DISCUSS HOW FAR THE ROLE OF THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER CAN BE SAID TO HAVE BEEN OVERTAKEN BY THAT OF THE BROADCAST MEDIA
... Golden Hour’ where the station target the older end of the market by playing classical music from the 60s, 70s and 80s. After this there will be a mid-morning show hosted by Tom Bell, which again features lots of competitions, and the Afternoon show which begins to round things off. A phone-in is immediate which allows the radio station and the public to interact. An urgent, highly important message can be broadcast on one of the frequent news channels. The message can be recorded and then broadcast to the listener, making the news more interesting than if one was simply reading it. Central FM use P.R effectively. For instance, they have strong connections with local charities, and may place a client on one of the talk shows to discuss issues with guests. Radio will always be available to the individual, while newspapers are not always so. For example, if one were driving, one could not read a newspaper at the same time. Even passengers would find it hard to enjoy reading a newspaper, since it often makes one feel unwell. Just a mere touch of a button, and another quality medium of information is instantly available. However, the radio does not escape drawbacks. There is always the danger that listeners may only use it for background music while socialising, music often being preferred to news bulletins. These drawbacks give strength to another form of information and entertainment medium. Television is arguably the greatest threat currently active to the local newspaper. This is principally because it takes full advantage of the power of technology that exists today. Television not only has the main quality of the radio: sound, but also features movement, vision and colour, the latter even more impressive since it is a fairly new invention. Producers of entertainment shows, news programmes and commercials regard movement on the screen as essential, since it is strongly believed that something must happen to catch and then hold the viewer’s attention. Television can also hold live shows, which again takes away the novelty of the radio and the local newspaper, the newspaper never being able to constantly provide news as it has just happened. In Scotland, the local newspaper struggles to compete with the power of television for high quality information. A couple of months ago, the Falkirk Football Club manager, Ian McCall was lured to Dundee United with the offer of £500,000 a year. The incident happened on a Friday night, and was broadcast right after the move had been confirmed by Reporting Scotland, stunning every Falkirk fan. The Falkirk Herald was issued the day before, and ironically featured an interview with the manager, who insisted that he would stay with the club until the end of the season. It would not be until the following week that readers would see the news in the Falkirk Herald, 6 days after the incident took place. More than 1500 television stations are currently in operation, and the average family watches this communication medium approximately 7 hours a day. It can be said that we feel the impact of television more than any other communication medium. Because of the power of T.V, Public Relations companies try to take advantage by having a client appear on the television show such as ‘Tonight’. The programme will look for major players to gain ratings. For instance, recently the Prime Minister appeared on ‘Tonight With Trevor McDonald’ to discuss the Iraq crisis and face burning questions from a hostile audience. However, the television is inferior to Radio and the newspaper in some ways. For instance, the television is of no use when one is travelling to and from work. If this was not enough, the local newspaper is also coming under attack from a new communication medium: The Internet. The Internet is the newest medium to come into existence, and has the potential to become the most powerful. It offers just about anything at incredible speed and therefore is an excellent source of information for the public. One does not need to make the journey down to buy a newspaper if they can merely go onto a computer, and access exactly the same information in the same depth. But this does not take away the fact that the internet is very sophisticated in t...