WINOL are award winners!

Our WINOL team have received a BJTC Award for News Day of the year! Our Budget Special which was produced earlier on this year, won the award as student Journalism team of the year. Harry, Ellen and Kate went up to Coventry today to collect the award on behalf of our team. Many members of WINOL had a large amount to do with the special and it's fantastic that we have received the praise we deserve as such a brilliant student run news team. 

As Social Media Editor, I have made the most of such a brilliant achievement, using Twitter, Facebook and Flickr to promote our award. Not only this, but I have been on the phone throughout the day to all the local newspapers, radio stations and websites to sell our story and try and put our achievement out there. Hopefully within the next few weeks, our story of our achievement can be seen in the local news.  Ultimately, it's important to promote this type of news as it portrays not only what a brilliant course we are on, it also shows how determined and employable journalists and students we actually are. 

Below you can see the Budget Special:

Check out our recent news bulletins and features on www.winol.co.uk
Follow us on Twitter - @WINOL
Follow us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/WinchesterNewsOnline

Week 9 Wednesday Debrief

Today's bulletin

Angus:
- It needed that bit of experience and sprinkle to make it a better bulletin. Quiet week this week due to people being away etc.
- A real problem with sound, cannot empathises enough how important sound is. 3 packages we had sound issues, one clip used in the headlines didn't have good enough sound. Interview has to have gun mic, if you have this, monitor the sound before you start filming.
- Zeena's package - illustrating stories with human interest with a case study. Couldn't get filming in care home, so we get the family who are worried about it.  Piece to camera and sound: so much noise on piece to camera, shots so wide you see the microphone. It looks cleaner if you don't see it. Go for an MCU and put the mic lower. Apart from that, it had the right elements.
- Court story: Kate - two headlines with two stills in it. Headlines are about moving pictures, exciting shots, if your going to have two stills, you need to at least drop one of them. Or use alternative stories which have better pictures. This is a court story which has no pictures, we have a piece to camera and still of victim that's all, its an underlay, we had to make it a package and thats where we start suffering.
- Save the rec - Alex. - had to take a load out from the package and telling it from A to Z. Don't assume knowledge, explain to them.
- World vision map: Lucy - It's not a super OOV, we filmed the whole of this guy giving this talk, and got a one to one interview of him afterwards. More likely to use one to one interview. Use some things from talk, to get him to talk about it again in one to one interview as you know key points and background information about the talk itself. We use that and bits of overlay of the talk, some pictures of his powerpoint presentation to make a package.
- As a news editor, you need to think of ways to overcome lack of pictures, or simply ways to deal with it. When news editing, the shape and style of it is as important as the news content.
- Choir OOV - there was no sound in it which didn't work.
- Harvey - relax a bit with it as it's only sport and you can be reasonably chilled out when presenting sport.
- Liam  - football - write it well, turn it around quickly. 2 minutes in 2 and a half hours, that's quite good. Liam got on with it straight away and dealt with it. If we are getting national awards we need it in our bulletin and we really need to think about what a huge story it is.
- For those who worked on the budget programme, congratulations. We could of won a couple more with the standard of work we do. The more recognition we get, the more chances we get.

Ian:
- Congratulations to all of us for the award.
- Quite nice that we put the award and the end of the bulletin.
- Thin day, but the most impressive stuff was on the day turn arounds and pushing the deadlines. However, we still got there at 3 o'clock.
- Overall, really pleased with seeing much more credible packaging. Shooting more, giving ourself more set up space, and two very good interviews.
- Get more stories, keep filming more and improve the sound! We must get the mic's in the hot zone, the way to get good sound is to wear head sets and headphones then we can hear the sound that's coming through. It's no good just looking at the monitor, we need to wear headphones and hear the real thing.
- Can see definite progress on the packages.

Exclusive Interview

One of my biggest achievements this year has been my interview with Cosmopolitan magazines Deputy Features Editor, Rosie Mullender. Shona managed to bag the interview with Rosie and we, along with Faith who was our brilliant camera man (woman) for the day, caught the coach up to London last week. The original plan was for both me and Shona to interview Rosie, however due to lack of space in the room they gave us for the interview, there was only enough room for one of us to interview. Since I had the microphone already set up on me, I went ahead to interview Rosie. The interview went extremely well and Rosie gave us a load of interesting information relating to Journalism and a job in the fashion world. Unfortunately, when getting back after the interview some of the camera angles didn't work out that well  so editing the footage was slightly difficult. Right now Shona and I are in the middle of editing a longer version of the interview to go on Journalism Now. However, a shortend version has been used for the most recent episode of Access Winchester:

Google Circulation Figures

From looking at the above graphs, we are getting a fair number of viewings through people typing 'winol' into Google. Ultimately, we are getting far more viewings and page views than before but mostly this can be seen through Twitter and people visiting the site from there. My aim in the next few weeks before the holidays is to try and boost our Twitter followers much more and keep promoting WINOL as much as possible. 

Week 7 Wednesday Debrief

Wednesday 13th November de-brief

Ian Anderson

• Bulletin was very competent. Ready to roll at 3 o’clock production wise, which isn’t an easy thing and it’s very crucial. 
• It wasn’t a bad news week, it was ok. We are looking for light and shade in a bulletin, needing hard and strong stories at the top, light weight things including animals at the bottom then some sport. 
• Heads were really good this week, good visuals. Pony headline was nice - Ellen. 
• Tires package, it’s never going to be a visual feast unless you can get into the factory. Yet gave a good sense of what’s going on, had a beginning middle and end. GMV interview - still not getting eye-lines right in interview. We don’t want to see the sides of peoples faces so we need to see their faces properly. 
• Flybe story - Ben. Good breaking story, it’s new, current and local. Editorially, could of done with some context of jobs in the south etc. A bit of context like that can be useful, e.g. unemployment rate, is it at national average or less than national average? 
• PPC - Spence - very well balances, nice sequence and very well thought out visually. 
• Christina - great enterprise to go out and get the interview, however it would of been good to do the interview in the prison maybe
• Ellen - started visually on pigs rather than ponies when the story is about ponies? Apart from that it’s a great story. COuld of done with an interview around that. 
• Sport - good interview with Armstrong, eye-line wasn’t ideal so they need to look more professional. 
• Eastleigh match report - Laura. At the beginning of the package there was music, but wasn’t sure whether it was part of the stadium etc. 
• Lucy - Dogs story.
  
  Claudia Murg
• Thought it was much better than last year. It looks professional. 
• Our stories this week did not reflect high aspirations. If you aim high you have a chance to get something good. 
• When you make the plan before you go to film. Do a circle on who would be effected by the story, then you can empathize with this. You need to know what you are aiming for, or you are aiming for nothing. 
• Look at the story, how do you justify it, what do you bring that is new and unique. 
• Harry: good attitude. In tune with the emotion of story etc.
• If someone won’t do an interview with you, put it in your package otherwise people will think you haven’t even tried.
• Flybe: Ben. Southampton airport is nearby, talk to some real people. These stories are for real people so interview them. How it affects them. The cuts were necessary, WHY? Address who, what, when, where, why.
• Rubber factory story: Alex. Find out what other sources have said.
• PCC: Spence. Matt’s demeanor was excellent, confident, good effort going to Birmingham, good graphics. SImon the police commissioner here, talks briefly about hsi year in office, why not ask what his main achievements were. 
• You are the eyes and ears of the public. We should challenge stuff.
• Prison Governor: Christina. What counts is what you are learning from the experience, self reflecting. Control of the interview, are they going to be bored out of the heads with another person asking the same questions. They want something new. How can we establish that repour with people - using the period before the interview, to show them the depth of knowledge you have on the story. Don’t ask them things you can easily find. At the beginning of the interview you are quite formal, be yourself. Bring the human side out. He said at the end that prisoners are still unhappy, would be interesting to know why. Seems that we focus so much on the next question rather than going with it and really listening. Try to listen in an active way. 

• Court: Kate. Needed to be more visual. 
• Driving offenses: Tom. If you struggle with people to interview, there are people who you could talk to who have got an offense and have to do the course. They could tell you how hard it is to change how you drive etc. 
• Ponies: Ellen. List of people you could interview. What happens to the meat of these dead ponies? Would be interesting to know. Need some humans there, who do the pigs belong to? 
• Sport Southampton: Liam. Mesmerized, why is this not by a football pitch, or with a football shirt etc. If you missed the first bit you wouldn’t know who the man was. Could of done with pictures of the players who will be playing in England. 
• Take every opportunity to practice your skills and do your best. You are going to be in competition with so many people so you need to be persuasive. 
  

The 10 Commandments of Social Media

Social Media 10 Commandments

• Tweet constantly. Every time both reporters or feature writers go out to film/write a story, tweet every action. Whether you are on the train, stuck in traffic, waiting for the interview to commence, we want to hear about it. 
• Tag relevant people in each tweet. If you are doing a sport story, tag the relevant team members, managers, fan pages. 
• Don’t only tweet. If you think your story/feature is going to be big, tweet, use Facebook and tag people in your comments on Facebook, email people who would be interested in the story/feature. 
• Take pictures! When using social media to promote your stories/features, include pictures. If you can use a decent DSLR camera and bring them to your features/stories then that’s brilliant. If not, even taking a photo on your phone of anything would be beneficial. Email me on Facebook, or to my email address georgia.spears@hotmail.com any decent photos so I can update the Tumblr account. Then use these photo’s in your own tweets/Facebook posts. This will attract far more followers. 
• Remain professional. Remember, future employers will and can use your twitter accounts to see more about you. If you want to use your own personal twitter account to write whatever you want, that’s fine. However, create a professional personal account if you want to use your private one to say what you want. That therefore means when you tag people in posts, they won’t see anything unprofessional on your account.
• Especially in the world of Journalism, social media is more important and crucial to Journalists than it’s ever been so make the most of it. When looking for a job in the Journalism world, if you can say you have used social media to your advantage, and that you understand how important it is, this will help you! 
• Keep an eye on your page views on your stories/features. Although it’s extra work, this will help you out in the future, as you have proof to future employers that you can produce content that gets an audience. 
• Features: make the most of your own magazine accounts through social media. Many people are interested in local fashion, music and what’s on. Use this to your advantage as much as possible. Follow everyone of interest to you so you can retweet them and tag them in our tweets. 
• Update everything as much as possible. News is now, so if there is a story that you don’t have time to film, make sure you do a written story and get a picture that can be included. By keeping the www.winol.co.uk site up to date, it makes us look far more professional as Journalists and also proves we can do our job. Ultimately, by updating the twitter accordingly, it proves we are multi-functional and can get the stories, pictures on time and use social media to promote it. 
• Finally .... Don’t hold back. Especially when using twitter, you only get 140 characters, so use every character to your advantage. If you think a quote would get people to click the link to read the story/report then use that. Ensure each word and letter has the desired effect. Make the most of everything available in regards to social media, as it will only help you as a Journalist be the best you can be, and will definitely help when looking for a job. 

Monday 4th - Sunday 10th Circulation Figures

These are the circulation figures for the previous week of views on www.winol.co.uk.
As I have previously stated, the figures aren't as a high as they were this term, BUT however, we are getting new unique viewers and also people who are staying on the site for longer to look at other news stories or features.

Week 6 Wednesday Debrief

Angus

Very well done on the bulletin this week. We are working terrific as a team now. 

When filming, you have to make a decision and stand by it. 

Team work is vital. We suffer as a team and do well as a team. 

This week is a good mix stories. 

Rehearsals were a little late and couldn't rehears as much of the show as we would of liked. 

Spend longer rehearsing and going through things.

We need to extend the headlines visually, keep hitting a black hole. Extend the shots. 

Rowena Davis - Nadine

We need to know what the story is all about before she does it. Moodily lit, however the lighting did have an effect and it's good we are trying different things. 

Look down at the end of one story and at the beginning of another as a presenter - breaks it up.

Scrapmetal - Liam

Lots of pictures used in this story - brilliant. Template for how to do a package. For a piece of a student Journalism it is fantastic, it's constructed as a package. 

3 sequences in there - unbelievable. Really really good. 

Dead Dogs - Ellen

Like the interview with the vet. Explained a lot in general which is good. Maybe didn't need to put archive on general shots, maybe just a date. As a journalist it's like a free story. Follow up/follow on stories are brilliant. 

20mph - Ben

Thought about the pictures. Simple things like strapping the go pro onto the car is good and effective. A good mix of pictures throughout the story. TV journalism - about the pictures. Didn't need the first clip of him asking the question. 

Radar - Sam

Quite a nice story. Bit hard to understand. Nice shots of Dolphins at the beginning. Framing of interviewee at the beginning he's a bit central. 

Sport

Camera balance on camera 2 was a bit blue so need to be careful.

Didn't like the link to Winchester FC. A bit wolly. The opening shot was far too long than was needed. The shot in the grass with them training in the background. See the manager first as that's what the story was about. Needed a bit of NAT SOT (natural sound). He was the person and he wasn't there. The framing of the piece to camera wasn't great, needed to be framed better. 

Hedgehog and finally story - Lucy

First 15 seconds, are probably some of the best explained 15 secs about a story that he's ever heard at WINOL. Lucy explained the story so well in the first 15 secs. Piece to camera could of been cut in half. Probably could of been a little more active with the hedgehog in the piece to camera. Show some personality. 'And finally' is meant to be sweet and loving so show some loving. 

Will Boden - Deputy Editor of BBC Politics 

'really impressed with all the work we put on screen today'

'blown away with the fact we are doing this every week it's really impressive'

'bulletin grabbed me, interesting set of stories'

'personally i would of liked to see a bit of David Cameron, as it;s such a big story.' 

You don't want to spoon feed everything to your audience every day. 

• Scrap metal package was a lovely piece of TV. It is all about pictures, get going out there thinking creatively, thinking of pictures that will bring your story to life. The use of NAT SOT was good. Letting that breathe, not being afraid of letting it go on a bit more. 
• 20mph was really good. The go pro on the car was a good effect. Didn't see any hustle or bustle or pedestrians which would of been good. 
• Dogs piece. 3 stories involving animals which was good this week. Jump cut between 2 dogs, that magic changing dog is incredible. So be aware of where they are positions. Any moments that jar as a viewer. 
• Hedgehog was really nice. Being careful not to repeat sentences etc i.e cue and piece to camera. Some facts where repeated. It's a great fact. 
• Coming up teaser section - pictures were great. if your drifting off they are a good use of pictures. 

Be upfront and honest with people you are interviewing. If people know what your doing, they are quite happy with that. 

Social Media advice from Will- 

We produce quite a few programmes on the BBC. Get people interested in what we are doing. Tweet about what's coming up on the programme. Presenters have there own twitter accounts. They are not only tweeting about their programmes, they tweet about their lives. - gets quite interesting. 

Everyone has to be aware of the balance with accounts on social media. You can get into an awful lot of trouble with what you write on twitter. E.g. political bias. 

Twitter is an incredibly new technology, eventually everyone will get used to. Things will get less newsworthy. Occasionally get news stories from Twitter. 

This weeks use of social media has improved a lot from previous weeks. I believe this is due to me pushing reporters on tweeting what they are doing constantly, giving audiences an update on the story as it goes along. 

1,700 views today. Ellen is NO:1 for views for storm story last week and dog story this week. 

Alexa and Google Analytics Rankings for WINOL

Below are the past weeks views on WINOL taken from Google Analytics. Similar to previous weeks, the views on www.winol.co.uk should be at it's highest on a Wednesday and Thursday after the new bulletin has come out. The lowest views are on a weekend, I believe that by reporters putting up stories on a weekend, and using social media to broadcast this, it would heighten the viewings for WINOL. 

Similarly, the below screen shot is of the newest Alexa rankings. It has shown that since the 30th when I last looked at the rankings, we have gone up in the Global ranks, however gone down slightly in the UK rank. This is something I believe we can improve on in the next few weeks coming up to Christmas.