Geography and Song

The latest issue of the Clipper discusses about meme(s), especially those that are trending in the Internet. So, what’s meme, you ask.

Basically, it is the idea that goes viral. The easiest example to think of is your friend hums a song and you start singing that song or the song plays in your mind for at least the next 30 minutes and you hate yourself of not being able to stop singing.

Personally, songs have been a powerful tool to pass a message or ideas. Long before I came to the U.S., I have learned about its geography (or at least names of cities and states) through songs.

Everytime I hear the word Long Beach, the song “Sway” plays in my mind as the advertisement of Long Beach cigarette used it as jingle.

The same thing goes to Georgia. Since I know the song (Michael Bolton version), originally popularized by Ray Charles, it’s very difficult for me to mention the word Georgia without singing “Georgia….”

“So, if we go up north, where would we end up to?” I asked my friend when we were driving to Orlando during my winter break vacation.

“Oh, Florida’s northern border is Georgia,” he said.

“I said Georgia… “ I started singing.

He laughed.

Alabama follows suit. Who doesn’t know “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd? (well, if you don’t know, start asking Uncle Google). Or try listen to “Oh Susanna” written by Stephen Foster.

Bee Gees also helped me learning about Massachusetts. Everytime I heard that word, I started singing “Feel I’m going back… to Massachusetts. Something’s telling me, I must go home…” (I’m still singing while typing this).

As for California, it came to me as a song when I watched a film by Wong Kar Wai titled “Chungking Express”. The woman character played by Faye Wong like listening to “California Dreaming” everytime she was doing her job cleaning up an apartment.

On top of all, stood Frank Sinatra with his New York, New York. When I first arrived New York, this song kept playing in my mind. I couldn’t stop singing “Start spreading the news…” for the first 30 minutes since I first step foot on the train station.

Thinking back to my origin, Indonesian songs taught me about cities, too. Kla Project expressed their admiration to Yogyakarta in a song. For sure, if you have ever visited the city, you might be fascinated by the people as described in the song.

Rita Effendi told me about Dili, a capital of Timor Leste, in her song “Januari di Kota Dili.” However, the song was made long before the country separated from Indonesia.

Kuta and Bali were already popular without needing any help from musician. But still, Andre Hehanusa’s Kuta-Bali was a great song to listen to.

So, I said Georgia… (with the hope that you will sing a part of the song).

News in Multimedia

Multimedia is an emerging reporting tool. Despite more hassle in the preparation, it turns out to be the most effective tool in reporting. Viewers not only getting the verbal information, but getting more understanding by looking at video or slideshows or images.

Multimedia is a very good example of “show, don’t tell”.

How do the news outlets cope with the demand on multimedia, especially on their websites?

Some big news corporation has their own section of video (it ranges from news, sport to opinion or editorial).

For example, The Seattle Times published its special report on Elwha River in written stories, timeline, photo gallery and a 3-minute slideshow with audio. It starts with an overview on the history of the dam, what good did the dam give to people and the process of deconstruction of the dam. I think it gives more option to users. If you don’t like reading too much text, at least you can watch a slideshow video.

The New York Times has a better interface for their website. One interesting section is called Opinion. Apart from seeing caricature on the print edition, readers can also watch video. The most recent one is opinion from the Op-Ed columnist Nicholas D. Kristof on what the conviction of Charles Taylor means for Sierra Leone and for current brutal dictators and warlords. Instead of writing his opinion, Kristof is sitting at the studio, telling his opinion about the conviction in a 2-minute video. I should say it is a good way to engage both readers and viewers.

So, if students want to empower multimedia as their reporting tool, what should be considered?

As in written news, try to find a way to engage viewers. Interesting introduction or title might help people to stop and click ‘play’.

Think like a video maker: plot, opening, ending, etc. Play with creativity to make a news story a ‘story’, not just a random compilation of pictures or footage.

Timing is important. Doing multimedia can be fun and there is a chance that you just want to tell more information in it. But be careful on the duration of the video or slideshow or interview. The effective multimedia should not exceed 3 minutes, in my opinion. That is probably the average time people can put their attention on a website. Because news in multimedia might not as engaging as a film, put in mind that users might move to another page quickly if they think they have got the information they want.

With those things in minds, next thing to do is : go out and shoot (a lot)! 

Storytelling: Slideshow

Reporting news is not all about writing on paper. News story can be presented in many ways, especially true in the era of multimedia and online journalism.

News can be presented with just a single, tell-it-all photo or video. But today I learned about using slideshow (with/without audio) to report the news.

Some news outlet will just build an online gallery for certain news topic. Some choose to add audio (narration, music, interview) in it. Regardless the ending output, slideshow can be a strong reporting tool.

One example I found in the Internet is a slideshow at the Seattle Times about Black Friday shopping in 2010

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/flatpages/businesstechnology/apinteractiveblackfridayaudioslideshow.html.

The slideshow, created by Associated Press in 2010, was published at the Black Friday. It gives an element of news story: timeliness.

In a way, the slideshow tells the audience the process of the biggest shopping day in the U.S. It starts by showing pictures of people lining (read: camping) up the night before the shops were opened. It then proceeds to pictures of the busy cashiers and shopkeepers, customers with trolley full of goods. It ends with people moving their items into cars.

The slideshow also tells the audience that despite the recession, people’s buying power did not decline. In fact, some customers pay with cash. It questions if the Americans are really affected by recession.

The narration helps the audience understanding the message in a better way. Should it was just a gallery of photos, it wouldn’t be so informative. The narrator tells the audience what the photos are about, what is behind them.

Social Media + Journalism = New School

Your need to write something for your journalism classes but running out of story ideas.

You scroll down your Facebook wall to see what’s going on in your friend circle. Some of them have just read some online article from news outlets.

Still stuck, you turn to your smartphone, reading what is trending on Twitter.

As the invasion of social media and the needs of information are continuing to grow, news providers have to transform the ways news is delivered.

Triggered by the global economy crisis in 2008, some news corporations decided to shut down their print production and focused on delivering news online.

As journalism students, we are left with tons of opportunities to shape the future of new-school journalism. Hence, the more versatilities we have, the more chances we can survive as the new era of journalism is not just about reporting stories in print but also empowering multimedia: pictures, slideshows, videos, animations, crowdsourcing.

You recalled your instructor suggesting using social media for your reporting medium. But what can you do with them? On the other side, what should you do to maintain your professional reputation?

Almost all do’s apply to your online reporting. Maintain your independent stand as the fourth estate. Displaying all the groups you join might give the sense of your political or religious positions. Posting too many personal stuffs (oh-I-was-drunk-in-a-party-last-weekend posts) might hurt your professional reputation.

However, don’t act too distant. Interacting with your readers through comments or retweeting is a must. You don’t want the readers think they are reading a computer-generated news outlet, especially if you are using blog or Twitter as the medium.

Be critical in gathering information. Don’t just take the information right away. Any body can say anything online! Check if it comes from credible sources. Go to the original webpage to double check.

Another good feature of social media is transparency. Be sure to be open on the sources. You don't want to be like Gailen David, a former flight attendant sued by American Airlines. American Airlines sued him on revealing confidential information. He revealed in his parody videos some confidential information but refused to tell his sources.

Last but not least, use the social media as your reporting tools but always be skeptical as a journalist.

Happy reporting!

A Day with The Seattle Times

I had a rewarding opportunity to do a job shadow with Mike Siegel, photographer at The Seattle Times last Friday.

It was all started from my search for internship opportunity as part of the scholarship program.

I am a journalism student at Everett Community College and thought it might be a good learning experience to be able to intern in a big news company like The Seattle Times. So, I tried my luck.

Apparently, there was no internship position at the time I applied. But in return, Jim Simons, one of the editors, offered me a one-day job shadow with their photographer.

I took it. At least, there would be something I could learn. I made the right decision.

So, Friday morning, I was at Seattle. The bus was surprisingly fast that I reached the place far earlier than I thought it would be.

I was supposed to meet Mike at 8 p.m. but apparently he had an assignment to cover a house fire at Mountlake Terrace happened the previous night.

While waiting, I was given a tour to the newsroom, which was so big. I should say that was my first experience being inside the real newsroom.

The staffs were friendly. There I learned how they update online stories and photos.

Then Mike came and I had a chance to see the process of a breaking-news photo went online. In real time.

Again, I was given another tour. This time, we went to all departments in the newspaper. It was so great to witness how people work in newsroom, how newspaper was produced.

At 10 a.m. I was invited to join Fred Nelson, photo editor, to editor meeting. It was not much different with my story idea meeting with the Clipper, only this was more serious and hi-tech.

There were two editor meetings in a day (10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.) in a room called fishbowl (because it was a room with glass wall).

The meeting was started with the presentation of readership of yesterday issue. Then, story ideas from each department for Saturday and Sunday edition. Everybody seems to have lots of stories running.

After that Fred explained to me about his job mediating the photographers and writers. Good stories should go with good photos and good photos deserve publication.

There was a breaking news: a Navy jet hit apartments in Virginia Beach, VA. Everybody was busy looking for more information and photos. Again, I witnessed another breaking news in process.

Soon, the news hit the top of a screen showing traffic of online readership.

We were supposed to have a photo session with Kenny G (yes, the saxophonist and he was from Seattle) but it was canceled.

My second press pass

However, we got another assignment to cover Sakura-Con 2012 at Washington State Convention and Trade Center at Downtown Seattle.

Mike contacted the event organizer, asking permission and press pass.  When everything was okay, we geared up. Shooting time!

It was another learning experience to observe how a professional photojournalist worked on the field. We shoot, took notes. I wish I had a camera with voice memo like the one Mike used. But never mind, I learned another way of recording information from him.

When we were done, I observed Mike working on his assignment: selection, editing, captioning.  Photos were sent and ready to publish.

That was pretty much the day.

Back to Everett, I had to work on my own photos and stories for the Clipper.