Job Shadows: What You Saw, Part 3

Here's a sampling of some of the various job shadows done by you all. Take a look and see what you can learn from everyone's visits. There's a lot of good stuff here to help you decide what you want to do with your lives; what you need to be doing to get there; and what to expect when you do get there.

We will add more job shadow reports to the blog as they are completed. Please give each one of these a quick read, will you?

*****

On Thursday, July 14, I tiredly arrived at the WTCM radio station on Front Street in Traverse City. Jack O'Malley welcomed my twin sister, Patricia, and I into his studio at 4:00am as we started the morning off with much needed coffee. We talked about the morning ahead and he shared his history with us of the radio business. His show goes live every morning at 5:00, so in preparation we together went over the products that were to be covered in the show and learned how to use the technology required to air the show. With Jack O'Malleys great sense of humor we laughed off the mistakes as my sister and I finally began to figure out the devices. At 5 o'clock with the live show airing O'Malley introduced us as his guests and the show was kicked off with our pre recorded clips that we had made.

As my sister and I were on air with Jack O'Malley I gradually became more comfortable. Hearing my voice at first was alarming, but we steered towards topics like life at Michigan State and what is like to be a twin. These are almost "safe zone" topics for me so we were able to have fun on air and even include callers commenting on our stories.

Before setting up this job shadow, I had never considered the radio network to be a part of my future. I instead had thought of television and saw myself as a reporter or host. Talking to Jack O'Malley he told me how he too had thought this way when he was younger but now after working 32 years as a radio host he knew he was "where he was meant to be." After my shadow, I could see myself working with a radio station as a career as I saw how much fun Jack O'Malley has with the WTCM station and his audience.

Job Shadows: A Reminder!

Your job shadow report is due Friday! Here's a refresher on the particulars:

The job shadow assignment in JRN 200 is unique from our other work in that it is not intended for publication.

It is intended to help students explore career options.

To do this, choose a person who is doing a job that you might like to do and plan to spend half a day with them as they work. This is one of the last things due, but set it up early so you are not in a tight spot late in the semester. It might take several tries to set this up. Some people, we have found, are not responsive.

Your are to shadow a journalism professional, not another student. We do not shadow people at The State News, WKAR or places where we have interned.

The person may work in any form of news media. They can work in any city.

THE QUESTIONS

Learn largely by observing what they do, and use your own questions. Here are a few you can use:

* What is a really fun day on this job?

* What happens on a terrible day?

* What are the best parts of the job?

* What are the worst parts?

* How is the job changing -- and how fast?

* How did you get this job?

* What are its basic requirements?

* What do you like/dislike about it?

* Is job security an issue? How do you cope with that.

THE REPORT

You will not write a news article about this, as it is not a news story. You will be writing a 300-word report. About two thirds should describe what you saw and heard. About a third should describe how well this job -- or parts of it -- would fit you. Include any lessons you learned about your career path or getting a job someday.

The deadline for your job shadow report is no later than 9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 12 to omars@msu.edu.

Out-Of-Class #3: Rewrites

You should be getting back your graded third out-of-class story soon. Your rewrite deadline will be no later than 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17 to omars@msu.edu.

JRN 200: Your Turn To Grade Me!

Student Instruction Rating System (SIRS Online) collects student feedback on courses and instruction at MSU.  Student Instructional Rating System (SIRS Online) forms will be available for your students to submit feedback during the dates indicated:      JRN  200  730:  7/31/2016 - 8/30/2016 (SIRS only)        Direct students to https://sirsonline.msu.edu.   Students are required to complete the SIRS Online form OR indicate within that form that they decline to participate.  Otherwise, final grades (for courses using SIRS Online) will be sequestered for seven days following the course grade submission deadline for this semester.  SIRS Online rating summaries are available to instructors and department chairs after 8/30/2016 at https://sirsonline.msu.edu. Instructors should provide copies of the rating summaries to graduate assistants who assisted in teaching their course(s). Rating information collected by SIRS Online is reported in summary form only and cannot be linked to individual student responses. Student anonymity is carefully protected.  If you have any questions, please contact Michelle Carlson, (mcarlson@msu.edu, (517)432-5936).

MM #2: What You Did

Here are some examples of your work. The comments are not being made to pick on anyone (in fact, these are some of the better examples of our work here) and no grades are being shared beyond me and the person whose work it is. 

But I am sharing comments to help us all get a sense of what we did well, and what we can do better, and how to do that. In my in-person class during the spring and fall we'd be reviewing these vids as a group and discussing them, and that's what I'm trying to replicate here. So please take a look at each piece of work via the hyperlinks below.

Off we go:


* Samantha: School hours blog preview and recap and video:

In one stretch of video we have the source introduce himself, and then we have a caption identifying the source. Only the latter was needed; the rest was redundant. 

The blog posts have good hyperlinks to resources regarding the issue, so that readers can get more information without having to go elsewhere if they want to further explore the subject. That's the point of hyperlinks; to make your online news post the one-stop shop for the audience.

If they're good with your summary, they can stop there. If this gets them interested to delve further into the subject, you're giving them the resources to do so that you can't offer in print.

* Hussein: Hookah lounges blog preview and recap and video:

We could have used more B-roll, like from inside a hookah lounge while people are milling about, relaxing, etc. We need to show what is being talked about.

And each blog post is missing a lede. Like with a story, each post has to get to the point of what it's about right at the start.

The rules we learned in doing practice stories and out-of-class stories we should be transferring over to blog posts and video by having ledes and quotes/sound bytes and following AP style and having attribution and such. The mediums change, but the rules and structure do not. 

* Simone: teaching/learning blog preview and recap and video:

In captions, we need to follow the same AP style rules we follow in print. So instead of identifying a source by title and last name (Mr. Smith, for example) we need to ID using first and last names (William Smith).

Also in the video, we lack video B-roll but we make up for it by using still pictures as B-roll which isn't the best first option (for a video, the best B-roll is video) but a good backup nonetheless.

The blog posts are okay, but we are missing hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are what make online text journalism what it is, by allowing a gateway to more info about a subject. They are not optional.

* Carina: Drug addiction blog preview and recap and video:

We have a lede caption which is good, and we have attribution captions, which are good. But we shoot with the phone vertical instead of horizontal, so we get those goofy black bars at each end of the screen.

But the biggest problem is the lack of B-roll. We don't show what people are talking about: getting shots of people buying, selling or doing drugs, cop cars rolling down the street, external shots of the police department, etc.

That's a huge miss in video journalism, for two big reasons. First, video is a visual medium, so we MUST show people what subjects are talking about. Second, it leaves us stuck on that boring shot of a talking head instead of breaking up that shot while they continue to talk by showing people what they are talking about.

* Xuejia: Camping blog preview and recap and video:

We have great B-roll here showing what the story is about, but the problem is we use them before and after interview segments, when we need to be using them within those segments, starting with the sound byte and the head shot, then keeping the sound byte going while transitioning to B-roll showing what they are talking about, and then going back to the head shot as we wind down the sound byte.

The blog posts are entirely lacking hyperlinks, which is not good. Let's hyperlink to resources readers can use to help them explore the subject, like the national park's Web site and such.



* Patricia: Cherry Festival blog preview and recap and video

In the video, we lack video B-roll but we make up for it by using still pictures as B-roll which isn't the best first option (for a video, the best B-roll is video) but a good backup nonetheless.

Elsewhere, in one stretch we have the narrator introduce a source, then we have the source introduce herself, and then we have a caption identifying the source. Only the latter was needed; the rest was redundant. We also had the narrator's laughter come up over the source speaking, which we can never allow to happen.

With the blog, instead of doing a preview and recap, we did one post looking at the pros of the event and another at the cons. And that's fine; it's a natural way to cleave the issue.

Video #2: Some Great Examples From The Past

I feel like we really struggled on this second video assignment; B-roll was weak or not there at all; attribution was often redundant; we were missing lede voice-overs or captions, etc.

So, in hopes of giving you guys some examples of what we should be aiming for, I've posted some second video assignments from past 200 classes of mine (all but the first one are from an online class, just like this one) to give you a better sense of what we can -- and should -- do at this point of the semester.

Please look at each, consider my comments (from the original class blog posts reviewing this assignment for those classes), and then think about what you can incorporate for your third video assignment. Again, please note the ledes, B-roll, B-roll placement, use of captions for attribution, etc.

Here we go:

* Smoking ban video

Simple yet strong B-roll here. It's a story about a smoking ban; we show people smoking in different environments. That's all it has to be.

* Road work video

The video style here is what we call a "stand-up," which is literally that: a reporter stands in front of the camera and narrates the report. But notice the extensive use of B-roll throughout, especially within interview segments where we start with the talking head, then while the head continues to talk we switch the visual to B-roll that shows what the person is talking about, and then we return and finish with the talking head shot. Good story structure here. It's the video equivalent of pairing telling facts and quotes in print.

* City market video

LOTS of B-roll SHOWING what sources are talking about. Plus, four sources! Two is just the minimum; the necessary amount is however many you need to get a broad sense of things. 

* Golf course flooding video

OUTSTANDING B-roll here! What makes it outstanding? While a golf course official talks about a flooded course, we play B-roll showing the flooding from the perspective of a motorboat trekking across the flooded course! We show (via video) AND tell (via interview) at the same time. That's what we're aiming for; telling a story in two dimensions simultaneously.

JRN 200: Your Homework For The Week of Monday, 8/1

It's our final reading of the semester: RFTM Ch. 5-6 (p. 79-132) by 9 a.m. next Monday. Please keep an eye on the blog every day for assignment reviews and other updates.

Plus, don't forget your job shadow report deal dine is coming up! Here's the background:

The job shadow assignment in JRN 200 is unique from our other work in that it is not intended for publication.

It is intended to help students explore career options.

To do this, choose a person who is doing a job that you might like to do and plan to spend half a day with them as they work. This is one of the last things due, but set it up early so you are not in a tight spot late in the semester. It might take several tries to set this up. Some people, we have found, are not responsive.

Your are to shadow a journalism professional, not another student. We do not shadow people at The State News, WKAR or places where we have interned.

The person may work in any form of news media. They can work in any city.

THE QUESTIONS

Learn largely by observing what they do, and use your own questions. Here are a few you can use:

* What is a really fun day on this job?

* What happens on a terrible day?

* What are the best parts of the job?

* What are the worst parts?

* How is the job changing -- and how fast?

* How did you get this job?

* What are its basic requirements?

* What do you like/dislike about it?

* Is job security an issue? How do you cope with that.

THE REPORT

You will not write a news article about this, as it is not a news story. You will be writing a 300-word report. About two thirds should describe what you saw and heard. About a third should describe how well this job -- or parts of it -- would fit you. Include any lessons you learned about your career path or getting a job someday.

The deadline for your job shadow report is no later than 9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 12 to omars@msu.edu.