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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was nothing drawing people to the website and all of our content, perhaps with the exception of features, was heavily outdated.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. 

MP Mike Thornton - The Big Interview

This is the third in the series of "The Big Interview", this time with Eastleigh MP Mike Thornton. I am a lot happier with the production of this interview, which is miles ahead of the previous Big Interviews. I feel that it looks much more professional and is in a very natural setting.

The main points I focused on throughout the interview were;
The IPSA announced 11% pay rise for MP's
Immigration - Romania and Bulgaria being granted free ability to enter the country on 1st January 2014
Prime Ministers Questions - is it appropriate how MP's are conducting themselves?





Eastleigh MP Mike Thornton has stated that he will be rejecting an 11% pay rise until his Eastleigh constituents start receiving higher pay themselves. 

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has announced plans to increase MP's pay by £7,600 making their annual pay £74,000 as from the 2015 general election. 

Mike Thornton stated that he will donate any additional pay above 1% to the Mayors charities for the benefit of his Eastleigh constituents.

WINOL WINS AT BJTC!

On Wednesday WINOL was awarded with "Best News Day of the Year" for our coverage of "The Budget". Several students went to the ceremony at Coventry University to collect our certificate.

Well done to the whole WINOL team for another BJTC triumph! I would like to personally congratulate the whole team for this fantastic recognition of everyone's hard work.

Our Award Winning Bulletin

WINOL WEEK 9 - News Editor

This week I took the role of News Editor, and in all honesty, I was very disappointed with the level of effort that went towards this bulletin. Due to the BJTC awards and other commitments, many of the third years were unavailable as reporters this week, so this meant that the second years had to step up and produce some good content to get this bulletin off its feet.

This was the first week that the pressure was really going to be on the new reporters, and I was well aware from the start that this was going to be a sink or swim week. To try and be as involved as possible I gave everyone on the WINOL team my contact details on the Thursday and kept in touch with reporters over the weekend, so I knew what was going to happen in the news meeting on Monday. 

Zeena was my most pro-active reporter this week, she kept me in the loop every step of the way and was well prepared for her story. I think this level of knowledge and organisation really came across in her package. This was potentially an image weak story, however this did not phase her and she got on and found herself a strong case study which had a real relevance to the package and provided her with those much needed pictures. However the package was not perfect as there were serious issues with the sound on the piece to camera. 

This was a quiet news week, but these are the weeks when we need to work to generate the news. Use those contacts you've spent all semester building and find a story. You need to be flexible, look beyond your beat. If its a dry week on one beat, chances are there's a great story elsewhere. Leave the excuses at home, your boss wont care why you don't have a story, the only thing they care about is the fact that you don't. If you don't have a story, find one!

Several packages fell through this week for Harvey, however he continued searching for stories and took the gravity of the situation very seriously. Unfortunately he couldn't get a story together, but instead he saved the day by presenting sports and providing a story about the BBC sports personality of the year nominations. 

However not all reporters seem to share this level of determination. There seems to be this "meh" attitude if your package gets turned into an OOV. This should be the worst thing. You should be fighting to get in the bulletin every week, and I personally don't feel like that fight has really been there this semester. 

A perfect example of a last minute story is Liams package on the BJTC awards, where he managed to turn around a two minute package in just two hours. This was an error on my part as news editor for not considering covering the awards in advance. I was so focused on my lack of reporters that I overlooked the massive story surrounding the reason most of them were missing. Angus also stated that I shouldn't have included both Lucy and Sams packages as they were technically very similar, and highlighted the technical issues of Sam's package. Normally I would completely agree, however in this situation I felt that it was justifiable to have two technically similar packages as they concerned two entirely different subjects, and were placed very far apart in the bulletin. I felt that from an audiences position there would not be an obvious comparison between the two packages. 

The production team was also on the back foot this week as production editor Nicole was unavailable. However I felt that Megan, Katherine and Bracken stood up to the challenge as a team and were very flexible to the changes that had to be made in the hours up to the bulletin being recorded. But I do think they would have benefited if they had appointed one person specifically to be in charge. There were several instances of miss-communication which could have been avoided if there was just one person calling the shots. However I understand their hesitation to put someone in charge overall as this is a very big responsibility. 

WINOL Week 8 - Presenting

This week I presented the WINOL bulletin, which went well overall, but it had a lot of technical issues when it came to the live recording, and one legal issue. The auto-cue failed during the first link, so I attempted to cover it from memory but we chose to re-record it as we had to re-record the end of the bulletin due to the fact the tape had stopped recording. We also had to re-record the link into the "rave" package as the original link contained legal issues. I think my presenting skills need a lot more work as I think I come across quite rigid and I am probably not as relaxed as I should have been.

The headlines were very good this week, Ian suggested that we possibly could have gotten away with having four on this occasion. However Brian stated that overall the order of the bulletin was completely wrong, which I think really comes across when you watch the bulletin back. Zeenas health story should have been much higher up the bulletin as it was a very strong and well put together package. 

The OOV's are another thing that we can't seem to get quite right still. The words aren't matching the pictures which causes a real headache when it comes to reading the bulletin. In future the script writer needs to see the OOV's well in advance, write the script, get the timings right with the presenter and then just leave it alone. The problem seems to come when the OOV script is changed at last minute so it throws the timing off.

Eye-lines still cause a lot of problems, we have a lot of interviewees "looking up into space" which just looks odd for the viewer. Make sure that when you interview someone you sit at eye level with them, because naturally they will look at you when they respond to your questions.

WINOL - Week 7

This week on WINOL I was the expert on the Portsmouth job cuts and had an in-studio discussion with Harry Parkhill.

The bulletin this week had good light and shade, we balanced serious stories (a lot of job cuts) with some softer news, and gave everything a strong local angle. However a lot of reporters are still getting the eye lines of their interviews wrong, and some are still being framed as a profile shot. 

Ian Anderson said that the in-studio discussion worked, but it could have benefited from having some more context on careers in Southampton and reference to previous closures, such as Ford. 

Our Guest Editor this week was Claudia Murg - Investigative reporter for Panorama

Claudia gave us all very constructive criticism, and was unashamedly clear about the reality of the industry we all plan to enter. She said that the bulletin this week was good but only had average aspirations. No one aimed as high as they could have and that really came across in the bulletin, no one is really taking any risks, we are all playing it too safe. 

When you decide to cover a story, you need to bring something new and exciting to the story, don't just echo what the other publications have said. Make a list of all the people who your story will effect and try to make your story relevant to them. You are the eyes and the ears of the public - you need to be able to justify the time you spend. When you interview someone, you need to think about what the experience is like for them, you don't want to bore them. Surprise them, don't ask them things you can already find the answers to on the internet, ask them something new! Try not to focus on what you're going to say next, really listen to them and react to what they have to say. Constantly work on how you can improve your work and your skills.

WINOL Week 6 - Rowenna Davis Interview

This week I conducted an in-studio interview with Rowenna Davis, the Labour candidate for Southampton Itchen. This was the second in a series of big political interviews that I aim to complete before Christmas.

The interview has collected a large number of views, a big reason for this is that Rowenna Davis tweeted the link to the video on her Twitter, which has over 15,000 followers.

On the day of the interview I also tweeted Conservative Royston Smith, who will most likely be Rowenna Davis' biggest competitor in the 2015 General Election. He responded well, so I am currently working on getting him to come in for my next Big Interview. 

I am also working on increasing the viewership, on both my interview with Rowenna Davis and Diane James, by posting links to the videos on relevant political forums and Twitter pages.

I was very pleased by the content of the interview, however i felt that the production side of it lets it down. The lighting is far too spotlighted and gives off quite an intense feel. This is purely down to the fact that this style of interview is new for us, so I will be working closely with the production team to try and get it right for the next interview. 

For my text story for the WINOL website I chose to focus on three main topics that were brought up during the interview:

In an exclusive WINOL interview, Labour MP candidate Rowenna Davis said that she was “honoured and excited” to have been chosen to replace Southampton Itchen MP John Denham in the 2015 General Election.

When questioned on her Conservative competitor Royston Smith, she said: “I don’t think that this man can govern”, and added that: “he is someone that I will respect and take very seriously, but I do not fear him”.

Davis also said that despite her ties with Portsmouth, if there was a football match between Portsmouth and Southampton, she would “absolutely be wearing Southampton colours”.

The former journalist said that she agreed there needed to be some form of press regulation to prevent the “cartel of media giants” and stop the likelihood of a monopoly in the industry. But she disagreed with party leader Ed Milliband, who has supported the Royal Charter, saying that “the freedom of press is paramount,” adding: “people should be allowed to have their say without being fearful of the state”.

WINOL Week 5 - Presenting and UKIP Interview

This week I took the role of presenter for WINOL, attempting to fill the very big shoes of Harry Parkhill. I was quite nervous as it has been a long time since I have presented but I was excited to take on the challenge. I was slightly disappointed as I stumbled a few times and fluffed a few words. Ian Anderson said I presented well but needed to slow down my delivery, which is something I am aware I need to work on, as I often talk as fast as a chipmunk on a caffeine high.

Chris Coneybeer was our Guest Editor this week and he said I was personable but I still came across slightly stiff and nervous, he reassured me that confidence is something that will come with time.

I also tweeted Alastair Stewart for advice on presenting, and he was nice enough to reply with some very helpful advice. This also acted as a good little promotion for WINOL via a household name.

Chris Coneybeer also gave me advice on my Diane James interview, which we promoted and showed a small clip of in the bulletin. My questions were good, but Diane, like most politicians, was well trained and often managed to avoid the point I was  focusing on. The interview would have benefited if I re-questioned her, even if it meant asking her the same thing several times, even if she never answers it, it makes it clear to the audience that this is a topic she is trying to avoid. Politicians will always say their party line and get across what they want to say, it is my job to push them further.

The Big Interview - Diane James

In a WINOL exclusive interview, UKIP’s Diane James stated that other than its stance on Europe, the party is still working on its policies regarding other issues.

Since February, MEP candidate, Tim Aker has been developing the parties policies which will be announced “as and when it suits” UKIP before the General Election in 2015.

When it comes to current issues such as energy prices and economy, Diane stated that she is happy to sit back and watch the larger parties “battle it out”.

The Waverly Councillor also expressed her disgust against the Conservatives “illegal immigrants go home” posters calling them “abhorrent”, and stated that if UKIP were successful in the General Election they would not use such tactics.

WINOL - Week 4 - Vince Cable Energy Package

WINOL Week 4 -

On the Friday I managed to grab a quick interview with Business Secretary Vince Cable. I was pretty certain that I wouldn't be able to speak with him,as every other news organisation had booked a set slot with him, so I had the intention to grab some candid shots of him at the event and treat it similarly to my coverage of Nick Clegg. But 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!

At Mondays news meeting Harry (this weeks News Editor) decided that we had to try and fit Vince Cable into the bulletin as he is a big name which would attract viewers, so I focused on turning it into a full package. My initial intention was to get a case study of an elderly resident to give the story a more local angle, however after knocking on many doors I eventually got the message that this was not going to happen.

As this was going to be a picture weak package I worked on making graphics to give it some more life. I also got in contact with British Gas to get their response to Vince Cables statement and they chose to send me a generic press release. Another tactic I chose to use to help get pictures for this story was "fair dealing" of a British Gas advertisement.

This weeks Guest Editor was Graham Bell. Angus Scott returned to WINOL aswell, so alongside Ian Anderson, we were spoiled for choice when it came to industry experts.

Graham Bell and Ian Anderson both said that my package was just missing one shot; Vince Cable arriving. His arrival would have provided me with the perfect set up shot so it was a real shame I didn't get it. Graham Bell used a Great British Bake Off analogy of Francis's picnic bake being "10 minutes away from perfection", my package was one shot away from perfection.

I had taken a lot of footage of Vince Cable throughout the day with the intention of using them for cutaways, however due to the colour difference between that and my interview footage, it wouldn't have made sense, so I chose to stick purely to the interview shot. My package also needed another shot to fill the time before the graphic, as it paused to white for an awkwardly long time. Graham Bell and Angus Scott were both quite pleased by my use of NAT SOT at the beginning and end of my package, which I was slightly worried was going to be bordering on cheesy.

Vince Cable slams energy companies over price hikes

Secretary of State for Business, Vince Cable, has slammed energy companies for blaming price hikes on green taxes.

Mr Cable told Winol: “There are green taxes and there are obligations on companies to help low income families with conservation but it’s not straightforward or honest to pretend that this is the cause of the big increase.”

British Gas has announced it will increase its prices by 9.2% from 23 November. They stated three reasons for the price hike; wholesale prices, improvements to pipes and wires, and the cost of complying with government programmes.

Vince Cable accepted that wholesale prices had played a big part in the increase.

But the Lib Dem minister said that energy companies were still not being transparent enough with customers.

WINOL Radio - Week 1

This week was the first week of podcasting and it went a lot better than I expected. Although we only managed to get one podcast completed by the Tuesday deadline it has set a very good template.

I was very impressed by Karina and Emma's podcast and Emma definitely has a voice for radio! There are just a few tips that could help make their next podcast even better; explain Turandot a little at the beginning. As you are discussing such a niche topic some of your listeners may not know what Turandot is, so you could have benefited from giving a brief piece of information so that they can really appreciate your review. You could also make a bit more of the opera singer, she really injected some life to the podcast and she is one of us so it would have been nice for you to have highlighted that a little. Maybe consider bringing her in for an interview sometime in the future also.

I decided to give the New Winchester Review podcasts a different bed and intro/outro than every other features podcast as I felt that you were reaching for a different target audience so needed something a little less cheesy and a little more classy.

Over all I am very pleased with how this week went and I look forward to seeing what we come up with next Tuesday.

Podcast Advice

It is still very early days so over time it is very likely things will change, but for now I am trying to keep it as simple as possible.

•   Make it timeless – The podcasts will be treated as a weekly digest. They will go up on the website on Tuesday, and stay there until the following Tuesday. This means it is incredibly important to ensure that your podcast is timeless. Your podcast needs to be as relevant on Sunday as it was when it was first put up on Tuesday.  Avoid making it too topical or too centred around current events as these will date quickly.
  
•  Keep your podcast to around 3 minutes - People get bored easily and struggle to stay focused when they are listening to one voice. The best way to keep a podcast interesting is to use sound bites and clips of interviews, as these break it up and help to refocus your audience. This also helps your attract your audience, if you advertise the fact you have an “exclusive interview” with someone, then more people will be inclined to listen to your podcast. Unfortunately none of us are as interesting as we would like to think, so unless you are Stephen Fry, try to keep your talking down to 45seconds as studies have shown that people tend to zone out after that point. Another tool you can use is having more than one presenter on the podcast, the back and forth banter and communication helps to give a podcast a bit of life. This leads me onto my next point.
  
•  Use your personality!  - Give your podcast some character. Unlike WINOL you do not have to be objective, you can be yourself and the more you put that across the more the audience will like you.
  
• Give your podcast a running order - This is a list of all of the things you intend to discuss during your podcast and it helps you to avoid lulls and stops your podcast going off on a tangent.
  
•   Make sure you don’t waffle -  Keep what you have to say to the point, people don’t care about what you had for breakfast, keep your podcast focused.
  
•  Only keep in the good bits - When you’re editing your podcast this is your opportunity to take out those rambling moments you may have had or any of those technical glitches. Use stings and beds to make your podcast as polished as you can. The more professional it sounds the better. 

WINOL - Week 2

This week was a bit of a disaster for politics. It started off strong but it very quickly all went downhill.

I had managed to get myself and Alex Delaney (Political Correspondent) invites to UKIP’s announcement of their MEP (Members of European Parliament) candidates. This would have made a very strong package as we had a guaranteed interview lined up with Diane James, and there was a good likelihood that we would have managed to grab Nigel Farage as well. I had the whole package laid out in my mind, I knew exactly what shots I wanted and how to structure them. I was feeling confident that this would make a great first package to prove my worth in my new role as Political Editor.

It seemed to be going far too smoothly, so I was less than surprised when I was informed on the evening before that the event was cancelled. I immediately got on the phone to Christina Michaels who was our News Editor for the week and began apologising.  

On Tuesday morning I then began chasing down other stories, but we couldn’t find a strong enough story to make a package on such a short deadline, so instead Alex and I got on with making an OOV belt. I followed the UKIP  story through as they announced their MEP candidates on their website, so I used my archive footage from the Eastleigh by-election and created a graphic to try and make my OOV as visually interesting as possible.

The WINOL bulletin overall was very good this week and clearly demonstrated that the second years are flourishing in their new roles.  Ian Anderson gave a lot of constructive criticism, such as don’t use words or terms that you don’t understand. If your interviewee starts using technical language ask them to explain it in layman’s terms otherwise the viewer will get confused and tune out.  The schools package was very good as they had managed to get into a school and work around the problems of identification, however it could have benefited from a wider range of creative shots, for example using soft focus. The main point he stressed was that you should be certain of your top line when you approach your story, and you should always have your top line before you write your script. If you don’t know what your story is, how can you expect anyone else to understand it?

WINOL - Week 1

Guest Editor: Ian Anderson

The main point Ian pushed was that rehearsing is essential, and this week production were very well organised. As most of the production team are new to the role this semester you would be forgiving if they weren't keeping to the minute, but they worked like a well oiled machine.

As a rule of thumb you should always check and double check your package to make sure there are no black holes or awkward jump cuts. Pay attention to your framing, make sure there isn't anything in the shot that shouldn't be there and make sure that you're placed correctly (not creeping off screen).
The first ten seconds of your package are the most important. You need to make an impact as this is the moment when you are most likely to lose your audience, so grab their attention!

Flu package- this was visually a very interesting package, there were some great shots which is what you need for good TV. The PTC could have been improved by doing it on location, get in a lab coat and prove you were there.

University league table - Very good story but needed some slightly more creative shots. Investigate the universities policies on privacy and try to film the hustle and bustle of students. Also its a good rule to try and avoid filming in front of a window.

Scam package - good court story, presenting was a little fast but it was a very nicely framed PTC outside of court. The statement needed to stay on screen slightly longer just to give the audience an opportunity to read it fully.

OOV- warship story was a very good story and could definitely make a package in the coming weeks once there is more to access. The elderly story made a nice oov but the interview needed to be a little longer just to get more of an idea who the lady speaking was.

Keep about three shots per oov, any more gets difficult to watch. Try to avoid hitting a change of shot at the end of the script as it can feel too abrupt.

Climate - Nice camera work, just needed a few more shots so that there was more to choose from when editing. Very good piece to camera.

Minecraft - Really well done package, started with the natural sound of the game, very comical presenting.

The beginning of the end.

The first semester of our final year has kicked off. The second years are embracing their new roles and the third years are clinging on to what will be our final months on WINOL.

This semester I am taking the role of Political Editor and Radio Editor. As Political Editor I will be taking a step back from the weekly cycle on WINOL and try to reel in some bigger fish. So far I am feeling somewhat lost as my deadlines are now longer than a week but I'm sure I will soon get back into the swing of things. My first big interview I have set up is with UKIP member Diane James, who I'm sure all of you remember from the Eastleigh by-election. I will be reporting from Brooks Mews next Tuesday, when UKIP announce their candidates for the 2014 MEP elections. I will cover my interview with Diane James there also.

As Radio Editor I have already faced a few headaches and made the decision to cut our ties with the radio society. Unfortunately it came to the stage last semester where we couldn't depend on the existing radio station to even stream online regularly which was damaging our credibility. However this gave us the opportunity to create something entirely new and exciting, our features podcast. By utilising the use of podcasts the features team can have another platform to promote their work. We will be creating a podcast every week which will function as the features equivalent of WINOL. It is still in its very early stages of development but the basic idea is that we have a presenter who will bring in members of the features team to discuss their work, whether it be a review, fashion tips, or travelling anecdotes, there will be a place for it all. This will all be recorded "as live". It will then be refined and edited in post production to make it pretty and flamboyant enough to go on the website at a set deadline, in the same way WINOL goes "live at five". This podcast will then live on the website homepage until the following Tuesday when it will be replaced by the next show.

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.

WINOL Highlights

WINOL has covered a lot of big stories this year, so we decided to compile a special highlights edition to look back over our best packages.
For this special edition I edited the politics highlight package. This proved a lot harder than I expected as we simply had too much good footage from the Eastleigh by-election, so I struggled to pick and choose what should go in. In the end I decided to take a chronological approach to the package as they really told the story of the by-election and it was the best way to get as much footage in as possible. As the by-election was a collaborative effort of the whole team I couldn't give direct accreditation to each reporter for their footage as it would have just become a mess of names, but it really was a team effort.  

Unfortunately our usually presenter Harry Parkhill had to pop away on the Wednesday so I was asked to fill in on presenting. I was very nervous about this as I have very little experience presenting and it was all being filmed on location so I couldn't have an auto cue. However I tried my best to fill some very big shoes and I hope I didn't do WINOL too much of an injustice.

SKY News Interview

At the count of the Eastleigh By-election, I was interviewed by SKY News on the election so far.