Meeting 18

his week my meeting took place with Daniel Ionescu and Elizabeth Fish at 4pm in Sparkhouse studios on the 26th March, this more then likely going to be one of my lasts meeting as the academic year is coming close to an end (sob).

This week I pitched three stories:

1. New busker in town- A new busker has appeared in town with a exceptional singing voice, for this story my editor told me to take a multi media approach. To help add an USP to the story he told to video the singer playing for at least 2-3 minutes. As Chris Frost writes 'the strength of broadcast media is the human voice hearing and seeing for ourselves how people are feeling.'

2. NHS waiting times - I recently submitted an FOI request (http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/waiting_times_2#incoming-267806) concerning waiting times for student surgery on campus. Already I've thought of a unique angle as after speaking with the NHS press office the figures aren't entirely accurate as some people requested a later appointment.

3. Tops event for the summer around Lincoln- Me and Daniel have decided that I should do another top 10 piece which involves the best family events coming between May and August. I've begun my research and are looking at specialist events which my sometimes get overlooked.

This week I want to talk around mutli-platform deadlines. I'm probably using these words in a quite unique sense. Alongside this placement I do radio shifts at Siren FM so I find a lot of the stories I use for the Lincolnite are suitable for Siren and vice versa. However the only downfall with the arrangement I that I find the time is takes me to write up my Lincolnite stories is longer. The flaws for working for radio is that I don't have access to recording equipment on demand so I usually have wait until Thursday when my radio shift is our rent out a Marantaz but as I have found recently the flaw with borrowing for the Uni is their not always available so I've had to prolong interviews key to my stories. Though to try and help justify this length of waiting is using clips of the interviews for the Lincolnite which I've done in the past (http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2011/03/pilot-recalls-world-war-2-experiences/) despite it not attracting a lot of views as it may have not been made clear in the title or the clip with to long, however a radio wrap may not be suitable and this area may take time to master. As way of putting how vital it is to have an variety of multi media approaches is summed up well by Chris Frost 'Radio makes pictures. Unlike, television', meaning that approaches need to be sometimes different, like for the bukser story, sound may be good but pictures help display a reaction.

Critique- (http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2012/04/scottish-artist-sets-up-studio-in-lincoln/)

This week after a delayed publishing my artist story was put on the site. Another editorial practice I became aware of whilst writing this story is how some stories could be sometimes held back for a while due to considerations required based on what the story contains. In summary this story was held back as my editor planned to coincide it with the artists website going live. Which in summary was a good idea at helps to promote the artist but gives the story a fresh feeling like it's on the bleeding edge of breaking news.

Other times this has been was with my caffeine and ice cream stories which my editor had stock piled these stories for the Christmas period during the time it's considered quiet on the news front.

Looking at the content of the article I feel I've missed an opportunity to build up further contacts. Since the artist was based in a building full of other creative minded people I could have added them to the interview list as well to give a better impression of the what was on offer in terms of art in Lincoln.

In terms of the photo I took I feel could have taken a more creative shot which could have helped demonstrate the more current events going on in the artists studio.

Again I also had used a recording device to help me transcribe the interview I could have somehow used this to help create a USP for the story. Though on the downside sadly I experienced technical difficulties with my marantz (a digital recording device used by radio broadcast journalists) so the audio is cut in two and some partially lost.

Positively however I think my quotes came out highly accurate and that interviewee had a very interesting back story and in comparison to other artists and hasn't come from a hugely conventional educational background.

Meeting 17

This week my meeting took place at the usual time and place but this time another double knotted twist was introduced. My meeting was with my editor Daniel Ionescu and Alex Colman.
This week we decided on two stories to follow up on as I'm currently still working on my graffiti story.

1. Artist profile- During my investigations into my graffiti story I found an artist with an interesting back story. The angle we decided on was how he was retired and painting had been a hobby but now he did it full time.

2. Wildlife at the riverside- Recently the local wildlife surrounding the river has been under threat from external sources (http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2012/03/information-wanted-on-swan-attack-gang) however I noticed a story in the Metro about the drought was having an effect on river creatures. So I decided to attempt some localisation by adding a local slant to it. I plan to talk to the Environment agency since the RSPCA don't necessarily have a lot information of the subject and can't provide the kind of statistic data required to make this story viable.

On the subject of my newsgathering since I've come back from Christmas has been more difficult then it has prior to my break, I've found it harder find stories which are unique and highly appealing to my editor. However to combat this I'm going to try and be more creative with my story ideas. Chris Frost writes on the subject of story gathering. the 'non-rational parts of our mind are as important as the logical and rational' maybe if I expand the non-rational part my story gathering may become more appealing.

For example I attempted employing this kind of thought this week. Recently popular drinks company Robinsons is running a campaign to restore local areas to give children something to do in their spare time, this did not come from a usual story source. We decided not follow up on this due to my first two ideas being a lot more time consuming. Maybe in the future I need to think of a clearer angle to pitch. It may best to remember Chris Frosts thoughts on the subject is how will it 'excite readers or viewers.'

Meeting 16

This week my meeting had a slight twist to it's usual format. It took place at the normal time and place but this time Alex Colman returned to hold my ideas meeting.

1. Kony coverage event- As a tie-in with the viral video concerning Joesph Kony I want to report on the planned promotion event which is happening in April to see if it has the desired effect it outlined.

2. Finding the most interesting displays at the local museum- I propose the idea of going to the local history museum and compiling a list of the most interesting displays they have.

3. Bug wildlife- I've heard from friends their has been a bizarre shift in wildlife in the local area so I propose investigating to see if the shift in weather which is unnatural for this time of year has caused this.

To add to the twist we decided we'd keep the Kony story in the pipeline but the other two we decided to put on hold until some research and some extra planning had been done.

The twist deepens as we decided this week I would follow up a story on graffiti art. The angle is 'is it art ?', the essential part of this story is to be keep completely balanced which has been my downfall in the past especially with my ice cream shop story which read more like an advertorial piece rather then balanced journalism since I essentially had one shop and no other supporting to opposite interviewees.

To ensure this doesn't happen again I will speak to two opposing sides of the debate. One will be the authoritative side so I plan to speak to the council to see what their views on the subject are and the police for what punishments they have for graffiti artists. One the opposite side of the debate I will speak to someone who works at an art gallery to see if they see graffiti as art work and finally I will speak to someone who does graffiti.

For the last interviewee I wish to find it may be difficult since it's criminal offence people may not be inclined to talk to me. This means I may have to exercise some journalistic traits, namely the subject of eaves-dropping. Chris Frosts thoughts on the subject is that 'a good reporter is interested in everything and sometimes can't help over-hearing interesting conversations or seeing something out of the ordinary.' This has helped me before but never to the extent is could have resulted in un-ethical journalism like the phone hacking scandal. This helped when I was looking for interesting stalls at the Christmas market (http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2011/12/top-10-stalls-at-lincoln-christmas-market/).

However a further skill I'll have to add to my story gathering especially for this story is I 'should immediately identify him (me) or herself (not me) to the speaker.'

Critque- (http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2012/03/lincolnite-on-lost-city-search-for-charity/)

So this week I had another story published. This one was the Inca walk story. I was quite happy with the interview as I found the woman to produce some extremely memorable quotes and had quite an emotive back story and special motivation for doing the walk.

I think I have met my editors requirements of finding an interesting person. This is also critically valuable in terms of academics as I found an off diary story and as Chris Frost says 'off-diary stories are more difficult to come by.'

Of course I found this story be following Chris Frosts advice of 'keeping your eyes and ears open for unusual happenings.' Thanks to me using my eyes I found this unusual happening in the form of a poster in the University atrium which wasn't connected to the Student elections. So it stood out.

Meeting 15

This week my meeting took place at 4pm at Sparkhouse studios and as usual it took place with my editor Daniel Ionescu. This week I pitched two stories-
Inca trail- A woman at the university is doing a sponsored walk around the Inca city. My objective is to interview her and obtain a picture. This is exactly what Daniel is looking for. He has said in pervious meetings he wanted me to look for stories which involved someone doing out of the ordinary. This is also a academically viable story as Chris Frost writes 'Whether it is a local charity, the Scouts or Guides, a church group or a social society, these are local people doing what interests them in the community and some of it at least can be turned into news or features.', this can be also seen as being interesting to the community as well since it's a unique task the woman is undertaking.

'm learning to juggle in under a certain amount of time- For my radio show project I'm going to the Lincoln juggling club to learn how to juggle in a short period of time. A bonus of this kind of story is that I will be recorded doing it. This will be USP for the Lincolnite and will stand out since not many of their stories come attached with audio. Though something I need to be wary of with this is background noise. I have previously been down to the club and now it will be noisy, however I don't want to record the story in a quite room as Chris Frost writes 'background sound can add authenticity to a story.' what I will simply have to do is 'beware of background of noise effects that detract from the story.' I will aim to be get more background noise then my previous audio about the war hero (http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2011/03/pilot-recalls-world-war-2-experiences/ ).

This week I'm going to look at the idea of developing personal contacts. Already I have a collection of contacts from starting the Lincolnite and various work experience, though I was thinking that I hadn't produced any contacts of value I suddenly realised I had. As Chris Frost writes 'Every reporter lives by his or her contacts- it marks the difference between a good reporter and a great reporter.'

've already seen some promising marks about my cultivated contacts as 'no matter what is happening, they will know someone who can tell them all about it- our at the very least give them a name of someone who can tell them about it.' Two examples I can think of include Hobb Whittons has messaged me recently about him starting his second book (http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2011/06/blue-fire-burning-for-local-author/). I have another one which is not Lincolnite related but was when I did a radio shift at Siren FM I was following up a story about tourism, so our usual port of call would be the city's tourist information centre, however they were unable to help us but since I had been in touch with them before they were able to give me the contact details of someone else to contact.

Critique- It's been a while since I've produced this part but now I have a published story to talk about (http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2012/03/in-pictures-lincolns-exotic-pets/). This was the exotic pets story.

My editor was impressed with the photos I took as I took his advice on board about going for detailed close ups of the animals and not being afraid about getting close.

Focusing on the copy however I believe their is room for improvement. I was happy about the transferable content of story meaning it had more value. As Chris Frost writes about the nature of the on-line journalism format 'are more likely to be receiving material gathered for one of the more traditional media and sent for an on-line news site.' 

Also looking at the quotes I have for the story looking back through my notes I think I have found a quote which would have produced a clearer angle for the story concerning the classification of exotic pets. 'Exotic pets aren't just alligators or giraffes they can cover snails and even hamsters.' If I had included the part about hamsters it may as Chris Frost writes it may help 'to align such shared value' thus making the story more appealing for a wider audience.