Critical Reflection - Year 3 Semester 1

This semester WINOL (www.winol.co.uk) has struggled to meet the success that we reached last semester with our Alexa ranking peaking at just 27,807 (figure from Alexa.com and being accurate on 30/10/12) compared to last semester where we reached 12,025 (correct on 27/03/13 at 11.16). At no point this semester did we even come close to the viewership we achieved last semester, which I believe is down to a number of reasons. Inevitably we lost the attention of our audience completely over the summer months as no content was produced, so there was nothing drawing people to the website and all of our content, perhaps with the exception of features, was heavily outdated. However I don’t think it is reasonable to place too much blame to this, as we encountered and overcame a similar issue due to the Christmas holiday. The main issue, I believe, is that we aren’t producing enough news stories to keep the website active throughout the week. We get a surge of viewers on Tuesday and Wednesday when reporters are uploading their stories for their packages and the bulletin goes live, but then it dips massively for the rest of the week. To prevent this lull I think WINOL needs to resurrect the role of the “weekend news team” which we had last semester, as this ensures that the website is continually updated over the weekend. This will also make use of the many press releases that WINOL is sent but we never produce packages on, due to a lack of pictures.

 The dedicated SUBS team and their clear news writing bible have definitely helped to develop the quality of the news writing being produced. They have also improved the SEO standard, after guest editor Paul Wood highlighted its importance, and explained how to utilise it properly. All reporters must now ensure that they use appropriate tags, keywords and have a high quality photo/video to accompany their story.  Having a newly appointed content editor has helped to improve the appearance of the website massively, with the top story being changed regularly so that the website appears live and up to date.  

Every guest editor this semester has highlighted the importance of using social media to get your publication noticed, however I think this is a tool we are still failing to utilise properly. The WINOL Twitter (@WINOL) has 1,564 followers (accurate 12/12/13) which has only increased by around 150 followers from last semester. We need to be proactive in tweeting our news stories to appropriate charities, publications and accounts relevant to the target audience. Reporters shouldn’t be afraid to promote their stories across new platforms, as it gives you the opportunity to reach an audience that otherwise may have never heard of WINOL. An example of this is an interview I conducted with the Southampton Itchen Labour MP candidate, Rowenna Davis. I promoted this interview by sending it to Rowenna Davis, and she subsequently tweeted the interview and linked to the WINOL twitter. This allowed my interview to reach a much larger audience as Rowenna Davis’ twitter (@RowennaDavis) has  15,297 followers (accurate 12/12/13), and consequently got retweeted by sixteen of her followers, extending the audience even further.  I also promoted the interview on several political forums, Facebook pages, and other Twitter accounts. I believe that if every reporter did this for each of their stories then WINOL’s audience could potentially double.

We also changed the role of the news editor this semester so that it took place on a rotary basis, changing to a different third year every week. This had both its advantages and its disadvantages as it allowed the opportunity for different styles and opinions to be vocalised however in my opinion I felt that it also resulted in inconsistencies from week to week. By having just one news editor for the whole semester it gives reporters time to build a relationship of respect with the editor. It also enables the bulletin to progress and improve with consistency from week to week. Although I felt my time as the news editor had its educational merit I felt that I could not really achieve anything or make a difference as I couldn’t ensure that the advice and criticism was followed through in following weeks.

Claudia Murg returned as a guest editor and she highlighted an issue that I had recognised myself; we aren’t taking enough risks. We are a student publication, with the advice of industry experts at our disposal and as a team, we aren’t taking advantage of it. We like to play it safe with press release news stories which are guaranteed to have balance, which is fine, but as journalists we should want to strive to find the news, not just regurgitate stories from elsewhere. We can achieve this by simply sending off freedom of information inquiries. They may take months to come back and they could bring up nothing of interest, but it’s worth spending the time sending them because they can result in journalism gold. Claudia also highlighted the importance of building and maintaining contacts. A system that I have found works for me is that when I email someone I have spoken to before I make reference to the last time I saw them, as this reminds them that they have spoken to me before and should therefore want to speak to me again.

The biggest achievement for the WINOL team this year was our BJTC award for “The Best News Day” for our coverage of The Budget 2013. This well-deserved award highlighted the hard work of the WINOL team, and will encourage us to push ourselves further as a student publication.

This semester I continued on my beat of politics, but my role changed slightly from “Political Reporter” to “Political Editor”. My new role required me to take a step away from producing weekly news packages, and instead try to expand on my list of contacts and produce more long-term projects. I chose to approach this by initiating a series of interviews with politicians called “The Big Interview”.

These interviews would function as a one on one sit down discussion, without a particular news peg. Because the interviews weren’t about one specific topic this allowed me to be lenient as to when the interviews took place and I could be flexible around when was suitable for the politicians. This also gave me the ability to aim to get bigger names in. However it was also very daunting. I wanted the interviews to each last around twenty minutes so it would allow me to cover a variety of topics. This required a lot of research on my part to decide on the areas I wanted to cover and ensure that I could discuss them confidently. I also immersed myself in researching their previous interviews, and getting up to date on their views on national issues so I could predict their demeanour and what kind of responses they would give.

 I e-mailed a variety of politicians, many of whom were too busy to be interviewed, couldn’t guarantee a date, or in some cases, failed to reply all together. However I managed to organise interviews with members of each of the four main parties: Diane James (UKIP), Rowenna Davis (Labour), MP Mike Thornton (Liberal Democrats) and Royston Smith (Conservatives).

The first interview I organised was with UKIP’s Diane James. This was a reassurance for me as I had experience interviewing her from the Eastleigh by-election, so I felt she was a safe starting point to ease me into this new style of interview. This interview covered immigration, the 2014 European Election, and UKIPs reputation in the media. It provided me with a steep learning curve and I quickly realised what I should expect from politicians and myself. Organising this interview proved to be quite a challenge as I was faced with last minute cancellations on numerous occasions, which tested my ability to be flexible with arrangements. When the interview finally took place, I was pleased with its content, but its execution left a lot to be desired. 

I decided early on that I would have the interviews take place in the studio under the organisation of the production team, as I wanted the interviews to come across as very professional, however this was not the end result. The studio atmosphere was cold, and the black background and severe lighting gave the interview a very intimidating and almost “mastermind” feel. We filmed it through the studio cameras and the tri-caster, as I originally thought that this would produce the best result, but in hindsight the interview looked extremely dated and was of a poor quality.

My demeanour as an interviewer was far too tense and rigid which made for uncomfortable viewing. Our guest editor, Chris Coneybeer, highlighted that I didn’t push Diane James enough and I didn’t do my job as a reporter, I simply allowed her to give her party line and on several occasions avoid the question all together.

Learning from my mistakes for the next interview with Rowenna Davis, I chose to film the interview, once again in the studio, but this time with the DSLR’s. I also softened my interview style and worked on pushing my questions further, when I felt they weren’t being answered. This interview, as previously mentioned, was a great success in gaining many views. However I was once again disappointed with the production of the interview, as there were issues with rustling on the radio mic and the studio setting still looked far too serious and alien for the situation.

I took the decision to not use the studio for anymore interviews as it simply wasn’t the right environment. For my interview with MP Mike Thornton I went to his office in Eastleigh and once again used DSLR’s to film. I was very pleased with the outcome of this interview, as I felt I had done my job as a journalist in responding to what he was saying and really pushing him on points which I felt the public needed to know. The production of it was flawless, and although there were only two cameras used, as opposed to three in previous interviews, I don’t think it needed the additional camera. I felt that the interview came across as very natural which made it seem more professional, whereas in the previous interviews I had been trying to force that professional appearance, which simply didn’t work.

Unfortunately due to miscommunication my interview with Royston Smith did not go ahead, but I am working on re-arranging this interview for the new year.

Alongside the big interviews I also managed to cover the energy price hike and grab a quick interview with Business Secretary Vince Cable. I hadn’t originally intended to get the interview, as every other news organisation had booked a set slot with him, so instead I was going to take candid shots of him at the event and treat it similarly to my coverage of Nick Clegg last semester. However as he walked away from the BBC my journalism training took over and I threw him a question regarding the energy price hikes, and thankfully he answered. I then worked to turn this into a full package for the bulletin.

I also maintained my role as radio editor this semester, however due to issues with the university radio we chose to take it in the very different direction of podcasts. I decided to make the most of the great content the features team were producing and get them to produce short, three to four minute, podcasts to promote their features. The most successful podcasts were those produced by The Volt. Because they were reviewing music they could use fair dealing of songs which broke up the podcasts nicely and alongside Harry’s presenting, it made the podcasts very listenable. Finding appropriate sound clips proved a challenge for other sections of the features team as many of their features would normally just be written.

I think the podcasts and the features team could be a match made in heaven as they are both timeless.  They simply need to be promoted correctly and people need to consider their podcast content when making their features. After three semesters of trying to build a relationship between WINOL and the radio I think podcasts are the most realistic facility for that relationship. I think it would be a real shame if WINOL did not continue to work on producing podcasts next semester, as although they weren’t perfect they will only improve with time and they act as a perfect advertisement for the work of features. It would also mean that WINOL is broadcasting across all possible mediums, which I believe can only be a good thing.

There was often confusion regarding who our target audience was, as it appeared to change from week to week. An example of this was Calum’s interview with Elizabeth Stewart and the work of Access Winchester which both have a very clear local target audience.  Whereas packages such as my big interviews, although they are local politicians, they also appeal to a wider audience. As we aim higher as students we achieve national level stories, which is great for us as journalists, but it’s not always beneficial for WINOL. I think we need to create clear boundaries for where we can and cannot report stories on and only cross those barriers in exceptional circumstances.

 It is impossible to mention everything that has happened this semester but I think that as long as WINOL is promoted correctly and establishes a clear target audience, there is no reason why WINOL can’t be a main source of news in the area. I feel that personally I have really developed my skills as a journalist and my confidence has grown massively. I have gained an extensive knowledge of my beat, especially when it comes to local politics, and I look forward to challenging myself even further next semester. 

Critical Reflection - Year 2 Semester 2

This semester I moved from being a member of the production team to the political reporter. I was a little bit apprehensive at first and missed my spot behind the vision mixer, but the following few weeks quickly changed my mind.

This semester our Alexa ranking increased massively going from 15,260 (figure from Alexa.com and correct on 06/02/13 at 13.08) to 12,025 (correct on 27/03/13 at 11.16) and peaking even higher throughout the semester. WINOL has a better Alexa ranking than any other student publication in the country, with the exception of TAB. TAB however is the work of several universities so they are not realistically comparable to the work we do on WINOL. Last semester our main student competitor was East London Lines from Goldsmiths University in London, however this semester their Alexa ranking was not even comparable to WINOL. For example on 13/03/13 at 11.19 their Alexa ranking stood at 43,367 whereas WINOL.com was much further ahead at 9,258.

 I believe the main reason behind this increase is down to social networking. Every member of the WINOL team plugs their work on both the official WINOL Twitter and Facebook accounts, and on their private and/or work accounts. We also keep our feeds active on the days leading up to the bulletin by tweeting about what we are doing for our packages, whether its uploading a picture of us filming on location, or just tweeting about an interview taking place. Nearly all of our guest editors mentioned just how important social networking is to news. Former student Paul Wood gave us advice on how to properly market WINOL, and Fleet Street Fox, Susie Boniface, advised us on how to utilise the internet using her own highly successful blog as an example. Simple things such as posting your tweets at a certain time can have an astounding effect on how many people will see it.

Having a Social Media Editor (Hannah Hayesmore) definitely helped promote WINOL as she was continually plugging all of our work and made sure WINOL could never be forgotten about. It was also helped by the fact that the features really took off this semester, with continually updated fashion, travel, music and arts websites. As features don’t particularly date, we can keep them on the front page to help our website appear active and current. This, alongside our “weekend news team” who updated the website with stories over the weekend, meant we could continually promote WINOL throughout the week and not lose our audience. This was a problem we had encountered last semester, we would have a surge of viewers on a Wednesday, but it would then die off for the rest of the week.

We were also very lucky to have the Eastleigh by-election unfold on our doorstep. This by-election was triggered by the huge scandal of MP Chris Huhne’s resignation after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice. This captured the attention of the nation so naturally it helped increase our audience as we covered the by-election from its very beginning.

During the weeks leading up to the election the WINOL website became a hub of political news and exclusive interviews. As the political reporter for WINOL this was a perfect opportunity for me to get some of my best news stories and really get a grasp of the local political landscape. Within a week I went from being the definition of a political half-wit, to a near expert on all of the main parties campaigning in Eastleigh. 

During the by-election most of the reporters abandoned their usual posts so we could cover as many aspects of the election as possible. Faith Thomas, Ellen Millard, Ben Hatton and Simisola Adebosin  each followed the campaign trail of one of the main four parties in the election; Liberal Democrats, UKIP, Labour and Conservatives. This helped WINOL gain contacts so we could get interviews with each of the candidates and get behind the scenes of their campaigns.

WINOL got thrown in with the big dogs as famous faces from parliament paid a visit to Eastleigh. I went with our political editor Louis O’Brian to film the Deputy Prime minister, Nick Clegg, visiting a college in Eastleigh. This was my first experience of a media scrum and it was more intense than I had ever imagined, but I managed to elbow my way in and get all of the footage I would need. Although we were unable to get our question in, I still managed to film him responding to interview questions from other publications, and fortunately everyone wanted to know the same thing; “what have the Lib Dems got planned in response to the Chris Huhne scandal?” I chose to pair the Nick Clegg footage with interviews I had recorded earlier in the week, with UKIP leader Nigel Farage and UKIP candidate Diane James. I would consider this to be my best package on WINOL and I received very positive feedback from both Angus Scott and our guest editor Chris Ship (ITV NEWS Deputy Political Editor) who described it as “excellent coverage”. The first few seconds of the VT were the most mentioned as the few seconds of natural sound left at the beginning made it seem professional and led into my voiceover well.  The only tip that was mentioned, and it is something that on reflection I wish I had done, is that I should have made reference to the irony that Nick Clegg was being shown around an apprentice mechanics after Chris Huhne’s speeding scandal.

This package also highlighted that not everyone I will interview during my time as a journalist will have been media trained. Diane James proved difficult to interview as she wouldn’t stand still, she kept edging closer to me as I interviewed her so she would go out of shot. Fortunately she gave us another opportunity for an interview so on this occasion I decided to film it as a sit down interview. This ended up working in our favour as I then edited it into a separate package, as an extended interview with the UKIP candidate. We then made sure to do this with the rest of the main party candidates, which proved quite popular.

Labour leader Ed Milliband, Conservative Boris Johnson, and the Prime Minister also paid a visit to Eastleigh and WINOL managed to cover them all. The by-election increased our audience massively, with the WINOL interview with Boris Johnson reaching nearly three thousand views on its own.

The lead up to the by-election was very time consuming as you were constantly out filming, either for your own package, or helping out with someone else’s, but it was also very rewarding. The perfect example of this was the Boorley Green/Botley housing development. This was a controversial topic in the by-election so I was eager to cover it. Housing developments are usually a story we avoid as they can make for a very dull package, however I was quite lucky as the Conservative candidate Maria Hutchings was at the housing meeting and she was very opposed to the plans.

Maria Hutchings by this point was notoriously hard to get hold of and all of the media were asking “where’s Maria?” We approached her before the meeting and her PR assistant stated she would not be available for interview until after the housing meeting once the decision had been made. This seemed reasonable so myself and Ellen Millard set up our camera to get our shots from within the meeting. Little did we know that it would drag on until 1am. Once the decision had been passed and the plans were approved, we approached Maria Hutchings for our interview, and after a lot of persuading and innocent looking faces, her PR assistant agreed. He was clearly not one hundred percent comfortable with the interview as he strongly warned us to only ask about the housing development. This was fantastic as WINOL hadn’t managed to interview her yet and she held a very strong view against the development which made for good sound bites. However this also provided one of my biggest regrets on WINOL. Hutchings was all over the news after a controversial statement about public schools not being good enough for her son, I knew I needed to question her on this. The question was in my head but annoyingly so was the PR man so I chickened out, and kept my questions strictly to the development. If I could go back to any moment in WINOL and change something, that would be it.

On the night of the by-election WINOL produced an election special, “The South Decides”, starting at 10pm and continuing until the result. This was a huge task for the production team as there were so many elements to consider. The time was split up between three presenters as it was going to be a long night so they needed to ensure everyone was at the top of their game. They also organised a variety of in studio guests, special packages, live news updates from the news room and an OB live from the count in Eastleigh. My role on the night was to report live from the count. We had practised and conducted run throughs with all of the equipment we would be using on the night and it was working flawlessly. However things did not run quite so smoothly on the night.

We were the first media to arrive at the count and we immediately took to setting up and testing our equipment. It all went downhill very quickly from there. As we don’t have an OB truck we had to report via Skype using a gun mic connected to the laptop and a HD webcam, this was a simple solution that had worked extremely well in rehearsals. But when it came to the night the laptop wouldn’t register the sound, and then failed to register the webcam. After hours of trying every solution possible the only one we could make work was Skype via an iPhone. This was the last thing we wanted to do but it was better to have something than nothing. We made the best of a bad situation and so did the production team back in the studio. I can only imagine how stressful it must have been for them but Nicole Collas made sure to keep us informed and the whole team helped our OB’s run as smoothly as possible.

Whilst at the count I was also interviewed by Sky News. I expected them to ask me about WINOL or our journalism course but instead they questioned me on the election and the party’s policies. Fortunately I had been following the by-election religiously so I could answer their questions, but it was still unbelievable terrifying.

Although it wasn’t perfect, the fact we even attempted to cover the whole election and have OB’s live from the count is a massive credit to the whole WINOL team, that as a student publication we could still be so ambitious.

 It may have felt like it, but the world didn’t stop turning for the by-election, and a lot of fantastic non-political news was reported by WINOL this semester. Christina Michaels gave us weekly court updates and a very harrowing report on the Jade Clark hit and run story. The heart breaking footage of her family’s appeal was very carefully handled and reported in a very dignified manner.

One of my most popular stories this semester ended up being one of my few stories completely unrelated to politics, the New Forest dog toxin. A mystery toxin in the New Forest had killed eight dogs over three months. After they got lesions on their legs and paws, they would then go into kidney failure and die. The source of the toxin is unknown, and since I reported on it, has gone on to kill several more dogs. I did a lot of research into this package as I wanted to get a grasp of just how serious the situation was and how much of a concern it was for dog owners.  I interviewed a vet investigating the toxin, who had treated a couple of the affected dogs. Unfortunately this interview came out grainy as the camera was on Lolux (night vision), however I still chose to use it as I felt it was necessary for the story. I then interviewed a dog owner walking in the New Forest and got some lovely cut aways of her dog playing.

I posted my package on Twitter and Facebook, the same way I would every week, and it was then shared by some local dog owners who knew people that walked their pets in the New Forest. I think the main reason this story was so popular is because it’s a local story with a big shock factor, people are mad about their pets so the minute they think they may be in danger they want to know about it.

Another big story for WINOL was the Budget which was announced on a Wednesday, so we turned that week’s WINOL into a “budget special”. On Wednesday morning I went to Westminster to report on the political side of the budget and Faith Thomas went to the Bank of England to cover the economic side. This was a very high pressured day as we had to get to London early in the morning to film our piece to cameras and conduct our interviews. I interviewed Liberal Democrat MP Mike Thornton, which worked out well as this meant we also could record a separate interview with him as a catch up since his victory in the Eastleigh by-election. We then had to rush back to Winchester, edit as much as we could on the train, and then finish our editing in the news room in time for it to go in the bulletin. By this point we were all very used to working under high pressure, but even then it was still a very stressful day for all those involved. I was very pleased with this package, despite its rushed edit, as I felt it looked very professional, set up in front of parliament discussing predictions with an MP.

Alongside my political role on WINOL I also maintained my role as radio news editor. My main focus this semester was to help train the first years to write news for radio. They would each come in for a day, write a few news stories, then produce and record a bulletin. Working on WINOL gets you used to a very high standard from your peers, and to no fault of the first years, sometimes my patience was tested as I wasn’t used to people not knowing exactly what they need to do. Unfortunately on several occasions I had to leave due to filming commitments so I would delegate to another member of the radio team. Radio was fairly restricted this semester as I really couldn’t dedicate as much time to it as I would have liked, and also the radio society were gearing up to make changes which we were not made aware of. Ideally I think WINOL needs its own separate radio streamer, or at least a better relationship with the society. Radio could be a fantastic asset to WINOL it just needs to be given a lot of time and effort for it to thrive in the same way that features did.

So much happened this semester it is impossible to mention it all, but the main highlight is how well everyone on WINOL worked as a team. Everyone has shared footage, spared their days helping others film, and playing chauffer to those who don’t have cars. I really enjoyed my role as political reporter and I felt my confidence grow as my work improved week by week. I think I have learnt more in this role than any other I have taken on during my time in WINOL and I am intrigued to see where it will go next.

Critical Reflection - Year Two, Semester 1

Winchester News Online (WINOL) is an entirely student run project that now covers every area of broadcast; television, online and radio. Constantly producing content in an area where there isn’t a lot of news to report on is no easy task, yet WINOL has managed to become the highest ranking student broadcast in the UK. Our main competition this semester, in terms of other student broadcasters, has been “East London Lines” which is run by journalism students at Goldsmiths, The University of London.

At the beginning of this semester East London Lines were overtaking WINOL by a significant amount and had a much higher Alexa ranking. This was due to the fact that their website had been constantly updated, whereas WINOL had been left slightly neglected over the summer and towards the start of the semester. However once a dedicated web team had been assigned and WINOL began uploading stories on a regular basis our Alexa ranking began to rise. The WINOL website had a complete re-design and after several different approaches it has taken a broadsheet style, leaving it simple and professional. There are now also dedicated “Features” and “Fashion” sections, so there is more content which appeals to a wider audience. The use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook, has also helped to promote WINOL along with us all plugging our own work individually. Our current Alexa ranking has shown that WINOL is the highest ranking student publication at 12,005 in the UK, and 532,284 globally, whereas East London Lines is only at 23,915 in the UK, and 581,311 globally (Figures from Alexa.com and accurate on the 7/12/2012 at 3.48pm).

Our first big task of the semester was hosting the BJTC awards, as I am a member of the production team I was on the sound desk for the event. Fortunately I have used sound desks in the past so this role wasn’t too daunting for me. The awards were presented by ITN’s Alastair Stewart and were attended by nominees and representatives of the BJTC so the pressure was on for us to present Winchester as a professional university. The award ceremony was a great success for the university and our journalism course, and the fact that the ceremony was so important got me used to working in a slightly higher pressured environment than I am used to.

On the production team our roles rotated weekly to ensure that we were all fully trained on every aspect of the studio. Most of the roles are technical and therefore quite easy to pick up, however the autocue seemed to be the one piece of equipment that dumbfounded everyone at first, including myself. The role that is under the most pressure in the gallery is the director as they are responsible for keeping the broadcast in time and must keep the rest of the gallery ordered and calm. I have taken the role of director twice over this semester. The first time I directed was during the second week of WINOL, so at this point in time we were all still relatively new to how things worked and how organised we needed to be. WINOL must be broadcast as live at 15.00 and the previous week we had failed to go out on time so I was determined that this would not happen again. The VT’s were organised and we had half an hour of rehearsing time, which isn’t ideal but with an experienced presenter it was possible to go out at 15:00. However two minutes into our broadcast we realised that we hadn’t put a tape in so the broadcast wasn’t recorded, we then went out at 15:05. This all went out smoothly, but in post-production there were several issues including the fact that the presenter sounded like they were under water, so the bulletin had to be re-filmed in the news room. This experience taught me the importance of double checking everything before we broadcast, especially the little things which seem obvious like putting a tape in. It also made me aware of the fact that we may come across issues in post-production which were unavoidable, so we must always be prepared to find a solution quickly so we can get WINOL online for 17:00. The second time I directed I made sure the tape was in and we had a good amount of rehearsal time in which everything went smoothly. I felt a lot more confident in the role and was comfortable with giving clear direction when it was needed. However at 15:00 when we broadcast there were several occasions where the VT went out without any sound. This really tested me as I had to constantly reassure and inform the presenter of what was happening, and try to keep the gallery calm whilst we attempted to find out what the cause of the problem was.

I found that it is very important for the production team to work closely as a unit so we can identify any problem areas within the bulletin and make sure everyone is comfortable in their role on that day. There also has to be very clear communication between the news team and production so that deadlines can be met and to ensure that everyone is notified of any changes that have been made. On several occasions this semester news stories have had to be spiked at the last minute which changes the script and can change the running order of the VT’s, which could have potentially caused serious problems for the presenter. We have also encountered the reoccurring issue that the link in the script would repeat the first sentence within a VT, so the presenter and the reporter would say the same thing which makes it sound like an echo. This was a mistake I made when I helped to write the script. Where I hadn’t viewed all of the VT’s and just used the links the reporters gave me, when it came to running through the bulletin in rehearsal I quickly realised that some of the links were being repeated in the VT’s, and also that the script for the OOV’s was too long. This then caused a last minute rush as we tried to re-write the problem areas. Although it got better throughout the semester, I still think there is room for improvement when it comes to organisation and communication.

Another big event for WINOL this semester was our coverage of the American Presidential Elections. This took months of preparation and my role for this event was Managing Editor, which mainly consisted of constantly e-mailing and phoning people, organising interviews and trying to get people to come in as guests. The structure and timings of our show was constantly changing so trying to get people to come in as guests proved to be very difficult. I did however, manage to organise WINOL to get access to the US Embassy party on the night of the elections. I also organised several interviews including one with Professor Robert Singh, who Harry and I met in London to interview before attending a screening of the final presidential debates. The interview itself went very smoothly and was used in several VT’s for the elections. The screening was organised by Republicans Abroad and we went there to film the voters’ reactions and responses to the screening. However unfortunately we had not anticipated how dark the theatre would be during the screening so we couldn’t get any footage of the people watching the debate, but we did get some very entertaining sound bites of their reactions. In hindsight we should have realised that we wouldn’t have been able to film during the screening as theatres are always very dimly lit. Our interviews with the audience members provided some great quotes but we did end up missing out on some of the interviews because we hadn’t plugged the microphone in the correct place. We also managed to get an interview with Bonnie Greer OBE which was a fantastic experience. It was a very hectic day, running through London with heavy filming equipment, and it was also very nerve wracking for me as this was the first time I had ever conducted any interviews.

During the lead up to the elections we had an intense few days of rehearsals and I created a VT on postal voting, which contained several interviews with voters in the UK. We had a script and a running order all planned for a two hour morning show called “America Decides” with two presenters, each taking an hour slot. The whole basis of the script was that we still would not yet know who had won the election, and this seemed like a realistic prediction considering how close the election was. However, on waking up on the 7^th we discovered that Obama had already won, which threw off our whole show. This meant that unfortunately my VT, and many other VT’s, had to be dropped or edited. It was a stressful morning to say the least. As I was going to be running the VT machine during our broadcast I was responsible for gathering all of the VT’s we would be using, and helping to edit those that needed to be changed. The actual broadcast went surprisingly smoothly considering we were only getting the script in half an hour intervals as it was written, and we also managed to make it onto the front page of journalism.co.uk.  This was an all-round team effort and is a great example of how well everyone on WINOL works together, despite the demanding circumstances.  

Radio News Editor was my other role on WINOL this semester, and at first I was unsure what exactly I would be doing, because as it stood WINOL didn’t have constant interaction with the university radio. After attempting on several occasions to organise a bulletin to go at the top of the hour of the radios existing shows, I found that it was too inconsistent so I could never be sure if a bulletin would actually be aired. At this point I decided that WINOL should have complete control of a slot time so we could be sure there was a basis for our bulletins to go out. From this point WINOL has taken control of the radio from 10.00 until 14:00 every Tuesday, which we have branded as the “Tuesday Takeover”. During this slot there are three different shows; Kirsty and I present the morning show 10:00-11:00, which has a “Loose Women” feel to it. This is then followed by a Sportsweek show which is presented by the various members of the sports team, 11:00-12:00. Harry then takes the 12:00-14:00 slot, where he often brings in members of the features team to discuss the success of their recent features and their upcoming plans. I ensured that all of the presenters had the necessary training required so they could get out any equipment and studios they would need. We have produced local news bulletins which go out at the top of every hour and get updated as news comes in.

The radio has just completed its fourth week and I would definitely consider it to be a success.  Being in an editorial role has really tested me because if we face any issues, be they technical or to do with the news content, it is my responsibility to ensure they are fixed. Mine and Kirsty’s show is growing in confidence each week, however something I really think we need to improve upon next semester is promoting the radio and WINOL as a whole. We have a whole university on our doorstep as a potential audience, and we need to make them more aware of WINOL as a reliable source not only for their local news, but also for fashion and entertainment in the form of features.

Alongside my role in production and as Radio News Editor, I also helped to produce the 99 News for WINOL, which is the first daily student news broadcast. We worked as a small team to write the script, set up the equipment, film the bulletin, and then edit and upload it for our 13:00 deadline. I also presented the Thursday’s edition of the 99 News, which looking back on it, illustrates that my news presenting has a lot of room for improvement. I look somewhat uncomfortable and moved my head an excessive amount, however this was only my second time presenting having previously presented Sportsweek, so I am hoping this will improve with practice. I also tried my hand at creating a feature on the nitrogen cocktail craze which was hitting the headlines at the time. I organised to have a professional cocktail maker come to a local club to create extreme cocktails, including one which involved the use of a fire extinguisher. I went to film with the assistance of Ben, however due to the poor lighting the footage was unusable but we did get some very good still photographs. Unfortunately the production of my feature clashed with the American Elections so I failed to edit my piece by the deadline. A long time had then passed between by feature and the news story it was based upon so it was no longer relevant and without the video footage it was a very weak piece, because of this my feature got spiked. I think my error in regards to features was that I didn’t dedicate enough time to it, I was too pre-occupied with the other jobs I was doing at the time.