The media is heavily reliant on presenters to communicate information whether on television, radio, video, online, through voice-overs or in person. Presenters are needed for a wide rage of programmes, including news and current affairs, magazine and consumer programmes, documentaries, quiz shows, chat shows and for reading announcements in between programmes. Presentation styles have developed massively over the years, as technology and generations have developed over time.
Pathe News was a producer of newsreels and documentaries in the United Kingdom from 1910. Its founder, Charles Pathe, was a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent era. Before television people would visit cinemas to watch the news, until 1928 these newsreels were silent. British Pathe was at the forefront of cinematic journalism, including both information with entertainment, proving popular with the public. Over the course of a century it documented everything from major conflict, and political crisis to people's eccentric hobbies. Now considered to be the finest news archive in the world, British Pathe holds 85,000 films with historical and cultural significance.
At first the newsreels ran for about four minutes and were issued twice a week. During the early stages when Pathe News first began the camera shots were taken from a stationary position. Despire this they still managed to capture historical events, such as, suffragette Emily Davison's fatal injury by a racehorse at the 1913 Epsom Derby.
During the First World War the newsreels were called the Pathe Animated Gazettes, and were competitors against newspapers. After 1918, British Pathe started producing cinemazines, which were much longer and more detailed. By 1930, British Pathe covered news, entertainment, culture and sport through a number of different programmes:
Pathetone Weekly
Pathe Pictorial
Gazette
Eve's Film Review
The introduction of sound in 1930 brought a new reality to footage. They could now start to include interviews. One early interviewee was the editor of the Pathe Gazette himself, for the 21st anniversary.
The first presenter in Pathe News was present as a voice over. His speaks clearly but still at some speed during the 'Pathe's Reporter Meets' segments. However because of his clear english accent and neutral tone of voice it makes it easy to keep up with what he is saying. The visuals are always appropriate to what is being said. In the following clip a presenter is meeting Sir Malcolm Campbell. He is dressed smartly - usual of that time but also representing Pathe in a positive way - and appears to be at ease on camera asking questions. With one hand in his pocket and standing tall but not rigid, it seems very natural. He uses physical gestures when speaking with Sir Malcolm appropriately to get across the subject he speaks about.
British Pathe was the first of its kind to pave the way for presenting and newsreels/shows.
The BBC (British Broadcasting Company) broadcast its first radio bulletin in 1922, a different way to receive news from a newspaper or through Pathe. They could only broadcast news after 7pm due to newspaper publishers fear of competition.
In 1934 the BBC created its own news operation, however it could not broadcast news before 6pm until World War ll.
In 1954 the first live news bulletin aired on TV. The 20-minute bulletin was read by Richard Baker and was introduced as an "Illustrated summary of the news... Followed by the latest film of events and happenings at home and abroad." Baker did not use much of an accent and was engaged with the audience.
But the bulletin was not met with universal approval. The programme was described as "absolute ghastly", "crazy" and "as visually impressive as the fat stock prices". Despite this, between 1954 and 1955 the amount of television time devoted to news doubled with Independent Television News launching its services.
BBC News evolved with the time and began including a studio on camera, conducting more interviews there and showing a presenter on screen more frequently. A presenter would be sat at a desk dressed smartly and talking with a high use of language/vocabularly, portraying himself to be well educated and trustworthy.
BBC Breakfast was the first morning magazine news show as a more informal way of presenting the news. The set was created to look comfortable. The show broadcast news, weather, sports and live reports. They made their viewers feel at home and so fitted into everyone's morning routines quite nicely. The presenters are friendly but still maintain a professional appraoch when dealing with important matters.
Today, the two main breakfast news shows are BBC Breakfast and ITV's Good Morning Britian. GMB is a lot more chatty, open and informal. They seem to change more with time where as the BBC are much more hard hitting. The appearance of the presenters on GMB is somewhat different to that of the BBC, they are less smart but still stay classy and stylish. The set is more colourful, again, adding to that homely vibe.
The BBC launched Newsround as a children's news programme in 1972. It was one of the world's first television news magazines aimed specifically at children, aged 6-12. It was mostly presented by John Craven between 1972 and 1989. He spoke clearly and used short phrases/sentences so that he was easy to understand for a younger audience.
Newsround updated in May 1987, with computer graphics to appeal to children more with accompanying moving visuals. In 2002 Newsround expanded from a ten-minute programme on weeknights to through-the-day bulletins, seven days a week, to tie-in with the launch of the CBBC Channel. With this included a new theme, titles and presenting team. The new presenters were much more engaging with the audience and used emphasis on certain words to encourage a response. They also used plenty of hand gestures to also show their interest. Their dress and appearance is a lot more casual than that of the main BBC news shows. This is to relate with the audience and not intimidate them.
Presenting news has changed massively over the years for a number of different reasons, technology is constantly improving and new generations have new interests. It's up to the media to stay up to date with what people want. Whether that's a hard driven BBC presenting team or Piers Morgan insulting any and every guest on the GMB sofa. Some people want solely information or some, that and entertainment. Every presenter is relevant and fits with their programme, portraying exactly what that company present.
A presenter can make or break a show, I have a number of inspirations whose techniques I hope to adapt and use in my own presenting.
As I'm working in a pair alongside Matthew for our presentation I first looked at one of the most famous duos in television, Ant and Dec.
They present Saturday Night Takeaway, Britain's Got Talent and I'm A Celebrity get me out of here. As reality and game show presenters they are the best of the best, proving so with 16 NTA's, winning every year running. Due to their past together and being best friends since a young age Ant and Dec's relationship on TV is fantastic. They react to each other naturally and have great back and forth banter on screen. They are consistent in their presenting and don't stray from being just themselves, staying appropriate to their audience at the time. They always dress and spear in smart clothes or at least stylish. The majority of the time their presenting is in a studio however for I'm A Celeb they are on location - but still in a studio. This one, being outside and "part of" the jungle.
Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield are two iconic morning news presenters. They are a part of most people's morning routines in the UK. They have both been successful individually also, but when they're together they bring so much love to what they do, it's evident they are just close off TV. They can both have a giggle over the silliest of things but also switch back to being serious during the hard hitting headlines, staying appropriate to the audience and allowing them to relate to both their sides. They bring a personal approach to whatever they work on.
I hope to incorporate both of the duos presenting techniques into my own. As myself and Matthew are working together I hope we can use our friendship on screen and not only help each to feel at ease but feel comfortable reacting in a true manner and keep our back and forth banter we have in person. Hopefully having some funny bits, such as on This Morning. I will follow their suit and also dress smart and stylish for each of mine and Matthew's pieces.
