WINOL 10th February Bulletin Debrief

 

This week’s bulletin was very strong in terms of news; there was a solid and good script. Headlines were good – much better than last week and not descriptive. We had the crunchy, gritty NATSOT of the flood; headlines need to sell the story and be punchy.

Good comment should be used in the headlines, fudge it to make viewers watch. Headlines should be obsessed over because they are the first things viewers see.

The script just needs to get done, unfortunately this week the paper needed to be read because there were autocue issues in production. It’s good that Tate knew the stories and understood them so that when reading the script it was clear.

Archive footage is useful – don’t overestimate originality, stick to the formula of news reporting.

Lucy: It would be good to have a sequence of people walking into the meeting before the ptc, remember to do what gets the viewers. Perhaps it was a digression going to Southampton. However, the package was very newsy but close to the wind with balance. It could be argued that there was undue prominence towards the union – just give the news. To be safe use phrases like ‘claim to be’.

Make the distinction between fact and comment. Balance can be given over time – only magazines and papers are allowed to bias.

The flood packages were technically perfect; Alex’s graphic exposition inflected his words and was presented well.

John: The script was quite long and complicated; editing could have been sharper and shorter. In this package, there were good sequences and sound but fact is sometimes not worth the chase – if you are unsure of the number fudge it. Write to the pictures.

Leave the pictures out if they are badly shot.

Hilde: The package had a three point list but there was a slight lack of pictures and the sound in the interview could have been better.

Use the facts from your interviewee’s voice in your script.

Use the lights on the camera and just try and see what looks best.

Watch out for grammar in terms of have and has – this week we had this error four times.

Subject and verb must agree on plural, tense and case.

Out of focus shots should only be used in features to set the mood, there is not enough time for this in the news. A pull focus should only be used when necessary – it is used to change the point of focus, a split focus effectively.

WINOL 22nd January Bulletin Debrief

This week’s bulletin was our dummy run but we initially managed to broadcast our output, unfortunately we spotted a fatal error in the headlines; it is not a fact that King Alfred was the last Saxon king.

Due to the expectation that the first week would be a practice and not broadcast, WINOL as a whole did better than expected but the pre-preparation of getting and securing stories was less than hoped. The overall feel of the project and its website needs tightening up a bit more over this semester.

We managed to tighten the news conference up compared to last semester but the features meeting was less so and this will be worked on. Overall, stories this week were good and there was a range of strong pictures that reporters worked hard to gain access for. We are not fortunate enough to have a forward news planning team so as a consequence, reporters need to be much more vigilant in scanning the national media. *The Today Programme is important* We must use contacts for breaking news and get organised before national broadcasters.

First up = best dressed

The front page has greatly improved since the allocation of this role, we need to keep a constant eye on the site. Production and the gallery team worked really well and as a close knit team for their first week on the job, Tate’s writing was smooth and she kept cool all day. This was impressive especially as most of the links given didn’t work or make sense – reporters must have interesting things to put in like hard hitting facts to grab the attention of viewers. Links need to be completed before a story can be ticked off on the board, explain why the story is important.

We had to rework pretty much of all the VTs but we can learn from this work and not make the same mistakes again. Interviews are our weakest point, ripe for improvement sound needs to be bettered and GET THE QUOTE.

WINOL  needs a political reporter. Get to know your beat.

We are in a mad situation that production and the news editor have to chase for headline clips, reporters should be fighting for these spots.

We are going to get stricter with deadlines this semester – the reasons for stories being spiked this week was that deadlines were missed. Any deadline on the board is in concrete and absolute.

This week we needed an ‘and finally’ because this package will probably be the most popular and memorable.

Interview tips:

Get your interviewee to stand up; they are most comfortable and the sound is better like this.

Try and get an outside interview; the lighting is better and there is a more interesting background. This also adds to the richness of the sound; inside there is lots of unnatural sound, we can get the rawest noise from outdoors.

It should be left to right as this is how we read.

Backgrounds should represent the importance of the interviewee – white walls are banned from now on.

Depth of field is important for interviews, make sure your interviewee is properly focused and the iris is set on them.

Never film clocks as they are obvious for time lapses.

The tripod should be the same height as the eyeline and never let the interviewee hold the mic. Ever.

There should be a hand’s width from a face to the mic

Keep eye contact throughout the answer, if you break this interviewees would have lost what they were saying.

Sequences need to contain three shots but get five so you have room to play with.

 

General package tips:

Just get it done, leave dignity at home, don’t be embarrassed, screw the world.

No pans, no zooms

Voiceover the sequences

When you leave the newsroom to film, you should already have written the story just go and get the colour – the quotes.

Chris’ Debrief and News Writing recap

The editors need to take more charge, make sure you challenge the legalities and facts in every news story. CHECK, CHECK, CHECK. We must be sceptical and question everything. Journalism is there to check the facts.

You must come to the news conference and begin with the statement ‘I have got this…’, we cannot have excuses or plans. The formality needs to come back.

Overall the WINOL text stories on the site need improvement, it needs to be constantly updated like any other online news site. The subbing and production side of WINOL is good and is almost there technically, we can only get better.

What makes Chris happy?

Success, be successful – this is the ultimate goal to improve WINOL’s reputation and make us employable

The best possible thing that we can get is an inside scoop – see Christina’s cameras in court legislation story which she published before Sky News. You make your own luck in journalism, build your contacts up and be in the right place. *Always be in the know*

Subject + Verb + Object = HEADLINES

The subject and verb must agree on:

Tense

Plural

Case – the subject must be capable of producing the action of the verb

People should always be the focus of any news story, this is journalism. If they are used in the headline, it is easier to attach verbs to people this is a good tool for creating a hard hitting headline. *Always use the active voice*

Introductions should be in a simple and summary style, your top paragraph should include Who? What? Where? When? The easiest way to do this is to read newspapers and use them as examples. Just remember that the formula works, copy its structure!

The second paragraph should be your ‘the move follows’ paragraph; it is the explanation of your story. Use this as your why paragraph.

Punctuation needs checking, this is the main job for the subs they should not have to rewrite your whole story.

‘He said in a statement’ is a must for press releases and lifting quotes, just the verb ‘said’ sounds like you have had an interview and the quotes are direct from your work. For lifting, no attribution means no quote. Lifting quotes can be okay, use the phrases: ‘speaking to the press’, ‘told reporters’ and ‘told a newspaper’. There is no need to name the paper but try to limit lifting to 30 words maximum – roughly three sentences maximum before its classed as stealing. When attributing the source, remember to put the date on it the audience want to know how recent the news is. Use ‘said’, ‘says’ or ‘tweeted’. You can also assume that the press officer’s words are the individual’s too, never use ‘a spokesperson said’.

Quotes should only be used as comment, the best quotes are ‘its a dream come true’ or ‘its a nightmare’.

Comment vs Fact:

Fact is an independently verifiable truth statement that should always be in your voice and can be checked by definition. They are not always worth chasing, you have two options either to leave it out or to fudge it. To fudge it means to attribute it or to look it up – the phrase ‘who claims to be’ is very important for this. Comment is everything else.

There is no such thing as checking too many facts; the number one fatal error is that you must never pass comment off as fact.

The perfect combination for a written news story is facts + quotes + headline

Make sure there is a local angle – what is the Winchester perspective? Southampton? Eastleigh?

News writing should have no personality, a mid-market style with a sense of disinterested professionalism.

Put the function first before the name, obviously there are a few exceptions to the rule this would involve celebrities because their job is essentially being themselves. E.g. ‘US President Barack Obama’

Never put an ellipsis in a quote, instead use ‘someone said,[QUOTE], adding she said’. This break can add words up to a thousand words later, find the best quotes. Remember to filter!

Use quotes in your headlines to as impact and get your stories read, this is why we are writing them after all.

Pictures for written stories need to relate to the story and be people orientated ideally and all pictures must have captions.

Two last points to bear in mind are:

What is the best subject? – This will help with headlines and the angle of your story, it all revolves back around to planning

When is recently? – We need times and dates because news is essentially new stuff

*Be careful of commercial malice*

From now on the WINOL site must have simple, declarative and active sentences.