'A Current Affair' and 'Today Tonight' - Essay Example

The programs 'A Current Affair' and 'Today Tonight' are popular current affairs programs on Australian commercial television. Explain the elements that come together to make them successful. It is no doubt that in modern times mass media is playing a fundamental role in human society than ever before. The main role of mass media of informing and entertaining influences the way people live and conduct their businesses (O'Donnell 265). Rapid technological advancements particularly in respect to internet has significantly enhance the role that mass media plays in the world. Internet technology has widened the audience for media houses as the audience can catch the programs from virtually anywhere in the world and at anytime. Also, internet technology has enabled the audience to watch, listen or read the current and past contents of their interest from a particular media company (Lamble 18). Television programs have gained prominence over the years as the most preferred form of getting information and entertainment. As a result, many media houses have focused towards bettering their television programs’ content, reporting style, and visuals in order to meet or exceed the expectations of the target audience (Stuart Cunningham and Graeme 34). In basic terms, a television program refers to a segment of content that is intended for broadcast at a particular time or day(s) on television (Herd 9). This essay will discuss the programs ‘A Current Affair’ and ‘Today Tonight’, which are popular current affairs programs on Australian commercial television. The essay will seek to explain the elements that come together to make these programs successful. The program ‘A Current Affair’ is a public and current affairs program that covers the most current public affairs that are of great interest for Australians and Australia. Presently, the show is hosted by Tracy Grimshaw (A Current Affair). The program is broadcasted on the Nine Networks TV on the weeknights. Since its first broadcast in 1971, ‘A Current Affair’ has recorded remarkable success. However, it should be noted that it was cancelled in 1978 after it was faced by strong competitions from other programs that aired at the same time-7.00 pm (Blundell). The program was revived in 1988 and has gradually grown to be one of the most popular television programs in Australia. According to the Australian TV ratings in 2008, the program had achieved about 1,130,000 viewers, coming second after ‘Today Tonight’ which had achieved about 1,380,000 viewers (O'Donnell 266). So, what elements have come together to make the program successful? One of the elements that have made the program successful is its content. The program is primarily informational and tends to offer information regarding the current affairs in Australia (Blundell). Like other societies, Australia is faced with a myriad of issues that affect its population in one way or another. It is against this background that A Current Affairs’ content is packaged; it is packaged to focus on various public affairs issues (Stuart Cunningham and Graeme 49). For example, it focuses on the issues of money such as how one can fight unfair speeding fines and makes some savings. Also, the content of the program focuses on issues of food and nutrition where it is concerned with aspects of health eating and on how various diets negatively impact one’s health. Besides, its content focuses on family including how families are raised and some of the challenges that they are facing (A Current Affair). Moreover, the content of the program includes issues of business; how one can run successful business and some of the pitfalls to watch out for and avoid. Furthermore, its content addresses personalities such as celebrities and politicians and their various behaviors and activities and how they impact on the society (Lamble 55). In a nutshell, the content of the program focuses on various social, economic, cultural, and political issues and how they impact on the society. Most of the content addressed is very current and relevant to the Australians thus endearing the program to wider audience (O'Donnell 267). Apart from the relevance and uniqueness of the content, another element that comes together to make the program successful is its reporting style. There are a number of reporters who are involved in the program. These reporters have proved to be competent in particular areas of their reporting and most of them have specialized on reporting in their area of competence. For example, there are specific reporters who report on specific issues such as on food and health, business, politics, and relationships among others (Lamble 60). Ability of the Nine Network to attract some of the best reporters in the country has helped the program to benefit from reporters with the best reporting style and who are able to meet the audience’s expectations. Presentation of the program is the other element that has contributed to the program becoming very successful (Herd 22). Since its inception, the program has been hosted by some of the Australian’s most acclaimed journalists. Most of the hosts have huge experiences and vast knowledge in various social, economic, cultural and political issues. The hosts of the program have a proven record of excellence in presentation (A Current Affair). The current host of the program, Tracy Grimshaw has been hosting the program for nine years now. Her career in journalism started in 1981 as a reporter at Melbourne- based National Nine News and she hosted and co-hosted several programs before starting to present ‘A Current Affair’ in 2006 (Blundell). Visual is a fundamental element of television program that determines whether a program would be successful or not. A Current Affair program has taken this fact into account and has put a lot of effort in making its visuals impressive. The methods used to create visual effects in the program are high-tech, thus making the effects to be of high standard and impressive (Lamble 105). The program has effective visuals that are able to tell the story or issues being focused on with more clarity. The visuals are often enhanced by television dialogue and narration. Also, the program’s visuals have effectively incorporated the aspects of graphics including summaries and outlines, as well as television props, scenery, talent/subject visual information and backdrops (Herd 34). There is a high perceived success in the delivering of the program to its target audience. The program targets the entire population as it focuses on public affairs that are a matter of interest to majority of population (A Current Affair). It has achieved success in delivering programs to its respective audience demographic as evidenced by the program’s ratings; it is the second in 2008 Australian TV ratings after ‘Today Tonight’ (Herd 37). Other than ‘A Current Affair’, ‘Today Tonight’ is a popular current affairs program on Australian commercial television. It has recorded success in Australia and is considered as one of the best current affairs program, if not the best program (Blundell). It is a locally produced community interest and current affairs program that is packaged for the viewers in Australia. It is broadcasted weeknights at 6.30 pm by the Seven Network. It provides direct competition to the ‘A Current Affair’ that is produced by the Nine Network. This program has three different editions which include the East Coast edition, South Australian edition, and Western Australian edition (O'Donnell 268). The program has been attaining tremendous success over the years and this is evidenced by the 2008 Australian TV ratings. The program was ranked the top with the highest number of viewers, standing at about 1,380,000 viewers. The popularity of the program nationally has been recognized in various occasions, the most notable one was its win as the most popular public affairs program (Lamble 111). There are a number of elements that come together to make the program successful. Like ‘A Current Affair’, ‘Today Tonight’ has packaged its content in such a way that it attracts a large number of audiences of different walks of life. The content of the program mainly revolves around the issues of finance, amazing recoveries, advice and information, and health (Today Tonight). The content of the program is considered by many as relevant as it not only focuses on national issues, but also community interest issues as well. The three editions of the program has endeared the program to many viewers from all corners of Australia, and particularly in the main metropolitan markets in the country including Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Sydney (Lamble 120). The program has been focusing on health issues; how certain health problems come about, how to address the health problems, diet and nutrition, and how to stay healthy and prevent some of the health problems. Also, the program focuses on topics of community interests such as security and public safety (Herd 95). A good example is its August 7, 2012 edition on the violent bandit gangs where it reported on a story about the hunt for some of the Australia’s most terrifying gangs in the wake of violence in Australia (Today Tonight). Besides, some of the program’s content is in such a way that it offers advice and information to the audience. Most of the programs always seek to report on issues without giving concrete advice or information that can help the audience. It seems the presenters of ‘Today Tonight’ have realized that this kind of reporting is not attractive to many audience as most of them not just want to hear about the problems, but also on how to deal with them (Blundell). Therefore, this program has been designed in such a way that it offers advice and concrete information on issues touching on finance and health. For example, in one of its programs it guided people on how to acquire property as a means of achieving financial stability (Today Tonight). Also, the program presents amazing recoveries that are not only interesting to the audience but also insightful. These stories show how different people have recovered from different ailments, incidents, and accidents. Most of these stories are horrifying and interesting at the same time. They help the audience to know how well one can recover and offer inspiration to those who are going through difficult times (Herd 99). The reporting style is another element that has contributed to the success of the ‘Today Tonight’. The program has very experienced reporters with good knowledge of the issues that they are reporting on (Lamble 139). Apart from that, most of these reporters report on the issues of community interest in various communities in the areas of their edition coverage. Since the program has three editions covering respective regions in Australia, the reporters are able to focus on particular issues of community interest within their areas of reporting (Today Tonight). Good reporting style is coupled with good presentation thus making the program to be more popular. All the three editions have presenters of high caliber with vast social, economic, cultural, and political knowledge and experience in reporting and presenting issues relating to these areas (Blundell). Like ‘A Current Affair’, this program has excellent visuals which are attractive to its audience. The program has employed high-tech methods that make its visuals attractive and impressive (O'Donnell 268). Its visuals are clear and have incorporated various graphic aspects including summaries and outlines, as well as television props, scenery, talent/subject visual information and backdrops. The perceived success of the program in delivering programs to the respective audience demographic is very impressive. This is evidenced by its top most rating in Australia as the most popular current affairs program with the highest number of viewers (Today Tonight). The remarkable success of the program can be attributed to its focus on the community interest and current affairs that are tailored for the viewers of different regions of the country. Also, it can be attributed to its excellent reporting style, presentation and visuals (Lamble 141). In conclusion, it is evidently clear that the programs ‘A Current Affair’ and ‘Today Tonight’ are the most popular current affairs programs on Australian commercial television. As has been noted, this success can be attributed to a number of elements that have been employed to make the programs successful. These elements are: content, reporting style, presentation, visuals, and intensified efforts to deliver programs successfully to the respective audience demographic. While these two programs are produced by different television networks, they seem to combine these elements in a near similar way to make them successful. Both of them have strived to make their contents relevant and interesting to the audience. Also, they have invested heavily in human resources and technology to make their reporting style, presentation, and visuals excellent in order to meet the audience’s expectations. Nonetheless, the strategy employed in ‘Today Tonight’ of having three different editions seems to set the two programs quite apart. As a result of this strategy, ‘Today Tonight’ has effectively managed to beat ‘A Current Affair’ in overall ratings, though with a small margin. Programs monitored: ‘A Current Affair’ on the nights of 2, 3, 5, 6 and 10 August ‘Today Tonight’ on the nights of 3, 6,7,11, and 12 August References A Current Affair. 2012. Web. 20 Aug, 2012. Blundell, Graeme. History of Commercial Television in Australia Chronicles Our Screen Legends. 2012. Web. 20 Aug, 2012. < http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/history-of-commercial-television-in-australia-chronicles-our-screen-legends/story-fn9n8gph-1226351932183> Herd, Nick. Networking: Commercial Television in Australia: a History. Strawberry Hills, N.S.W: Currency House, 2012. Print. Lamble, Stephen. (2011). News as It Happens: An Introduction to Journalism. Oxford University Press. O'Donnell, Penny. "Introduction: Internationalizing Australian Media History." Historical Journal Of Film, Radio & Television 30.3 (2010): 265-268. Stuart Cunningham & Graeme Turner. The media and communications in Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2006. Print. Today Tonight. 2012. Web. 20 Aug, 2012. < http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/latest/-/3/> Read More