Newsreels and Television News Today - Essay Example

It was not the case for newsreels that brought images of events that were sometimes one or two weeks old. It was therefore impossible to receive instantaneous news as it is today, and live news could only be a dream for the decades to come. This dream come true thanks to the development of other Media that help the broadcasting and the making of television news. Comparing newsreels and television news is not only a matter of accessibility. We also have to consider the format. The newsreels were often short, no longer than fifteen minutes.

Today, television news can be an hour-long and can present - with more details - several events that happened during the day. Newsreels were often commented on by an off voice who only described the playing images. In television news, there is one - or sometimes two TV hosts - who introduce the subject. When describing a major event, there may be coverage giving different perspectives and even a guest - expert of the subject - to highlight the major points and give a better understanding. Though we can compare both of the media, we must not forget that in a certain point of view, newsreels were made to make the audience wait before a movie.

There was not a major focus on news as people were not there to watch what was happening in the world but only entertain themselves. Dedication to newsreels was not as strong as it can be today with television news. We don't watch television news in order to wait for a show. We do it on purpose as we know that they are reliable sources for us to understand today's world. However, the basics remain the same. In television news as well as in newsreels, we are in the heart of the action and it describes what is happening around us with footage of the happenings.

Both of the Media are witnesses of their time and sometimes newsreels can be more representative as editing was only at its beginning. No wonder that Ian Sellar dedicated an entire movie, "Prague"1, to newsreels. A Jewish man returns to Prague to find a newsreel presenting footage of his deported family during World War II. The first stone of the information world, newsreels remain an important source of knowledge from times when television news was not even a dream.