Programme used:
- Windows Moviemaker
Background music:
- Youtube
Images used from:
- Google
Youtube videos used:
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
R5 - 18 Year Old Mother Charged Over Baby Death (Local News)
An 18-year-old woman has been charged with causing the death of a four-month-old baby daughter. Iman Wyse; the 18 year old mother is accused of causing or allowing the death of the girl and neglecting three children, including the baby.
Paramedics rushed the baby daughter to the hospital after they were called to an address in Bow, Tower Hamlets, but she later died. The mother faced Thames Magistrates' Court and will next appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 17th October 2013 and was charged with causing the death of a child and neglecting her three children, which includes the dead baby.
Source used:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/18yearold-woman-charged-with-death-of-baby-8862749.html
Image from:
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
R4 - Different Types Of Lead Story
What is a Lead Story?
Summary Lead
This is the most traditional lead in a journalism article. It is to the point and factual. It's meant to give a reader a quick summary of the story in as few words as possible, usually in one sentence in 30 words or less. It contains the most important parts of the story and may give a few opinions. Here is an example:
Washington -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress yesterday that US economic growth appeared to be slowing, heading off for the moment any need to raise interest rates. Wall Street responded with a cheer, sending stocks and bonds soaring.
Single-Item Lead
This lead focuses on just one or two elements of a summary lead. For example, when the Philadelphia Phillies won the 2008 World Series, their first championship since 1980, a story posted online by the Associated Press began with this single-item lead:
"The Philadelphia Phillies are World Champions again."
Delayed Identification Lead
Sometimes with summary leads, you don't always want to identify the subject straight away. In the above examples, Alan Greenspan and the Phillies were identified because they were important elements of the story. People don't just want to hear that a baseball team won a championship, they want to know which team. However, the subject doesn't have much name recognition, nor do readers care all that much about the subject's name. So, use a descriptive pronoun to identify the person in the lead. Provide his specific name and title in a later paragraph. For example: "A school committee member has filed an assault complaint against a fellow member, accusing her of grabbing her nose and twisting it following an executive session Thursday night. Patricia A. Iannelli yesterday alleged in an interview that fellow committee member Lucille J. Mandeville "grabbed my nose and proceeded to twist my nose" following a rancorous discussion during a closed-door school committee meeting."
Creative Lead
Unless you're writing hard news for a daily newspaper or regularly-updated website, the summary lead just doesn't reel in readers. You need to take a more creative approach. For example: "A late spring snowstorm surprised forecasters and drivers Tuesday afternoon, triggering more than 30 accidents, Cleveland police officials said." Instead, you could try a more creative approach.
Short Sentence Lead
This lead uses one word or a short phrase as a teaser for the rest of the lead. Readers may find this gimmicky, here's an example: "One-fifth of an inch. That's all the snow it took to trigger more than 30 accidents on local roads yesterday as a late spring storm snuck up on Cleveland motorists."
Analogy Lead
This lead makes a comparison between an issue or event you're writing about and something more familiar to the reader. This approach can work well when you have a complex or foreign matter you want to explain. For example in Amsterdam, you would put: "The Netherlands is considering anti-terrorism laws that make the United States' Patriot Act look like a civil libertarian's dream come true."
Wordplay Lead
This lead involves a clever turn of phrase, name or word. However, the reader may think your story is about one thing and then discover it's about something else and get annoyed. Here is an example: "Bill Clinton will finally get taken to the cleaners. So will Dracula and a Playboy bunny. The three are among some 6,000 smoke-damaged costumes that will visit dry cleaners in the next few days, because of a fire that broke out Wednesday night at Morris Novelty, a popular costume and novelty store."
Scenic Lead
This lead begins with a description of the scene surrounding an event. It is typically used for stories about festive events, performances and sports. For example: "Thousands of people waiting to attend the Summertime Ball on a hot sunny day in London."
Storytelling Lead
This starts of by introducing the main characters, the conflict, and th
e setting of the story. This makes the readers feel the drama and want to know what's going to happen next. "Wall Street Journal reporter Angelo Henderson used this approach to begin his Pulitzer Prize-winning article about a pharmacist who is driven to violence by his encounters with armed robbery:
"Get on the ground," a man holding a gun screamed. "I'll blow your heads off if you move."
Dennis Grehl and a co-worker complied. Dreamlike, he found himself lying face down on a cold, gritty black-tile floor, a pistol against the back of his head. "Please, mister, don't make me shoot you," a second gunman threatened. A crazy memory: tiny specks of light floating in the tile; that, and the paralyzing weight of helplessness. Mr. Grehl is a pharmacist, unassuming, mild mannered. A family man with a wife and a daughter. He was being robbed."
Amazing Fact Lead
This opens with an amazing fact that interests the readers, such as: "Sixty percent of Americans oppose the U.S. war in Iraq, the highest number since polling on the subject began with the commencement of the war in March 2003, according to poll results and trends released Wednesday."
Startling Statement Lead
This opens with a startling statement that arouses reader interest. For example: "The first thing Elizabeth Moon sees in the morning is the room where her father was beaten to death. It was one year ago yesterday that she and this bucolic town were stunned by the brutal and still unsolved murder of Dr. Alfred C. Moon. The radiologist's naked body was found in his bed, bludgeoned with a lamp. According to an autopsy report, the medical pioneer who brought the CAT scan to Rhode Island died from "blunt force deforming-type trauma" so severe that he had to be identified by dental records. Elizabeth Moon acknowledges that many people think it's "creepy" that her family lives in the house where it happened. To her, the light gray house with aqua shutters on Briarwood Road is not where her father died, but the place where he lived."
Opposite Lead
This type of lead includes opposite views and are often subjective. For example: "Facebook rots the brain, according to a report by a Stansbury University psychology professor. Jim Wallace, honors student and an avid user of the popular website, says that just isn't true."
List Lead
Sometimes instead of focusing on just one person, place or thing, you want to impress the reader with a longer list. For example: "Whenever sixth-grader Vasil Evanoff has a day off from school, he hops into a Cessna 152 and takes to the skies. On weekends, Sue Sumner likes to fly her grandson around the Valley, just to see the sights. There's a special restaurant that funeral director Lincoln Ragsdale Jr. likes to visit for breakfast, but it's 115 miles away from home. He climbs in his Beech Bonanza A-36, and an hour later, he's eating pancakes in Sedona. Evanoff, Sumner and Ragsdale are among the growing numbers of Arizonans piloting small airplanes."
Source used:
http://cubreporters.org/leads.html
Monday, 7 October 2013
R3 - Vox Pop
What is Vox Pop?
'Vox Pop' stands for 'The voice of the people' and it is a tool used in many forms of Media to provide a snapshot of public opinion. Random subjects are asked to give their views on a particular topic and their responses are presented to the viewer/reader as a popular opinion. There are many useful sources of news and one useful source is a Vox Pop which is what Journalists use when they out in the public to ask people for the views and opinions about current issues.
The media use Vox Pops for many reasons, but here are the main reasons on why they use it:
- to test public opinion and reaction
- to influence decision-makers
- to forecast results of events
- to stimulate public debate
- to promote the newspaper, radio or television station, and make it more popular
If the purpose of the Vox Pop is to foretell the results of future events, the results must be published or they have to broadcast before the event takes place. However, if you publish it after the results are known, it will be meaningless as people will already be aware that the event is taking place. If the purpose is to get the public involved and debate to influence decision-makers, the results need to be published while people are still deciding what they think. It is easier to influence someone before they take a decision than it is to persuade them to change a decision which they have already taken. If the purpose of the Vox Pop is to test public opinion and reaction, or to boost sales or audience, then the results have to be published or you have to broadcast while the issue is still talked about and if people are still concerned about it. Overall, you have to plan a Vox Pop in advance, or you have to move extremely fast once you have decided to do it. Otherwise, you will end up publishing a report of what people used to think about an old issue which people are no longer interested in anymore.
Different Types of Vox Pops
There are three type of Vox Pops which are the full public opinion survey, the limited survey and the simple street poll and they all have a role in the Media.
Public opinion survey
This includes a survey such as a General Election in the UK and US which needs to be conducted scientifically by a company which specialises in surveys. The data they gather from carefully prepared questions is statistically analysed by computer which costs a lot of money, therefore it is very expensive.
Limited survey
This can be carried out by Journalists, using a structured questionnaire and statistical conclusions may be drawn from it. Its accuracy is limited, however, the information they find should be treated with caution.
Street poll
This does not attempt to gather statistical information; unlike the other surveys. It is looking for good quotes. Members of the public are picked randomly and are asked for their opinions on a given topic, and the best ones quoted. It is good to photograph them and publish their quote with their picture, or record their voices for broadcast.
Vox Pops which are published on Radio and Television tend to concentrate only on the third type of vox pop: the street poll. There would only one or two questions, and very few interviews would be used. No attempt is made to say that this is what society generally thinks about the issue. It is just what these few ordinary people said when they were asked. Newspapers can also operate in the same way, asking one or two questions which will get a few lively quotes on an issue. This can make a bright and interesting item in the newspaper. However, newspapers can also use the other two kinds of survey. If they can afford it, they may employ a market research company or a university to do a proper public opinion survey or, for much less money, they can do their own limited survey. Many newspapers do a combination of the limited survey and the street poll. This can give a story with reasonable statistical evidence about the way people think and feel; but which also has some lively quotes to stop it becoming dull.
It is never a journalist's job to twist or misrepresent the news. You must try to report fairly and honestly what is being done and said and thought.
It is especially easy to give a false impression of what the public are thinking, through a vox pop which is carried out in a careless or deliberately biased way. Special care is therefore needed to make a vox pop fair and honest.
Fair questions
There are questions which are designed to get a particular answer. These are called loaded questions. If you ask people: "Do you think young people should have the opportunity to have education to the best of their ability?", the answer is likely to be "yes". If you ask the same people: "Should young people be forced to go to school?" the answer is likely to be "no".
The words "have the opportunity" in the first question suggested that they should be grateful they are able to get an education. The word "forced" in the second question suggested that it is something which they do not want. It is not fair to ask loaded questions in a Vox Pop so journalists should try to make their questions neutral, such as: "Do you think there young people should get an education?" There are also hard questions, to which there is no answer that cannot be twisted. If you ask a man: "Have you stopped abusing your wife?", If he says "yes", he is admitting that he used to abuse her; if he says "no", it appears that he is still abusing her. It is also unfair to ask hard questions in a Vox Pop. Therefore, they should keep them simple and make all questions so that they can be answered in a way which truly represents the views of the people you are interviewing.
Representative sample
In a proper public opinion survey, the company will have develop ways to make sure that the sample interviewed is a fair way to the society. For a limited survey or a street poll you cannot be so precise, but you should still try. Do not just ask your friends; do not just ask supporters of one political party; do not just ask people from one province; do not ask only men or only women.
Accurate answers
Journalists should record accurately and precisely what their interviewees say. Ideally, they should take an accurate shorthand note as they speak. They can record each interview with a tape recorder, but they will still need a notebook for the spelling of the person's name, and to note any information they may want about them, such as their sex and age group. It is worth remembering and it is much more difficult to analyse results which are on tape than to analyse results which are on paper.
Fair reporting
Once they have all the replies and quotes in front of them, Journalists have to ensure that their finished report fairly represents the views expressed. If half the people thought one thing and the other half thought something else, then devote roughly half of their quotes to the one and the other half of their quotes to the other. Do not give undue prominence to a minority view, making it look as though most people think that way.
Sources used:
http://www.mediacollege.com/video/interviews/voxpops.html
http://www.thenewsmanual.net/Manuals%20Volume%201/volume1_22.htm
Sources used:
http://www.mediacollege.com/video/interviews/voxpops.html
http://www.thenewsmanual.net/Manuals%20Volume%201/volume1_22.htm
Research Plan
Research and Deadline
Broadcast industry, regulation and practices:
What my group are doing:
- A log of your radio news listening habits - 08/10/13 - Primary
- Writing news - 08/10/13 - Secondary
- Your audience research findings - 09/10/13 - Primary
- Discussions of anything topical in the news that relates to radio/news - 12/10/13 - Secondary
- Vox Pop - 09/10/13 - Secondary
- Lead story - 10/10/13 - Secondary
- Outside Broadcast - 10/10/13 - Secondary and Primary
- Institution case study - 11/10/13 - Secondary
- News values - 08/10/13 - Secondary
- Ethical standards/ethics - 09/10/13 - Secondary
- What is local news? - 09/10/13 - Secondary
- Lead sentence 13/10/13 - Secondary
- OFCOM - 09/10/13 - Secondary
- Rajar.co.uk - what do you learn from the data? - 14/10/13 - Secondary
- Survey - 08/10/13 - Secondary
- Sound codes - 09/10/13 - Secondary
- Interview techniques - 11/10/13 - Secondary
- Hard news vs soft news - 13/10/13 - Secondary
- Libel/defamation/slander - 14/10/13 - Secondary
Audio technology:
What I'm researching:
- MP3/WAV - 12/10/13 - Secondary
- Storage: Tape/CD/digital recorder or other hard drive e.g USB - 13/10/13 - Secondary
- The future of radio - 14/10/13 - Secondary and Primary
- Radio on the internet - 15/10/13 - Secondary
- Digital - 15/10/13 - Secondary
- DAB radio - 17/10/13 - Secondary
- Podcasting - 19/10/13 - Secondary
- Portability - 21/10/13 - Secondary
- Convergence and Analogue - 12/13/10 - Secondary
- Minimisation - 17/10/13 - Secondary
- Omnidirectional microphone - 19/10/13 - Secondary
- Unidirectional microphone - 19/10/13 - Secondary
Sunday, 29 September 2013
R2 - The Emotional Power Of Radio
It's official - Radio makes people happy
Listening to the radio makes people happier and gives them higher energy levels than watching TV or browsing the internet, new research has found. The latest research found by the RAB and Sparkler, shows that the UK's three largest media (TV, Radio and online) all play a crucial role in lifting the mood of the nation and making people feel happier and more energetic. And we are not just talking about major events like the Royal Wedding or the Champions League final. Our study found that Radio, TV and online all lift people's levels of happiness and energy on a daily basis - all day, every day.
The project by Sparkler Research on behalf of the RAB surveyed 1,000 consumers by their smartphones, asking what media, if any, they were listening to or watching and to rate aspects of their mood from -5 to 5+. In the smartphone surveying, Radio came out above TV and online for lifting happiness and energy levels. Compared with those consuming no media at all, Radio helped raise happiness by 100% and perceived energy by 300%. However, watching TV and surfing the internet also significantly lifts people’s happiness and energy levels, but didn't beat the positive effect Radio listening has. Mark Barber, planning director at the Radio Advertising Bureau said that: “People are the happiest and most energetic when listening to radio. It plays an important emotional role in people’s lives."
We all know that we react better to things when we’re happy. Ask someone something when they’re annoyed or tired, and the answer will be very different than if they’re happy and energised. That’s almost so obvious it’s not worth doing any research into. And that same person must have also realised that Radio – particularly Breakfast Radio, which is designed in many ways to put you in a good mood for the day ahead – might have an advantage over other media. A spokesman said: ‘Radio listening reached its highest level ever recorded in the first quarter as 47.3 million adults or 91.6 per cent of people aged 15 or above tuned in to their favourite radio stations each week. This shows that more and more people are listening to the Radio, also, a report said that: ‘Radio is chosen as a lifestyle support system, to help people feel better as they go about their daily lives. Rather than the peaks and troughs that people have claimed to experience with TV and the internet, radio provides a consistent environment themed and shaped to suit the listener’s needs at any given time of day, and one that is generally upbeat in tone.’ To conclude, more and more people use Radio as a lifestyle support system and to make themselves feel better about their lives as latest research shows the impact on Radio.
Stay smiling! :)
Sources used:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/20/radio-happiness-tv-internet-happy_n_904122.html
http://james.cridland.net/blog/radio-makes-you-happy-and-more-energetic-official/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/8603551/Radio-makes-Britons-happier-than-TV-and-web.html
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