Final product- Fly FM news

Preliminary task- Fly FM

Preliminary task conducted on 11/11/14, repost for easy access to viewing.

Q1: How does your media product use, develop and challenge conventions of real news?

Whilst reviewing and analysing newscasts such as Sky News, BBC radio 1 and Capital FM we found many conventions of radio news such as the order of stories, headlines, lead stories, different forms of information, and formal language. We have used these conventions in our newscast as well as challenging some of these conventions by adding our own techniques to ensure that our target audience are attracted to our newscast. Below is a presentation of all the conventional and un-conventional method of radio news we have used.

Q2-How does your media product present particular social groups?

Q3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Q4- Audience profile

Question 4 - Audience profile

My target audience is people aged 11-19 who live in London. We appeal to all types of young people from various backgrounds, for example Luqman who is an Atheist and Fahmida who is a Muslim. Both Luqman and Fahmida are representative of the young people living in London as the common psychographic trends we have identified for our audience is that they is aspirer- young people who love material goods and are into image appearance, fashion and have a lot of charisma and talent. The second common trend is that our audience are explorer, our audience have lots of energy to do practical things, they also have self autonomy, they enjoy adventures and indulging in things they've never tackled before.

The reason I have chosen to discuss the issue of the Ofsted report on Sir John Cass is because after analysing my survey I have found that my audience enjoy listening to news in the local area, moreover, I have also found that my audience feel as though they are misrepresented, therefore our newscast are all stores which will appeal to the audience because these stories are not often targeted to the young people of London.

Also, after discussions with my focus group we felt as though we should include newscasts from different genres of news as our audience listen to stations like BBC 1 and Capital FM which offer different types of newscasts. Therefore our audience will stay interested as these are all stories which effects them or may effect them soon.

Q5- How does you newscast attract and address your audience?

Q6: What have you learnt about technology

Q6: What have you learnt about technology 

Q7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

P23- Updated script

Final script

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After evaluating and analysing my draft I have found that it was difficult to read as the 'cue in/outs' where not precise therefore I have updated my script and shown clearly when the cue begins and when it ends. I have also changed how I introduce the interviews I have taken, before I did not introduce my interviews and now I have with sohisticated language.

P22- Draft (script)





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This is my script so far, I will negotiate with my team and adjust my script according to their reports.

R42- Hybrid radios

'Hybrid' radios

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A recent article shows that the radio industry is growing around the 21st century of rapid  growth in technology. Also, from primary research many newscast listeners listened to digital radio on their phones or in cars. This helps enhance radio experience for viewers as it is now easily accessible. 

I have learnt that my radio newscast is able to reach my target audience easily as there is no 'digital divide' because radio is now accessible on smart phones and various other platforms.  

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2014/hybrid-radio  

R41- News UK, Journalism conference

News UK, Journalism conference 

On the 10th February 2015 I attended a conference in with News academy, News UK which journalists from The Sunday Times, The Times and The Sun were also present. A programme designed to create network, seek advice and find out more about all the aspects of journalism both print and broadcast.

The group of editors and journalists offered advice about journalism and how to approach a career in journalism. Also, there was a debate on citizen journalism. I have found that the proliferation of different media outlets has affected the news industry greatly as the evolution of technology has made the consumption of news easier and cheaper. Due to the increase of social media people post and update news all the time therefore news is now free to a wide audience, this is a negative thing for print journalists as more and more people are buying less or not buying at all due to digitalisation. Moreover, journalists are no longer being accredited for their work as it is being broadcasted on different media platforms affecting finance. Many journalists from the conference believe that social media has its positive factors (as well as the negative)- it has broaden the jobs available in journalism. News companies have invested in aspects of certain social networking sites in order to ensure that the news being circulated is receiving its credits and funds.

Moreover, I have learned that depending on the nature of the article certain information (or pictures) must be censored. Sun's sports journalist Martin Lipton believes that privacy of certain stories should not be breeched unless it is in the interests of the public, as long as it is not defamation or libel private stories are allowed to be published as long as it benefits the public rather than it story being their interests.

Lastly, the conference concluded with a 'mock press conference' where we had to pretend that a crime story had occurred and we were journalists writing for our local newspaper. The story was of an abduction of a young girl. We had 15 minutes to ask the 'detective' as much questions we will need to produce a 300 word article which will create profit and raise awareness.

From the 'mock press' I have learnt that when gathering sources you must be positive it is valid and reliable. So the interviews I have carried out must be from reliable sources. Also, when speaking to or in contact with any members involved in your story make sure to ask (within reason) as much questions as you can in order to gain maximum information about the incident and also it will help when putting your story together. Lastly, the word limit made realise that when editing my script I need to make sure that I have all the relevant information otherwise I will bore my audience with mundane information that is unnecessary.

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P21- BBC: The Big Question

BBC: The Big Question



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Due to the sensitivity of my topic parents and public figures/teachers have been unable to comment and provide their opinions. Therefore, when streaming online and researching about schools and extremism I have found a detailed debate about schools and counter-terrorism. I thought this is a perfect substitute as the debate provides vital opinions of various organisations about the school's roles in tackling extremism.

Kalsoom Bashir is co-director of Inspire which is a charity who work with all types of schools.

Here are her opinions which I will add to my newscast:

 

P20- My audience

My audience and my newscast

Through the use of interactivity audience members are now able to engage actively in my newscast. Therefore, through analysis of my survey I will try and include my audience members' thoughts into my newscast. After analysing news reports I have found that presenters often ask audience members to 'tweet in' using the 'hashtag' therefore I will try and get my audience involved by asking them to 'hashtag' their thoughts on instagram (as this is the most commonly used site) and twitter.

R40- Analysing a news scrpit

I have learnt that in my newscast I must use the conventional and unconventional codes when producing my newscast. Including the slog  this is the heading of the newscast which will ensure that myself and my peers know what the story is about. Moreover, the time and date on the script will make me aware of the time and date I will be presenting. The 'cue ins' tells me that this is where the insert will go and I have a certain amount of time (the duration of the insert) to refresh myself and go over anything I am unsure of in my script.  

R39- Analysis of questionnaire

R38- Questionnaire by Survey Monkey

Questionnaire by Survey Monkey

My group and I came up with a few questions we thought would be useful in knowing the answers to. We picked the questions based on the genres we wanted to focus on- Politics, Entertainment and religion.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

I decided to upload the link to all my social networking sites: 

Tumblr, Facebook and Whatsap. 

I have chosen to use Survey monkey for my questionnaire because I think it’s a really effective website. It is easy to use and familiarise myself with. Moreover, the formatting of the responses is great because I can visually see how many common answers for each question. For example: I can view all the responses all together for question 1, unlike other websites in which you need to view one person’s response at a time. This is a cool method because instantly I can start comparing and analysing my results.  

Overall, using Survey monkey has enabled me to freely copy and paste the link without any trouble to my social networking site. 

P18- Difficulties in balancing stories

Difficulties in balancing stories  

I have learnt that sometimes people may not want to take interviews due to the nature of the story as it may be sensitive, this is not avoidable because not everyone is willing to talk or share their views about a particular issue. 

Another issue that I had was approaching many staff for interviews they had said that because they are speaking from a professional view it would affect them as teachers and their careers as teachers because they are speaking for a whole unit as oppose to their personal views.

P17- E-mail to Jim FitzPatrick

Email to Jim FitzPatrick

In my plan I decided to interview someone from the education department- someone who will provide their thoughts and opinions from the education angle, I know that Mr Fitzpatrick has done various work with schools within London.

Therefore I chose Jim Fitzpatrick who is a public figure- a member of parliament for Limehouse and Docklands.

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Unfortunately, Mr Fitzpatrick is not available for interview therefore I will need to pick another public figure or a teacher to take part in my interview.

Fly FM

P16- Log

P12- Interview with John Cass Student

Interview with John Cass student

Permission to record and upload to blog:

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Interview:

Fly FM

P11- Equipment

Equipment I need:

Equipment needed	Sourced from	Dates required
Dictaphone Camera	School's media centre Phone	07/01/15  10/01/15

Fly FM

P9- Planning an interview

Planning an interview



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Fly FM

P8- Sources

People I will interview:

Name: anonymous

Occupation: Student from John Cass Sixth Form

Why I have chosen to interview a student from John Cass: I have chosen to interview a student as I would like to get a different angle of the story, through my research I have found that the stories that were released did not provide the perspective of students. Moreover, my target audience are young people therefore the opinions and thoughts of a young person I likely to be more interested.

Name: Anonymous  

Occupation: Public figure/ Teacher

The second person I have chosen to interview is a public figure/teacher as they are more likely to give an answer from the perspective of education. Moreover by interviewing a someone from the education side my story will be balanced and meet the needs of my audiences.

Name: unknown

Occupation: Unknown

Lastly, the third person I will interview is a person from the local community who attends their mosque this is because the interviewee is likely to give the Islamic perspective on the report and perhaps give his/her judgement on the report therefore appealing to the Muslim audience.

Fly FM

P7- Schedule

Production schedule:

Interview to a student from John Cass

Interview a public figure/teacher

Interview with local Muslim

When I arrive at the location(s) I will:

1. Introduce myself and tell the interviewees what my aims are and where the information collected will appear
2. Seek permission for the use of their voices
3. Briefly go over the questions and ask them if they’re uncomfortable with any questions
4. Check if recorder is working fine
5. Ask questions and record answers
6. Smile and thank the interviewees for their time 

Fly FM

P6- Organising my story

Organising my story

Name:	Rahela Khatun
Production company:	Fly FM
Issues to be explored:	Issue related to Ofsted taking measures in John Cass
Form:	Interview
Opportunities for balance:	I will speak to a student from John Cass to get an understanding of how the atmosphere in the school was during the incident. I will also speak to local Muslim from the local mosque to get an understating of how the Muslim community was affected due to the measures taken and the reasons. I will also speak to a teacher so I can have an angle from the education department to see if they think the report is justifiable.
Sources:	Student from John Cass Public figure/teacher Local Muslim
Target audience:	My Target audience is young people in East London of all ethnicities and social class.
Opportunities for interactivity:	I could send a potential poll/survey asking the local area what they thought of the incident.
Structure of the story:	Introduce myself include background information of the incident interview with senior teacher interview with student talk about the issues the Muslim community may have faced interview local Muslim
Use of generic codes and conventions:	Conventional: Introduce myself, date and time Use of the 4 sound codes- Music Unconventional:
News value:	Proximity Conflict
Attracting the audience:	I will include music which the target audience are likely to be attracted to. Also the story itself will attract young people in East London because it is about a school for young people in the same age group as the target audience.

Fly FM

R37- Finding my story

My stories

The aspect of news which I decided to focus on is religion and sport, as our target audience mentioned that they'd like to listen to newscasts which include stories on sports and religion.

Therefore I researched into local stories to do with religion.

I chose my hard story to be about a secondary and sixth form school who have recently been put under 'special measures' by Ofsted because the Islamic Society was linked with 'radical Islamic preachers'.

Before I go out to conduct my own research I first needed to do background research:
      

Due to this story being an old one I have recognised that there is an absence of the students' perspective, therefore I have chosen to produce a newscast regarding their views.

My second story which I wish to present is about a ping pong event hosted by a school in East London.

I chose this story as it Is about news in the local community which I know will keep my target audience interested. The event that took place was the qualifying for the finals, and the story I wish to present is going to be taking place in January in which I will present the scores of the match and winners. 

Source:

http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/politics/critical_ofsted_report_expected_today_into_sir_john_cass_school_s_islamic_links_1_3857018 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30113315  

P4- Production week schedule

Production week schedule

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P3- Proposal

My proposal 

Synopsis (Summary of idea/narrative):

A school within the local area- Sir John Cass which was rated ‘outstanding’ has now been put under
‘special measures’ by Ofsted as they believe that the school has failed to incorporate British values, also the schools ISOC (Islamic society of colleges) has been criticised for having links with ''Islamic fundamentalism''.   

Rationale (why this idea?):

From the research of the vox pops and survey I conducted I found that many young people felt that issues reading religion is a dark area which is not covered by many radio stations.  

Target audience:

My target audience will be of both genders who are aged 11-25. I am not targeting a particular ethnicity as London is a diverse city. Moreover, this story is targeting all socio-economic class as there I feel that many young people from different backgrounds will find this story interesting.

How it will target this audience:

I will target my audience through social media, as I am young myself, from personal experience I feel highly influenced by social media as it is a big aspect of many young people’s lives. In addition, I will ensure that I will use the sound codes in my newscast to make it more appealing to listen to.

Research findings:

I have found that journalists have covered the main events of the incident. Such as the date of the incident and the procedures.

How this informs my production:

This makes me aware of the fact that there are no voices from the students or local community regarding the issue, therefore have decided to choose this story but from the angle of young people.

Fly FM

P2- Phone conversation- meeting plan

Planning a meeting

P1- Potential stories for newscast

Stories

After our vox pop, as a group we analysed the findings to see what sort of stories we will include in our newscasts.

 

 Here is what we discussed:

We have decided to include  

R36- City London University

Visiting City London University

On the 10th December, I had the opportunity to attend a master class in journalism. Where we were introduced to Collete Cooney who is a broadcast journalist, also I had the chance to produce my own radio show, including a short tour around the media equipment- such as the controls of a radio channel also a green screening room.

This opportunity has taught me that there needs to be a variety of newscasts broadcasted as this will attract more audience members. Moreover, in order to pursue careers in journalism you need to have a passion for it as this will help you 'go where no one has before' which is what makes a great journalist according to Cooney.

Whilst making the radio show, it has given me skills in team work- good journalists can work together by carrying out their allocated roles which will help the work run smoothly.    

R35- Review of radio newscasts

Review of newscasts

Nicole’s newscast- Reprezent 107.3 FM

Part of my silver arts award my group were made to sit in on a live newscast and listen to one of the producers (Nicole) presenting a newscast on her channel. After listening to her newscast we needed to write up an evaluation and what we’d enjoyed and what could've gone well.

I enjoyed listening to Nicole’s newscast, it was interesting and engaging. She followed the key conventions of radio such as including a jingle and constantly mentioning which radio channel she is broadcasting for. She as engaged with her audience by asking for their opinions and to ‘tweet in’ through social media. There was a mixture of music and speech keeping her audience live and bringing an upbeat atmosphere. One thing I found interesting is that she kept referring to personal opinions and thoughts this is important because she made the audience to feel apart of the show rather than passive listeners.

Moreover, every time Nicole made a mistake she did not pause or hesitate she just naturally carried on and rectified herself professionally. She was always confident in what she was saying and always projecting her voice clearly into the microphone. Nicole contrasted the whole thing clearly, she wrapped up swiftly.

Overall, her newscast was good because she made sure that the ethos of Reprezent ‘the voice of young people’ was maintained by getting their views across through social media.

The Matt Edmonson Show BBC 1

I don't often listen to the radio however, listening to The Matt Edomson Show on BBC radio 1 was quite engaging and I enjoyed it. From research I found that a good presenter must use different tones of voices so they don't sound boring which Edmonson did and kept me engaged at all times. He always had a bed which was different types of music than the ones he aired which kept the vibe going.

Edmonson, always introduced the next song with a comment about what he thinks of it which I enjoyed because it's always nice to get to know your presenters. In addition, there was always a few seconds of silence followed by a smooth transition into the next song. 

There was an interview with a pair of comedians- Frisky and Manish who were having a conversation about the likes and dislikes about celebrities and their music videos and what it brings to today's audience. I laughed a lot through this interview because the comedians were impersonating singers' song which was hilarious! This interview, I know many will listen to it because it was funny and cool also full of gossip which will engage many teenage audiences. He played a wide range of songs (mainly hip-hop) targeting a wide age range of audiences. I really enjoyed the newscast as the songs were all upbeat and enjoyable.

Dave Berry and Rita Ora Capital FM 

There was a nice twist as Rita Ora was co-hosting instead of being interviewed. There was a lot of loud sound and rockish kind of music setting a really dramatic tone. The introduction was very humorous, the best thing about the show was that they were being themselves on air which was great to listen to. 

Rita Ora mentions an appearance she did in Wembley, which their target audiences are likely to have attended as well. The Jingle was personalised for Rita Ora, this had a catchy tone to it. Dave Berry (the host) constantly made reference to time and radio station allowing people in cars- on their way to work to be aware of what they're listening to and when. They got the audience involved by allowing them to have their voice heard via twitter also by calling in to the studio this made me as an audience member feel a part of the show and really involved. 

In my opinion, I think there should have been more music as it did get boring after a while, there was not full songs played therefore it did not appeal to me as did the others.

Reviewing these newscasts has given me an idea of the things I should do (carry on when making a mistake) also including engaging music and perhaps gossip as that is what interested me a lot. 

Radio stations:

http://www.reprezent.org.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_one

http://www.capitalfm.com/london/  

R34- Advice from a lead tutor

I chose to interview James who is lead tutor on the Reprezent into into radio course. I have learnt some useful tips on collecting research, presenting and newsworthy stories.

Before going to interview James, I needed to plan the questions I will ask him also I needed to make sure that the questions were open ended so I can gather as much as information as I can. Moreover, I know that before recording I must tell him what my aim is also where it (and for what) it is going to be used. Lastly, I asked his permission for video recording himself.

Here's what he said:


VID00020 from as14rk on Vimeo.

From this I have learnt that when presenting I must be confident in order to engage my audience members, also I should not generalise as all young people in my target audience are not the same therefore I need to ensure that I am appealing to all the different types of young people in East London.

R33- Sound codes

Sound Codes

There are four types of sounds in radio:
Music
Speech
Silence
Sound effects

Music

Music is what makes a radio newscast. Music is very important as it sets the atmosphere of the radio station. Due the radio being only audio, it is crucial that the audience feel involved and get a real insight into the setting and the vibe the radio station wishes to set. E.G: When there is hard news the kind of music typically listened to would be violin/piano songs which are slow creating a sense of empathy and sadness. Music is very important in radio news because it acts as the substitute to all we see (visually) when a scene is being presented.

Speech

Speech is another important element of radio news (obviously). The tones in which radio presenters use is what engages and draws their target audience in. The choice of words will often reflect the story being presented. Also if there is only one tone running throughout the newscast eventually the audience will get bored therefore the tones and voices used is crucial.

Silence

Silence is used for many effects as it can be used to indicate the beginning of a new story or the end of a newscast. It is also used for dramatic effect usually to create suspense or generate a sense of tension in which the audience will understand that the stories are sensitive and serious therefore creating sympathy.

Sound effects

Lastly, sound effects are the things in the background and in the scene and is equally important to all the other sound codes. It offers the audience a slight insight into where the presenter is- for E.G.: if a presenter is presenting form a crime scene there may be police sirens and people screaming. Also sound effects such as the artificial ones created by technology may be used for comedy purposes also to signify the theme of the newscast.

 Overall, these sound codes all need to function together in order to create an effective radio newscast. 

This goes to show the importance of sound codes and how they make up radio life, therefore I will need to learn how to use these in the correct context. I will apply all of these codes to my own newscast to enhance and produce an interesting newscast for my target audience. 

Source: R6