BBC World, CNBC, Bloomberg Television, Sky News and CNN: Only ten years ago, international news channel used to be a novelty. Today, they are an established part of our television culture. Especially Ted Turner’s Cable News Network has set the agenda, serving as a hotly debate, yet reliable early warning system ever since the War in the Gulf.
„Breaking News“ enable audiences to bear witness to events live as they unfold. Expert panels provide essential background information – and fill the gaps in the programme when there’s no news to be had. There concept to be live at the scene of unfolding events is no longer restricted to CNN or the other dedicated news channels, but has been also taken up by traditional news bulletins and programmes on general television services.
And if a station happens to have none of their own correspondents around, they will happily rely on the live feeds by CNN. The cuts in the numbers of foreign correspondents by the large US networks further add to this trend.
While a large number of different news stories compete for the limited 15 to 30 minutes available in a classical news bulletin, news channels have to provide new stories almost 24 hours a day. Changes in what is perceived as a newsworthy story are thus inevitable. “Breaking news” also means that events which can be planned or foreseen beforehand receive greater attention. While the American public had already lost much of its initial interest in the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, the news channels continued to broadcast hearings and debates in full.
In Germany, the average cable household has a choice of up to seven news and business channels, including “Phoenix”, the public service channel introduced in 1997. And Pro Sieben Media AG has recently announced the launch of yet another news channel, scheduled for 1999/2000 under the working title N 24. Consumption of these channels regularly defies the established ratings system. In times of crisis, the German television audience largely returns to the traditional news bulletins of the major public service networks ARD and ZDF, which according to a number of polls are also perceived as being more trustworthy.
Apart from global news, information on business and finance features high on the agenda of most news channels and should safeguard the success of these operations. CNN has introduced its own financial service, CNNfn, and Bloomberg Television has set up four foreign language channels in Europe since 1996 (Germany, France, Spain, Italy) in addition to its UK-based English service. In 1998, CNN introduced German language slots covering national and regional news while Time Warner, CNN’s parent company, also has management control at the German language news channel n-tv. And Euronews, which came under the control of ITN, supplier of television news to all British terrestrial channels except for the BBC, has just announced its first ever German co-operation. Since May 1999, the Lyon-based channel is regularly re-broadcasting the ZDF’s news flagship programme heute journal. ______________________________________________________________________________________
14.00 hrs - 14.30 hrs
Keynote
Michael Tracey, Director, Center for Mass Media Research, Universitiy of Colorado, Boulder ______________________________________________________________________________________
14.30 hrs - 15.00 hrs
USA Today: Strategies and Trends in the US Television Market
Referat
Howard Kurtz, Media Editor, The Washington Post, Washington ______________________________________________________________________________________
15.00 hrs - 15.30 hrs
Breaking News – CNN in the 21th Century
Presentation
Tony Maddox, Managing Editor, CNN International, London ______________________________________________________________________________________
15.30 hrs - 16.00 hrs
From TV News to Web News
Presentation
George Leclere, Executive Director, The International Council, NATAS, New York ______________________________________________________________________________________
16.00 hrs - 16.30 hrs Coffee Break ______________________________________________________________________________________
16.30 hrs - 18.00 hrs
News means Business: German News Channels
Panel
Klaus Bresser, Head of News, ZDF, Mainz
Ken Jautz, Managing Director, n-tv, Berlin
Ulrich Ende, Head of News, ProSieben Media AG, Unterföhring
Stewart Purvis, President, Euronews, Lyon
Katherine Oliver, Managing Director, Bloomberg Europe, London
Dr. Bernd Wabnitz, Head of ARD aktuell, Hamburg
Hans Mahr, Head of News, RTL Television, Cologne