Sunday, April 12, 2009 1 comments

In the Works: Feature Slideshow

For my audio slideshow, I am currently deciding between a number of people that are both interesting subjects. One idea is to create a project about the current SGA president-elect. This goes well with my beat blog and can be a great subject to use, considering the height of the position.

My other idea that I am actually now leaning towards is to do a feature slideshow on a Towson student and associate sports editor for The Towerlight. For this one, I would dig deep into his thoughts to understand why he chose to go into the field of journalism and where he hopes to go in life. I would need to pull in personal questions as well to make the story much more interesting. I believe he has a remarkable story of how he entered to field of sports journalism and believe his story should be told.
Sunday, April 12, 2009 1 comments

Beat Blogging: New York school protest leads to 19 arrests

Photo taken from travelmuse.com
Student protesters at New York New School rushed inside an academic building to demand the resignation of their school's president. Five hours later, police officers in riot gear entered the building and arrested 19 of these protesting students.

This event happened on Friday when a protester's blog mentions the officers' use of pepper spray and tear gas. NYPD denied this accusation. Administrators of the New School issued a statement that called for the infiltration of police officers to remove the students. The school also suspended each student involved in the protest - there were over 30.

In the article examined, the author writes, "Using a bullhorn, students on the roof told more than 30 people protesting outside the building to ignore police orders, saying, 'These our our streets, this is our school.'"

To read the full story, click here.
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This article certainly explains what happens but does it fail to mention what the students are upset with? No where in the article did I read what this University President has done wrong, nor did I read what the students think he has done wrong. If this were my assignment, I would've sought to include these valuable details.

Apart from that, the reporting in this story was very on point and they seemed to gather quotations from all of the right sources.

This story is important because it examines the issues of free speech and our nation's right to protest. Here, there is obviously a fine line that protesters can walk. They can easily hop over this fence and break laws instead of keeping within their given rights. I believe these students took things much too far by going into an academic building to protest, the very place where students are intended to be - getting a quality education.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 0 comments

Video editing techniques for TV



Over the past few days, I've spent a lot of time watching TV news and analyzing how each network and news station has used their footage. Each news package is developed in a way that "snaps" and draws the reader in, keeping the tempo of the story. 

I spent significant time watching ABC 2 Baltimore. I can easily notice much less quality of video, computer graphics and editing as other national network stations. Even so, they still broadcast a great news channel. Their edits are fast and informative. 

Each shot seen obviously corresponds to the voice over of the package. There is also a great variation between tight shots and wide shots. I was able to clearly notice the movement in video as opposed to still visuals. I remember watching a short piece on journalism and the way the industry is going and the package contained many shots of moving newspapers and company signs amongst the public.