Lecture 4: Telling Stories for Radio

Here are some important notes I took from Week 4's online lecture:

Source:
http://www.dynamicsyndications.com.au/listings/detail.asp?iNews=528&iType=47

This first half of the lecture starred guest speaker Richard Fidler  from "Conversations" and "Evenings":

• radio is very different to television - people listen to the radio to feel included in the conversation, so the interviewer's job is to help facilitate that 
• "Conversations" is a structures with interviews of a more biographical nature and runs for an hour. 
• to maintain successful interviews - you must be personally interested and enthusiastic or otherwise you may end up sounding over-the-top or overexcited 
• 90% of the guest must be known before the interview - you must do some  preparation 
• the subject/guest must feel safe and comfortable and also trust the interviewer 
• try not to probe people with questions - they may end up sounding defensive
• great feeling when speaker's remembers something for the first time

What I learnt:

1. Maintaining successful interviews is hard but still achievable, you must make sure your guest is comfortable, relaxed but most of all that they trust you. 
2. Silence can be a tool that shows power and revealing. I found this surprising but then again, we can convey so much information with a silence. It can also be an emotional tool as well.
3. Always make sure that you are delivering for your listeners, even when you cannot see them.

The second half of the lecture was with guest speaker Steve Austin from "Evenings":

• in radio, enunciation and pronunciation is very important
• radio is like "creating pictures with words"
• it is important to reflect with who you are speaking with
• the audience at later periods are of a more broader range, although there are more men than females
• listeners can pick up many things - especially when a question has not been answered
• listeners can detect many things from the radio - including when speakers are lying as the visual aspect has been taken away, the wavering or the pitch of the voice can identify their lies
• you must empathise vocally to your guest
• it is important to "be human" - we are not rational creatures but emotional beings

What I learnt:

1. How important it is to connect with various people. You must allow them to continue in their own style and they may end up sharing something very personal and special.
2. Listening to others implies respect and this helps maintain a successful interview. 
3. Posing questions to listeners can help them connect with the conversation/topic and can bring more ideas and opinions. But it is always important to empathise with them, even if they share a different opinion. Everyone matters.

I thought Steve Austion has a wonderful description of the radio. He said it was,

"The theatre of the mind."

Both guest speakers demonstrated this - there is much more than just mere speaking between people being recorded. It is how we connect and share our moments together on the radio that is important. How mere words can provide enough information to know what is happening or how it looks like. Steve Austin mentioned how people are "time-poor" and that radio was a great medium to quickly catch up. He is right, news radio is a great way for so many people to get their daily dose of the latest news. Both speakers also showed how adaptive radio is, as with podcasts people around the world can listen to other countries radios.

This lecture helped demonstrate the importance of radio in our life and how people can share special moments over the air.

Lecture 3: The Power of Pictures

Week 3 Lecture's of Pictures in Journalism was very insightful. Today, news is best described with the use of pictures - without them we would not have that closer access to the story that only pictures can provide.

I really liked how the lecture began with the history of pictures. It was very interesting to see how they evolved from drawings (very detailed drawings, I must say) to the digital photos. Although this may seem like a great leap, I think that there is a danger to the use of digital photos. It is not a danger that is harmful to our health but more of a harm to our morals. Yes, I am talking about the dangerously increasing use of photo manipulation or "Photoshop" in the news. This software had changed from making slight adjustments to photos to creating impossible images of what people term "beauty". Sadly, many models photographed in news articles or magazines are being photoshopped to appear skinnier, taller and even lighter in skin tone. The Dove video showing how an ordinary (who is quite pretty) girl is transformed into a supermodel just by using this program. It is when they start adjusting where her eyes are and then enlarging them does it really hit you - is this really beauty? I think that we should start re-evaluating our definition of beauty into something more realistic and that magazines should start to really decrease their use of Photoshop. We should start to accept people's natural beauty, because at the end of the day - that is real.  Even today, I found an article which had badly photoshopped Kate Moss and her daughter. The fact that they photoshopped her daughter, a child, makes me quite angry. Here is the picture:

 Photoshopping the hand of a child.
Source: http://jezebel.com/5830983/

What are your thoughts on Photoshop in the media?

Nevertheless, pictures are very powerful. They can say so much without the use of words. In the news, they can really add depth and detail to the story. I also think they also give you a closer connection to the story - pictures can make you emotional. For example, today I read an article on the recent disaster in Japan. Check out the article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/japan-quake-2011/. They have used pictures in a very new way - I have not seen this done before. They have taken pictures of Japan before and after the tsunami and you can see quite clearly just how devastatingly disastrous it was. These pictures had an unbelievable reaction from me - I could not believe how the tsunami could just wipe away houses and buildings like that.

Another great point from the lecture was how to take a photo. This may seem simple - we all take a photo, whether its using our webcam, mobile or digital camera; but it's taking the "perfect" photo that is hard. It was interesting to note that there is "the rule of the thirds - the golden mean" which specifies on what would make a good photo. I was very surprised to note that this rule shows how a better photo can be produced when the object of focus is not in the centre. By placing the object on the side, a different but far better photo is shot. Here is an illustration of the rule:

The "Golden Mean"
Source: http://www.mywisewife.com/composing-better-photograph-rules-of-the-thirds.html

The lecture finished with a great quote, which meant quite a lot to me.

"A picture has no meaning at all if it can't tell a story"

                                                                                   Eetu Silanpaa

Today, we are just surrounded with all these pictures everywhere. In news especially, pictures just add a whole new dimension to the story. My emotional reaction from the Japan article is evidence of this. So if we cannot get a closer feeling from a picture, then it really has no value.

Lecture 2: Writing Factual Stories

The first lecture (last week's lecture was about the course structure...which was still interesting..but I guess this is the "first" lecture) had guest speaker Rod Chester, from the Courier Mail. He was an excellent speaker and provided us with many great advice on writing "factual stories". 

I found it quite disheartening to see how sales in newspaper had quite dramatically decreased in the recent years. But then I realised that the internet was now the greatest provider of news, and I guess this is a good thing because now many younger people are more genuinely interested int he news. I was very surprised to learn that Twitter was a main form of getting news - I am very new to Twitter (I just got an account for this course) and find the website quite...different....

One of the most important things Rod talked about was the Inverted Pyramid style of writing.  To be honest, I did not think that journalism writing was so formulaic. This pyramid style writing basically outlined the the most important details must be written first, before other pieces of information. This makes sense, because when people read the news - they want the most vital info first! (I know I do, because sometimes I can be quite impatient when I read). The beginning bit of the piece must include the classic: who, what, when ,where, why & how.  Here is a picture, which nicely illustrates this view. 

picture from http://donfry.wordpress.com/2009/06/page/2/

It was also interesting to learn about the different types of features:

• personality profiles
• human interest stories
• trend stories
• in-depth stories
• backgrounders
• colour

As for myself, I have never written any of these types of features. So I was very happy when Rod showed us how to successfully compose these pieces. In summary - it must have a theme, be inviting, provide necessary background information and always write clear, concise sentences. 

Source:
http://www.getregional.com.au/pages/features_view.php?fId=20110825164730

The different beginnings to the features were very interesting and amusing. I would not have thought that beginning with "It official" was bad. But, now I know - and I will not use it! The three best introductions I thought were most effective were (including my questionable attempts with the examples):

1.     the question intro - e.g. "How fast can you drive your car in 5 seconds?"

2.    simple statements - e.g. "Fred is ninety years old. He has never felt younger."

3.    dumb question - e.g. "Did two 2 year olds just create the biggest selling computer games in the century?"

In short, Rod Chester gave a very informative lecture on how to write feature stories. It was entertaining and informative. I am now learning to write in a completely different style (I normally only write scientific reports, which is considerably different to writing as a journalist), and I quite enjoy it!

Welcome to my blog :)

Hello fellow Journalists!!!

My name is Sheena (as you can already tell from the top of this page), but actually most people I know call me Rinky (my Indian name which I prefer so much more)...so I guess I should reintroduce myself....

So utterly fascinating.
Source:http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/pulse/fall2009/alumni1.shtml

Hello there!!! I'm Rinky, and I am 2nd year Bachelor of Science student, majoring in Cognitive Neuroscience (brrrrraaaainnns!) at UQ (which I believe is the best uni ever). I have taken this Journalism course to discover more about this exciting field. As I have grown up, I have seen how with all the increasingly new different types of technology - news has been just adapting to all of these. Today, we can just go on the internet and we know exactly what's happening (this is still exciting to me)! I think it is very important in life to know more about what's going on around us. I am so glad I took this subject, because it is definitely exciting and the content is really interesting. I can't wait to learn more!!

The Greatest Book Series Ever
source: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Luna_Lovegood

Apart from uni stuff, I am a Kathak dancer - which is a traditional form of Indian Dancing. I have been dancing for about 15 years now, and I absolutely love it. The most recent performance I did was at Roma St Parkland just last Sunday - it was great to see such a nice crowd and the atmosphere was soo joyous! I also love watching movies and reading!!! I am like the biggest Harry Potter fan ever!! (Although, I did not get into Pottermore...however I shall be waiting in October with the rest of the fans)... 





I also have a twitter account: http://twitter.com/#!/SheenaBala

Before I leave, here is a picture of me (purple person) with my sister and cousin at my Uncle's wedding, in India.

Well, I guess that's enough of me!