12 Dec Joshua Mbu- Critical Explication
Broadcast date: 22nd November 2019
link: https://youtu.be/yGm5V4YJIDI
I have chosen the YouTube show which was broadcasted live on the 22nd November 2019. I have chosen this specific show for my critical explication as I played a significant role that week. I was a reporter for the VT on the Extinction Rebellion hunger strike, as well as being responsible for the year 2 Journalism students first live guest. I met our guest at the hunger strike outside the labour party HQ, so I also played a significant role in making sure the guest arrived on time, was briefed and ready to go. I was also the Web editor for the show.
I picked this specific programme as I believe it brought to light a number of interesting talking points and issues for discussion. In this piece I am going to consider balance, online web editorial skills and the video production skills in the VT which I reported in.
I was part of the group which produced a package on the Extinction Rebellion hunger strike. And on the Wednesday before the show we went down to the Party HQ’s of both the Conservatives and Labour to speak to those involved to find out what they are doing and why.
Although our online broadcast is not covered by Ofcom regulations, as journalists we should always strive to be objective and have balance within the stories we cover. The way in which we could achieve balance within the story is by having two points of view. A point of view from someone who agrees, and a point of view from someone who disagrees. For example, we could have done more to contact black cab drivers for their opinion on the protest as it was Extinction Rebellion’s actions which brought London to gridlock in early October.
I believe there are a couple of reasons for this error which lead to a fairly unbalanced VT. We did not plan in advance who we would seek out to gain a counter argument, so on the day we heavily based our filming on the strikers. And when we eventually got the idea to interview black cab taxi drivers we found it extremely difficult to get someone to stop for a length of time in order to get adequate footage.
Typically, unbalanced reports would not be broadcasted. But in our case I believe that our story was still good enough to be put on air, but the VT could have been a lot better if we got a counter point of view. The team not being very flexible was also a factor as to why we could not go out and get additional footage after the first day of filming (Wednesday), as those including myself have various commitments such as work.
I am now going to evaluate the video production skills in our package. the VT package had some technical strengths, Our VT had straight shots and the focus was consistent allowing aesthetically pleasing shots to be taken. By filming in two locations it helped ensure a variety of shots, we got a mixture of wide, mid-range and close up shots. The editing team also did a good job of making the sound levels even, which made the VT enjoyable to watch and it flowed well as it transitioned into the live guests’ segment which our group also set up.
The stories broadcasted were also very relevant to the audience we hope to reach, young university students. And our particular report on climate change and Extinction Rebellion is relevant to the demographic.
However, we did run into some issues, the roads we were filming on attracted a lot of background noise, and although the editing team done a good job at trying to minimalise it, we couldn’t just edit it away, we also felt it helped bring realism to the VT by including natural sounds. Furthermore, the roads and pathways were narrow, so we found ourselves filming Vox pops in the same area, just facing a different direction to avoid repeating the same shot.
In future we could possibly try and get the people we talk to, to move to a different location in order to be as visually intriguing as possible. This would however prove to be an issue as the strikers were camped outside the party HQ’s. We tried to make use of different shots such as the one of Petra (activist) standing in front of a police van, this was done as we thought it would be a good shot as the protestors talked in length about their history of run ins with the law.
I will now talk about my role as web editor, it is a role I thoroughly enjoy. I get to write. However, this week I faced many complications. Only one other team gave me their story to support the live broadcast shows VT’s. It’s Important to have stories from all the teams reporting as it gives viewers the opportunity to follow up on our online site with the stories they are interested in.
I also have to follow the layout of the site and keep it consistent. The style and layout has to be the same, as well as ensuring that all images do not violate copyright laws. The way of doing that is making sure the imagine is “labelled for reuse” and give credit if needed.
As editor the output of stories is on my shoulders, I managed to in the end chase people down and get three stories live on the JLDN website. I still however feel the work load would have been more successful if my deputy was in, we could have shared equal responsibility of stories, and by two of us working on the site it increases the productivity.
Overall, what I will take from the week is, organisation and planning is key. It’s a recipe for disaster which has been one of the reasons for some live shows not going so well. It also teaches you to go out and talk to people! It’s our jobs as journalists to do so, and I will take great confidence that by talking to people I secured JLDN’s first live studio guest and it was a great experience to improve my journalistic skills out in the field.
word count: 1041
