5 News outlets and piece for market

5 News Outlets

Sports related:

Sky Sports News Broadcasting:

This programme has no more than two presenters that usually adopt a formal but still approachable style to their presenting. It has both men and women working in presenting and gathering the latest news at different news areas across the country. The news is repeated often with the same style approach, and scripted language. It does stay away from gossip news, and news unrelated to the sports covered themselves, although if a topic does influence the sport, for example Tiger Woods’ affairs meaning he would not be competing, then they would air this with something along the lines of;

 ‘Tiger Woods will not be competing in professional golf for six months, as problems regarding his personal life have come to light and he has taken the decision to suspend all entries into competitions.’

Hull Daily Mail Local Newspaper Print:

This newspaper has the sports section regarding local sporting events located at the back, usually taking up no more than six pages. It covers the main sports such as Rugby League and Football, but also other local sports such as Ice Hockey, Boxing, and Speedway. It has a local writers approach with a chatty but impartial view from main editor or writer, but also has columnists such as Peter Swan giving their opinions, which can sometimes be subjective.  The language used is informal, but also intriguing as it holds personal regards to the readers who would only read that particular section if interested in that area. Therefore, the style does not need to entice the reader as much as other subjects, but needs to deliver the news with a factual but detailed approach to satisfy the reader.

The Daily Sport Tabloid National Newspaper, Print:

This newspaper covers a range of stories and topics from different sports, but unlike others, it will bring unrelated items to sport into the fray. Topics such as affairs, scandals, fixing and personal lives of sports people are of interest to this newspaper. It will look for stories deeper into the personal lives rather than the sporting interest of the reader, and therefore makes the paper a god gossip read rather than a factual intellectual piece that engages with the sole purpose of the paper. The style is chatty, but subjective, and can also have opinionated views rather than factual truths, although it would be un ethical to print complete lies, so the stories are sometimes over exaggerated and prolonged to keep a story going and make it more widespread than it actually is.

Sky Sports News Online:

The Sky Sports Online website has a more accessible and discussion based approach. There are comment boxes for readers to leave their comments, and there are videos and pictures incorporated on to the site to entice the viewer to stay. The style of writing is very descriptive and formal with a clear underpinning and outcome of the action underlined. This style is almost a step by step talk through of the story, weather it is a game or a news story, it is always in depth and analysed and descriptive. The layouts don’t often change, and they keep sports and related topics grouped so that they are easy to find, and they have related articles placed next to each other for maximum choice to the user.

BBC Radio Humberside Sports Talk Radio:

The BBC sports talk radio has an informal chatty and discussion based approach. It will start by introducing the topics, the main news, and then ask the listeners to get involved, and encourage them to contact the show to have their say. The hosts are always chatty, informal, and listen to the listeners, and let them have their say without questioning their opinions. The show brings to light any local events, latest news, and does this with a fun and approachable manner which makes the show accessible for all to listen to, and is also very topical and factual to the sports discussed.

Piece for Humberside Radio sports talk 6 – 7 pm

‘Hello welcome to sports talk here on BBC radio Humberside, tonight we will be discussing recent events with regards to your local teams here in East Yorkshire and North East Lincolnshire. So today there are reports that another Manchester United youngster, left back Joe Dudgeon, may be on his way to the Tigers to join up with many other youngsters that have come here from old Trafford, the likes of Corry Evans, James Chester and Cameron Stewart have already flown the nest and joined the Tigers on permanent basis’, another may be on their way, what are your thoughts on this?. Is it a good thing that we are catching the youngsters that are leaving the academies at top clubs, or should we be looking for more experienced players to aid the youngsters already here? As always we welcome your thoughts, give us your calls texts and emails to BBC radio Humberside sport, and we will be on air for the next hour or so discussing various other topics too.

Why have I chosen this style?

I have chosen to write the piece in this style as BBC Humberside sports talk is an informal chatty sports call in that is all about the listeners’ views rather than the host’s critiques. It gives background to the main news of the day regarding each topical sports or club, and then influences the listeners to get involved and give their thoughts by getting in contact. This is a style that is continuous, and the programme never runs with just the hosts talking, as this is the whole point of the show, to have debates and influence the public to air their opinions. I chose this to style to fit the market of listeners that have discussions, and want to interact with the show. The hosts speak in an informal and approachable tone and language style, quite the opposite to the usual BBC style and tone. This is because it is a local discussion based programme, rather than national news orientated factual scripted one, that doesn’t interact with the viewers or listeners.

Evaluation of Emma Massey's sessions and work

Evaluation for Emma Massey’s Piece

Whilst visiting our seminars, Emma Massey set a piece of work, which was a treatment for a news story, of which we had two to choose from. I chose to do a piece on non-smoking day, which was underlining issues with underage smokers.

My original set up for this piece was just the treatment without a script or storyboard telling to accompany it. I started to think about how the story would be treated on a programme such as Look North and the approaches that the Journalist would have towards it. Such as would it be covered in a comical way or a more serious manner, would the journalist have Vox pops, or interviews, or would it be something with a piece to camera, or all of the mentioned? I also thought about the running times and the schedule or where it could be placed in a programme.

After submitting the piece in a seminar at the BBC building, I talked through these ideas and gained feedback and further suggestions through other members of the group, and Emma’s professional advice. From this I re-wrote the piece taking on board the feedback, and also adding a script and Storyboard to gain a more insightful projection of my ideas to the group when presenting. I hand sketched these storyboards, and gave copies to all attending people in the group, and in my presentation, discussed the sequence that I would have, and also read out the script with each scene numbered to the storyboard.

Aspects that were changed from the original piece or the orders of some sections to the videos made the piece more interlinked and flowing as a story. Changings aspects such as orders of sections, the affects in the videos, where the piece to camera was, and also adding a script gave the piece more realistic qualities. This gave me more ideas of aspects to change with the sequences, as the words spoken would also have to flow, and irregularities became more apparent when trying to fit writing together along with pictures.

The presentation of the piece I feel went well, the storyboards where a little comical with my artistic impressions of objects, and also the script gave the storyboard meaning, and vice versa. The sequence of the story flowed when reading the script and my ideas, which again I feel was helped by having both words and pictures, as I gained a clearer perspective of what linked within the piece.

Overall the sessions with Emma Massey were extremely beneficial to me, as they helped my understanding of how much operation goes into running a scheduled programme, and helped me to gain a better understanding of basic do’s and don’ts within broadcast Journalism. The task of scripting a news treatment with all the added aspects was the most beneficial part of the sessions, as this is as close to designing something that could be used in Journalism with the feedback of a professional Video Journalist.

Storyboard for Smoking Piece

This is the storyboard I used in my presentation, I handed each member of the group a copy of this whilst explaining the sequence of the story and reading out the script.

New Treatment for News story (excluding storyboard)

National non-smoking day

Treatment;

Would be a mid to top story, on lunch schedule. Last approx. 1min 20

Sequence of story:

Start with Short video of Teens smoking near a park, blurred and black and white, with voice over introducing the topic and the sub topic of underage smoking. Last approx. 20 seconds

Back to colour, facts and figures rolling on right hand side of the screen, split vertically, with a piece to camera on the left hand side with me introducing the statistics and the effects this has, walking towards the camera outside with newsagents and off licences in the background. This would then lead into an interview with a local councillor to gain their perspective on the topic, and any future legislation that may come into place. Facts and figures last approx. 20 seconds, Interview with councillor, no questions, just the answers, lasting approx. 30 seconds.

Still shots of no smoking signs, under 18 signs with me doing a voice over leading into an interview with a local shop owner. I would ask the shop owner their thoughts on underage people attempting to purchase tobacco products, and any rules they might have when a person of questionable age comes into the shop attempting to buy tobacco, such as requesting I.D or asking their D.O.B. Last approx. 30 seconds.

Video footage of local shops and newsagents without names being shot. With closing statement by me.

Script:

Scene 1: Today is national non-smoking day, but with a rising number of underage smokers in Britain, does the name of this day have any affect in stopping them from smoking.

Scene 2: Figures show that undercover tests have proven significance when trying to stop underage sales of tobacco occurring.  This year out of 49 purchase tests, only 9 of the sales where made, giving a success rate of 82%, in comparison to the previous year where it was 76%.

To find out more about what is being done to stop underage sales occurring, I asked Local MP Carl Minns.

Scene 3: Video: Carl Minns; ‘we carry out operations throughout the year to enforce laws on underage sales of tobacco.’ ‘Checks and tests are completed throughout the year with the statistics on these improving yearly.’

Scene 4: Although much is done by the council to prevent these sales, clearly it is down to the shop owners themselves to stop the sales happening at all. This is what a local shop owner had to say when I asked him his thoughts on underage sales.

Interview with: shop owner

Scene 5: Video: shop owner; ‘I always ask for identification if I am unsure, and won’t sell without it.’ ‘I think the children should be prosecuted for attempting to buy tobacco, and maybe it would stop them from trying.’

Scene 6: Clearly it is a tough operation to stop underage people from buying tobacco, and it appears even more may need to be done to reduce the numbers of underage sales in the future.

Jason Russell, Look North, Hull

Original Treatment for piece on Smoking

National non-smoking day

Treatment;

Introduction with voice over and still shots

Still shots: No smoking signs, under 18 sign, Freeze shot of public with teenage smokers in blur affect with balck and white detail, with the statistics roiling about smoking.           Last approx. 20 seconds

Video pieces: Teens smoking (short clip). Last approx. 20 seconds

Voice over of me reeling of statistics and the pros and cons, leading into an interview with a Councillor

Interviews: a local councillor, giving their thoughts on the impacts on society and future plans for smoking, also an interview with a local shop owner to see their thoughts on underage people attempting to buy cigarettes. Last approx. 1 min

Visit to the BBC

Today we visited the BBC building in Hull City Centre. We had a tour around with Emma Massey, and met a few other members of the team. We also looked at our treatments for a story that we had done. I did mine on no smoking day, but the line of the story was underpinned by this, and the true story behind it was more to do with underage smokers. The feedback I received from Emma was very useful, and after listening to everyone else's treatment ideas, and Emma's feedback to those, I now have a better understanding of what ideas I should include.
From this, we have been set an assignment to develop this treatment further, such as doing a script, and thoughts about a more in detail approach. The results of this will be delivered in a presentation on the 7th of April.

Feedback from Phil Buckingham

Jason,

Just for some feedback, I'd like to start by saying I enjoyed your piece. Very well written with passion and care.

If you were asking to see it published, my best advice would be to submit it as a letter to our Fire off @ Fewey page every Tuesday. It would probably need cutting in length and setting in context but your ideas are strong. Perhaps wait until the weekend result against Norwich and set your thoughts against that. I'm sure Mark Fewings would welcome a well-constructed City letter. Get in touch on email to sport@mailnewsmedia.co.uk.

All the best,

Philip Buckingham

Football Writer

Submission of piece to Hull daily Mail

Today I submitted a piece to the Hull daily Mail and handed it to Phil Buckingham, a Sports Writer at the Hull daily Mail, and gave him a contact to give me some feedback. This is my piece:

There are a lot of questions on people’s minds at the minute, but as supporters, we have to look at the present, the future, and only remember the past.

Fond memories pass over the durable City supporters; dreams come true and dreams shattered all with a kick of the ball. Hull City is a fans proud club, with a most loyal and true fan base, but let’s start to clear up a few things here.

Questions over recent months regarding players such as Jimmy Bullard and Ian Ashbee; owners: Bartlett, Duffen, Pearson, now the Allams, and let’s not forget the managers. But what is here is now, and what has gone is history.

There is no doubt that the transfer of Jimmy Bullard caused controversy over the last year or so, and how it split opinions of supporters. There’s no doubt he was and is a talented footballer, but he no longer plays for us. Some players fit, some players do not, what happened has happened, money was spent, whichever conclusion of wise or unwise does not matter anymore, we have to look to the present and the future. The same applies for Ian Ashbee, no doubt a passionate and loyal captain, who will be remembered fondly for years to come I am sure, but he has moved on, we have to accept this, and see that the club has moved on too. As for managers, no one person can doubt the achievements of Phill Brown, he guided us to the Premier League, that has to go down as an achievement in itself. But he is in the past, whether wrong or right he went, and has a new chapter in his career, as does our current manager Nigel Pearson. Some doubters, some believers, but let us look at what has been achieved here. From the brink of bankruptcy and no money to spend, and having a team with no belief, to a team challenging for a play-off place, creating history away from home, and giving the supporters hope, inspiration and excitement for the future.

We all have a memory of our first Hull City game. Whether it’s standing in the terraces at Boothferry Park, swaying in the Kempton stand, or sitting down in the Family stand whilst bird droppings fell off the roof and landed on you. It might be watching a City team in the 60’s under Mr Carter, or watching the likes of Brabbin, Joyce and Edwards in the 90’s. Whether your memory is your first game at the K.C Stadium, or the game at Wembley, if you listen from a far, or see every match in person, you are like me, loyal, faithful, with a head full of memories gone by. Through the times of hurt, anger, fear, seeing us on the brink of extinction, relegation stirring us in the face, debts and being locked out of the ground. Through the promotions, the good times and the bad, seeing the Tigers reign supreme in their rise through the football league, to seeing them reach glory at Wembley.

Whether your memories are long or short of being a Hull City supporter, you have got to remember these things, but not dwell on them, or bring them into the present. As a loyal and strong supporter of my home town club, I remember watching my first game as a young boy, stood in South Stand terracing at Boothferry Park watching the Tigers play Hartlepool United, leading two - nil at the break. We lost that game three – two, but that was it, hearing the roar of the Kempton breathe through the atmosphere, hearing ‘come on you Hull’ echo around the ground, I knew this is where I wanted to be, I was a believer, a supporter for life.

These memories will stay and we shall not forget, but let us move on to seek new memories, and new achievements under what we have now. The issues of the past have been and gone, they lay deep in the hearts of the club, as do our memories, they cannot be removed nor changed. So let us not look back, but forward to a future, one of a team full of loyal, strong, and loud supporters. Whatever the future holds, a club is only as strong as its fans. We do not need silverware, we do not need league titles, and glorified cups to keep us strong or give us our name. What we need is you, our fans, our supporters, our blood and veins to keep the club alive. If there is ever a time to put on that old football sweater, or take your child to their first game and give them their first memory, it is now. So make your pilgrimage this Saturday, because just like our club, the fans are the Tigers too, and we roar passion home or away.

Fourth Session With Emma

Today we looked at end stories in the news, and Emma showed us some clips of end stories from Journalists at the BBC Look North team. We also went through the six S's which are:

• Short Sentences
• Sound
• Scripting
• Singularity
• Simplicity
• Stream

We also looked at an end news it needing to be creative and the rules that go with writing an end news item.
Emma also handed out her assignment which is to choose one of two stories, and consider the treatment for these stories, writing a short idea and script if needed to summarise the treatment plan for the story. This will be done in pairs, and as yet, I have not got a partner.
Next week we are going to the BBC building in Hull, and will see the team at work and watch a news programme be delivered.

400 word article follow up

A report in the Evening Chronicle regarding a missing girl has developed further after new evidence was found regarding her disappearance.

Catherine Baily, 14, went missing over 72 hours ago, and police have growing concerns regarding her safety, after the cardigan she wore that day, was found on the A630 road yesterday.

Earlier today I spoke to Detective Chief Inspector Geoff Smith, who is leading the investigation into Catherine’s disappearance. I asked him what he has gathered from the neighbours and newsagents about Catherine; this is what he had to say;

‘‘The newsagent staff said they see Catherine most days; she comes in regularly to buy magazines, and was seemingly happy. Neighbours reiterated their concerns for Catherine’s safety, saying that they had not seen anything of her since that day.’’

I asked Inspector Smith if they are treating the case as a possible abduction, his response was;

‘‘at present we do not have any evidence to predict this, but we are treating Catherine’s disappearance as suspicious, and will be carrying out searches throughout the area.’’

Questioning the detective about these searches, and how far these would stretch he responded;

‘‘the searches will be continued throughout the Westcastle area, but we are extending these searches to other local areas, and have notified other police departments.’’

From the interview with the Inspector, it is clear that there are still no clues to Catherine’s whereabouts, and what had resulted in her disappearance, to find out more, I interviewed Paul Baily, Catherine’s Father.

What was the last of Catherine that you saw?

‘‘we had a fall out over a party, I was concerned, as any parent would be, she stormed out, that’s the last we saw of her.’’

As you said you had a dispute about a party, what happened?

‘‘I heard that drugs and contraceptives where going to be at the party, she is only 14, I didn’t want her to come to any harm, she disagreed, and shouted she needed to go, we said no, and that’s how she left’’

Where you aware she had taken her savings with her?

‘‘no, she had a bag, but we didn’t know what was in it.’’

In addition to my questions, Mr Bailey added

‘‘I’m sorry Cathy, please come home.’’

In regards to Catherine’s whereabouts if you do see anything, or have any further information, do not hesitate to contact your local police department.

Second session with Emma

In this second session with Emma, we looked at good interview techniques, and background research and development of Case studies, and just how important this is in gaining a good story and report. We watched some clips from other Journalists at the BBC, and they gave some insight into the work they did to be able to make the interview with the people in question successful. It was good to see the background work they have to do and gain an insight into this, as some people may not know or forget how long and how much effort gaining the background info for a story may take, me included. So it was good to see how this is developed and learn more useful techniques for interviewing.

First session with Emma Massey

In the first session with Emma Massey, a Video Journalist which I will refer to as VJ for short, she introduced us to herself and the role a VJ undertakes in her workplace. This was a good session, as I was not aware of some of the things Emma had to do as a VJ and how different it was to a Journalist with a full crew. She also gave us some insight into what she will be covering in  the next few weeks, which all sounds very promising.

First session after News associates

The session that followed my day with news associates was a good chance for me to develop what I had just learned further. The aspects we looked at within the group in class, where similar to what I had looked at that day, and it reiterated this in to my practise, and we also were given a piece of news writing to do, which was an article follow up based on a story. This was all good practice after the session with news associates, and I am enjoying this aspect of the course.

Other experiences

Whilst at University, I have undertaken other opportunities that have come my way, to try and gain understanding and experience within the field of journalism. One of these that I attended recently was an event held by news associates, who are based in Manchester and in London. This was to help up and coming journalists and people who have not yet entered the field, gain a feel and learned some basics about the rules in journalism. I learned a lot in a shot space of time, and had my work critiqued by members of their association and other attendees, of which I found extremely useful.
It was good experience, and I have other events that I will soon also be attending.