Interview with Lyndon State Janitor

A Day In the Life of a News7 Reporter

            Being a News7 reporter is certainly no easy task. 

            Right when you begin your shift down in the newsroom, there are expectations of you.  No matter what, the first thing any News7 reporter needs to accomplish is finding a story. This can either be done by the reporter himself, or by searching through “INews” to see if the producer has a story ready for the reporter.

           Once the story is found, it is up to the reporter and his partner, the photographer, to go out on the story, and of course making any appropriate calls.  The location of the story has to be done within the “squiggle”, which is an outlined area the covers much of northern/eastern Vermont and a small portion of New Hampshire.   The reporter’s main job out on in the field is to interview and ask questions to supplement the video of the story. 

            Back in the newsroom, the footage captured out in the field will then be revised in the “editing bay”.  The reporter needs to find the best quotes and “sound bites” to use for the finished version of the piece.

            In the course “Local News Gathering” (prerequisite), you are asked to create a Finder Binder. This binder holds an enormous amount of information that can help you spruce up your stories. Finder Binder material ranges from the definitions of newsroom lingo to profile sketches of politicians to everyday tips of being a reporter. 

            In the newsroom/editing bay, the station personnel use words that aren’t everyday jargon but are common while at work. Not only are some of these words bizarre, there are also about three other synonyms per definition.

            For example, an OTS is an over-the-shoulder graphic. Also called a: box, topic box or OSG.  Then you have a Vo/Sot, which is a more common term in the edit bay. It is simply an easy way to say “voiceover-to-sound on tape.” Which is further defined as the anchor reading a script as the video is transitioned to the television, and then the interviewee’s voice and picture is shown.

            Evan Coughlin is an alumnus of Lyndon State College and the Electronic Journalism Arts program. He had a lot of great things to say about News7 but he also said you need to make sure you are ready, time management is key and you need to have your priorities straight.

            Coughlin later went on to say that the transition from the classroom to the newsroom is difficult and scary, however, you learn quickly. He also stated that the three hardest things about News7 are: meeting deadlines, finding story ideas and getting interviews. (He did not ever mention technical difficulties).

            The media might not be for everyone, but everyone can appreciate what it has to offer. There is an exhilarating feeling when you barely meet a deadline then you see your story on the news. 


Credits
Photos-Daniel Weiner
Soundslides Editing- Jianchuan Zheng
Text: Alex Farnworth & John Kazar

Audio Slideshow 2

Audio Slideshow Project Two Synopsis

For our second audio slideshow project, we will be conducting an interview and taking many pictures of Phil Alexander, essentially making it “A Day in the Life of a News 7 Reporter.”

We will be specifically taking pictures of what he does throughout the day down at News7, so people can get a general idea of what he does, or accomplishes in a complete shift.

Some examples of photos might be him going out on a story, or him editing/shooting his footage.

We plan on using an iphone camera for the photos (the quality is adequate) and for the voice we will be interviewing him, but not including our voices in the slideshow, so it will just be Phil talking the whole time, but feeding off of our questions.

This will be an interesting project because not everyone fully understands what people go through down at News7, and this will give them a pretty good idea.

Our intended audience is college students, but particularly underclassmen in the EJA major who are not down at News7 yet.

Audio Editor: Daniel Weiner

Interview/Synopsis/Story: Alex Farnworth and John Kazar

Photos and Photo Editing: Jianchun Zheng

CBS Atlanta Critique

Facebook Page


The Facebook page of CBSAtlanta is very innovative.


I really like how they are constantly posting headlines. Not just informational bits, but actual pictures and links to other websites with additional information.


My favorite aspect of the Facebook page was how some statuses were asking a question. It is a great way to get information, people to interact, and see different views.


One negative thing is that: whoever is running the Facebook page should post follow up questions or interact with the viewers' comments.


Web Page


I am not a huge fan of the CBSAtlanta.com web page.


For one, the page seems very cluttered and there is so much text of different topics to read. There are also an absurd amount of links; maybe they could clean it up even more and organize it by categories (School, Sports, Govt, etc.).


One thing that I thought was rather cool, was that there was a weather app at the top of the screen that told you the temperature and other details.


I love the pictures that go along with the stories and I also love how some incorporate video. It maximizes the amount information being put out there.


One more thing I would like to say is that the amount of ads is unbearable. I feel like I had to pay attention  whenever I moved my mouse because I did not want to click on an ad and go to another site.

For the Love of the Game

Lyndon State College freshman Dylan Chase is an avid sports fan and loves to play as much as he loves to talk about it.

Chase was a self-taught basketball player and has come extremely far from where he started. This New Hampshire native only started playing basketball so he could fit in with his friends.

Moving on to high school ball, Dylan said he was always the second best player on his team. The former New Hampshire All-State player said his favorite part about basketball is playing defense and that is what he works on the most.

Considering he went to a small high school (only 22 in graduating class). Lisbon Regional won the championship in his senior season despite being knocked out in the first round of the tournament in recent years.

After going through the competitive stage in high school, Dylan wanted to take a more lackadaisical approach and try out intramurals at Lyndon. The reason for playing he said was just to stay in shape and have fun.

Although it is only intramurals, Dylan said he still likes to bring his competitive edge. He is a very passionate and grateful athlete, he mentioned that he loves intramurals and doesn’t take it for granted because other schools might not offer them to students.

Keep in mind, we aren’t talking about high school, or college varsity basketball, we are taking about intramurals. Although Chase is grateful to have intramurals, he still feels there could be improvements made.

The referees are the focal point of what Dylan is talking about when he says improvements could be made. No one is solely to blame; it is because of both the referees not making the calls and the players not being respectful.

Dylan is a classy athlete; he plays hard, gives it everything he’s got and he does not argue with the officiating.

We asked Dylan who he felt he represented as a player, he jokingly said Dwight Howard. After spectating a game, I suggested he plays like Luol Deng from the Chicago Bulls. He chuckled and said in a humbled voice “I like Luol, he’s a great player.”

Only a freshman, but Dylan is one of the most skilled basketball players in the intramural league. He said he is going to stick to intramurals and has no intent on playing for the varsity team.

Like most players, he is in it for the sheer fun of playing.

Audio Slideshow Synopsis

For our project, we will be portraying a narrative on Jeff “Moose” Russell who is student (sophomore) and intramural basketball as well as an intramural basketball ref. Jeff is very active and vocal on the court when plays, so after we take photos of the game on Monday night we will interview him asking various questions on the game he just played, and his thoughts on being a player and a ref as a whole.

We plan to include some natural sound from the game, but also some music (still deciding) to compliment the slideshow. Our intended audience is young people, specifically college students or athletes. We feel it will be interesting because it shows youthfulness, enthusiasm and an activity or role students can have on campus.

This slideshow can work out well because we can show the photos of him during the game while playing the sound from the interview. We’re not sure whether we’re going to start off with music or end with music but we’ll figure it out before it’s finished.

Roles of Team Members:

Photos and Photo Editing: Jianchuan
Audio/Interviewing: Alex and John
Music and Audio Editing: Dan