Final Newstrack: Lessons Learned throughout JO 304

Recently I've started keeping a journal of little tidbits I learn on my journey to becoming a "real-life" journalist. It's become something to force me to reflect on my progress throughout each project, highlighting the ups and downs as I move forward. Since JO 304 was a big part of that process this semester, I thought it would be nice to share some of the lessons I've learned along the way for my final news track blog. Please note that these are all little scraps of fleeting information I jot down in a moment's notice, so some may not be perfect, but they've helped me nonetheless.

-- Are your batteries charged? Do you have extra memory cards? If not, what are you even doing here? Technology may fail in a single moment, but that doesn't mean the story will stop for you.

-- What good are connections if you don't use them?

-- Research beforehand, and be prepared for a story to fall through. It happens. Where's your backup? What are you going to do next? How much time did you leave yourself for mishaps like this? (which are bound to happen, btw)

-- Do not put things off until the last minute. You're only hurting yourself.

-- Don't be afraid to walk up to people and ask for their help. You're shy, we get it. And, yes, some will say no, but some will say yes. That's all that really matters -- (the others you can just ignore because BU is so big you'll never see them again!!)

-- Be confident. (See above.)

-- Take initiative. Put yourself out there. Get noticed -- it feels good. (See above).

-- You are doing okay.

Analyzing BBC News: Multimedia

Nowadays journalism is all about incorporating different multimedia into one story, utilizing photos, videos and audio to give readers a more personal look at an event or situation from anywhere around the world. As I analyzed BBC News this week, I found many of the same faults and successes I've relayed in my past news tracks -- namely, that the site does not do enough to integrate different kinds of media into one post.

BBC's success this week came primarily in the form of photos. Their article on the immigrants ignored in President Obama's recent executive orders incorporated six very different photographs within a medium-length post, which is the most I've seen since tracking the site. However, in this case, I believe that video would have supplemented the article more efficiently. The photos were simply portraits of immigrants mentioned in the article, but I think it would have been more informative and striking to see those immigrants speaking for themselves.

When I looked a little closer, I realized that there were videos that could have been included in the post. These were listed under a small section titled, "Related Stories." Sure, they weren't necessarily interviews with the immigrants themselves, but BBC has access to an entire page of videos portraying the general public's opinions toward Obama's address. Why weren't these included in the original article? Most readers don't like to search for information, and so they won't -- they will only read or watch what is right in front of them and is easily accessible. So why would you mask this related content (the box isn't that big, so it's not crying out for attention to begin with) and force them to click to new pages in order to see it? It doesn't quite make sense to me. BBC could definitely improve here.

I was again both excited and a little disappointed when I came across an audio report in BBC's article on the evolution of HIV. This is rare -- I've never seen an audio report woven into a story until today. However, BBC again tanked on the presentation front. The soundbite is from a professor at Mercyhurst University, talking about the caution needed when assessing this study -- very worthy information. Yet, the soundbite is almost hidden away because it's placed right next to the advertising column on the post. In fact, some of the advertisements are bigger than the audio report itself, attracting the attention that should be on the news, not on ads! I think BBC could have prevented this by justifying the edge of the audio report with the left side of the article (and away from the ads), and possibly making it span the entire column so that it demands your attention.

I'm generally a fan of BBC. I appreciate the quality of their articles and how they span the entire globe. Usually they are my first source for world news. However, I'm disappointed that such a strong organization could continuously make these fatal (and easy to fix) mistakes.

Analyzing BBC News: Interactivity

In class last week we learned about the use of Google maps, video diaries and other methods promoting interactivity between news networks and their readers. This week, when I took a look at BBC News, I realized they haven't quite hit that mark yet.

I quickly scanned through a few of the front page articles on their site only to find the same format: a cover photo, a ton of text, and maybe a few more photos here and there. It seems like BBC News is more text-heavy than anything else. One article about slavery around the world did include a graphic map highlighting the number of slaves per region, but I feel like this map could've been enhanced by allowing readers to zoom into the region they were interested in to find a closer look at where the numbers actually lay. Telling me that there are 17,459,900 slaves in all of South Asia is powerful, yes, but it's not as informative as if you could tell me which countries within South Asia carry these slaves -- and how many for each.

After a little more text, BBC News does list the top 5 countries with the highest proportion of slaves, but this time they're missing the map! I have no idea where the top two countries are -- they aren't big name world leaders -- and so I bet a handful of other readers would feel the same way. BBC could've avoided this confusion by marking these countries on their original map using some sort of coding system.

Scanning through some of the other articles on the site, I found the comment section. I'm not sure why this isn't available for each article -- it seems kind of counter productive to me to cut off reader communication, since that's who you're writing for -- but I did find their technique interesting. There are two tabs under the comments section: "Editors' Picks" and "All Comments." 

While it doesn't exactly say which editors or who is moderating the comments that appear under the "Editors' Picks" section, I still think that this is a smart move by BBC. It suggests that there are people at the news network reading the hundreds of comments their readers leave behind. It can give readers a sense that their voice is being heard. On the flip side, it also helps create a more compact section of comments for readers who just want to get the jist of comments left behind on a certain article -- instead of sifting through 500+ comments that may or may not all be relevant, they can now sort through 20-30 handpicked by the editors. I think that BBC could enhance their interactivity throughout the site by expanding this program to all articles, not just certain ones. 

Student Approved: 'Sargent Choice Test Kitchen' Finds the Balance Between Healthy and Tasty

Boston University occupational therapy professor Karen Jacobs helps students find the balance between healthy and tasty recipes in her on-campus apartment during her weekly "Sargent Choice Test Kitchen" hours. Jacobs and students work together to try out new nutritional recipes handed down from Sargent College to ensure that all of the dining hall's "Sargent Choice" menu items will be ones that students will enjoy.

Analyzing BBC News: Video

BBC News utilizes two types of video reporting: at scene live streaming and more packaged, documentary-like content with voiceovers and interviews. For this week's news track, I decided to find and analyze one of each to assess BBC's effectiveness in video reporting.

The first video story I stumbled upon was BBC's live and breaking news report on the explosion of a US rocket that was launched with supplies for six astronauts at the International Space Station. BBC intended just to cover the rocket launch, but were smart in using video to do so, as I don't think pictures would have given the same "inside look" with such a visual occurrence. Obviously, they set up the report without knowing that the rocket would explode, but I found the reporter's approach after the fact very calm and put together. She took a step back, allowing for the video and audio from the control center to speak for itself, but knew when she had waited long enough and didn't hesitate to give background on the issue.

 

The video was also enhanced later on the website by a full length article, complete with pictures, that allowed for more information on a piece of breaking news. Obviously, the reporter didn't have any information when the rocket exploded, but BBC ensured complete coverage of the issue by filling in these blank spots with the accurate information as it filtered in.

However, this was one area that BBC fell short in when announcing Victoria Beckham's spot on Britain's Top 100 Entrepreneurs through a documentary-like, packaged video. There is another post announcing and providing more detail behind Beckham's accomplishment, but the video and this article are in two different places, meaning viewers have to switch pages to get from one thing to the next. To reduce this "hopping around" effect and to keep viewers on a page longer, BBC should have embedded the video onto the original, longer article.

Additionally, when clicking on a video about Victoria Beckham winning an award, I expected to see Victoria Beckham. Instead, the video is entirely man on the street interviews intertwined with footage from her London store, with Beckham only appearing for a 2-second, one sentence clip that is ultimately interrupted and cut off by the reporter. While I appreciated the MOS interviews and the documentary feel, which gave me a sense of the public's reactions to her award, I also wanted to see a little bit more of Beckham, whether that be through her own interview or just clips of her at different events, working in the store, etc.

All in all, the website has a few kinks that they should consider when producing video content.

50 Years at the Head of the Charles Regatta

Boston's historic rowing event, the Head of the Charles Regatta, celebrated it's 50th anniversary Oct. 18 - 19 in the presence of over 11,000 athletes and their 400,000 fans.

Into the Woods and Behind the Scenes with Brittany Kamson

Take a sneak peek at Boston University's Stage Troupe's fall show, Into the Woods, as we follow actress Brittany Kamson around the set for exclusive, behind the scenes photos and a look into why she loves acting, Troupe, and more.

Analyzing BBC News: Using Photos to tell the Story

Photos are an important part of any story. They allow the viewer an inside, first-hand look at any situation in any place, far or near, providing them not only with a better understanding of the story, but also a better understanding of the world.

BBC News approaches the use of photos in a few different ways. While they do embed photos directly into each article, they also have a separate page titled "In Pictures" entirely dedicated to photo content. I clicked on the page expecting to find different photo slideshows for each story, but instead I found that they break this category down into two parts: "Day in Pictures" and "Week in Pictures." These are exactly what they seem -- they take that day's (or week's) best photos from around the world and embed them into one continuous list with a short caption to describe the image.

While I think that this is an interesting and efficient way for viewers or readers to get a "quick snapshot" of today's news in pictures, it falls short because of its lack of connectivity. Despite a one-line caption, a single photo alone does not always provide all of the information readers want to know about the situation displayed. More importantly, if the path to that extra information is not clearly marked (most likely via quick-links), readers will not stay around. Instead, they will most likely turn to Google with a few keywords, hoping to get to the story as quickly as possible. Online readers are not patient people, and the majority of them will not spend time digging around your site for the story. The Google search could lead them to another news network, meaning you just lost a valuable reader (and probably many more) because of an easily-fixable short-coming. BBC could improve by simply linking the photo or caption back to longer articles, providing readers with an easy opportunity to learn more about the story behind the photo if they please.

Of course, this won't always be the case. This photo of a hippo at a Berlin zoo is probably not worth an entire article of information. But readers probably won't be looking for it in this case. However, certain news demand more attention. This photo of Ukrainian protesters in Kiev represents an ongoing crisis in the region, and readers will probably be looking for an update. The key here is to think about and know your readers and the content -- Will readers want more information regarding the situation in this photo? Do I have more information? If both answers are yes, there is no reason to leave out a quick-link.

Analyzing BBC News: SEO

Today's main headline on BBC World News covers a familiar and ongoing topic: the Hong Kong protests. Big deal, right? Normally this would just become another article I look through on my way through the site, but after sifting the rest of BBC's coverage of the protests, I discovered an interesting trend that reveals one of BBC's tactics in securing a positive search engine optimization (SEO) for their Hong Kong content.

 All of the articles regarding the situation in China are applied the same headline: "Hong Kong protests: ..." followed by the most updated news the site can offer. The title even appears on a subsection of all Asia content dedicated to the crisis. To those who don't know about SEO, this probably goes unnoticed. But, personally, I see the brains behind this operation: not only is this a smart and efficient way to ensure their spot at the top of the hierarchy we call Google, but it also provides BBC with an effective way to organize all of their Hong Kong content for later use. The simplicity of those three words, "Hong Kong protests," also work in their favor, as these are the words people will most likely search for when looking for new information on the crisis.

And a quick Google search shows that their efforts in SEO are working. BBC shows up as the top two news sources for the most current update on the Hong Kong situation.

However, that's not the only perk BBC is getting out of their well-planned headline. By titling each post the same way, they've also created a neat archive for readers to pick through. Simply Googling "Hong Kong Protests BBC" provides readers with easy access to all of the articles BBC has written about the topic, which, in turn, generates more page views for the news site. 

Overall, I found BBC's tactics well thought-out and very well-executed. Although it may not be noticeable to most readers, the amount of traffic going through BBC's site based off of their Hong Kong coverage is probably unavoidable.

Benefits to Daily Alcohol Consumption?

Researchers at Boston University's School of Public Health spent last Thursday night debating the effects of alcohol consumption. The message from advocates? "Don't drink too much, but don't drink too little either." However, not everyone is convinced. BU students share their take on the research.

Analyzing BBC News: Audio Reporting

I have to admit, I am more than disappointed by the lack of quality audio reporting done by BBC World News. Not only did it take more than a few minutes of navigating through their website to find any sort of audio at all, but when I finally stumbled across a page dedicated entirely to audio news recordings, I was let down again. After scrolling through a couple of the links listed on the page, it becomes clear -- each link invites you into the middle of a raw interview with very little, if any, natural sound and almost no voiceovers. And without these key components to audio reporting, it's easy to become lost, especially when the reporter doesn't even bother to clarify what you're listening to. It feels abrupt, awkward, and, above all, confusing.

It almost seems pointless.

Take these two recordings -- both come from Scottish citizens who voted "yes" in the Scottish referendum for independence and were disappointed by the results on Thursday.





Taken away from the context provided by the title or in the short body of the piece, it would be hard to define the story behind the audio a month, week, or even maybe a few days from now. It's missing the "stand-alone" element that is so important with audio reporting.

A more effective way to compose the piece would be to include some natural sound at the beginning -- are there people crying after hearing the results? Are there people still protesting? The piece would then continue with a voiceover explaining where we are and what just happened, before allowing these interviews to show how part of the population feels about the vote. Another interesting aspect to think about is how to include both the people who thought the vote was a victory and those who thought it was a loss. This would provide a little more contrast and conflict within the story, and ultimately show that it wasn't necessarily one-sided -- after all, it was a pretty close vote.

Analyzing BBC News: News Values and Content

Overall, BBC News provides a lot of options for the average news-goer looking for the hottest topics around the world. Not only does it provide a list of the world's most recent breaking news on its homepage, but it also allows you to delve into different regions to allow for more concentrated reporting that obeys one of the news values we learned in class: proximity. But it was both of these features together that attracted me to BBC News for my NewsTrack blog -- I appreciate how they stress importance of both issues near and far away.

This week we are focusing on certain valuable features of news articles, including everything from timeliness to emotional appeal. I chose to analyze BBC's piece, "Obama says Ebola outbreak a 'global security threat'" because I feel like it exemplifies many of the traits we discussed in class in a unique and strategic way.

Timeliness, Proximity and Prominence

President Obama's recent announcement provides BBC with a gateway in their ongoing coverage of the Ebola outbreak. Obviously this is one of the newest updates regarding the issue, allowing BBC to cover the disease in a new and timely manner -- they help keep readers up to current speed. But Obama's presence also granted BBC the values of proximity and prominence.

While Ebola's attack has remained mainly throughout a few countries in Africa, Obama's announcement brings the global issue back home to the United States. He talks of new measures to be taken, "including ordering 3,000 US troops to the region and building new healthcare facilities," which gives Americans another reason to pay attention to and take interest in the issue. Obama's presence also provides a notable figure involved, giving the story prominence. Furthering this is the picture and mention of Dr. Kent Brantly, who recently recovered from an Ebola infection after receiving experimental treatment in Atlanta. He provides the notoriety of someone who has defeated the disease, providing more incentive and motivation to fighting it worldwide.

Impact, Magnitude and Emotional Appeal

By bringing the issue back home, BBC was then able to show the impact Ebola has on the US. President Obama called for the deployment of 3,000 US troops, the construction of 17 healthcare facilities, the training of "as many as 500 health care workers a week" and the delivery of 50,000 home health care kits to Liberia this week. Although BBC fails to highlight exactly how much this will cost the US, readers are still provided with information regarding how the US is getting involved in fighting the Ebola outbreak, and can assume that these programs will have to come out of some US budget. BBC also does a great job of highlighting the magnitude of the Ebola crisis, both throughout text within the article, but also with an infographic that breaks down the number of Ebola deaths into each country affected. 

BBC emotionally appeals to the reader through their use of multimedia in covering the piece. Video, photographs, stand-alone quotes, and statistics are all used to intensify the severity of the disease and to show how desperate the world is becoming in the search for a cure. 

 

Room for Improvement

One thing that the BBC article failed to report on was why the Ebola crisis has been so difficult to contain. There has been considerable pushback in the process of getting treatment from the communities most affected with Ebola, mostly because of fear or a stigma attached to hospitals and, ultimately, the end result of death associated with the disease. However, this pushback directly correlates with the struggle to contain the disease; if people resist hospital treatment and instead allow family members to attempt to treat them, they ultimately end up spreading the disease to family and friends themselves. I think if BBC had elected to cover this part of the issue, they would have hit the news value of "conflict," even if it does not present itself in the most typical way.