The first week of production on the new Winchster News Online site is over and there are both good and bad points to examine. The news meeting on Monday was somewhat short of ideas for hard stories, at least for this week’s production as opposed to coming weeks. However under the careful stewardship of James Kenyon, a selection of stories was eventually hammered out. With the sport section providing a good number of varied reports, there was a good feel about the 1st news conference and I am optimistic that those that follow will be even more rewarding.
Earlier in the day we had been taken through Joomla and learned how to upload articles and for those that needed to edit, how to do so. This was very interesting and obviously essential to the running of the site. This meant that from that point onwards reporters and feature writers were able to upload articles to be edited and then published.
Having concluded our news conference under the watchful gaze of Angus Scott, the editors returned to the news room to liase with the features team. This meant that we were able to confirm with Chris Horrie what the stories were that we were going to work on and how it may pan out into a running order. With Alice Rimes, confirming the details of what her features team would be providing, we were hopeful of a high quality first dummy run.
Going into Tuesday many people were beginning to edit packages having filmed the previous day. Omar Mussa constructed a good looking feature on fashion and the newsroom was a hive of activity with the production team starting to get to grips with the site and the editing process. The news stories were written up on the news board and this means that everyone had a better idea of what was going into the package. Several members of the team however were only noticeable by their absence and this began to be a cause for concern for me. With the Deputy News Editor missing for the first news conference on Monday and many sub-editors unsure of how to use the software due to the fact that they missed the relevant lectures there was some concern as to the quality of the bulletin. However as the newsroom wound down on Tuesday I was confident in both the end production and my colleagues whose task it was to actually produce the packages in time for the production staff to actually edit and upload.
Wednesday, production day, deadline day and I was hoping that everyone would pull together to make the first dummy run as efficient as if it was the genuine article. The people that were in the newsroom I can not speak highly enough of. Considering some of the inexperience of some of the reporters and the fact that many people did not think that they should turn up as ‘it wasn’t their day’ we all pulled together as a team. The fact that News Editor, James, had to leave to follow up a story was the greatest cause for concern for the whole week for me. Due to the fact that some of his reporters had either left editing left or hadn’t come in at all he had no choice to go out chasing the damage caused by the previous day’s hurricane. This left the newsroom in the hands of myself and Production Editor, Rich Taylor. With the sports team being worked hard by Sports Editor, Mark Lovell and the features work assured by Alice Rimes, I remained confident that we would produce a good looking bulletin. With the studio unlocked and some of the more inexperienced second years not needed in the newsroom I should have assigned them to practice on the cameras and lighting as well as the gallery equipment. This is something that I will remember for next week.
With time ticking on we were working flat out to ensure that we would have a bulletin to run with. At this point the production team went into the studio and after a couple of hours frantic work on the script and final running order they were ready, although time constraints had prevented them from having a run through. Considering that Claire and Tom had never done any presenting before they did very well. James’s late arrival back in the newsroom and the hard work of the rest of the news team was not enough however as the two lead packages just missed out on making it into the bulletin.
However the team should not be down heartened at all. We worked very well and very hard, a little more input from certain people and more experience with both editing and filming will stand us in good stead going forward. There were a lot of positives to take from the first week. We all worked well together on the whole especially as we have never had to do anything like this before. The newsroom was relatively calm even when under pressure. The stories that we did get even if they didn’t quite make the deadline were of a good standard and perhaps most importantly, everyone helped each other, features staff were helping out the news team and the sports desk was lending a hand in the studio. This is what I feel it is all about ensuring that everyone pulls together, we stand or we fall as one. If the bulletin isn’t good due to poor news stories then it is not just the news team that fail. If dodgy lighting or camera work lets us down the sports team still have to suffer for it. So I think everyone should take heart from what was a good start and be prepared to lean on each other even more in the coming weeks.
A few points that need addressing this week are:
- Attendance – as Managing Editor I have already sent out an email regarding this, the simple fact of the matter is that if you expect a good grade you are in the newsroom from 9 till 6 on Wednesday, no excuses, end of debate. I have discussed this with Chris and Brian and this is the case.
- A better understanding of everyone’s location – I am going to gather contact details of every member of the team and therefore they will be contactable at all times. This should eliminate issues like the News Editor having to leave the newsroom on deadline day.
- Tighter and harder deadlines – the simple fact is if the production team do not have the packages by 2pm they are going to be rushed when they have to stack the Vts before we go live. I will discuss this in the editorial conference this week but I feel 2pm is suitable, fail to meet this deadline your package is cut, no debates. We can not run the risk of having black space again.
- Better use of people and time – I will ensure that people that are stood around doing nothing are given something to do even if it means watching someone edit so they get more experience on equipment.
On the whole I feel it went well and am looking forward to an even better bulletin this week.
That was a great summary of what had happened in the first week of working for winol, I appreciate your effords in trying to get everything to work and I certainly saw your all hard work. From the reporters VJ point of view, still a lot less experienced than you are I must say that some of the team at the news side probably have misunderstood previous instructions about Wednesdays (I am not trying to make any excuses here as I have been present throughout all the past 2weeks of intense work at winnol). We were innitially told at the lectures that Wednesdays are Production days which belong to the production team and within certain roles we are obliged to attend only certain days in certain times, we were not told that we have to be at the newsroom 9-6 Mon till Wednesday at all. But as the experience of the last two weeks show all the students should be either at the Newsroom all that time or atleast under the call, available to cover breaking news regardles the role and department that we are working in. Perhaps that was a reason that some of the students didn’t turn up, unintentionally causing problems for the whole team. I feel that all that has been cleared our after our Thursday’s meeting last week, communication between not only departments but also individual team members are crusial.
You are right that it should be done that way and I fully agree with your strong idea of team work and support. I must admit that I found working with year three students incredibly enjoyable and very valuable to my studies. I feel that I have lernt more in those two weeks about News making than through the whole last year. Everyone present from your year was willing to help, give advise or help with editing. You are all giving us important lessons for the future and I hope that most of us will reach the point where you are now when we are in our 3rd year. I really appreciate your contribution.
I just wanted to say big thank you to all of your team, I think you are doing a great job. Your evaluation post also proves that you are fully engaged in your role and certainly set for even further improvements.
By: Veronica on November 12, 2009
at 2:43 pm