Final Product

Final Product:





Preliminary Task:

This is my preliminary task that I did with my partner before we actually started writing our script and recording. This gave us an idea of to expect and also experience in using the different technologies to record and edit.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms of conventions of real media products?

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 3: Institutions

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product? DRAFT

draft

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 6: What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Question 7: What have you learned?

My actual script

My script:

A new school called Arts and Music is to be opened in 2014 allowing 16 to 19 year old's to sign up for free and learn about the music industry. So you might be thinking whats so controversial about this? Well it turns out, untrained teachers are to be employed by the school to teach the students. Fusion FM spoke to a fully qualified teacher in East London who is completely against this and also a local student who thinks its a good idea.

(Voice clip from teacher and student)

We want to know what you think, so tweet us @FusionFM or text in to 82625.

Draft of script & our radio station

DRAFT:
East London Arts and Music school is about to open in 2014 allowing a chance for 16-19 year old to sign up for free and learn about the music industry. What is so controversial about this is that it will have untrained teachers being allowed to teach the students there.
We have two different views on this news cast one is from a fully qualified teacher who is totally against this and the other view is from a student who thinks its a good idea.

Voxpop for the radio news cast

Summary of what I am going to say to the teacher, parent and student:

East London Arts and Music college is a new free school which is to be opened in 2014 it is offering 16-19 year olds the chance to sign up for a series of free taster days even though it has untrained teachers. The school will feature state of the art facilities and  aims to provide young people with a greater understanding of the arts with experianced music industry figures.

I have put my original recordings here which I will later edit to make it any shorter if necessary. 

This is a Voxpop with a parent.

This is a Voxpop from a teacher

This is a Voxpop from a student

Audio recording for my story

Questions I am going to ask the Parent, student & teacher relating to my newscast:

First I will tell them the news story about ELAM to the them.

Do you think having untrained teachers could have an effect on students?

I will be recording this while they talk so I can insert it in my news cast when I talk about this story.

Risk Assessment for my Vox pop

Risk Assessments 

• I need to consider any risks that can take place with my Voxpop. I will be asking students, parents and teachers about this story and will be getting their views. I will ask them politely if they would like to be recorded as the risk could be that the parents could turn aggressive. 

• I have to also protect the identity of the student by not saying the students name so it remains confidential and they're privacy is maintained.

• I need to be aware that I don't influence the decision of the person that I am recording. This ensures that they can have their own opinions expressed. 

• I will choose locations that are suitable and safe for the voxpop to take place so for recording the students I will do it in a room, for the teachers I will do it in the classroom and for parents I will ask them to come inside the school where its a more suitable environment.

My story I have chosen for the radio news cast

My Story:

Controversial 'free school' offering taster days to London teens

ELAM (East London Arts and Music) college, a new ‘free school’ scheduled to open in September 2014, is now offering 16-19 year-olds the chance to sign up for a series of free ‘taster days’, despite criticism from some quarters regarding the employment of unqualified teachers.

Based in London’s Tower Hamlets, ELAM was founded by one half of UK pop act Chase & Status (William Kennard) and Sir Nick Williams, who served as head teacher at the BRIT School for ten years. The school will feature state-of-the-art facilities and aims to provide young people with “potential but no direction or knowledge about the industry” a greater understanding of the arts via a group of experienced music industry figures. All, of which, will be free of charge to the student, yet, although stated-funded, will operate outside of local authority control.

While some have championed free schools such as ELAN for their potential to educate children and teens who otherwise wouldn’t have access to such educational facilities, others have called into question the notion of employing unqualified teachers and not teaching the national curriculum.

One such dissenting voice was that of deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who said that free schools and academies should only employ professionally qualified teachers. He also said in an interview with the BBC that "children using taxpayer-funded schools had a right to expect basic standards."

In contrast, Mayor of London Boris Johnson has been vocal in his defence of free schools and their right to employ unqualified teachers. Speaking to the BBC, Johnson commented: "Some of the greatest teachers in the world don't necessarily have the full set of qualifications.I think you need to be flexible, look at the individual and see what they have got to offer the pupils.

"I think back to my own childhood and the people who taught me and many of them didn't have an educational qualification at all, some of them were in Japanese prisoner of war camps... and they were fantastic."

In its first year, ELAM will offer 72 places, with the selection of candidates based on a standard application form process and an assessment day.

source: http://www.mi-pro.co.uk/news/read/controversial-free-music-school-offering-free-taster-days-to-london/018240

My views on this story:

I personally think that the school should not have untrained teachers because I am a student studying in school and I wouldn't want any untrained teacher teaching me because I want to pass my exams and having someone not trained to teach a subject means that they don't know that subject inside out to teach it properly to the students.

Planning

Our radio station is called Fusion FM

This table shows what me and my partners story are which we will use in our newscast:

• What angle we are going to take
• How we will we attract our audience
• How our newscast will be different from other newscast's
• How our news will be interactive

There are 4 people in our group consisting of myself, Tahera, Asiya and Ouarda. We decided to divide the group and do it in pairs to find our story.

I have decided to do another angle which will be a Voxpop on a teacher a parent and a student to get their personal view of what they think about untrained teachers.

* Tahera is not present in our group anymore

My Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task:

Me and my partner did our preliminary task by writing a short script for our radio and then recording it to edit on audacity.This was our final audio after it was finished.

Our script involved an interview whereby my partner was the radio presenter interviewing me and i was the guest who was the author of a new book for teenagers. She asked me a couple of questions where I answered them and then read a few lines from the opening chapter.

We added music to the background to make it more interesting to listen to and we also edited it to make the music not overlap our speech so the listener cant hear, so we put the music lower than our speech so its clear to hear.

What I learnt from doing this preliminary task is how to choose a story that was suited to my audience which was teenagers and how to write the script so that it contained the important parts and also information that was relevant to my audience. I learnt how to sound clear and loud whilst I was recording which ensured that I know how to sound in the final product. I also learnt skills from using Audacity as I became more confident in using it and was able to successfully edit my audio properly.

How to use Audacity: Practice

Audacity The Basics:
Audacity is a free audio recorder and editing software which is also free. I will be using this software to do my radio show as it is simple to use once you get used to it, I already have experience with this software from my ICT GCSE controlled assessment where I had to record a short advert for a charity event I was doing.

Once you have downloaded Audacity you will also need a decent microphone you can plug in or you could just use the microphone built into the computer and also speakers.

Recording:
Click the big red button and start speaking into the microphone. 
The stop button is the yellow square and the pause button is the 2 blue lines if you have paused you can play it back and continue pressing the green button.

Adding audio to the background of your recording:
To add another audio such as music you should click File then Import and then Audio. Your audio will appear under your recording. 
You can add background music to your audio by inserting a sound clip of your choice and it will appear under your audio.

Deleting mistakes:
The selection tool is shaped like an 'I' once you have chosen what to select you click on the area and drag your mouse up to the part you want to stop at and then press the 'delete' button or press 'cut' from the 'Edit menu'. You can do the same for copying or pasting by right clicking your mouse or going on the 'Edit menu'.

      Before the cut                 







After the cut

Distribution of Stories for our News cast

As a group we chose our news stories for the radio.

Me: Controversial 'free school' offering taster days to London teens.

Asiya: 55 year old man that raped an 8 year old girl

Ouarda: Cyber bullying 

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary: Asiya & Ouarda 

Equipment research: How Microphones Work

How Microphones Work:
Microphones are a device that converts energy from one form to another, this is called a Transducer.They convert acoustical energy known also as sound waves into electrical energy.All microphones share one thing in common called The Diaphragm which is a thin piece of material which vibrates when it is struck by sound waves. In a handheld mic in the diaphragm is located in the head of the microphone.When the diaphragm vibrates other components in the mic also vibrate. These vibrations are converted into a electrical current which becomes the audio signal.

Types of microphone:

Liquid Microphone:

This was invented by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson, It was the first working microphones to be made. Early liquid microphones used a metal cap filled with water and sulfuric acid. A diaphagram was placed over the cup with the needle on the recieving side of it. Sound waves would cause the needle to move in the water. A small electrical current ran to the needle which was regulated by sound vibrations.

Ribbon Microphones:

Ribbon microphones are bidirectional meaning they pick up sounds from both sides.A thin ribbon usually aluminium is suspended in a magnetic field. Sound waves move the ribbon which changes the current flowing through it. 

How do Microphones Work?

How they convert sound waves into electrical energy:

What I learned from this video: 3 Types of Microphone:

• Dynamic Microphone:
The Inductor and Magnet in the mic creates an electrical signal for loud and soft waves and can pick these up.

• Condenser Microphone:
It uses a Capacitor and Battery  or other source of voltage to create an electrical audio signal. It is most widely used to record human voice and it picks up mid to soft sound waves. 

• Ribbon microphone:
It uses a Metal ribbon and Magnet combined to create an electrical signal. It is extremely fragile and picks up soft sound waves. 

Audience Survey Results Analysed

Hard news vs. Soft news & Codes of Radio - Deadlines

Hard News vs. Soft News
News stories are divided into two parts, one is for Hard News and the other is for soft news. Hard news includes stories on crime, war ,economics etc. and they are often reported immediately.
Soft News however is about background information on human interest stories such as entertainment and lifestyle.
Differences between them:
The tone of presentation on hard news takes a factual approach for example 'what happened?' and  'where did it happen?'. The tone of presentation for soft news on the other hand tries to entertain the listener or advise them. For example a 'what to look for when you are buying a mobile phone'.

 Sound codes of radio - slideshows

Dead Lines: Research

Interview techniques - November 10th MET 

journalism code of ethics - November 9th MET
Ofcom - November 17th MET

RAJAR - 

DAB radio - 

Case Study and My review on Capital FM.

Case study:

Capital FM has 9 stations across the UK, it used to be called Galaxy FM.
Broadcast area: Greater London
Branding: 95.8 Capital FM
Slogan: London's No. 1 Hit Music Station
Owner: Global Radio
Sister stations (radio operated by the same company):

• Capital Xtra
• Classical FM
• Heart London
• LBC 97.3
• LBC News 1152
• Smooth London
• XFM London

January 3rd, 2011 saw the launch of the new Capital FM Network and as the new hit music network rolled out across the UK, its coverage leapt from 2.1 million in London to 7 million listeners nationwide - after 1 full year. Broadcasting across 9 different key regions on FM in the UK, and with near national DAB Digital coverage.

It was the UK's first national commercial, hit music radio station, and today reaches 7.5 million people every single week, making it the largest commercial radio brand in the UK.

http://www.thisisglobal.com/radio/capital-fm/

Presenters and time's they are live:

Max Ahktar (Monday–Thursday late nights, Sunday evening) Avicii (Saturday overnight: monthly) James 'Bassman' Bassam (Monday–Friday afternoons, Sunday morning) Dave Berry (Capital Breakfast) Pandora Christie (Monday–Friday mornings, Sunday afternoon) Will Cozens (Monday–Friday overnights, Saturday late night) Tom Green (Sunday overnight) Marvin Humes (Monday–Saturday evenings, The Vodafone Big Top 40) Adam Inker (Sunday early breakfast) Ant Payne (Monday–Friday early breakfast, Saturday afternoon) Kat Shoob (The Vodadone Big Top 40) Lisa Snowdon (Capital Breakfast) Christian Williams (various) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_London

I listened to the radio station Capital FM because it is a very popular music station in London. They play music throughout the day and they also have interviews with celebrities about either a song they have released etc. They also have times where they talk about a song and have calls in by people about their reviews about it.
Throughout their radio broadcast they play advertises such as film adverts or food adverts for a wide range of audience. 

What makes them a good radio station is that the presenters voice is very captivating and they speak in a loud and clear voice with confidence which is a must have for people listening to a radio station so they can hear what the presenter is saying.

The personality of the presenter is important in the way they have to engage the listeners and make it worthwhile to listen.
The person presenting Capitol FM has to have a good knowledge of music after all it is a hit music station. They should give a wide variety of music that meets a high standard and would be suitable for the target audience.
I think this radio station would be suitable for teenagers and adults because it suites this type of audience as they play a lot of pop, R&B, hip hop etc. music which appealing to this type of audience.
What I didn't like about the radio station is that it has alot of advertisements through out which is quite annoying as I get bored very quickly. 

Capital FM is a very popular for a radio station as they even have their own social networking sites such as a Facebook page and Twitter page. This is a good idea to engage with the audience and to build a more larger audience through this.
Capital FM has over 500,000 followers on Twitter and a Million fans on Facebook which is a huge amount. This shows that it is a very popular music station.

Definition of Defamation, Libel, Slander

Defamation: Is the communication of a false statement that harms the reputation of an individual, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation.For example calling someone, dishonest, corrupt, hypocritical, lazy, incompetent, criminal, unfaithful or financially troubled. It includes what ordinary readers or viewers see or hear.

Different Types:Slander: The action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation.

Libel: When the media lies about someone. If they publish something that is untrue in a newspaper, radio, television, or other media then it is called libel and there are anti-libel laws in the constitution. Libel is extremely hard to prove.

Rupert Murdoch Case Study & The Leveson inquiry

Rupert Murdoch Case study:

In 2011, Australian-American media mogul and chairman and CEO of news cooperation, Rupert Murdoch faced the biggest public relations crisis in his career for more than 60 years. On July 10th 2011  following accusations of illegal phone hacking and police bribery, Murdoch stopped the production of the News of the World, a weekly British tabloid paper which started in 1843.
Some of the phone tapped victims were celebrities, politicians, high profile police investigation subjects and even the members of the British royal family. This was breaking the Journalism code of ethics and therefore it was major issue.

Criticisms of Murdoch: 

• His only concerns were to make as much money as possible and gain control of other forms of media.
• He contributed to a moral undermining of societies especially the United Kingdom, through the content and presentation of his newspapers and satellite channels.
• He represented an internalisation of media control which undermined national cultures, which was shown by his willingness to change nationality in order to acquire broadcasting in the United States. 

Some positive points may include that:

• He challenged the the political and social assumptions of the power and authority.
• He had the courage to challenge outdated restrictive practices in the newspaper and television industries.

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15686679

Journalism Code of Ethics

The Code of Ethics is there to guide you it is organised under 4 headings:

1. Seek truth and report it
2. Minimize harm
3. Act independently
4. Be accountable

Why is the code of ethics needed?
It is needed as a reminder to journalists to always put forth their best effort while being honest on the job. It reminds us of  the rules that we must follow in order to be good journalists. 
http://scrippsmediaethics.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/are-codes-of-ethics-really-needed-in.html

• Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
• Your staffs code of ethics should specify guidelines for ensuring accuracy, objectivity.
• Act independently, free of obligation to any interest other than the publics right to know.
• Journalists should not recieve favours/gifts from anyone. the public may percieve this.
• They are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.
• Minimize harm, encorouge sensitivity when covering emotional news.
• Respectful of peoples privacy.
• Be a respectful journalist. sources should be reliable, not annonymous.
• Fabrication is unacceptable
• Non offensive language should be used. 

I have listed in this presentation 12 code of ethics that Journalists must follow.

Source: http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

Commercial Radio

Commercial Radio:
Commercial radio is a Radio that generates income by selling air time to companies, which are filled with commercial advertisements. The money from the advertisements create money to run the radio station and also creates profits.

Their Aims:

Their aims are to get the highest number of listeners possible, they play mainstream music which is popular and attracts the listeners. The BBC is a public service broadcaster and this means that they care more the needs of different audiences rather than the high amounts of viewers. In the UK the only commercial station nationwide is Classic FM, they are owned by Sky. However It is not the most listened to rather it is Capital radio which gets the most viewers in a week. Both Classic FM and Capital radio is owned by Global radio. The radio station Real radio are owned by Guardian Media group,a ll three of these are Commercial radio stations.

Public Service Broadcasting

PSB stands for Public Service Broadcasting. It refers to TV programmes that are broadcasted for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial purposes.
These programmes include local news coverage, arts programmes and religious broadcasts. For example BBC radio1inform and educate their audience by broadcasting the news, and they entertain by playing music that appeals to their target audience and talk about relevant things that will also appeal and entertain the target audience.

This means that the Public Service Broadcasting have to do three things which is to;

• Inform
• Educate
• Entertain

It consists of the BBC only they have a multitude of Radio stations appealing to as many target audiences as realistically possible.

DAB Radio - New technology

DAB Radio from mediamahmuda

A DAB Radio is a new technology that has made the radio even better it can be used on portable devices such as mobile phones and laptops this has made radio even easier to access. I think its so much improved compared to the olden times radio where you had to tune in to find a station that was clear to understand.

Radio news style & Do's and dont's

Radio News Style:

Getting the tone right:
Good English serves the listeners better than bad English
Clarity:
Clarity is the fundamental in radio news. You have to talk in in a simple and direct way as possible without compromising its essentials. The structure of the sentence should be plain, the words used familiar and colloquial.
You have to know what you will say and to do that you need to know what the story is about and have identified the important elements you need to put.
Number of stories:
If a summary is to have pace and urgency it is important for the story count to be high.
Opening words:
Do not depart from the basic subject whatever you have to say get on with it and also you need to be careful with your words as words can be missed by less attentive listeners.

Do's and Dont's:

Time reference:
Be careful with time for example 'today' make it more specific with your news 'the government today' instead of 'today the government'.
Objectivity:
Don't promote your own judgement on things always research and find the best and most common result everyone has been talking about as one persons judgement cannot be the same as everyone else's or the real thing.
Cliches:Try not to use cliches ( a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.
Don't use Jargon's: (special words used by a profession or group that are difficult for others to understand).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/radio_newsroom/1099302.stm

News values

 

News values:

There are 8 primary factors that determine the worthiness of a story.

1. Impact: The significance, importance, or consequence of an event or trend; the greater the consequence, and the larger the number of people for whom an event is important the greater the newsworthiness.
2. Timeliness: The more recent, the more newsworthy. In some cases, timeliness is relative. An event may have occurred in the past but only have been learned about recently.
3. Prominence: Occurrences featuring well-know individuals or institutions are newsworthy. Well-knownness may spring either from the power the person or institution possess – the president, the Speaker of the House of Representatives – or from celebrity – the late Princess Diana or fashion designer Gianni Versace.
4. Proximity: Closeness of the occurrence tot he audience may be gauged either geographically – close by events, all other things being equal, are more important than distant ones – or in terms of the assumed values, interest and expectations of the news audience.
5. The Bizarre: The unusual, unorthodox, or unexpected attracts attention. Boxer Mike Tyson’s disqualification for biting off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear moves the story from the sports pages and the end of a newscast tot he front pages and the top of the newscast.
6. Conflict: Controversy and open clashes are newsworthy, inviting attention on their own, almost regardless of what the conflict is over. Conflict reveals underlying causes of disagreement between individuals and institutions in a society.
7. Currency: Occasionally something becomes an idea whose time has come. The matter assumes a life of its own, and for a time assumes momentum in news reportage.
8. Human Interest: Those stories that have more of an entertainment factor versus any of the above - not that some of the other news values cannot have an entertainment value.

http://vegeta.hum.utah.edu/communication/classes/news.html

RAJAR- Radio joint audience research.

Ofcom

Professional Body in the Radio industry:
What is Ofcom?

 
Ofcom is a communications regulator. They regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed lone telecoms, mobiles, postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate. They make sure that people in the UK get the best from their communications services and are protected from scams and sharp practices.

Ofcom regulates under the Communications act 2003 the detailed act of parliament spells out exactly what Ofcom should do. The Act says that Ofcom's general duties should be to further the interests of citizens and of consumers.

Ofcom is funded by fees from industry fro regulating broadcasting and communications networks, and grant-in-aid from the government.

Their main legal duties are to ensure:

• The UK has a wide range of electronic communications services.
• A wide range of high quality television and radio programmes are provided, appealing to a range of tastes and interests.
• People who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offensive material.
• People are protected from being treated unfairly in television and radio programmes, and from having their privacy invaded
• A universal postal service is provided in the UK – this means a six days a week, universally priced delivery and collection service across the country.
• The radio spectrum (the airwaves used by everyone from taxi firms and boat owners, to mobile-phone companies and broadcasters) is used in the most effective way.

The history of the radio

The history of the radio:

The radio has been the first device to allow for mass communication. It has allowed for information to be transferred far and wide, not only nationally but also internationally.The development of the radio began in 1893 with Nikolai Teslas demonstration of wireless radio communication in St. Louis, Missouri. His work laid the foundation for those later scientists who worked to perfect the radio we now use. 

 

The history and development of radio in the UK:

The BBC was formed in 1922 as number of radio manufacturers who came together to promote this new idea. The government thought that broadcasting was too important to be left out. BBC Radio started as local radio, partly for technical reasons, as it was not at first possible to re transmit the same programme to different areas but now it is broadcasted all over the UK. It is now known as BBC Audio and Music The service provides national radio stations covering the majority of musical genres, as well as local radio stations covering local news, affairs and interests which also oversees online audio content.

Interview Techniques & How to sound clear in a radio station.

Planning for an interview:

Timing:  There must be enough time for the interview where the interviewer can take time to write notes between each question.

Questions: You must have questions that links to what you are interviewing them about. It should not trail into a different topic, as it will be unnecessary and waste of time.

Venue: The place where the interview is taking place must be of an appropriate size and it should encourage the interviewee’s concentration. It should be comfortable for both the interviewer and interviewee. A suitable place where there is less noise and distractions.

You should treat the interviewee with respect at all times.
You should ask the most important questions first and move on to the least important ones.
Try to ask a minimum of 3 to 4 questions to keep it short and simple.

How the Interview should be structured:

The opening- Include introduction and a few minutes of small talk to relax the interviewee. 

The body: This is the main part of the interview where the questions should be asked.

The close: The interviewee should be given time for any questions they may have.

Sounding clear in a radio interview:

Speak in a loud and clear voice so the interviewee can hear what you are saying and understand it so they can answer the question promptly.
The type of language you should use must be understood by your target audience for example if it was for teenagers you should be using words that they would understand not something they wouldn't understand.