Following on from Claudia's comments on the importance of contacts I got in touch with a connection down at court that I had worked with on a previous story. She informed me of a high profile case about a man who was convicted of 20 sexual offences; knowing about this in advance was a first for me, as usually with court it is pot luck with what case you may be sitting in.
When I went down to court the entire public gallery was packed with the victims, their families and members of the jury that had come back to see the sentencing. This was an extremely interesting case to witness as it was the first time that I had listened to the victim impact statements in full before the judges sentence. Often you hear that the victims statements are not read out, but a new code has been introduced where victims have been given the right to read out to the court how they have been affected personally by the crime. In this case, it was the barrister who read it out on behalf of the victims.
We are always told to think about the people affected by a story, and in this instance it was the victims, therefore I wanted to focus more on them by including quotes from their impact statements in my piece to camera, and my speaking to the officer in charge about the bravery of the victims who stepped forward. It was nice to interview the officer in charge of the case for once, as usually it is difficult to get hold of them, but following the length of this trial we agreed we were surprised there was not more press covering the case. She mentioned that Basingstoke Gazette interviewed her, but I am pleased to say that I reported on the story before they did when it is directly on their patch.
Due to the nature of this offence, there was a lot of hard-hitting quotes from the judge, this allowed me to script the story in a way that could really paint a picture of what his behaviour was like. Ian Anderson commented on the fact the piece to camera had colour and depth to it because it described what was going on inside the court, not only in regards to the defendant but also what it was like for the victims involved.
Ian Anderson mentioned that it was good to have a lead into the interview of us walking through the corridor, but if possible avoid boring backgrounds when filming the interview as it needed to have depth of field. But, he said that my package showed a logically process, and it felt neat from going from a PTC to an interview and returning back to a PTC to close it with the judges comments. Although court reports, especially those of a sexual nature, have very little images I feel I managed to tell the story in a way that painted a picture through words.
To watch the full bulletin:
Showing posts with label reflection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reflection. Show all posts
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Critical Reflection - Semester Two
Winchester News Online is effectively a mirrored reflection of any other professional broadcast. Although it is on a smaller scale and run by students we take pride on our award-winning output serving a local audience with our news bulletin, and more recently reaching out to a wider, national audience with the new magazines such as NWR: Arts, and Fashion Absolute:ly. WINOL covers a large spectrum of content; we are divided into five teams - news, sport, features, online and production. People come for the news but stay for the features. The news has been of outstanding quality, mainly due to the extensive coverage of the Eastleigh by-election but a stand out improvement on the website is the launch of the new magazines which have targeted niche markets with a particular interest, such as travelling, culture, philosophy, music, or fashion. The standard of these academic reviews and interviews is extremely high, contributing towards the average 5.16 minute total for time spent on the website. [19/5/13 Alexa] WINOL continues to pull traffic towards the website through the increased use of social networking sites such as Twitter, led by our social media controller Hazny Hayesmore who targets those directly interested in the story, e.g. politicians or an organisation that the news relates to. We currently have 1361 twitter followers which contrasts the 276 followers of ‘NewsLabBU’ at Bournemouth University. [19/5/13] This is proof that we are regularly channelling out a ‘live’ feed of updates daily, and producing fresh content all year round. Jason French and Sam Ashton have together improved the website which is the core centre for all the work of the WINOL teams, I particularly like the sectioning of each relevant topic e.g. crime or campus, which makes navigating around the website easier. As advised by guest editor Paul Wood the web team have maximised the use of SEO to increase our readership and ensured there are no broken links. Our YouTube channel is also a vital tool for uploading content; it allows reporters to upload their individual packages which can then be put on the website alongside a written story separate from the bulletin. A successful example of this is the Boris Johnson interview which went viral receiving nearly 3000 hits. Alone this emphasises the number of views we receive through our video content, totalling to 722,522 YouTube views; this is a suburb achievement for WINOL which set up the channel in 2009. Similarly, JMU Journalism TV at Liverpool University also started their YouTube account in 2009 but has only received 85,848 views. [May 2013] This showcases how WINOL has produced not only quality work but that of great quantity to.
For the second semester of WINOL I was ‘promoted’ to Chief Crime Reporter, this allowed me to develop upon my skills as a news reporter, and continue to practise responsible journalism. Winchester Crown Court has been the most prominent source for my reports; attending court regularly has allowed me to develop upon my interest of law and the criminal justice system by experiencing active cases and sentences. The satisfaction of being in the court room and hearing the sentencing first hand is a very rewarding experience. Acting as the eyes and ears for the public is what I enjoy most about court reporting, it shows that I am capable of carrying out accurate, trusted and above most legally safe reports. I have covered a mixture of court cases including Robbery, drugs, fraud and affray. One of my main goals is to make it pictorially interesting, aside from the standard PTC outside court, I have done walking PTCs on location such as the Robbery in Andover which was praised for the strength of my delivery. Other pictorial solutions were the use of CCTV, access into press conferences and animation. The hospital scam was a package that stood out for me; the facts were illustrated through animation, superbly made by Jason French. This worked well as it was innovative and I think more animated content could be used in the future on WINOL. The idea of taking a story from court and making it more than just a standard court report is what I personally feel I have progressed with this semester. The hospital fraud story marked this realisation for me, I spoke with the fraud investigator in court and he gave me an ‘off the record’ briefing on the scam. Despite the intimidation of a court room it’s important to speak with the professionals to find out more.
Aside from reporting this semester, we rotated the role of News Editor, this was an exciting opportunity to be able to overlook the bulletin as a whole; a completely different angle to what I am used to as a reporter. It allowed me to make editorial decisions as to what would make the headlines, help coach the reporters with their packages, and liaise with the production team. This leadership role brought to my attention the importance of timings and organisation; I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of taking a more senior role, an interesting change from being out of the field. I had a strong mix of hard news stories in the bulletin, including two national stories: Chris Huhne pleading guilty and the new law of same-sex marriage. Both reporters Nadine Forshaw and Anja Elen Eikenes managed to localise these national stories and get reaction to the breaking news, two very impressive packages. Moreover, Matt Spencer delivered an exclusive local story about the new appointed chief constable which had strong interviews with both Simon Hayes and Andy Marsh. Luke Garratt presented a court report on Rape, and Ellen Millard did an update on the market, which meant the content I had was extremely strong, but it was all hard hitting news. I struggled for lighter and entertaining news, which Jack Webb delivered in future bulletins. Faith Thomas filled the ‘and finally’ slot with a new leisure centre opening up; this was the only bit of light news that I had and therefore had to be placed at the end of the bulletin. I decided to headline the two national stories and the court report; however, after hearing the critic I agreed that there should have been some lighter news in the headlines too such as sport. Paul Greer was the guest editor this week, he agreed with my editorial decisions of the running order: “I’ve been in this business for nearly 30 years, the stories were plum in the right order, the whole thing was tight, the whole thing was clever”. Greer from five live taught us a valuable lesson, that your story is not you, if people criticise your story they are not criticising you as a person. We have to be thick skinned in this industry and without doubt "be interested". If we are not interested in our story then no one else will be, and this was something I took forward with my own stories.
WINOL has also covered some specials this semester, the highlight being the live coverage of the Eastleigh By-Election. My role on the night was to present the first live hour and the results show with co-presenters. Presenting has always been something I wanted to practise and improve on, therefore I set myself this challenge, it was out of comfort zone, not only because politics is not my strongest point, but because the output was live. I am so pleased I pushed myself to do this, because it was a great learning experience. It allowed me to understand more about the production side of things: communicating with the director, dealing with technical problems such as Skype live on air and ad-libbing with the in studio guests. (Councillor Ian Tait and Ex-Councillor Eleanor Bell). The show was streamed online from 10pm to 3am which had 1600 unique viewers tune in, this was an incredible audience for a student led show, and the whole WINOL team were extremely proud of the success. The content of the packages was all our own footage, which is what we lacked, showcasing many of the big names in politics, including the Prime minister, Nick Clegg and Boris Johnson to name a few. This was fantastic journalism from all the reporters who covered the main parties, and particularly Nadine Forshaw who was live at the count representing Winchester News Online on Sky News. A great team effort from everyone on WINOL, and a highlight for the news team. The run up to the election was extensively covered, 2/3 stories were uploaded daily bringing a lot of traffic to the website; WINOL certainly took advantage of the fact London came to Eastleigh.
To avoid all the content being about Eastleigh I was continuing to deliver court reports weekly to act as the 'in other news' for the bulletin. Week 4 was a highlight for me; the common issue of no visuals for court reports was not a problem this week. I managed to get a copy of the CCTV footage that was shown in court during the sentencing from the CPS as I have built up a trusted relationship with the press office. My main focus was scripting to pictures, initially I still told the story like a court report, but with some guidance from Chris Ship the guest editor that week I changed the scripting to ensure it followed through and guided the viewer through what was being shown on the screen. In the debrief, Ship made a point of crime stories being difficult pictorially, “a lot of the times that can decide the difference between doing the story and not doing the story, just if the pictures are there, it’s not about the strength of the story itself”. This was illustrated in my case, as it was picture led, but not significantly hard hitting crime news. This package stood out for me, as it has got over 900 views on my YouTube Channel.
A personal achievement for me on WINOL this semester was being the first to broadcast the breaking news of the break in at the jewellery store in Winchester town centre. Fellow crime reporter Luke Garratt heard of the news from a passer-by, and without hesitation we both saw this as an opportunity to investigate more. We were the only journalists there, I took some still photography using a DSLR camera and video footage on our iPhones as this was the only recording device we had on us. I learnt from a mistake that I made earlier in the year by only taking stills of the bus that hit the boy near the market. Although it was good to have our own photos, lecturer Angus Scott rightly pointed out that we are working for TV and therefore moving footage is more suitable, a mistake I promised not to make again. Although the footage of the break in wasn't used in the bulletin, we were the first to get the breaking news story up online. This brought a lot of traffic to the website and no other local paper had photographs of the damage caused aside from WINOL.
Week 7 brought about a new experience for me; I got permission from Ringwood Police to go to the press conference where the family of a teenager who was killed in a motor crash were appealing for the driver to come forward. This was like no other story I had worked on, vast amounts of press were there such as BBC South, ITV Meridian, Heart Radio, BBC Radio Solent and local papers, being surrounded by some of the 'big guys' in news I regret shying away and not throwing out a question to the police officer in charge. This was a visually led package, containing raw content from the family themselves, the interview with the police officer which was conducted by BBC South, and cutaways of flowers and messages capturing the solemn atmosphere. This was a memorable week for me, it made me realise that as a journalist you have to detach yourself emotionally from what you feel.
Fleet street fox reiterated this point as she explained that as a news reporter you never get the right to your own opinion, you have to keep your thoughts to yourself and be objective, this is why new journalism is profitable, because it is objective and true. George Berridge conducted a brilliant chat show style interview with her, I was part of the studio audience as I had read her book. This was an enjoyable day, as she didn't shy away from telling us what to expect within the journalism industry, an eye opening useful day.
Towards the end of the year, the big news on campus was the student elections; after filming the speeches and receiving over 800 views I decided to follow it up for the bulletin. This was in the style of a feature, I arranged for all four students running for president to come in to the studio and sit in WINOLs black chair: mastermind style. As I am so used to dealing with the facts on crime news, I missed the point of making it entertaining and comical, so I had to reversion the original video, and include snap shots of the chair and a music bed to lift the idea of mastermind. This made me explore a more creative approach to news, and highlighted for me the differences between news and features.
A second semester on news has helped me develop as a reporter, aside from my own reports I have worked closely with the Chief reporter, attending high profile meetings such as the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel, and developing upon my camera skills by filming interviews at the launch of the Police budget. Attending events such as these was extremely encouraging for me, it ties in well with my news beat and helped build upon my networking skills, meeting other journalists and gaining contacts.
WINOL may not be above a student publication by definition, but it is treated as one by the team. We take every story we do seriously, ensuring there are no fatal errors, we don’t make room for excuses as students, we are trained to be have the mind-set of a professional journalist. WINOL has given us the platform and foundation to walk out of our newsroom and confidently walk into another. Every story we do, or event we attend we are not just representing ourselves, more importantly we are representing WINOL, and this semester I feel we have boosted the profile of WINOL as a whole, and made it known to many more.
For the second semester of WINOL I was ‘promoted’ to Chief Crime Reporter, this allowed me to develop upon my skills as a news reporter, and continue to practise responsible journalism. Winchester Crown Court has been the most prominent source for my reports; attending court regularly has allowed me to develop upon my interest of law and the criminal justice system by experiencing active cases and sentences. The satisfaction of being in the court room and hearing the sentencing first hand is a very rewarding experience. Acting as the eyes and ears for the public is what I enjoy most about court reporting, it shows that I am capable of carrying out accurate, trusted and above most legally safe reports. I have covered a mixture of court cases including Robbery, drugs, fraud and affray. One of my main goals is to make it pictorially interesting, aside from the standard PTC outside court, I have done walking PTCs on location such as the Robbery in Andover which was praised for the strength of my delivery. Other pictorial solutions were the use of CCTV, access into press conferences and animation. The hospital scam was a package that stood out for me; the facts were illustrated through animation, superbly made by Jason French. This worked well as it was innovative and I think more animated content could be used in the future on WINOL. The idea of taking a story from court and making it more than just a standard court report is what I personally feel I have progressed with this semester. The hospital fraud story marked this realisation for me, I spoke with the fraud investigator in court and he gave me an ‘off the record’ briefing on the scam. Despite the intimidation of a court room it’s important to speak with the professionals to find out more.
Aside from reporting this semester, we rotated the role of News Editor, this was an exciting opportunity to be able to overlook the bulletin as a whole; a completely different angle to what I am used to as a reporter. It allowed me to make editorial decisions as to what would make the headlines, help coach the reporters with their packages, and liaise with the production team. This leadership role brought to my attention the importance of timings and organisation; I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of taking a more senior role, an interesting change from being out of the field. I had a strong mix of hard news stories in the bulletin, including two national stories: Chris Huhne pleading guilty and the new law of same-sex marriage. Both reporters Nadine Forshaw and Anja Elen Eikenes managed to localise these national stories and get reaction to the breaking news, two very impressive packages. Moreover, Matt Spencer delivered an exclusive local story about the new appointed chief constable which had strong interviews with both Simon Hayes and Andy Marsh. Luke Garratt presented a court report on Rape, and Ellen Millard did an update on the market, which meant the content I had was extremely strong, but it was all hard hitting news. I struggled for lighter and entertaining news, which Jack Webb delivered in future bulletins. Faith Thomas filled the ‘and finally’ slot with a new leisure centre opening up; this was the only bit of light news that I had and therefore had to be placed at the end of the bulletin. I decided to headline the two national stories and the court report; however, after hearing the critic I agreed that there should have been some lighter news in the headlines too such as sport. Paul Greer was the guest editor this week, he agreed with my editorial decisions of the running order: “I’ve been in this business for nearly 30 years, the stories were plum in the right order, the whole thing was tight, the whole thing was clever”. Greer from five live taught us a valuable lesson, that your story is not you, if people criticise your story they are not criticising you as a person. We have to be thick skinned in this industry and without doubt "be interested". If we are not interested in our story then no one else will be, and this was something I took forward with my own stories.
WINOL has also covered some specials this semester, the highlight being the live coverage of the Eastleigh By-Election. My role on the night was to present the first live hour and the results show with co-presenters. Presenting has always been something I wanted to practise and improve on, therefore I set myself this challenge, it was out of comfort zone, not only because politics is not my strongest point, but because the output was live. I am so pleased I pushed myself to do this, because it was a great learning experience. It allowed me to understand more about the production side of things: communicating with the director, dealing with technical problems such as Skype live on air and ad-libbing with the in studio guests. (Councillor Ian Tait and Ex-Councillor Eleanor Bell). The show was streamed online from 10pm to 3am which had 1600 unique viewers tune in, this was an incredible audience for a student led show, and the whole WINOL team were extremely proud of the success. The content of the packages was all our own footage, which is what we lacked, showcasing many of the big names in politics, including the Prime minister, Nick Clegg and Boris Johnson to name a few. This was fantastic journalism from all the reporters who covered the main parties, and particularly Nadine Forshaw who was live at the count representing Winchester News Online on Sky News. A great team effort from everyone on WINOL, and a highlight for the news team. The run up to the election was extensively covered, 2/3 stories were uploaded daily bringing a lot of traffic to the website; WINOL certainly took advantage of the fact London came to Eastleigh.
To avoid all the content being about Eastleigh I was continuing to deliver court reports weekly to act as the 'in other news' for the bulletin. Week 4 was a highlight for me; the common issue of no visuals for court reports was not a problem this week. I managed to get a copy of the CCTV footage that was shown in court during the sentencing from the CPS as I have built up a trusted relationship with the press office. My main focus was scripting to pictures, initially I still told the story like a court report, but with some guidance from Chris Ship the guest editor that week I changed the scripting to ensure it followed through and guided the viewer through what was being shown on the screen. In the debrief, Ship made a point of crime stories being difficult pictorially, “a lot of the times that can decide the difference between doing the story and not doing the story, just if the pictures are there, it’s not about the strength of the story itself”. This was illustrated in my case, as it was picture led, but not significantly hard hitting crime news. This package stood out for me, as it has got over 900 views on my YouTube Channel.
A personal achievement for me on WINOL this semester was being the first to broadcast the breaking news of the break in at the jewellery store in Winchester town centre. Fellow crime reporter Luke Garratt heard of the news from a passer-by, and without hesitation we both saw this as an opportunity to investigate more. We were the only journalists there, I took some still photography using a DSLR camera and video footage on our iPhones as this was the only recording device we had on us. I learnt from a mistake that I made earlier in the year by only taking stills of the bus that hit the boy near the market. Although it was good to have our own photos, lecturer Angus Scott rightly pointed out that we are working for TV and therefore moving footage is more suitable, a mistake I promised not to make again. Although the footage of the break in wasn't used in the bulletin, we were the first to get the breaking news story up online. This brought a lot of traffic to the website and no other local paper had photographs of the damage caused aside from WINOL.
Week 7 brought about a new experience for me; I got permission from Ringwood Police to go to the press conference where the family of a teenager who was killed in a motor crash were appealing for the driver to come forward. This was like no other story I had worked on, vast amounts of press were there such as BBC South, ITV Meridian, Heart Radio, BBC Radio Solent and local papers, being surrounded by some of the 'big guys' in news I regret shying away and not throwing out a question to the police officer in charge. This was a visually led package, containing raw content from the family themselves, the interview with the police officer which was conducted by BBC South, and cutaways of flowers and messages capturing the solemn atmosphere. This was a memorable week for me, it made me realise that as a journalist you have to detach yourself emotionally from what you feel.
Fleet street fox reiterated this point as she explained that as a news reporter you never get the right to your own opinion, you have to keep your thoughts to yourself and be objective, this is why new journalism is profitable, because it is objective and true. George Berridge conducted a brilliant chat show style interview with her, I was part of the studio audience as I had read her book. This was an enjoyable day, as she didn't shy away from telling us what to expect within the journalism industry, an eye opening useful day.
Towards the end of the year, the big news on campus was the student elections; after filming the speeches and receiving over 800 views I decided to follow it up for the bulletin. This was in the style of a feature, I arranged for all four students running for president to come in to the studio and sit in WINOLs black chair: mastermind style. As I am so used to dealing with the facts on crime news, I missed the point of making it entertaining and comical, so I had to reversion the original video, and include snap shots of the chair and a music bed to lift the idea of mastermind. This made me explore a more creative approach to news, and highlighted for me the differences between news and features.
A second semester on news has helped me develop as a reporter, aside from my own reports I have worked closely with the Chief reporter, attending high profile meetings such as the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel, and developing upon my camera skills by filming interviews at the launch of the Police budget. Attending events such as these was extremely encouraging for me, it ties in well with my news beat and helped build upon my networking skills, meeting other journalists and gaining contacts.
WINOL may not be above a student publication by definition, but it is treated as one by the team. We take every story we do seriously, ensuring there are no fatal errors, we don’t make room for excuses as students, we are trained to be have the mind-set of a professional journalist. WINOL has given us the platform and foundation to walk out of our newsroom and confidently walk into another. Every story we do, or event we attend we are not just representing ourselves, more importantly we are representing WINOL, and this semester I feel we have boosted the profile of WINOL as a whole, and made it known to many more.
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
WINOL CRITICAL REVIEW YEAR 2 SEMESTER 1
WINOL
has undoubtedly progressed this semester covering all forms of broadcast such
as TV, Online radio and social media. Five teams lead our project: news,
features, sport, production and web, and together the WINOL team has worked
tremendously hard in achieving the highest ranked student publication in the
country; receiving many national BJTC awards. WINOL strives to continuously
improve, and in doing so we persistently observe our competitor East London
Lines’ strengths and weaknesses. This semester we focused heavily on our online
website www.winol.co.uk making vast changes to the layout of the site and adopting a
‘broadsheet’ style of writing. Moreover, regularly updating the website with
news daily, and further promoting this on media sites such as Twitter has
allowed us to reach out to a larger audience and increase our traffic flow;
this was something we found our competitors initially had an upper hand on.
Despite our competitors being a much larger team based in London ,
we have over taken them both globally and in Great Britain
On top of WINOL we have covered several special events including the BJTC Awards Ceremony, HPCC debate, US American Elections, and WINOL 99 Daily News. The Hampshire Police Crime Commissioner debate saw three hundred people fill the Stripe to watch the debate live. My active role on the night was an audience runner, passing microphones in a question and answer debate; it was a privilege to be apart of an extremely high profile event, particularly as it was covered by BBC South. This role amongst my position as Floor Manager for the US Elections, allowed me to experience more of the Production led role, teaching me that organisation and timing is crucial, particularly in a ‘live’ transatlantic broadcast. The US Elections was a huge milestone for WINOL, receiving recognition and praise from www.journalism.co.uk. In the run up to the elections I produced four short packages on the main campaign issues, which could be played into the gallery to lead discussion between the presenter, experts and guests. My VTs included a graphic of the candidates and some fair dealing clips from YouTube of the debates; this was a skill I did not know before. On the morning of the election we found out that the results were in and Obama had won. The scripting had to be changed, VTs cut down, but this is the art of live TV and I think WINOL handled it extremely well turning the show in to a reaction based programme.
Sound Radio launched Tuesday Takeover. I contributed weekly, writing news stories, and adapting my court report scripts to a radio style, abiding by contempt of court laws by legally identifying the defendant, and simply summing up the story and the sentencing. I presented one of the news bulletins and recorded an in-studio discussion, which could be recycled as an audio cut; both of which helped me practice my delivery and build confidence.
For the first semester of WINOL I was appointed Crime and Court Reporter, this entailed making close contacts with Law Courts, Crown Prosecution Service, Hampshire Constabulary and Police Press Offices. Court reporting was an extremely challenging but exciting position to fill; I regularly encountered two main issues. Firstly, finding pictures that made my report visually interesting, and secondly legal identification and scripting. As court reporter, it allowed me to put the law module from first year in to practice, reporting the facts accurately with a Qualified Privilege defence, ensuring that I was not at risk of libel or contempt of court. My packages heavily relied on the scripts and unless it was fast, accurate and fair abiding by the laws of defamation it would not be broadcasted, I found scripting a challenge at first but feel I improved with guidance from Brian Thornton and Ben Mitchell from the Press Association. Unfortunately I was not able to use shorthand in court quick enough to keep up to speed accurately, but this is a goal to work towards.
In time, I built contacts with the CPS and with Court Listings who verified identification such as date of birth, address and any spellings I was unsure of, this way I could be sure that my report was accurate. For most of my packages I obtained a mug shot from the Police, but in two instances I learned that this was not possible, as the defendant did not receive a custodial sentence. In week eight my package had no visual element to it, and when trying to get hold of a picture of the defendant the only source I had was Solent News who charge a fee for their photography. As Geoff Hill, editor for channel 5 news suggested I could resolve this by having a cameraman waiting outside of the courts to film them as they walk out. In order to get a convicted photograph I had to fill out a form where often the missing detail was the name of the officer in charge, initially the CPS helped me identify the officer in charge of the case, but they claimed this was against their protocol and that I should seek this information from Police headquarters. Some of the officers in charge of the cases were extremely helpful, talking to them directly, allowed me to ask if there were any police photos they could send me to help me illustrate the case. In week three I covered a case regarding a man who set himself on fire in a suicide attempt; visually it was extremely eye-catching as I had police photos of the inside and outside burnt property. To begin with I had these photographs merged in the middle of my package, however I soon learnt that the best images had to be at the top of the package, ensuring the voice over was re-scripted so the words matched the pictures. The fire happened in Totton, which was within driving distance, allowing me to do my PTC on location; this worked far better then outside the courts as it added context and meant I could film the flat from the outside, and have extra cutaways. This package had all the features needed for a successful court report, a piece to camera on location, a mug shot from police, exclusive police photographs as evidence of the damage, and a revised script with no legal issues. However, I made a huge mistake by letting a witness pass me by, without asking if she would comment on camera. This was a lesson well learnt.
I often went down to court and came out without a story, particularly in my first week, where I hadn't got to grips with court reporting. However, I quickly moved on to a new story about cyclists safety, I did a PTC on the road affected in Southampton Wednesday morning but with a tight deadline there was no interview and it was cut down to an OOV. The shots I used were all filmed from the same angle so I learnt the importance of point of view and to vary the angles. I found that at times it was pure luck as to whether you got a good story that editorially worked. For three of my court reports I was limited to doing a PTC outside the law courts, although this is visually mundane, in certain instances it couldn't be avoided, so I experimented with other alternatives to make the package interesting. For example, creating a reconstruction of the case, ensuring it was clearly labelled and changing the colour of the footage to blue. In week six I covered a case regarding a courier who was caught with cannabis in his car boot, the props of a car and suitcase was easily accessible so I filmed a series of shots to put together a sequence illustrating this.
Week seven was my strongest week; I took a court report and related it to a wider issue of hoax calls. This meant I could arrange to set up an interview with the South Central Ambulance Service who assigned me to Paul Jefferies, the Area manager for North Hampshire. When I arrived at their office in Otterbourne I chose not to film in the control room, as this was a noisy room, with echo, therefore I opted for a quieter room where the acoustics and sound quality were good. To link into my interview I got some GVs of the control room and of the paramedic walking. The interview itself was constructed well; I ensured the questions I asked where open, relating back to the law court issue at hand, and covering the larger scope of prank calls. I didn't stop the interview until I knew I had a good sound bite that I could use in my package “it’s a matter of life and death” - this summed up the entire report, and I think it worked really well hearing it from a respected professional. That week I also had a mug shot, which scaled in on the eyes to focus on the emotion, dramatising the criminal and a PTC on location inSouthampton . The weather conditions were bad in
particular wind and rain affecting the quality of the sound and footage, but we
worked around it finding a quieter spot. Although it was rushed and the camera
had not been white balanced, when it came to editing, the colour balance tool
in Final Cut Pro helped bring the colour tones back.
Aside from court, I did a crime related story in week four, which was topical to the festivity of Halloween. This week I got the chance to be more creative with my work aside from the seriousness of court. Although the story itself was regarding posters for the elderly to stop trick or treaters knocking at their door, I did my best to make it as entertaining and visually appealing as possible. My opening shot is of a creepy character knocking at the door this initial NATSOT grabs the audience’s attention, I swiftly open the same door to do my PTC, I felt this transition was creative making it more interesting rather then static. I filmed several cutaways which were not used of Halloween related clips, but this gave me the chance to be selective with what I put into the package. With this story elderly people’s opinion was vital; therefore I did some VOXPOPS of local residents. This was my backup as I tried to arrange an interview with a shop owner at One Stop regarding the matter that they would not sell eggs or flour to under 16’s, but as their press office is led by Tesco they were extremely weary of how the report may seem negative, and requested it all in writing. However, it didn't meet the tight deadline we were working to.
On two occasions throughout this semester I got a Court report out in WINOL before the Daily Echo did, particularly the arson story that made front page two weeks after the sentencing. After speaking with the reporters at the Echo who initially reported on the fire when it happened, they were naturally inquisitive to hear the details of the case and I immediately brought them up on the fact they did not have a follow up story. The second story was the child abuse story, the Echo covered the trial but they were not present at the sentencing, they put the story in their paper a week after WINOL published it. To be able to say I got a story out before the local paper did is a huge personal achievement for me. Although we are students, we are training journalists who operate similarly to any other news publication; the guest editors who came to visit us at WINOL this year have justified this.
On top of WINOL we have covered several special events including the BJTC Awards Ceremony, HPCC debate, US American Elections, and WINOL 99 Daily News. The Hampshire Police Crime Commissioner debate saw three hundred people fill the Stripe to watch the debate live. My active role on the night was an audience runner, passing microphones in a question and answer debate; it was a privilege to be apart of an extremely high profile event, particularly as it was covered by BBC South. This role amongst my position as Floor Manager for the US Elections, allowed me to experience more of the Production led role, teaching me that organisation and timing is crucial, particularly in a ‘live’ transatlantic broadcast. The US Elections was a huge milestone for WINOL, receiving recognition and praise from www.journalism.co.uk. In the run up to the elections I produced four short packages on the main campaign issues, which could be played into the gallery to lead discussion between the presenter, experts and guests. My VTs included a graphic of the candidates and some fair dealing clips from YouTube of the debates; this was a skill I did not know before. On the morning of the election we found out that the results were in and Obama had won. The scripting had to be changed, VTs cut down, but this is the art of live TV and I think WINOL handled it extremely well turning the show in to a reaction based programme.
Sound Radio launched Tuesday Takeover. I contributed weekly, writing news stories, and adapting my court report scripts to a radio style, abiding by contempt of court laws by legally identifying the defendant, and simply summing up the story and the sentencing. I presented one of the news bulletins and recorded an in-studio discussion, which could be recycled as an audio cut; both of which helped me practice my delivery and build confidence.
For the first semester of WINOL I was appointed Crime and Court Reporter, this entailed making close contacts with Law Courts, Crown Prosecution Service, Hampshire Constabulary and Police Press Offices. Court reporting was an extremely challenging but exciting position to fill; I regularly encountered two main issues. Firstly, finding pictures that made my report visually interesting, and secondly legal identification and scripting. As court reporter, it allowed me to put the law module from first year in to practice, reporting the facts accurately with a Qualified Privilege defence, ensuring that I was not at risk of libel or contempt of court. My packages heavily relied on the scripts and unless it was fast, accurate and fair abiding by the laws of defamation it would not be broadcasted, I found scripting a challenge at first but feel I improved with guidance from Brian Thornton and Ben Mitchell from the Press Association. Unfortunately I was not able to use shorthand in court quick enough to keep up to speed accurately, but this is a goal to work towards.
In time, I built contacts with the CPS and with Court Listings who verified identification such as date of birth, address and any spellings I was unsure of, this way I could be sure that my report was accurate. For most of my packages I obtained a mug shot from the Police, but in two instances I learned that this was not possible, as the defendant did not receive a custodial sentence. In week eight my package had no visual element to it, and when trying to get hold of a picture of the defendant the only source I had was Solent News who charge a fee for their photography. As Geoff Hill, editor for channel 5 news suggested I could resolve this by having a cameraman waiting outside of the courts to film them as they walk out. In order to get a convicted photograph I had to fill out a form where often the missing detail was the name of the officer in charge, initially the CPS helped me identify the officer in charge of the case, but they claimed this was against their protocol and that I should seek this information from Police headquarters. Some of the officers in charge of the cases were extremely helpful, talking to them directly, allowed me to ask if there were any police photos they could send me to help me illustrate the case. In week three I covered a case regarding a man who set himself on fire in a suicide attempt; visually it was extremely eye-catching as I had police photos of the inside and outside burnt property. To begin with I had these photographs merged in the middle of my package, however I soon learnt that the best images had to be at the top of the package, ensuring the voice over was re-scripted so the words matched the pictures. The fire happened in Totton, which was within driving distance, allowing me to do my PTC on location; this worked far better then outside the courts as it added context and meant I could film the flat from the outside, and have extra cutaways. This package had all the features needed for a successful court report, a piece to camera on location, a mug shot from police, exclusive police photographs as evidence of the damage, and a revised script with no legal issues. However, I made a huge mistake by letting a witness pass me by, without asking if she would comment on camera. This was a lesson well learnt.
I often went down to court and came out without a story, particularly in my first week, where I hadn't got to grips with court reporting. However, I quickly moved on to a new story about cyclists safety, I did a PTC on the road affected in Southampton Wednesday morning but with a tight deadline there was no interview and it was cut down to an OOV. The shots I used were all filmed from the same angle so I learnt the importance of point of view and to vary the angles. I found that at times it was pure luck as to whether you got a good story that editorially worked. For three of my court reports I was limited to doing a PTC outside the law courts, although this is visually mundane, in certain instances it couldn't be avoided, so I experimented with other alternatives to make the package interesting. For example, creating a reconstruction of the case, ensuring it was clearly labelled and changing the colour of the footage to blue. In week six I covered a case regarding a courier who was caught with cannabis in his car boot, the props of a car and suitcase was easily accessible so I filmed a series of shots to put together a sequence illustrating this.
Week seven was my strongest week; I took a court report and related it to a wider issue of hoax calls. This meant I could arrange to set up an interview with the South Central Ambulance Service who assigned me to Paul Jefferies, the Area manager for North Hampshire. When I arrived at their office in Otterbourne I chose not to film in the control room, as this was a noisy room, with echo, therefore I opted for a quieter room where the acoustics and sound quality were good. To link into my interview I got some GVs of the control room and of the paramedic walking. The interview itself was constructed well; I ensured the questions I asked where open, relating back to the law court issue at hand, and covering the larger scope of prank calls. I didn't stop the interview until I knew I had a good sound bite that I could use in my package “it’s a matter of life and death” - this summed up the entire report, and I think it worked really well hearing it from a respected professional. That week I also had a mug shot, which scaled in on the eyes to focus on the emotion, dramatising the criminal and a PTC on location in
Aside from court, I did a crime related story in week four, which was topical to the festivity of Halloween. This week I got the chance to be more creative with my work aside from the seriousness of court. Although the story itself was regarding posters for the elderly to stop trick or treaters knocking at their door, I did my best to make it as entertaining and visually appealing as possible. My opening shot is of a creepy character knocking at the door this initial NATSOT grabs the audience’s attention, I swiftly open the same door to do my PTC, I felt this transition was creative making it more interesting rather then static. I filmed several cutaways which were not used of Halloween related clips, but this gave me the chance to be selective with what I put into the package. With this story elderly people’s opinion was vital; therefore I did some VOXPOPS of local residents. This was my backup as I tried to arrange an interview with a shop owner at One Stop regarding the matter that they would not sell eggs or flour to under 16’s, but as their press office is led by Tesco they were extremely weary of how the report may seem negative, and requested it all in writing. However, it didn't meet the tight deadline we were working to.
On two occasions throughout this semester I got a Court report out in WINOL before the Daily Echo did, particularly the arson story that made front page two weeks after the sentencing. After speaking with the reporters at the Echo who initially reported on the fire when it happened, they were naturally inquisitive to hear the details of the case and I immediately brought them up on the fact they did not have a follow up story. The second story was the child abuse story, the Echo covered the trial but they were not present at the sentencing, they put the story in their paper a week after WINOL published it. To be able to say I got a story out before the local paper did is a huge personal achievement for me. Although we are students, we are training journalists who operate similarly to any other news publication; the guest editors who came to visit us at WINOL this year have justified this.
Friday, 7 December 2012
WINOL Week 9
The first semester of WINOL is over already! And the torch from the third years is soon to be passed down. I have learnt unbelievable amounts this semester from lecturers and my fellow peers, in particular the advice, encouragement and support from the third years will be certainly missed in the new year. It's come to that time of the year where the second years are going to have to step up and take charge.
This week I did my final court report, covering a murder sentencing. I was hoping to cover a broader issue this week as it related to the tougher sentencing law on knife crime. However, a potential interview with an officer fell through when the press office said said they couldn't comment on the matter. Therefore, I was back to scrabbling together a visually interesting court report. I managed to get hold of a picture of the defendant as well as the victim, from Portsmouth Corporate Communications. In addition to a statement from the family, which added depth to the report and made a change from normal. This also broke up the PTC outside court.
In addition I went to Trimline in Southampton for Spence's top story on the Ministry of Defence contract. This was a great morning, Spence arranged it all and carried out the interviews professionally, it was nice to hear from the workers, and we were spoilt for choice with GVs. We filmed some sequences which introduced the speakers nicely, adding detail from different points of view - a great experience. Check it out:
Guest Editor this week was Mike Bushell from BBC Breakfast, hear what he had to say about WINOL-
I'd like to take this time to also say Thank You to all of the help given to me by the third years, and to Flick and George who as fellow Court Reporters coached me! It's been an intense semester, but it wouldn't of been as enjoyable without everyone being apart of a team and working together. It's been a pleasure, we hope to do you proud.
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Judge shows mercy to recluse who forced bleach into girl’s mouth - WINOL Week 8
A 61-year-old woman has been convicted of carrying out a campaign of abuse against a young girl in her care.
Winchester Crown Court heard that Christine Morgan, of The Tyleshades, Romsey, assaulted the young girl up until the age of ten by striking her across the face and pinning her up against the wall.
On one occasion Morgan forced a bleached cloth into the girl’s mouth, by pulling her jaw down and squeezing the chemical inside.
Judge Gary Burrell called Morgan "odd" and said that her actions were of a "bullying" nature, causing the victim who is now an adult to suffer nightmares.
Morgan was convicted of ill-treating and assaulting a child but the judge did not jail her as "an act of mercy". He added "there are concerns of you coping in custody" due to her medical conditions and age.
Morgan was given a 12 month suspended sentence, fined £1500 and ordered to carry out two hundred hours of unpaid work.
The judge said Morgan would have faced prison if she had been “younger and fitter”.
WINOL WEEK 8
The penultimate week of WINOL proved to be a slight challenge with regards to visuals. As usual it is always hard to visually display the story making it more engaging for the reader. This week I did a PTC outside the court similarly to what you would see on BBC South Today. Unfortunately I hit a few brick walls when I tried to get hold of a mugshot of the defendant. Firstly she did not receive a custodial sentence meaning the police cannot issue an official mugshot, secondly the only image of the defendant is in the daily echo but they couldn't issue this photo for copyright reasons. Lastly the original owners of the photograph shown in the echo is Solent News who charge a fee for their photography. This week I focused on my scripting and delivery.
Sunday, 25 November 2012
WINOL Week 7
This week was an unusual week for me compared to normal, the court report I was working on was open to a wider issue, which I felt was important to cover to add depth and scope to the story. The sentencing was an arson attack which was instigated because her 999 hoax calls were ignored. The issue of prank hoax calls is an extremely common occurrence which needed to be addressed, therefore I arranged an interview with the South Central Ambulance Service, in order to add an element of comment to my piece. I was in touch with their press office who arranged for me to come down to their office in Otterbourne and speak with the Area Manager of North Hampshire, this was a good experience, and it was a relief to have someone help film as I could have a comfortable conversation with the interviewee before hand. I also got to go into the control room where the 999 calls take place, and these GVs added a more interesting visual feature, introducing the interview quite nicely. Although the background interview was shot against a white wall, this was because the acoustics in the control room were too loud and there was risk of echo; so for sound quality purposes we went ahead with a quiet room. When It came down to editing I found a few sound bites which addressed the issue straight away "matter of life and death", in addition, I interviewed him on what he thought about the sentencing at the law courts relating the wider issue back to the current report at hand.
With court reporting the hardest issue is always pictures, however this week I thought it was a visually pleasing report. In addition to the interview and GVs of the control room, I had a mug shot from the police, a reconstruction of someone dialling 999, and a PTC on location of where the incident took place. When we arrived in Southampton the weather was certainly not on our side, it was pouring with rain, and the wind was ruining any hope of clear sound. We attempted a PTC near the road but this was picking up all the loud buses driving past, so we moved round the corner which was quieter but still had the flats in vision. When we came back to the newsroom it was clear that it had been rushed, the sound quality was good, but the framing and positioning of me could have been more central, but this is me being hypercritical so I'm told. With the help of the final cut pro colour balance tool I didn't look so blue in the end and it served the purpose of being at the scene which I wanted; compared to outside the law courts. I also used the lip mic to record my voice over for the package and to introduce the interview. I was told the piece on the whole had a sense of authority which I was extremely pleased with.
In addition to my package this week, I worked with George to cover the Jamie Dack trial, he went to court which established that there was reporting restrictions on the case, as it is now being re-trialled. I was in touch with the officer who sent us police photos, a mugshot of the defendant who confessed to murder and a photo of the victim. When I was in Southampton I filmed the location of where the body was found in a wheelie bin on Empress Road. This solved the issue of having no footage to illustrate the OOV. Here is this week's bulletin:
The guest editor this week was Ben Mitchell from the Press Association, who gave me some extremely valuable pointers on scripting my piece. As a man with many years of experience in court reporting he gave me some great advice on how to structure my written story, which I have taken on board. Here is what he had to say about WINOL-
With court reporting the hardest issue is always pictures, however this week I thought it was a visually pleasing report. In addition to the interview and GVs of the control room, I had a mug shot from the police, a reconstruction of someone dialling 999, and a PTC on location of where the incident took place. When we arrived in Southampton the weather was certainly not on our side, it was pouring with rain, and the wind was ruining any hope of clear sound. We attempted a PTC near the road but this was picking up all the loud buses driving past, so we moved round the corner which was quieter but still had the flats in vision. When we came back to the newsroom it was clear that it had been rushed, the sound quality was good, but the framing and positioning of me could have been more central, but this is me being hypercritical so I'm told. With the help of the final cut pro colour balance tool I didn't look so blue in the end and it served the purpose of being at the scene which I wanted; compared to outside the law courts. I also used the lip mic to record my voice over for the package and to introduce the interview. I was told the piece on the whole had a sense of authority which I was extremely pleased with.
In addition to my package this week, I worked with George to cover the Jamie Dack trial, he went to court which established that there was reporting restrictions on the case, as it is now being re-trialled. I was in touch with the officer who sent us police photos, a mugshot of the defendant who confessed to murder and a photo of the victim. When I was in Southampton I filmed the location of where the body was found in a wheelie bin on Empress Road. This solved the issue of having no footage to illustrate the OOV. Here is this week's bulletin:
The guest editor this week was Ben Mitchell from the Press Association, who gave me some extremely valuable pointers on scripting my piece. As a man with many years of experience in court reporting he gave me some great advice on how to structure my written story, which I have taken on board. Here is what he had to say about WINOL-
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Cannabis Courier Caught WINOL Week 6
14/11/12. By Christina Michaels, Court Correspondent:
A courier has been sentenced for "doing a drug run" with £48,000 worth of cannabis in his boot.
A courier has been sentenced for "doing a drug run" with £48,000 worth of cannabis in his boot.
Matthew Arthur, from Byron Avenue Margate, Kent, was stopped on his way to Gosport, where a suitcase with 12 kilos of cannabis was found in the car boot.
Winchester Crown Court heard that the drugs had a street value of around £120,000. Judge Patrick Hooton said that Arthur must have known what was in the suitcase.
The 39-year-old father pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in prison.
Week 6
When I went down to court this week, I went in and sat in the Jamie Dack case, an ongoing trial that has been followed by a lot of press publications. This was a change from a sentencing, as it allowed me to hear the facts in more detail, and follow it through. However, there are dangers of contempt of court when the case is active therefore I tend to cover a sentencing to ensure the case is closed and no longer active.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
WINOL Reflection Week 1 - 4
Week 1
Week 2
This week I made a lot more phone calls, which helped a great deal! I made a strong contact with the Crown Prosecution Service, who helped me confirm the spellings and names of key facts in the case. This was the first case I publicly reported, as I was for certain that my facts were true. I managed to write down a good quote from the Judge, and although I struggled to get the name of the place where the crime occurred, I eventually found out after help from the CPS. Through making phone calls and contacts, confidence was building that I could formally identify the defendant. This week I rewrote the script several times with a lot of guidance from Flick (previous court reporter) and Brian! The advice I was given was to keep it simple, but the most interesting part at the top, and follow with details, ensuring a conversational yet formal tone was maintained. I struggled to make my script conversational which is why I took several attempts at memorising a very wordy script. The key is to keep it simple. I went down and did my PTC outside the Law Court, and got some footage of the courts – a pan of the building, and a blurred in to focus shot of the ‘law court’ sign which was a good opening shot adding context and location. This package did not make it in to the bulletin but I could certainly see why, I had no other visual footage other then a PTC and a few standard shots of the court, so visually it was very dull. I tried to get hold of photographic evidence from the officer in charge, of the damages made to the property but he proved to be extremely difficult to get hold of. In addition, the place itself had closed down so I couldn't go there, or talk to anyone who had worked there.
Week 3
This was an extremely interesting week for me. I got a story from court that I knew would be of interest to a lot of people. After chasing up calls I managed to get in touch with the Officer in charge of the case, who kindly emailed me over some photographic evidence. This was vital for my package, as previous weeks I struggled to find pictures that would make it visually interesting for the viewer. The images of the burnt out house were shocking and very eye catching, initially I made a mistake by putting them in the middle of my package but with some useful advice I learnt that your best pictures should be the first thing you see! I also learned that we must speak to pictures and discuss what the viewer can see, in order to create a bigger picture. Therefore, I cut a lot of my PTC down, and recorded a Voice Over describing the images. I had a lot of trouble with echo and background noise despite using the lip microphone, but I re-recorded it in the Audio Suite to ensure the quality was clear. Court Listings and CPS confirmed the identification of the defendant so I sent of a request form to Hampshire Constabulary for a mug shot. I was extremely pleased that I had all the information required to obtain this as the image itself secured positive identification and ensured I was not at risk of libel. To make my package more interesting I went down to the scene of the crime in Totton, to do my PTC, instead of the standard law courts background. However, it could have been framed better to cut out some of the unnecessary brick wall! For the first time since starting out as court reporter, I had pictures from the police, a mug shot and a PTC from the house, so a visually interesting package for once this week! When I had all the elements I needed and a rehearsed script filmed from the scene of the crime, I could begin to piece it together. I learnt new skills on Final cut pro X such as scaling into certain aspects e.g. the eyes which added emotion and power to the piece; moreover, I used key frames, which allowed me to create movement on a still image. This week I made a huge mistake, which I hope to never make again; I bumped into a lady who spoke to me about the event of that morning, but ashamedly did not interview her… she was a witness, and this was the missing piece to my package. Initially, I planned to use the image off the daily echo website, with the confirmation for copyright from their picture desk; however, I am pleased to say that I got the photographic evidence myself from the police.
Week 4
This week I steered away from Court as I struggled to get a complete coverage of a case, I attended 4 separate cases but elements were missing so I was at danger of contempt of court. Instead of court, I focused on a crime related story, and with Halloween approaching I thought a Halloween based package was needed for the bulletin! The story itself is pretty bland, it’s about a lot of guilty posters that can be pinned up to stop trick or treaters knocking on people doors, therefore I tried to be more creative in my editing and filming to make it as interesting as possible. The critic from the week before was that no one used NATSOT to open their package; therefore I took this on board and ensured I started by package with a knock at the door from a creepy character, this instantly made it clear from the onset that it was about trick or treaters disturbing residents on Halloween. I tried to be more creative with my PTC this week, rather then a static PTC, I had the poster on the door in view, and then I opened the front door, creating a transition from the initial knock to me opening the door. This week I hoped to get an interview with a shop owner about them not selling eggs to under 16s however, I felt the questions I asked were too closed, and therefore the response I received was very brief and not worth using. In replace of this, I did some VOX POPS of elderly residents who could give me their opinions on how they were feeling about Halloween. Although I got a lot of rejection understandably because of the scary camera, I found a few helpful locals willing to be on camera, who offered some insightful comments and quotes. One of the shots was too over exposed, even after moving her a few times, it was still hard to block out the sunshine. This week I also created a sequence: going on to the website, clicking on the poster, printing it out, and putting it up on the front door. This demonstrated exactly what the story was about – it showed them what they needed to do. I was pleased this week, as it made it into the headlines, although the story itself was not an extremely interesting one, it was relevant to Halloween that night. On the whole, I felt the vox pops worked well, and with GVs, PTC, and a sequence I felt I got a better understanding of how to edit a package together.
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