WINOL - Week 2 - Market Stall Closure

This week was my second week on WINOL and it proved to be a stressful one, however I did learn an awful lot, so here it goes…

My idea for a news story this week was the “Get Britain Cycling” inquiry that was launched in Parliament on the 23rd of January. This inquiry could cause national changes to cycling safety and will affect cycle safety regulations in big cities, such as the introduction of cycle superhighways. Our local MP Steve Brine is the co-chairman of the inquiry and a big supporter of cycling, so my plan was to interview him regarding how this inquiry could affect Winchester. I then organised to film a local cyclist on his usual route around Winchester City, getting footage on both a JVC and a GO PRO. I used the go pro on several different mounts so I could get a wide variety of shots. Unfortunately Steve Brine was unable to meet me for an interview, and as was pointed out to me in the news meeting, my story needed more of an angle than just him. However I haven’t abandoned this completely, as the inquiry is on-going throughout the next month, this is a story I can revisit once I find a stronger basis for it.

I was then lost without a story and feeling somewhat panicked…

On Monday evening I then attended a Standards Committee Meeting of the council in the vague hope that there would be a glimpse of a story. However I was unaware of the fact that in this particular type of meeting they only discuss the internal positions with the council, and nothing which affects the general public. As the matters they were discussing were private, all members of the public (me and my notepad) were asked to leave the room. I then lingered outside the door for forty minutes in the vague hope they would let me back in and something fantastically news worthy would be discussed. At this point all of the meeting members left the room, where one of the councillors explained to me that this was the one meeting of the council I don’t need to come to. 

I was once again lost without a story and panic stricken…

Tuesday came and my morning was taken over as I returned to the comfort of production for a few hours. Prince Edward came to unveil a new building in the university and during his visit he was introduced to the world of WINOL. Our lecturers made sure that Prince Edward could see every aspect of our course so after a quick visit to the news room he went to the TV studio, where I directed a mini version of WINOL. The whole production team were extremely nervous that we got it right and had no mishaps in front of our visitor. However it all went smoothly and just acted as a reminder for me of how much I enjoy directing and every other aspect of production.

I then returned to the news room to panic about my lack of story…

After a lot of press release searching and very little luck, I discovered that Christina was having trouble with her court report this week which unfortunately also left her without a story. At this point we decided to go on an OOV hunt. We found three possible stories, all of which we could get pictures for, but the main one we wanted was the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice. I then drove us to Alton where we go permission to film inside the Jane Austin museum which had a special Pride and Prejudice display on for the occasion. On our drive back from filming, Ben Hatton (our news editor for the week) phoned us with a follow up story from an incident that had happened in Winchester the previous week. As it was too late in the day to get the interviews we needed, we phoned up and organised an interview for 9am the next day.

I now had a story but was panicking about turning it all around in one morning…

Christina and I agreed that I would do the piece to camera for this package as I had very little experience in this area, as it was only my second week on news. Christina conducted the interview with Andy Salter as it was something she wanted to gain more experience in, and I did the filming. After a busy morning gathering shots we went back to the news room to edit the package. I had to re-record my voiceover for the beginning of the package, as what I had said in my introduction piece to camera wasn’t sufficient enough to tell the story. I was very pleased with the overall package especially the “walkie talkie” style piece to camera we chose to end it with. Although I am the one presenting this package, it was entirely a joint effort between me and Christina.

Written Story:
The council have decided to suspend several market stalls after a young boy was hit by a bus last Friday. The 10 year old was airlifted to Southampton General Hospital and his injuries are said not to be life threatening.
The incident sparked an online campaign highlighting the dangers of Winchester High Street. Andy Salter, a local businessman, created the Facebook page “Danger in Winchester High Street” on Monday, which has already reached over six hundred likes. Mr Salter had previously written to the council outlining his concerns and said: “it was pretty inevitable that something was going to happen”.
The council have responded to this incident by suspending the market stalls at the end of the high street for the foreseeable future.

Video Report:

WINOL - Week 1 - Snow Saviours

This was my first week as an official WINOL reporter and it was a snowy one! Although I am a political reporter I chose to take advantage of the icy weather and I covered a snow story. 

My story followed a tweet by Winchester BID stating that homeless guests of the local night shelter were helping to clear the snow from the streets. 

Due to the heavy snowfall I was unable to get out a university camera so I used a regular photo camera to take as much footage of the snowfall as possible and I was very pleased with the results. I then organised interviews for the Monday with Michele Price, the manager of Winchester Night Shelter, and Tony Coates, a local councillor. Jack Webb assisted me in filming these interviews.

After trying to edit my footage into a package, Matt Spencer, who was our guest editor for the week, pointed out that a homeless story without an interview from a homeless person was extremely weak, so I organised a last minute interview for the Wednesday morning. I filmed this interview myself but I positioned the camera incorrectly so the shot was far too much of a profile angle, so the viewer gets a lovely close up of the homeless mans ear. I also forgot to put the gun mic in initially when I was recording the interview so I had to ask him if we could do the interview again, which was embarrassing enough that I will be sure to never make the same mistake again!


Written Story:

 Heavy snowfall on Friday resulted in major disruption across the country, but the homeless community in Winchester were out in force to help clear the snow from the streets.

Four guests at the Winchester Churches Nightshelter volunteered to help Winchester BID grit the streets and roads in areas that were difficult to access.
Ashley Gillinham, on of the homeless guests that volunteered, said: “the community does stuff for us so obviously we want to do something in return to keep the paths and Britain safe”.

Michele Price, the manager of the nightshelter encourages many of the guests to get involved with the volunteer work. She said: “The guys love having something to do, it’s their way of putting something back into the community”.

The volunteer project is just one of many schemes used to help the homeless get back into the working routine.

Video Report: