COMM 361-001: Online Journalism

“Journalists who didn’t cut their teeth in radio reporting tend to relegate audio to second-tier status, figuring that text is more informative, photos and video more compelling. That kind of thinking makes less sense than ever now that the Internet gives every news orgnaization and every reporter the option of producing audio journalism.”

So begins Briggs’ seventh chapter on audio journalism. He discusses its importance, its potential for you and techniques to use to your advantage with it.

Audio journalism “has characteristics that can’t be matched by other forms of media”:

• Presence: On location, a reporter can literally bring readers to the story. The simple fact of being there boosts credibility and interest.
• Emotions: Tone of voice, expressions, intonation and pauses–in the words of either the reporter or the sources–can enhance the message.
• Atmosphere: Natural sound–the sound that’s naturally happening around you as you report–helps pull the listener in close. Natural sound can be anything–weather sounds, crowd sounds, machine noises, whatever’s happening in that particular setting.

Further, some excellent opportunities that audio offers journalists includes:

• Reporter overview: Newspapers like The New York Times routinely post quick, simple audio overviews by reporters that accompany their articles. The Times calls them “Backstory.”
• Podcasts: Regular episodes on a selected subject help build an audience but can be time-consuming and difficult to establish in the beginning.
• Audio slide shows: Photojournalists have discovered the power of adding audio to their images to tell richer, more compelling stories.
• Breaking news: With free services such as Utterli.com, a reporter can file a quick audio report from anywhere by mobile phone, to be published on a Web site.

Volume, Pitch, Rhythm, Tempo — Varying these and controlling these is your BEST way to ensure a good voice-over.

When editing your audio clips and inserting them into your piece, techniques such as cross-fading, establishing music, segue (smoothly transitioning from one track to another) and transitions in general are very important to use and master.

“Even if you’re not ready to create fully developed stories with different layers and advanced editing, audio journalism can be powerful as a simple and quick publishing format.”

This entry was posted on Monday, February 28th, 2011 at 7:33 PM and is filed under Assignments (Chapters). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.