Internal reviews and policy implementations are an ongoing affair within any media outlet.
Often its a genu-reflective of their direction and how management need to stem the hemorrhaging of viewers and readers.
Sometimes it can be an exercise in self-indulgence; ignoring the obvious signs as scaremongering. This thing called the Net, it won’t survive, was the tune being sang by many a management in the early days.
Now, mainstream media has more or less adopted the free-for-all tools of participatory info flows, but that might not be nearly enough.
There lies an inherent attitude thing. What do our viewers think about us?
First you’ve got stop your readers from drifting, then you’ve got to up the ante, get bullish and win them back, then drive the numbers up.
The two require different strategies and due to the nature of the wisdom of crowds, require constant attention.
The problem Labour are going through reflect that as much: first we’ve got to stop the rot, then steady the ship, then drive the new message. Place the wrong one in front of the other and you’re in danger of being ridiculed.
In the 70s/ 80s and 90s, specialist pollsters were almost exclusively responsible or judging the health of a network and prescribing medicine that ran along the lines of: counter programming, tent polling and hammocking - a process of running a new show or item between two successful shows favoured by NBC.
The net rendered the more austere of these redundant, though many schedulers still work around similar processes.
In the last couple of months the BBC in particular has been pushing its offline to the web with regular announcements on radio and TV of added value online.
Not just an extension of the same but by a neat trick of changing the direction of a story at the last few seconds of the item, and then telling the listeners there’s more on line.
Digital experts refer to this as a second shift aesthetic.
Within the BBC and a number of broadcasters it has not been lost on them that newspapers are making heavy inroads into web audiences, so the debate is skewing to how do we ( media) extend the shelf life per item of our correspondents.
How do we use the web for more breaking stories? How do we keep the audience in our garden.
Watch out at some point for perma links on TV, more cross talk between the online and offline teams in hand overs and perhaps another new favorite of “ploughing“.
The latter I’ll explain in a visual theme I’m working on very soon
On November the 27th 2008, a decision, which will amount to a seismic disruption to UK media, principally newspapers, will take place.
The BBC will announce whether it will introduce hyperlocal televsion.
It’s huge. A real game changer. And for the newspapers, the end of media.
Why?
- Because few newspapers can succeed against the might of the BBC and BBC local will be formidable. They already have video journalists for the 65 or so broadband sites.
- Even though many newspapers are doing video, when it comes down to it, the BBC believes viewers will choose them above a local newspaper who’s just started video making.
- The decision, for once, overtly legitimises the use of video journalists as a news force.
In 2005 precisely because of this, The Press Association, with the support of UK regional newspapers, embraced video journalism.
Earlier this year, I interviewed Peter Horrocks, Head of Multimedia News at the BBC.
The decision will be an explosive one and judging from this link it looks like it will get the green light.
Posted by David of www.viewmagazine.tv at 9:04 AM
Westminster’s student station Smoke Radio has been nominated in five categories at this year’s Student Radio Awards. The web-based station has now been recognized three years in a row by the prestigious awards ceremony, which is sponsored by Radio 1.
The nominations this year – for Best Station, Best Marketing and Branding, Best Journalistic Programming, Best Newcomer and Best Interview – represent the station’s best ever haul. Last year, Smoke was nominated in two categories and won the Silver Medal in the Best Student Station Category.
Phil Harris, last year’s Head of Marketing and Events at Smoke Radio said: “To get one nomination is really good. But to get five is amazing. Smoke is a voluntary thing and this feels like a real acknowledgement of the quality of what we do. The awards are judged by radio professionals and there’s lots of competition – so this is a fantastic result. It’s great for the station and for the university.”
Matthew Linfoot, course leader of BA (Hons) Radio Production, said: “I’m delighted with this year’s nominations, particularly in the categories of Newcomer and Interview. Traditionally we’ve done well in Journalism and Station of the Year, but it’s a real achievement to have our presenting talent recognised as well. Student radio is a very competitive field and we’re up against stations with far greater resources and staffing, so this will be a very exciting awards ceremony on November 6th”
Smoke Radio is a co-production between the University of Westminster’s School of Media, Arts and Design and the Student’s Union. Though students on the Radio Production degree are involved, the station draws together students from all over the university and has been on air for the last four years. Past highlights have included two 24-hour marathon live broadcasts for Comic Relief, and guest appearances by rock group Embrace and TV personality Danny Wallace.
All programmes broadcast on Smoke are produced ‘extra-curricular’ – they’re done in addition to course work. But the station provides a vital training ground for students who want a career in the industry. Smoke alumni are now working at the BBC (as broadcast journalists and broadcast assistants) and independent production companies and in commercial radio.
This year’s Smoke Radio students will get a chance to network with some big industry names at the November awards ceremony, which will be chaired by Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and hosted by Scott Mills and Fearne Cotton. Phil Harris said: ‘The awards ceremony is all anyone’s talking about at the moment. Our dress code is still being decided but we’re probably going to go with Smoke Radio colours – red and black.”
http://www.studentradio.org.uk/awards/08/
http://www.smokeradio.co.uk/
Journalism graduates wanting to get into commercial radio face a tough time because of the current economic climate.
Head of News at Capital Radio Matthew Schofield said applicants would need to show their commitment and make sure their applications were accurate and really stood out.
“At the moment jobs are going, rather than being created. People with genuine talent and people with passion and drive will find jobs but it’s going to be tougher,” he said.
He was addressing students at the first of a series of guest speaker and film evenings organised by the journalism department at Westminster University’s Harrow campus.
Matthew Schofield has been in charge of news at the commercial music station in London for six years. During that time the station has won the prestigious gold Sony Award, beating off the likes of BBC Radio 4 and BBC Five Live, for its coverage of the 7th July London bombings.
With regards to demo tapes he admitted that he might be doing something else at the same time as listening to them. So he said it was important that the first 30 seconds “hit me between the ears”.
He also stressed the importance of checking for spelling mistakes in CVs, and said the covering letter was where an applicant really sold themselves.
Capital radio is now part of GCapMedia, the largest commercial radio group in the country. The company is currently integrating its newsroom with new sister stations Heart and LBC.
“We are a music station and people listen to us because they want to hear their music. That’s not to say that news isn’t important but our job is to keep our audience of 20-somethings up to date with what they need to know,” he said.
“What we provide is bite-size news for people who are not that into news but do want to be reassured that the world hasn’t ended.”
The next guest speaker will be Paul Brannan, who’s the editor of the BBC’s ‘emerging platforms’, looking at distributing news to mobile phones. Others in the series include David Tilley, the editor of the Harrow Observer; Nick Higham, the BBC’s media correspondent; and Simon Dickson, deputy head of documentaries at Channel 4.
The University of Westminster’s excellence in training the journalists of the future has been recognised for the second year running by the training body representing the main employers in British broadcasting.
The University’s Postgraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism course was awarded the Bob Atkins Prize for Innovation in Teaching at last month’s Broadcast Journalist Training Council (BJTC) Student Awards.
It is the third time in seven years that that the University’s journalism department has been recognised for the quality of its teaching.
This month’s award for innovation in teaching, named after the former editor of Radio Wales, who died last year, was made for the department’s integration of print and online journalism studies, reflecting ongoing changes in the industry.
At the 2006 awards, five Westminster MA Journalism students swept the board in the Young Radio Journalist of the Year category, taking home first, second and third place prizes. The course also gained an award for Excellence in Teaching.
Jim Latham, BJTC Secretary, said: “Because of the huge changes taking place in the broadcast and journalism industries, it is important that we recognise institutions that are embracing the convergence of the two disciplines. Westminster continues to catch the eye with its innovative courses at the cutting edge of journalism training, and they set down a marker for the delivery of such courses in the future.”
Geoffrey Davies, head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that we’ve again been recognised by the BJTC, and it is a great compliment to the quality of the teaching and the support staff.
“It shows we are staying at the cutting edge of journalism, teaching our students how to explain stories in the most appropriate ways.”
The School of Media, Arts and Design last year unveiled a state-of-the-art newsroom, allowing student journalists to film, edit and broadcast news bulletins online. Each year MA Journalism students edit a web-based news site, Westminster News Online, as part of their course. (See http://www.journalismnet.co.uk/)
Teaching journalism at Westminster enters new territory this year with new courses, new staff and the latest in facilities.
With a new BA (Hons) Journalism, we’ve set fresh standards in teaching and learning, creating new opportunities for students to produce published work from the moment they arrive.
The new syllabus includes multimedia journalism alongside print providing the latest high definition cameras and small audio recorders to students.
And this blog site Westminster News Online (wnol.co.uk), in conjunction with our official university site will aim to keep you ahead of contemporary media-education issues.
Blogging Media Education
Westminster News Online (wnol.co.uk) will carry the latest and the best of the news in audio, video and text, from over 250 journalists in training at all levels regularly blogging.
Leading this for the undergraduate programme will be Jim McClellan an experienced features writer and web teacher and for many years with BBC Creative Research and Development.
Other new staff include David Gilbert from BBC Online, Richard Wright to teach television and Jan Whyatt (from City University) in radio.
“I am really excited about the teaching of journalism,” says Head of Department Geoffrey Davies. “I now know we have the right people and equipment to do the job properly.
Alongside the high quality teaching of media analysis for which we are famous, the University Westminster will have no peer.”
The Department of Journalism has committed over £100,000 to upgrade the teaching facilities and resources with the creation of four newsrooms on one floor, with almost 100 new iMacs and laptops.
This follows the building of the multimedia television newsroom which opened in 2007.
Journalism students have welcomed the main newsroom makeover which is part of a £100,000 refit of the media facilities at the University of Westminster.
It now has great flexibility with one big display screen and four other flat TV screens controlled by a central hub. They are all independent of each other which means the tutor can illustrate the lesson from a variety of sources and split the output across the monitors. Alternatively, five separate TV channels can be watched simultaneously to analyse editorial content.
“It’s brilliant,” said Paul Lamkin, a second-year BA Journalism student. “The set up is much easier for the tutor and saves time.”
Alka Makwana, a student on the same course, agreed. “It feels more studious – much more of a working environment,” she said.
Forty imacs have been added to the main newsroom, each with large clear screens and loaded with Adobe page make-up software as well as Photoshop. They are each linked to the university network and the wider internet.
In total, 85 new computers have been installed in the school, all with video editing capabilities.
Geoffrey Davies, Head of Department for Journalism and Mass Communication, said: “We had to replace all the computers in there and took the opportunity to revise the way the room was laid out.
“There’s just a nicer feel to it now. It’s got a life to it. It’s a much more pleasant learning environment.”
“The next step is to launch ichat to allow our students to communicate with news editors and others students all over the world.”
One of the other three newsrooms has been reorganised to facilitate editorial conferences or group working. Fold-away tables allow the room to be reset for different functions and a bank of computers has been kept along one wall for editing functions.
This is a link to some of the student work undertaken through out the year starting with the International Masters in Journalism website LondonOutLoud.
Over a 6 week period 12 students, with various roles, work with each other to produce this site
Click here to see the full site
Teaching journalism at Westminster enters new territory this year with new courses, new staff and the latest in facilities.
With a new BA (Hons) Journalism, we’ve set fresh standards in teaching and learning, creating new opportunities for students to produce published work from the moment they arrive.
The new syllabus includes multimedia journalism alongside print providing the latest high definition cameras and small audio recorders to students.
And this blog site Westminster News Online (wnol.co.uk), in conjunction with our official university site will aim to keep you ahead of contemporary media-education issues.
Blogging Media Education
Westminster News Online (wnol.co.uk) will carry the latest and the best of the news in audio, video and text, from over 250 journalists in training at all levels regularly blogging.
Leading this for the undergraduate programme will be Jim McClellan an experienced features writer and web teacher and for many years with BBC Creative Research and Development.
Other new staff include David Gilbert from BBC Online, Richard Wright to teach television and Jan Whyatt (from City University) in radio.
“I am really excited about the teaching of journalism,” says Head of Department Geoffrey Davies. “I now know we have the right people and equipment to do the job properly.
Alongside the high quality teaching of media analysis for which we are famous, the University Westminster will have no peer.”
The Department of Journalism has committed over £100,000 to upgrade the teaching facilities and resources with the creation of four newsrooms on one floor, with almost 100 new iMacs and laptops.
This follows the building of the multimedia television newsroom which opened in 2007.
There is a chance a generation may be unaware of events such as the First or Second World War, The Bay of Pigs, The Cuban Crisis, Falklands War, The Final Solution or use of the word, Jesse Owens running in Berlin, Lockerbie, The Civil Rights movement, landing on the moon… and the list goes on.
Why are they important. Do I really need to qualify?
They’re of such magnitude; they shaped where we are, attitudes, cultures, people and politics, reinforcing words such as hegemony, neo- whatever and paradigm.
A collision of classical and contemporary history with underlying philosophies that remind us where we go wrong.
We know of such events, even if we were not born at the time because cinema, television, radio and now the richness of the net informs us.
Producers set out to retell these stories, to keep those memories alive which yields memorials and days of commemoration.
Video is a powerful tool here and its ubiquity should be such that any of these historical events should be available to watch and view without remuneration. They are part of the public psyche and have their place reserved.
So last week as I showed the events of 911 to new cohorts.
I made the point, that the video I’m showing I have no currency to air or transmit online because the tapes belong to an organisation, most likely an agency.
Free to use
Now I have worked for an agency myself, WTN, World Wide Television News, before it was folded into APTV.
But I am of the belief that some things should be free- to-be accessed by anyone to watch and reproduce. True Creative Commons at work.
Visual material from Nasa is, and the BBC’s Director General has spoken of and allowed some of the BBC’s content to be downloaded and mashed-up.
While I acknowledge how the business of video selling works, it does sadden me that to get access to such footage, you’d have to pay anywhere between 1000 UKP per minute upwards.
Just as there are public works of art, granted you can’t paint on top of them, there should be a repository of public video, so events such as the aforementioned are kept in the conscious.
If you’re a philanthropist or benefactor, I can think of one way of spending money for public good, that many, including myself would be grateful.
In the meantime, all I can show you is this tape cover, with the stark words that will forever make us pause for thought: WTC.
Next Page »
