Producing a well balanced and expansive news service across all media platforms, on the day is very difficult to maintain. The stories that break each day sometimes don’t lend themselves to certain mediums and this can make developing prospects difficult.
As an example, our TV team decided to cover the story that had occurred in Florida, where a whale had killed its trainer. The only way we could shoot our own, original footage was to go to the aquarium and talk to some of their staff. When they refused to pass comment, we had few alternatives to fill the space in our bulletin.
Adapting to these developments as roving reporters and using alternative sources has huge benefits and feels very rewarding. Discovering an original news story, conducting interviews for it and publishing it onto Buzz is also a fairly accurate representation of the 24-hour newsroom. Working as a larger seminar team means that you can assign more students to individual projects (proportionate to its importance) and often produce better journalism.
The distance in between newsrooms can often make it difficult to communicate between the teams during convergence days. Despite having convergence co-ordinators assigned to each team, the group working on radio struggled to know what the other groups on the third floor were working on.
The ethos of sharing material became slightly unbalanced throughout the eight weeks. Audio can be embedded into news stories, underneath image slide shows and behind images in television, so there was always a lot of pressure on the radio team to deliver. Conversely, work by the features team was rarely needed by the other convergence teams and meant that they were often isolated from the day’s proceedings.
Although I never took on an editorial position for my group, the roles I played varied considerably throughout the eight weeks. As a sports enthusiast and presenter on Nerve Radio, I felt that my performance as a sport newsreader was particularly strong. Although the segment is only a proportionally small part of the radio bulletins, it was important that they were accurate and balanced, maintaining the listener’s regional interest and offering appropriate clips. My delivery on air was strong and lecturers commented that my running order was appropriate.
Once original journalism was highlighted as a necessity for our output, my role in online news as a roving reporter became increasingly beneficial. Throughout the eight weeks I volunteered to go into town on five different days, developing original news stories that I either discovered myself or was notified by editors on campus. Although my work didn’t always end with a lead story for the Buzz website, they were always fresh, original stories that supported the rest of the team and had appropriate multi-media features. These often included my own photographs and audio interviews.
The contrast of a fast, motivated approach and patient mind is key to achieving good interviews and finding original news stories. Throughout the eight weeks I felt that I consistently put myself forward in this manner, often moving out of my comfort zone in order to gain material for our news output. Over time I slowly became better at finding my own leads in town and persuading those relevant to the story or in a position of authority to speak to me. My willingness to work in small teams and share my material with the other convergence groups meant that they would easily trust me with breaking stories and lend their share of media when I needed it.
From regular use of Wordpress for my own online blog, I felt that one of my strengths lied in effectively using the newsrooms’ technology. A basic understanding of HTML coding meant that I could alter the aesthetics of my posts in minutes and move onto other, more pressing jobs for my team. Adapting quickly to Final Cut Express meant that I could edit my packages easily and re-edit them if they needed to be extended or reduced at the last minute.
Despite my desire to find stories with strong news values, I felt that many of my articles were too ‘soft’ in nature. I was weak in uncovering stories that had large-scale conflict or negativity, which meant that they would never be considered as a story for the top of the running order.
My convergence skills could have also been improved dramatically if I had carried more equipment with me. I was narrow minded in considering the other convergence teams and often only used the equipment that I would need for my own group’s medium. As an example, if I had taken a video camera whilst I was recording a radio interview, I could have given the material to the TV team and saved them sending one of their own group members.
The eight weeks of convergence taught me how to get into a regular rhythm of researching, writing and delivering news. The experience of working in larger teams and a much wider newsroom environment made me think creatively about how my journalism could be produced for different platforms.
Working to tighter, staggered deadlines meant that I had to look ahead and consider when to drop stagnating leads. This could mean abandoning the story completely or choosing back-up interviews to get a quote.
Learning to forward plan also became increasingly important to ensure that there were plenty of stories in the morning’s prospects. The eight weeks taught me how to organise interviews and research potential articles that would emerge on the day.
During the first couple of convergence days, I had a few minor inaccuracies in my copy and script. From this weakness, I quickly learnt to sub my own copy and double check it with other members of my group before printing it out or publishing onto Buzz. Constant vigilance with spelling, punctuation and factual errors meant that my work slowly improved toward the end of the two months.
To improve upon my work, I would have liked to have been more creative in the way I conveyed and delivered my journalism. The idea of using interactive slideshows that could incorporate photographs, audio interviews and music seemed like a fascinating concept in our initial tutorials. Unfortunately, I didn’t spend enough time getting to grips with the software and gathering the appropriate material on our convergence days, consequently making it a missed opportunity. Rather than simply opting for the traditional structure of TV packages and online news stories, my output could have been improved by using a more dynamic, appropriate and engaging presentation.
My experience in convergence would have also benefited from a greater variety in roles and responsibility. I was hesitant to volunteer myself as an editor or producer because of the additional demands it would bring each day. Looking back retrospectively, working as a deputy editor or convergence co-ordinator would have given me the chance to learn more about team management and content organisation. Although everything I worked on during the module improved my skills as a journalist, pushing myself to experiment with new roles and practises would have taught me even more.
By thinking more openly and creatively about the best way to tell my news stories, the work I produce will improve in the future. One of the concepts behind convergence is that stories can be better in different formats, and that journalists should consider these before publishing their work. As an example, some articles might work better online with a video component, but others might be more effective with just photographs or an audio interview.
Weighing up a story’s characteristics and then producing it for the most beneficial platform will improve my work considerably. By sharing material with other students and helping one another with our own various areas of expertise, it will develop my team work and the quality of my journalism. By planning early and moving quickly, I should be able to find and produce better stories with greater ease.
Monday 22 March 2010
Saturday 19 December 2009
Digital Broadcasting Production Diary: Part Six
To fill the news magazine we wanted to ensure that all of our packages ready, as it would give balance to the national headlines in our show. I chose to feature a new on-line advent calendar by the RNLI, as it ran all the way through December and had strong Christmas themes.
I was able to interview the main fund raiser and ask questions relating to how the calendar came about. I was pleased with the amount of footage I was able to capture in and around the Poole RNLI training college, including volunteers practising and various Christmas decorations. To add a human interest angle, I wanted to interview RNLI volunteers and ask them whether it was difficult to encourage donations over the December period, or if being on call during Christmas Day was stressful. They were all surprisingly positive, explaining that donations were increasing and that they were all fully prepared to be on duty.
Therefore I had to focus my package’s narrative on the advent calendar itself. To improve, I would have liked to add some balance of viewpoints; though this would have probably meant selecting a more controversial, hard news story.
During the news magazine I presented the news, also writing a selection of our headlines and making sure everyone’s packages were ready to be uploaded to the tri-caster. Our news agenda was varied and suited our older audience, including an update on Copenhagen and VAT increases. Our weakness was in our running time; at 11.5 minutes we should have either shortened our packages, or cut down on the amount of time spent on national stories.
I was able to interview the main fund raiser and ask questions relating to how the calendar came about. I was pleased with the amount of footage I was able to capture in and around the Poole RNLI training college, including volunteers practising and various Christmas decorations. To add a human interest angle, I wanted to interview RNLI volunteers and ask them whether it was difficult to encourage donations over the December period, or if being on call during Christmas Day was stressful. They were all surprisingly positive, explaining that donations were increasing and that they were all fully prepared to be on duty.
Therefore I had to focus my package’s narrative on the advent calendar itself. To improve, I would have liked to add some balance of viewpoints; though this would have probably meant selecting a more controversial, hard news story.
During the news magazine I presented the news, also writing a selection of our headlines and making sure everyone’s packages were ready to be uploaded to the tri-caster. Our news agenda was varied and suited our older audience, including an update on Copenhagen and VAT increases. Our weakness was in our running time; at 11.5 minutes we should have either shortened our packages, or cut down on the amount of time spent on national stories.
Saturday 12 December 2009
Digital Broadcasting Production Diary: Part Five
We all felt that our youth show should try and differentiate itself from the formal presentation of hard news programmes. Our main influence came from ‘Live From Studio Five’, where presenters discuss and banter with the news. The youth are often portrayed as violent and anti-social, so we decided to be creative and instead showcase them as exemplars of society. Re-editing our documentary footage of Emma was efficient and gave us the opportunity to rectify last week’s mistakes.
It was paramount that we incorporated social networking into our youth show. It was my role to design our logo in Photoshop and then transfer this as a wallpaper and avatar to our Twitter and Facebook pages. I used the same logo in our opening and closing credits so that it gave a sense of branding and continuity in our show.
To represent Noel and the student demographic, a section in our documentary was devoted to buying and cooking a Christmas dinner. The colour and range of people talking in this ‘mini package’ made it one of our strongest segments. Unfortunately, by filming so much footage we had given ourselves very little time to cover the news. Our news agenda was catered well to our audience, but had to be glossed over with passing comments from the three presenters. If we had had them standing and discussing the news in more detail, our show would have improved. Our studio work, including the use of the auto-cue and tricaster was particularly strong on the day. My roles included both editor and vision mixer, which I felt were carried out with appropriate leadership and teamwork.
It was paramount that we incorporated social networking into our youth show. It was my role to design our logo in Photoshop and then transfer this as a wallpaper and avatar to our Twitter and Facebook pages. I used the same logo in our opening and closing credits so that it gave a sense of branding and continuity in our show.
To represent Noel and the student demographic, a section in our documentary was devoted to buying and cooking a Christmas dinner. The colour and range of people talking in this ‘mini package’ made it one of our strongest segments. Unfortunately, by filming so much footage we had given ourselves very little time to cover the news. Our news agenda was catered well to our audience, but had to be glossed over with passing comments from the three presenters. If we had had them standing and discussing the news in more detail, our show would have improved. Our studio work, including the use of the auto-cue and tricaster was particularly strong on the day. My roles included both editor and vision mixer, which I felt were carried out with appropriate leadership and teamwork.
Saturday 5 December 2009
Digital Broadcasting Production Diary: Part Four
For our documentary, we filmed a local football coach named Emma Hankins. Having taken on many youth coaching roles in Dorset and now waiting on the result of a prestigious American placement, we all agreed that she would lend herself well to a dramatic, human angle narrative.
In the style of Channel 4’s ‘3 Minute Wonder’ documentaries, we needed to record an interview with Hankins that could be used as the underlying bed. Unfortunately we had problems with the microphone and could only record a sequence relating to her present coaching, rather than her future in America. It meant that we had to change the angle of our documentary and focus on the difficulties of juggling her university life alongside being a young football coach.
To add energy to our documentary we wanted to film Hankins coaching her squad. Including teenage players was problematic because of censorship issues, but we were vigilant in ensuring that the head coach had given his full permission. Close ups of football boots, goals being scored and Emma Hankins giving orders was a great way to reflect some of the dialogue we had recorded earlier. An interview with the male head coach was lost because of a faulty microphone and to improve our piece I would have liked to conduct the interview again.
During editing, we found it difficult to work with our limited interview and regularly had conflicted opinions. To improve efficiency we split into pairs and worked in shifts. I was pleased with the production values and the music we chose (Coldplay, Life in Technicolor), which added to the overriding tone. However, the inclusion of the American work placement could have made this much stronger.
In the style of Channel 4’s ‘3 Minute Wonder’ documentaries, we needed to record an interview with Hankins that could be used as the underlying bed. Unfortunately we had problems with the microphone and could only record a sequence relating to her present coaching, rather than her future in America. It meant that we had to change the angle of our documentary and focus on the difficulties of juggling her university life alongside being a young football coach.
To add energy to our documentary we wanted to film Hankins coaching her squad. Including teenage players was problematic because of censorship issues, but we were vigilant in ensuring that the head coach had given his full permission. Close ups of football boots, goals being scored and Emma Hankins giving orders was a great way to reflect some of the dialogue we had recorded earlier. An interview with the male head coach was lost because of a faulty microphone and to improve our piece I would have liked to conduct the interview again.
During editing, we found it difficult to work with our limited interview and regularly had conflicted opinions. To improve efficiency we split into pairs and worked in shifts. I was pleased with the production values and the music we chose (Coldplay, Life in Technicolor), which added to the overriding tone. However, the inclusion of the American work placement could have made this much stronger.
Friday 13 November 2009
Digital Broadcasting Production Diary: Part Three
Creating a radio feature offers a vast amount of creative freedom. I wanted to choose a subject matter that was personal to me and lent itself to interesting interviews and atmosphere. The MCM Expo is a prestigious anime event that gave me an opportunity to talk to key industry figures. Although otaku culture spreads across all age groups, it's primarily teenagers that attend the convention and this was appropriate for a Radio One Newsbeat audience.
The opening explains the hub of activity inside the event and the mood of visitors. I was pleased with the range of attendees I was able to question, although to improve on my audio I would have interviewed them in quieter locations. Background noise wasn't an issue in the final mix down, but I would have preferred to have the ambience as a separate file to the quotes. This way I could have controlled how loud or dominating it was in my package.
Initially, adding a Japanese song into the background of my feature felt like a suitable addition. I hoped that it would add personality to the piece, but was ultimately drowned out by the other elements in my package. The information on cosplaying and the inclusion of an authoritative figure from Neo Magazine were many of my package’s strengths. Produced to time, I was pleased with my links and the imagery it created.
The opening explains the hub of activity inside the event and the mood of visitors. I was pleased with the range of attendees I was able to question, although to improve on my audio I would have interviewed them in quieter locations. Background noise wasn't an issue in the final mix down, but I would have preferred to have the ambience as a separate file to the quotes. This way I could have controlled how loud or dominating it was in my package.
Initially, adding a Japanese song into the background of my feature felt like a suitable addition. I hoped that it would add personality to the piece, but was ultimately drowned out by the other elements in my package. The information on cosplaying and the inclusion of an authoritative figure from Neo Magazine were many of my package’s strengths. Produced to time, I was pleased with my links and the imagery it created.
Tuesday 3 November 2009
Digital Broadcasting Production Diary: Part Two
We switched roles for the final week with South Coast News, allowing all of our group members to have a chance at presenting. This proved problematic, as we struggled throughout the day to adjust to our new responsibilities.
Sam and Katherine recorded interviews for the surf reef, which was under hot debate for the amount of time and money it needed for construction. Our NCTJ training in Public Affairs was useful in the explanation of the Lloyds/ RBS story, offering a context of economics which we would have otherwise had difficulties explaining.
As producer I kept a close eye on our up sound, ordering clips appropriately on Burli and ENPS. Confident that the technical side of the bulletin was ready, I made myself useful through additional reporting. Unfortunately, when I was writing for the child cruelty court report I was legally unsafe in a section of my copy. To improve, I should have been much more vigilant over my NCTJ Law theory and analysed the press release more carefully.
Sam and Katherine recorded interviews for the surf reef, which was under hot debate for the amount of time and money it needed for construction. Our NCTJ training in Public Affairs was useful in the explanation of the Lloyds/ RBS story, offering a context of economics which we would have otherwise had difficulties explaining.
As producer I kept a close eye on our up sound, ordering clips appropriately on Burli and ENPS. Confident that the technical side of the bulletin was ready, I made myself useful through additional reporting. Unfortunately, when I was writing for the child cruelty court report I was legally unsafe in a section of my copy. To improve, I should have been much more vigilant over my NCTJ Law theory and analysed the press release more carefully.
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Digital Broadcasting Production Diary: Part One
In the first assessment we were well organised, with prior knowledge of our roles and how we would be structuring the day. We had created our own stings in the studio, which we hoped would reflect the energy of TalbotFM. We were aware that the gap between bulletins was only two hours, a short amount of time to try and find new audio. Therefore, we recorded additional interviews in the morning which we could save and use later in the day.
Conducting phone interviews brought in many ethical decisions. Should we be open and explain that we are students, possibly leading to rejection? Or would it be better to try and emphasise that our work was for educational purposes? Our group agreed that it was best to be truthful from the outset. Despite being turned away numerous times we had plenty of alternatives that eventually ended in successful interviews.
We were prepared for our afternoon bulletin and met the challenge of a breaking story when information about baby Peter arose. Our news agenda was ordered appropriately and related to our younger audience. My sport desks were smooth and newsworthy, supporting the quality of the team's journalism.
Conducting phone interviews brought in many ethical decisions. Should we be open and explain that we are students, possibly leading to rejection? Or would it be better to try and emphasise that our work was for educational purposes? Our group agreed that it was best to be truthful from the outset. Despite being turned away numerous times we had plenty of alternatives that eventually ended in successful interviews.
We were prepared for our afternoon bulletin and met the challenge of a breaking story when information about baby Peter arose. Our news agenda was ordered appropriately and related to our younger audience. My sport desks were smooth and newsworthy, supporting the quality of the team's journalism.
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