Heading toward election time...and the issues

As we head into our first election assignment, it's kinda funny... I was going to have you ask people what issues are most important as they make their voting decisions for November - but from the polling info we have today, it's pretty clear that people really, really care about the economy.

To this end, we want to find out how people are feeling, and what they want to hear from their lawmakers as they head to the polls. Some sample questions:

"What issues are important to you during this Presidential Election year?"
"Are the candidates addressing these concerns?"
"Is the media talking about economic issues enough?"
"Do you think one candidate or the other has a better plan to help fix the economy?"
"Does the state of the economy influence how you'll vote in November?"

What other questions do we want to ask?

For next week, you'll need at least 3 vox (or "man on the street" interviews) fully transcribed, with first and last names, and the town where the subject lives. You should get enough vox to make sure you have at least two "contrasting" points of view.

Then, next week (October 7th) - Professor Lisa Burns will be here to talk about media coverage of issues, and how she views the messages about the economy coming out of both camps - and Congress. We'll interview her - press conference style - basing our questions on the issues that our interview subjects raise.

We'll write our stories for the following week - and produce them in class on Pro Tools.

"It's the price of living in paradise..."

Some people just know how to "get tape."  John Burnett is one of them.  Listen to this story, as people try to clean up from Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas.  It's clear Burnett is trying to paint a picture of people's lives - and what it's really like after the TV crews have left.  His choices for "actualities" are startling, funny, gross, and above all ear-catching.  

Where We Live in the news...twice

We'll go through periods in our business where other media seems to pick up quickly on what you're doing.  We had one of those weeks.   The New Haven Advocate was doing a story about Governor Rell's radio appearances, and asked how often she'd been on to take calls.  "Never," I said.  So, they wrote about it.

And, the New London Day picked up on our interview with 2nd district congressional candidate Sean Sullivan.

Keeping up with speeding particles

David Kestenbaum is the NPR science reporter I talk about often in class. He's always cited by public radio people as an example of a great storyteller, who often works with less than compelling source material. As we debated whether to include the story about the Hadron particle accelerator in our mock newscast, I got to thinking that if Kestenbaum was telling the story, I'd definitely want to hear it. Here's a story he did back in April, as the project was just getting revved up.

Compact Flash Cards and Olympus Recorders

Tonight, QU tech wizard Nancy Hall gives our class a tutorial on how to record sound using the Marantz digital recorders, and how to get that sound on ProTools for editing. We'll need to learn how to use ProTools to produce our projects in class, and the Marantz is one of two approved ways to gather sound.

If you want to use the Marantz in class - remember that Quinnipiac has 48 hour sign out rules. You'll also need to purchase a compact flash card to keep your sound on. Newegg.com is a great place to find cheap computer stuff. You can get compact flash cards for as little as $8 on the site right now. By using the Marantz, you'll be able to use the audio you've gathered directly on ProTools.

There are more steps involved if you want to use your own machine. Newegg.com also has the preferred Olympus recorder for about as little as you're likely to pay (if you look hard, you might save $5). If you decide to buy the Olympus, you'll need to download a file converter onto your home computer, to turn the WMA file you've recorded into a WAV file to use in ProTools. You can easily download dozens of these, but Download.com always works. You'll then need to get that file into ProTools, by thumb drive, cd or some other means.

"Sound Reporting" and an intro to AP

Tonight, we really get to tear into this great new Jonathan Kern book about radio news called "Sound Reporting." I want to focus on the first few chapters...an overview called "Sound and Stories," a pretty important chapter on "Fairness" and an introduction to "Writing for Broadcast." I'd like to concentrate on just a few key ideas from each.

In the first chapter, Kern writes that "Radio is intimate." That's probably the best thing to remember about your audience...they're not "all out there." Instead you're talking to one person...telling him (or her) a story you'd like them to hear.

His idea that there "are no headlines" (p. 4) in radio is obvious...so we always try to make sure our "important stories come first and get more airtime." (p.5) (Exercise: Pick out five stories for our newscast, and put them in the right order...it's not aways obvious, and is usually good for some healthy newsroom debate.) How do we figure out what the "important" stories are? See Kern's chapter 10 description in a discussion of "Newscasts" - but better yet, reference Jay Kernis' "Four Tiers of News Coverage."

Despite our best efforts to put the best stories first, some listeners might miss an important story or two along the way. And, when that happens, they "can't re-listen to a story the way they can a newspaper article." (p. 6) As I've said in class - radio is a linear medium. It keeps going, even if a listener is left behind. It's your job to make sure they don't get left behind.

"Fairness" is an important issue that starts coming up in people's lives in about...well, preschool, and remains important throughout. Although I was often told as a child that "life isn't fair" - that doesn't mean whe shouldn't be trying at all times to be fair in our reporting. In this class, I'll present a few "Codes of Ethics." NPR's talks about "fair, unbiased, accurate, complete and honest" reporting. (p. 9) This very high-minded ideal can be torpedoed by what Kern calls "The Echo Chamber" (p. 10) - the tendency of like-minded journalists to talk amongst themselves, and talk themselves into stories they maybe shouldn't cover...a concept explained on the show On The Media.

Kern gives examples of "getting both sides" (p. 21) of a story...something easier said than done, and often at odds with our need to get news on right now. And, he takes on "loaded language" (p. 23) that is often the result of lazy writing, or reporting or both.

Finally, Kern's chapter on radio writing is far more expansive than my simplified "Basic Rules of Broadcast Writing," but serves the same purpose: To give you tips and hints to keep where you work...and to refer back to again and again.

New listening from the campaign trail

Political campaigns make for great news stories...even if there's not all that much news to report. Like it or not, it's "newsworthy" to hear what the Presidential contenders are doing, day-to-day, and sometimes it really makes a difference in the overall campaign. Remember Hillary's Clinton's otherwise unremarkable pre-primary event with about 16 New Hampshire voters?

This also give us a chance to hear how different reporters cover different candidates, all on the same day. It's a chance to listen for writing style, use of "tape," tone and fairness. NPR did what we call a "pinwheel" this morning - three stories from different reporters, back-to-back-to back. Don Gonyea, who normally covers the White House, was with the McCain campaign...or, perhaps the Sarah Palin campaign (with special guest John McCain).

Debbie Elliot, who has covered Washington, the Southeast, and been a show host, got the Obama assignment.

And, Greg Allen got in on the third candidate in the race. No, not Ralph Nader, but Obama surrogate and Palin antidote Hillary Clinton.

What works in these three stories? What doesn't? Do they paint a complete picture as individual segments...or only as a whole?

News when there's no news (or at least less than we thought)

For discussion: What happens when a reporter gets an assignment to cover a story that turns out to be...well, not really a story at all? Or, when the plot of the story has changed significantly? How does the reporter approach the reporting and writing process. There was a lot of this reporting everywhere after Hurricane Gustave hit Louisiana with less force than expected. Let's listen to this story about the "aftermath" of Gustave from this morning's Morning Edition by legal affairs reporter Ari Shapiro for some idea. Now, let's hear another story from the same show, by John Burnett - he was one of the stars of NPR's coverage of Katrina.

(image courtesy GISuser.com)