Broadcast Critique Project 

In the Special Report with Bret Baier on Fox News at 6 PM Eastern Time, the main focus was on the real time events of what’s happening in Baltimore. Baier started out the broadcast explaining the chaos happening in the city of Baltimore as a result of the death of 25 year old, Freddie Gray.

As far as the audio and visual aspect of this broadcast it was very well done, not too overpowering or distracting. While watching the news broadcast I noticed how clean the audio sounded in the on camera interviews, desk segments, and live videos of Baltimore itself.

Sometimes when reading a magazine or newspaper I often find myself getting distracted or bored after a while due to the lack of visual or audio appeal. Fox News does a great job with piecing these elements together for their broadcasts. Even information needs to be colorful and attention grabbing in this day in age; Fox, and many affiliates like it do a great job with that aspect of media.

Bret opened and closed the show with real time video and news reports from the riots in Baltimore. In the middle of the Fox News segment at 6 PM, he also talked about the controversy surrounding Hilary Clinton and her husband Bill regarding their beloved foundation.

Brit Hume joined Bret to break down the controversy surrounding the Clinton’s. Hume explained to Fox News viewers that the Clintons have “managed to go from being in deep debt to fabulously rich, to the tune of about 140 million dollars.”

This information, as well as the information from Baltimore is relevant because it is happening right now. As a broadcaster, the aspect of timeliness is essential if you want to keep and gain viewers. No one wants to hear about what riots happened last month, they want to know what riots are happening at the very moment they sit down to watch the news.  

Bret did a great job delivering the immediate news in the 6 PM news broadcast. He gave the facts as well as gained perspective from contributors such as Brit Hume.

As far as information vs. explanation goes, there were three main topics of discussion in the Special Report with Bret Baier; the riots in Baltimore, Hilary’s financial scandal, and President Obama’s deal with Iran.

Bret provided quick, informational intros to each story, usually leading up to an interview or a pre-recorded package explaining more on the subject. Bret then shared his closing comments before moving on to the next piece of news. There was information and explanation without creating boring content that would make people change the channel.

In all this broadcast was very well done, it went very quickly and caught me up on many things happening around the country and around the world. I would like to start watching more Special Reports with Bret.

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