^[2] The licence fee rate currently stands at £84.50 and finances the BBC's network television channels, five radio networks and its 38 local radio stations (A Guide for Licence Fee Payers 1994: 13).

^[3] A private news company launched in 1954 presenting, for instance, the News at Ten on ITV.