Work Placement Reports

Since I'm getting into the habit of sharing with the world I thought Id let you in on the reports of my work placements from early 2007 at two local newspapers, The Wokingham Times and the Reading Evening Post.

Wokingham Times - Sally Bryant:

"Todd is very highly thought of here - he writes quickly, accurately and stylishly. His interview technique is fine and he is very pleasant to work with.

His time-keeping is excellent, we can't really fault him and wish him every success."

Reading Evening Post - Steve Hughes:

"This is the second time Todd has been on a placement here and he has proved to be a useful asset to the newsroom on both occasions. We get a lot of people here on work experience and often they end up writing nibs and peripheral stories. That has not been the case with Todd and he has shown us twice now that he is capable of taking on lead stories and tuning them round quickly and accurately - exactly the kind of qualities we require of our daily reporters. He also seems confident on the phone, has been forthcoming in asking to take on work and has proven he has a grasp of the writing style needed to become a news journalist. I understand from my colleagues at our sister paper - The Wokingham Times - that Todd has been very productive in their newsroom as well."

Well that all seems very complimentary to me - what do you seasoned experts think?

What do the public want from a newsweek?!

So Iv just come back from a lads holiday to the sunny drinking hole that is Ayia Napa and one of my mates, having flicked through a copy of The Sun remarked how strange it was that "nothing seemed to have happened back in the UK" while we were away.

Presumably he meant apart from

The Prime Minister of the past ten years stepping down

Floods destroying areas in the middle of June

Bombings in the centre of London and Glasgow airport

Best player in the Premiership goes to Barcelona

As well as countless more...

It just makes you think - How much news do the public want from ten days!

The Stirrer

An update on my possible Guest Editor role at The Stirrer. Having not heard back from the editor for a time, I recieved a telephone call this morning. It seems that he is still interested in letting me take control, but has been a little busy lately with his wife expecting a baby. Which is fairly understandable!

So, once everything has settled down in The Stirrer's household, we will sit down and discuss the role. Despite my being in Reading over the summer, I believe that we can come to some arrangement, particularly as he claims to have another person willing to cover the local aspect. This would lead me free to edit from afar!

Until next time

End of Term

So it's been a while since I last posted...I do have an excuse of sorts. I have been tied up with exams, assignments and moving house which leads to the Internet being cut off. Its never the best.

So I have completed the Online Journalism module, the reason for setting up this blog though I intend to keep it going. The main reason for this was finally getting access to the net and seeing my hit counter which had doubled despite no new postings. Our interactive went quite well in the end, Neil and I being in charge of the video section. The videos that I produced were...

Speedway explained:



Speedway Clips:



An interview with Brummies star Ulrich Ostergaard:



An interview with father of Brummies racer Aidan Collins, Les:



An interview with Brummies boss Graham Drury



I also had an interview with the club secretary Brian Buck, but unfortunately the wind was so loud that it could not be heard.

I had several problems creating the videos. Having never completed a television module I had little experience using the cameras and so on the Les Collins interview the sound quality is very poor. With the Ulrich Ostergaard one, it was a little dark although I managed to brighten it up somewhat in Movie Maker.

Ultimately, our flash interactive never made the UCE News website for a number of reasons. The file size was enormous, over 500mb, which meant that it was far too big to upload. We did not know how to make it smaller. This was probably due to the intricacy of the piece, with seven videos, an audio slideshow and around 14 pages to it, all interlinking. As lecturer Paul Bradshaw noted:

I decided to teach 'forms' (e.g. slideshow, video gallery) rather than 'skills' (frame navigation, audio) this year. It was the wrong decision.


This meant that whilst the individual pieces were good, we struggled to put them together and upload them to the website. This was unfortunate as I was particularly proud of our groups effort, as I had to work very hard to complete our groups flash interactive on deadline day.

UCE News - the website that never sleeps

It seems that UCE News never stops in its quest to bring you the news from the region. Whether it ever started is another question entirely. My point being anyway, that on this fine evening when I cannot sleep, four stories have been posted to the website between the hours of 1am and 3am. Only one of these stories is mine (I have a penchant for evening work - I concentrate better but its nigh on impossible to contact anyone for quotes!) Are we super hard workaholics that shoot up caffeine like Pete Doherty does with 'other' substances. Allegedly. Anyways, I just found that quite amusing so thought I would share it with the world. My deadline is Thursday anyway, so technically Im right on time!

My caffeine high is over, I need some sleep.

Birmingham goes green

Another day, another story and this time its one about that jolly old piss up, St. Patrick's Day. I found that Selfridges had set up lots of lights that turns its exterior green in the evenings. I also found on the Birmingham Mail forums that there were a few people that weren't too happy because of the lack of attention St. George's Day gets in comparison. Obviously, the normal angle of Wow! isn't this great, was pretty much out the window as I never see the point of doing the same story as a rival only much later. So I searched the Birmingham Mail's archive for stories about banning England flags from Taxi's etc...I found this.

Strirring up some opinion I interviewed a couple of students on my favourite new toy, a big fancy interviewing recorder thing (I was never good with technology - if the phone rings I answer the TV remote). I was hoping to set up something much better for my interview this week, but a lack of ideas, interviewees and motivation meant that it got pushed to the bottom of my extensive list of things to think about doing.

Also, I was intending to write a story about the stabbing outside Matthew Boulton college but I refer you back to my post about repeating the news. I couldn't find anything 'new' about the incident and my report would have been the same as BBC News and the Birmingham Mail.

P.S. If anybody fancies leaving me a comment and proving to me that I'm not just writing to my tutor, Paul Bradshaw then that would be lovely.

My latest story

Forgetfulness comes in many forms, some people lose their keys, others walk into a room and forget completely why they went there. I forget to post blogs about my stories. You would think it should come naturally, write a story, and then follow it up with a blog about how I found it. Ahh well C'est la vie.

This story was a good one too. As Paul Bradshaw says on his highly regarded blog "Todd may also have scooped the Birmingham Mail". You should definately click that second link, Im pretty impressed to have been mentioned so many times! As if that wasn't exciting enough, another highly respected journalist Martin Stabe linked to Paul's blog post on his, meaning thousands of people may have seen my scoop. Im becoming famous!

Anyways, back to the story itself, I found it on the Birmingham Mail forum. This was quite funny, because upon searcing their archives, it suggested that they had failed to pick up on the story themselves. I quoted a few fellows off the forum, and did a bit of research to find previous convictions in Birmingham of the same vein. Finally, I gave West-Midlands Police a ring on their press number for a quote. I was told that it was not Police business, but it was still worthy of a quote.

So there you have it, I now have one more story to write for this week (as well as an audio piece that will struggle to get done). I had a fantastic idea for the story, but unfortunately you'll have to bear with me on that one as Iv completely forgotten it...

Is it worth re-writing stories?!

Well butts got well and truly kicked in Online Journalism this week with the appointment of 'hard-man' editor Azeem. A meeting was held, and no ideas were flowing from his direction so I threw mine forward. I suggested having a moodle forum for helping each other out with ideas, and having staggered deadlines so that not all stories came in on the same day. They were pretty well-recieved but my main talking point came from the notion of what UCE News is supposed to be. What does it represent? Who is it targeting?

These were all things that had not really been discussed before. People were unsure as to what was expected of them, were we meant to be putting opinion in or cold hard facts? One student even asked if we were supposed to be just copying stories from other websites. Hmm, that was a tough one.

I tried to give the site some sort of edge with my suggestions. Original stories are the way to go, nobody is going to choose our website over BBC News for their local news. That is ridiculous, because nine times out of ten the BBC will get the news before we do. So we have to focus on original stories, from different sources or from different angles. For example, my shopkeeper story that I previously blogged about came about from a story on the BBC website. I took a new angle though and decided to interview a local shopkeeper. With his quotes, which are exclusive to UCE News, the story is completely different from the original offering. This is what we need to do.

So, onwards and upwards to the notion of re-writing stories. I am not necessarily talking about from other news websites, but also from the Press Association website and so on. As anyone who reads this regularly will know, I am not a fan of churning out stories from press releases and whilst I appreciate that it is sometimes necessary, I try to avoid it wherever possible. Focusing on our UCE News website, what is the point of copying mundane stories from PA? Our competitors will no doubt already have them, using the same angles but with a bigger audience. If audiences are to come to UCE News, it will be because they want something different from what they are offered.

Having said that, there is the obvious position where a story is just so big that it has to feature on the website, in whatever form possible. But, if we cannot find a new angle on a story, is it worth just posting it as is? Is a re-written story better than no story at all? I would be tempted to say yes, but there is always the danger that a poor story will replace one with potential. There is always the temptation to post said story and say "right, Iv achieved my story quota this week now." This shouldn't be the case.

This post has gone a little swings and roundabouts, but I wanted to convey a few of my opinions. Hopefully it made a little sense.

Good blog posts come in threes

This is unlikely to be a good blog post though, hence why it is only the second of the day. Just an update on how I found my latest two stories, this notion of 'two' might be a regular theme in this post. The first of my stories, which I actually wrote after the second one (I also like to make my posts slightly cryptic) was the typical story that I hate to write but I feel had a place on the website. As McDonaldization suggests, quantity is more important that quality and it would appear that I am pandering to the slave that is. I found the appeal in the West Midlands Police Press Area which makes it about as establishment as Tony Blair dressed up as a speed camera but hey, PR news is better than no news right? (I feel another blog rant coming on)

Moving swiftly on, as I tend not to do, the second of my stories was remarkably similar and being as anti-PR as I am, I just had to find my own angle on this one. Ashamedly I found the story on my WikioRSS feed for BBC news in the West Midlands. However, I found a new angle by going out and asking a shopkeeper about the incident and how it had effected his viewpoint on things. I got some interesting quotes from him and it made the story very different to the BBC offering. Personally, I think it's more interesting. What do you think?

On a parting shot, I pray that I have done all these links correctly. They can be a right pain!

Frustration

Leaving it a little late again to be posting my stories, but Wednesday evening/Thursday morning seems so much more appealing than the weekend, and Im getting more than a little frustrated. Im frustrated about many things, not least the pathetic amount of stories that have been posted on UCE News . Personally I have contributed two, which is the required amount, but two in two weeks still seems a measly amount. However, it is more than most appear to have done.

Anyways, moving on from that rant and on to the new one that I originally began writing this blog for (I wasn't joking about the 20% more rambling). I have a story that I have been writing, Iv adapted it for the local angle and interviewed a shopkeeper. He wouldn't give me his name but there are ways around that. It's more the aspect of a picture that irritates me. Now I dont wish to steal one, even though there is one on BBC News that I really want to steal. I can't find one on any of the image banks, unsuprisingly, and even mediapoint is coming up with nothing. I should have taken one of the shopkeeper or something but I didn't think of that and I doubt he would have gone for that anyway. So what do I do? I can't put it up without a picture. Thats rubbish. Unless I just use a stock police photograph. I might do that until a better idea comes to me.

The trials and tribulations of an online journalist eh?!

Why online journalism skills are essential in the news industry

Online journalism is a growing field, and like the oak tree that stems from the smallest of beginnings, the humble acorn, it just continues to grow and grow. An oak tree lives a long time, longer than you or I, and so will online journalism. It currently appears a young sappling, but will soon take over all of its competitors in the tree world. News websites are already huge, but are currently overshadowed by their bigger, taller, leafier siblings, the television and print worlds of news reporting. Not for long.

They are growing up, and catching up, with news websites already infringing on the popularity of their printed counterparts. Soon will come the day when your work colleagues do not read The Times or The Sun, depending on whether you work in the city or the job centre, on their train journey but instead read BBC Online at their laptops. Who knows, they might even read it on the train using tiny microchips implanted on the insides of their eyelids.

People will, of course, be sceptical at first. Some will laugh at them as they think they are sleeping, some will try to wake them at every stop as they are worried that they will miss it, but it is they who will have the last laugh. Their fingers will not be black from the dirty dirty ink of printed newspapers, nor will they have annoyed the angry tattoed baldie sitting next to them by rustling the Financial Times in their hideous faces. They will be laughing like hyenas, not outwardly for then they would appear crazy, on the inside at their technological advancement over these goons. How they will pity non-microchipped people. How they will conquer the world.



We, as journalists, need to gain the skills to exploit this technology. When microchips are implanted in eyelids, do you want to be one of the first writing for this bold new idea, or waiting for a bus looking at the local paper for stories to steal for your big ugly tabloid career? You can continue to make up stories about celebrities and print wabs on page 3 for the working class to drool over in between bites of a bacon sandwich. I'll be riding that gravy train of technology. If we were at weightwatchers, I'd be the after photo compared to your fat mess.

Jumping back to reality, just for a moment of course as I wouldn't want to get too serious on you, but online journlism really is the future. I've tasted it. Before long, most of the working population will be using the Internet as their main news source. Computers are taking over the world, and there will soon be little room for the humble newspaper in this. As a journalist, the skills to work with this technology are essential. In twenty years time, the newspapers will be struggling whilst their online equivalents thrive.

Those who cannot adapt will be left behind, make no mistake. There is no room for sentimentality in the news industry. The skills to work with online journalism are essential for the modern day reporter. The need to work with it is important for those who do not wish to drop their press hats and find a new career. Online journalism is the future. It is time for this acorn to become a tree.