More thoughtful video

OK... I'll do this during the semester... I am sharing things that I think have some value... here's one from a lecture by former ABC anchor and friend Charlie Gibson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1uuFeGeWbo

It's long - ouch, over an hour... but give it a listen at your leisure, while perhaps doing homework for some other instructor's class!

What Gibson says is, as always, thoughtful and well presented.

I hope you enjoy learning from him too.

Again, have a great weekend JFresh.

If you missed Rock Center...

There was a two-part Ted Koppel piece on the contemporary tone of cable "journalism" last night on NBC's Rock Center.  Produced by Tom Bettag it features a close look at the political vitriol that permeates the cabler's coverage this election cycle and its consequence on civility at-large.

I'd really like you to watch it and then jot some thoughts of your own to share and discuss.  The link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/49113264#49113264

Here's a prompt - I am not asking if you liked or disliked the piece, agreed or disagreed with the political coverage.... look at it from the eyes of the reporter-producer... how they built the piece, what they included, how Ted Koppel asks his questions, the use of 2 cameras in the interview to get an establishing shot as well as a close-up.  Look at the piece both for its editorial oomph as well as its technical mechanics.

I'll give one more prompt - the last SOT from NYTimes journalist David Carr and the brief Q&A between NBC anchor Brian Williams and Koppel are spot-on accurate!

Enjoy the weekend.

JFresh Application

Maren Machles

JFreshman Newsroom Application

When listening to and discussing music, one expression is commonly revisited: “you listen to the type of music you grew up with”. We become accustomed to something when we are younger and when reminded of this youth in a song, we are comforted because it is familiar to us. Journalism works in the same way.

Media is evolving from and out of the older generation’s comfort zone. The world is changing so rapidly it is hard for anyone to stay accustomed to just one form of media.   The news has to be evolving at the same rate. This is why younger generations are not watching the news. They are not used to, and cannot be given, a constant. The conversation around this issue is often dominated by a question of what can we report about in order to keep kids interested. However, the issue is not so much the stories that are told, but the way in which we receive them. Personalization, social networking, and mobility are what today’s youth is familiar with. My generation grew up with Wi-Fi, cell phones, and constant accessibility. Previous generations are adjusting news with old lenses. Lenses where 24-hour news was innovative and exciting and where families would come home from a long day and sit down together to watch the nightly news. Television news is no longer a luxury. Actual stories are only given once and when a channel does cover a story for a long period of time it is no longer a story, but a biased analysis. Television news is losing viewers to the internet because people want the stories on their time, and in an unbiased format. The newscast I would produce would not be the normal television broadcast, a distributed newspaper or just an online stream of articles; it would be a mobile combination of all forms of media.

People are not receiving their news in a singular form anymore, they are relying on multiple sources and news outlets, often all at once. The simplest way to describe my newscast is to compare it to a music site such as Pandora. On Pandora you can personalize your station, like or dislike a song and the site will adjust the station to your liking. This is what my newscast would be similar to. We would produce a site with articles, videos, podcasts, radio, recommended documentaries, and analyses. Each subscriber would adjust their own version of the site to their liking. If the audience enjoys listening to their news on the go, then they would subscribe to the podcasts or stream the radio. However, if the audience wanted to sit down and read an article—say before a meeting or a class—they would subscribe to articles. The site would not just send a heap of news and expect you to sort it out yourself; you would choose the types of stories you want to read about and/or hear about, and it would be sent to your site. If a subscriber liked to watch news reports and read articles at the same time, the site would allow that viewer to open multiple sources and view them from the same window. The site would be a mobile app that you could access from phones or computers. It will be the ultimate source of news for my generation.

It is impossible to sit down and think about what stories can be told to today’s youth that will grab their attention and engage them, because there is not just one type of person anymore. Everyone has many styles and forms of expression, making it difficult to appeal to a large audience with any one thing. Everything today needs to be personalized, including the news.

NPR's #MuslimRage Top Tweets

If anyone can explain the camel in the car to me... I'd be grateful.

All About Us (JFresh App)

Broadcast journalism needs to adapt in order to reach younger views and captivate my generation. That is a fact. However, the only way to accomplish this task is to ask: what do younger viewers want to see? The answer is us. We want to see, hear, and know about ourselves and any issue which affects us. When one imagines broadcast journalism, one typically imagines a host sitting at a desk spewing facts while staring straight into the camera. I want to completely destroy this image and then create a new one. By reinventing the content of each story, revisiting who we feature for each issue, and rethinking how we view each show, we can remake broadcast journalism.

We want to understand the issues which involve us. Even though we probably should, my generation doesn’t care about Social Security or Medicaid. We care about student loans, jobs for college graduates, etc. Furthermore, these issues need to be understood. We do care about issues which involve us, but if we can’t understand what is being discussed we won’t listen. The information must be presented in a way which is convenient for us. Otherwise we will not put the time and energy into trying to stay informed. Stories need to be made approachable and easy to understand. Viewers can no longer accept journalists who talk over our heads, and so the fact of the matter is we will only pay attention if issues involving our lives are presented in a clear way.

When I think of how I would like broadcast journalism to look, I imagine a mix of ages discussing an issue. Again, we want it to be about us. We don’t want someone to sit in front of us and spew facts. Rather, we want to feel involved and active. In a discussion format we can not only see different angles to the same issue, but also have the feeling of participating in a group. As for who, I would prefer to see college-aged hosts. I would still incorporate experts and people from an older generation for differing opinions, but I would have at least one college-aged person speaking. As a result of having someone our age host the show, we would be able to relate more. More than that, that person would understand our humor and be able to add a few laughs which we would appreciate. There needs to be a collection of people introducing, explaining, and discussing issues to engage our minds.

How the show is viewed can, at times, be more important than the content being covered. If a show is viewed from the typical straight-on angle depicted earlier, it gets boring. In order to create interest to the show, the camera needs to move. The broadcast needs to be viewed from several angles, including moving alongside them while the “hosts” are walking. Different angles would make the viewer feel as if he/she is sitting, or walking, with friends and discussing an issue. It would create a more relaxed, involved environment. This includes filming in different locations as well. A news broadcast must be interesting not only in content, but also in appearance.

Essentially, journalism needs to be made more comfortable for the average college-aged viewer. Although, I believe before any changes or new ideas can truly be successful, we as journalists must change the stigma surrounding news. Frankly, news is unappealing to my age group. It’s not that we don’t care; it’s that we have other things we would rather do. Before anything, we have to prove to my generation that it is truly worth it to be informed. In the end, I want to obliterate the typical image of broadcast journalism, destroy the stigma surrounding it and create a new image with a group of us just talking about us.

My high school did not have any form of journalism available through the curriculum or extracurricular activities. However, I had an internship as a staff writer at my local newspaper, the Ranger Review, off-and-on for three years. I also had a summer internship at a radio station, where I participated in two on-air shows as a co-host. I have participated in video production classes and workshops.  I have experience with Adobe Premier and Adobe Photoshop primarily. 

Top #muslim rage tweets

Just in case you were curious. Good job, Newsweek...

Danielle's JFresh App

            My broadcast experiment would begin with a short TV news program, only lasting about one half hour to one hour, depending on how much this program would need to cover.  The whole show would be divided into sections—like world news, entertainment, etc—containing brief segments on about specific pieces of news.  Each segment would contain keyword written below the main image on screen.  The program would only go through each section once and end quickly. 

            The exciting part of this multimedia program happens on the website.  If a viewer missed the program, they can read a brief synopsis of each section from the most recent episode, but it would not contain the actual TV broadcast to keep viewers watching the show.  This synopsis would also contain links to extra stories that did not make it into the TV program.  After watching the program, viewers can go to the program’s website and enter the keyword mentioned in whatever news segment they preferred.  That keyword would take them to a page devoted entirely to that specific story, with the latest video at the top.  Videos on the website would be an actual newscast, as opposed to the brief taste given in the TV program.  Each video would focus on clips of action from the news story, with graphics—photo or diagram—in the video over the broadcaster’s voice.  The videos themselves would remain as neutral as the broadcaster can write.

            The news program would have no opinion section because opinion would be incorporated below the video.  Opinion writers—preferably powerful writers—would contribute a written opinion below each video in a section that would explain why the news segment matters.  It would vary slightly for each segment (a newscast about fracking would be pro/con, a sports coverage would have predictions about the team’s next events, or none at all, depending on the article), but each major opinion would be covered by a professional writer.  Below the professional opinions, viewers will have the chance either to expand on a professional opinion or to voice their own opinions.  Instead of decent comments becoming lost in a sea of incoherency, the broadcaster would monitor the viewer comments, so they can direct vague ideas into a coherent path or flag downright fabrications.  In this way, the viewers will be excited to respond for the very real possibility of corresponding with actual experts on the events and having their ideas reviewed.  Below the opinion comment board, there would be links to similar news segments from the past to hopefully revive comments and ideas on past stories. 

            My ideal multimedia program is inspired by Twitter.  The TV program would be equivalent to scrolling down your Twitter home page, while tuning in to the website would be clicking the link in each Tweet.  In this way, viewers can either quickly receive basic coverage of news—without repeats—or go further in depth of the stories they are actually interested in.  The emphasis on Internet news—not television—also provides for an easy switch to solely Internet coverage in the inevitable collapse of television broadcasting.

            I have little experience with broadcast news, but I have written News and Features for my high school’s newspaper for one year, taking photos for my page when the photo editor was too busy.  I’m hoping to discover how to effectively capture audiences in a multimedia setting, as opposed to simply by writing.

On an unrelated note, if I ever become a rap star, I'm totally using the name "JFresh."