WINOL Life - 1st Nov

The second episode of WINOL Life was of a much better quality. We all had a clear idea of all the aspects of the show, and our treatment of the guest was much better also. We had time to speak to her, off cameras, and show her the packages in the newsroom without the stress of watching them for the first time and everyone watching her.

Including headline clips enhances the show considerably, giving an insight as to what is coming up.

Our guest was Elizabeth Barnett - Editor of Hampshire Life Magazine. Elizabeth was very helpful and gave very valuable advice. Even though her background is predominantly written, she made a clear effort to give feedback and criticism on our video features.
One point she suggested was that it may have been better for Zoe and Becky to have localised their Yoga Show feature to Winchester - coming from a local magazine she feels it is very important to keep your audience close in mind. I hadn't suggested this to them as I had it in mind that they were going to feature in the package, trying yoga themselves. This would have improved the feature as it is always much more interesting to watch presenters trying an event, rather than hearing about the event. If this was the case then localising it would not have been a key issue, as the focus would have been on both Becky and Zoe, and the angle of the piece would have been along the lines of, yoga for beginners e.g.
In the original plan for this week's WINOL Life, was to include the Giraffe restaurant review package. This had to be taken out due to problems noticed by Chris. I hadn't made these points key issues because I know that both Becky and Zoe are preparing to produce more restaurant reviews therefore it would not have seemed as though that restaurant was being advertised by them, as they would have been reviewing more than one restaurant. We have taken this down from the site now, and I have advised Becky and Zoe to re-edit this piece to include a voice over which includes prices and if any, criticisms - as this is what a review is meant to include. Once this has been re-edited and I have seen that it has all the key elements of a review, we will wait until we have at least two restaurant reviews and then publish both on the site at the same time.

Having over 1,000 views for WINOL Life for the first episode, we are aiming to achieve this every week.
Sportsweek bring in their own audience, however we are bringing in a different audience again, giving WINOL a much broader gender audience than we have had in previous years. In order to achieve this number on a fornightly basis, we all need to be posting the site on relevant Facebook pages, Twitter and relevant YouTube channels. This is a the only way to bring in our audience, they will not just fall in our laps.
With regard to reversioning, please all continue to reversion as I have been advising since week 1. This is a key skill for each of you, as well as giving the News Editor packages to use as backups. It is very good to have a tease of your package on the end of the bulletin. This should be an aim of everyone's.

Features are doing very well. In just 6 weeks we have a good selection of content on the site, offering a range of topics/categories, which brings in a wider audience than just one gender for example. Having a weekly deadline on a Tuesday I think is working very effectively and will continue to do so in the upcoming weeks.

WINOL Blog - Week 5

The quality of the bulletin is never consistent from week to week. This week it was said that the pictures within the packages are not captivating enough. This is a must. A way to improve is to simply watch BBC and ITV news bulletins. While watching note down each shot as this will bring in an understanding of all the things which can be included in a package.
A major issue is checking your facts. Once an interview has taken place, the interviewee's name and job title must be obtained and verified. By doing this no mistakes will be made, such as giving someone the wrong job title.

George was director this week - he did a really good job. He was confident in what he was instructing and had a good understanding of the gallery. One issue within production was the VT machine. This is an issue which cannot be helped but in this situation in future, the bulletin must continue. An apology for the technical issue is essential but from that, continue reading from the autocue and if possible play the next package. Technical issues are difficult to avoid.

Well done to Justina and Aimee who presented this week. I thought they both did really well.

This week our guest editor was unable to make it. Next week we have Sam Baker - Editor of Red Magazine. She will in from around 12pm, after which she will be introduced to each of the departments. This is a great opportunity for features and the magazine to show Sam content from the magazine and video features produced so far this semester. If you have produced video features then it will be good to reversion them to a shorter more improved version (if possible) to show her, and this way you can explain how you have got to the finished product, then asking her for feedback and advice.
It is highly recommended that we all meet the guest editors as this is a very good way to increase our contacts from within the industry and can do nothing but help us all for the future.
Have a look at this page for brief information on Sam Baker:

http://www.redonline.co.uk/red-women/red-editors/sam-baker.

Law - Copyright

Copyright laws are established within the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Copyright is a branch of intellectual property law which protects the products of people’s skill, creativity, labour or time. The laws on copyright allow the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts and films the rights to control the ways in which their material may be used. This law covers any of these creations being broadcast, performed, copied, adapted, issued and rented to the public. When someone has created something, it is likely that they will have the right to be identified as the author and to establish any alterations or distortions to their work. For any work to be protected by the laws of copyright that product must pass the test of originality.

Having the right of copyright is automatic, and happens once an individual or a company creates a work. Works should be original and should show a degree of labour, skill or judgement.
An idea of something would not be protected by copyright, but once that book has been written, the content of that will be protected. Once something has been created using a number of aspects such as the use of colours or phrases then the laws of copyright will protect that product. However just the colour or phrase used will not be protected.

The owner of any work created can vary on the situation. In most situations, the owner is the author of the work, and this person is known as the ‘first owner of copyright’ under the 1988 Act. When a work has been produced under the employment of a company, then the owner will be the company who that person works for.

Reproduction of a substantial part of a copyright work may constitute infringement. When a work is protected by the laws of copyright, it is an offence to; copy the work, rent or issue copies to the public, broadcast the work to the public or adapt the work without the consent of the owner.

With regards to news stories, there is no copyright in facts and information. Copyright does exist however in the form of which the information is expressed by the writer and the selection and arrangement of the material because all of these aspects involve skill and labour. The defence of Fair Dealing can be used when reporting current stories, as this allows using some quotes from another paper, providing the use is accompanied by sufficient acknowledgement of the work and its author. This requirement is only necessary when it is being provided to the public.
Fair dealing is a defence, which comes under copyright law. The defence sets out ways in which actions may be carried out so that they are not regarded as infringement of the work. The defence allows the use of quotations or excerpts where a piece of work has been made available to the public. This is only on the grounds that:
- The use is acceptable under the terms of fair dealing,
- The material used is justified and no more than is necessary is included,
- That the source of the used material is mentioned, along with the name of the author.

The use of fair dealing prevents any infringement. You can use fair dealing for any of the following:

• Private research,
• Criticism or review,
• Incidental inclusion,
• Reporting current events.

Features - W/O 25th Oct 2011

Features has improved vastly this week. The quality of the video features is much better.

• Zoe and Becky have produced their first restaurant review. We had been in contact to Stuart who works for a PR company and he agreed to give us free drinks for a competition winner if WINOL reviewed Giraffe restaurant - Basingstoke. Becky and Zoe arranged to attend the restaurant, which led to them having their meal for free and very good service from the staff. The finished package was of good quality. Even though they had a lot of footage on their tapes, they edited the shots to about 1'30". The images were a lot quicker and sharper, which captivates the audience, making them stay for the duration of the package. Through editing they were unsure whether to keep their 'summary' clip. But after reading their written article and this having all the detail from their experience at the restaurant, the summary was necessary in the video also. We would not have been able to class the package as a review if the summary clip was not included.
  Having reviewed one restaurant, this needs to be an ongoing feature for WINOL. We have decided to continue this as possibly a two weekly feature allowing both Becky and Zoe to produce other features during this semester too.
  This week they are heading to London to attend The Yoga Show. They are in the process of deciding an angle of which to produce the feature. This needs to be deciding before the event so that all interviews are carried out in the right angle.
  
  
  
  
• Ewan has produced his first Games Review, filmed in the studio using the green screen. This was presented by Ewan and Graham, but produced predominantly by Ewan. This was based around the recent release of the Batman: 'Arkham City' game. This featured a small clip of this game as well as other game reviews. The clips were used under Fair Dealing. This game review is a very good example of the use of Fair Dealing.
  Ewan is planning on carrying out more game reviews, but like this one, he is going to base it on a new release, featuring other games.
  

• Poppy has produced a number of written features for her column: 'A Diary of a Winchester Lady' . I have now asked someone to create a cartoon of Poppy for this column. Using a cartoon rather than a standard picture will ensure Poppy is kept 'mysterious'. This image should be completed by Friday this week.
  Poppy produced a comment piece about her experience on visiting a medium. Her account of this is very good. It provides a first hand account of the reading as well as her opinions towards it all.
  Her latest article was entitled 'A Bad Choice'. This was based on what she had overheard recently. The first draft of this was good, however the end paragraph was more on the lines of advice, and as a comment column this is not the role of the piece. I advised her to alter the ending to make it more punchy and about what she thought as the column is based on what Poppy thinks - or what the Lady of Winchester thinks. The piece is now much better. www.winol.co.uk - 'The Diary of a Winchester Lady'.

• What's On had to be re-edited this week after not having an editorially strong structure to the piece. I hadn't set a deadline for this so Cara and Jake had more time than they gave themselves to edit the footage, but it was completed very quickly which sabotaged the quality. After meeting with Chris and Brian, a clear structure was established. I asked this to be re-edited for Wednesday as well as producing a tease clip to feature on the end of the bulletin. Due to technical complications this deadline has been extended for another day and did not feature on the bulletin, however will be plugged in time for Halloween.
  It has been decided that from now on, Cara is to present What's On and to arrange interviews etc with celebrities, and Jake is to produce the show, including filming and editing.

Now that features have taken off, we must set aims before the end of this semester.

• It would be very good to have at least 4 episodes of WINOL Life published.
  We need to keep on track with our dates. Next WINOL Life to be filmed this Tuesday 1st November.
• We must all plug every feature in order to increase our hits on the website.
  This can be done easily through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
  E.g. for 'Girls of War' I searched for 'girl gaming' pages on Facebook and posted the link to the video to them. I did the same for 'Cooking in Comfort'. We all need to be doing this!
• Branch out from Winchester. This is the plan for Poppy who is going to The Ideal Home Show - Christmas Special and for Zoe and Becky who are attending the Yoga Show and the Luxury Travel Show, all in London. This will give you all better experience as well as a wider range of features produced for the site and for you.
  

Media Law - Defences

There are a few defences available to journalists – of which a couple will need to rely on another defence in order to be effective.

The defence of Fair Comment protects published opinion. However, if a media organisation is using this as their defence, it will need to be prepared to rely on another defence. This could be justification, qualified privilege or absolute privilege.

The requirements of this defence are as follows:

• The published comment must be the honestly held opinion of the person making it.
• The comment should be recognisable as opinion.
• The comment must be based on provably true facts/privilege matter.
• The subject commented on must be a matter of public interest.

The defence of justification will be effective if the words complained of were true. This defence can be misleading because there is no requirement that the words were published justly or with good reason.

Malice is being dishonest or improper but knowingly. You must have motive to be dishonest, this is therefore known as malice. Proof of malice can be used by a claimant in a libel action to deprive the defendant of the defences, fair comment or qualified privilege.

Privilege is being exempt from the law. Absolute privilege is available to judges in court. They are able to state their opinion regardless of how offensive it is, within the courtroom, and the defence is available to them. Qualified privilege is available as a defence to journalists where it is considered important that facts should be freely known in the public interest. Journalists are allowed to publish statements from within court – as long as they are published immediately – without the risk of being sued.

An example of both absolute and qualified privilege occurred in a recent case with Amanda Knox. During the trial it was stated that Amanda Knox was a ‘she-devil’. Absolute privilege was apparent here due to the statement being delivered by someone in the judiciary. Qualified privilege was available to those journalists who printed this within their report.

This can be seen in the Guardian’s report on this story.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/04/two-faces-of-amanda-knox

Absolute privilege will never be available to journalists. However if a report is free from error and it is published immediately then the qualified privilege offers a similar degree of protection.

Another defence, which is crucial to cases of defamation or libel is the Reynold's Defence.

This is a ten point test which protects a publication of defamatory material provided that it was a matter of public interest and that it was the product of ‘responsible journalism’.

Lord Nicholls established the 10 points:

1. Seriousness of the allegation – if the consequences are bad, the allegation is bad.
2. The nature of the information – is it in the public interest?
3. Source of the information – the source needs to be 100% reliable.
4. What were the steps taken to verify the information?
5. What is the status of the information?
6. Urgency of the matter.
7. Whether comment was sought by the claimant.
8. Whether the report contains the claimant’s side of the story.
9. The tone of the article.
10. The circumstances of the publication.

If a journalist has all of these 10 points as well as the public interest the defence of qualified privilege will be granted for them.

Features

Features are officially on our site now, time to plug everything. We need to increase our views for all features.

'The Diary of a Winchester Lady' - People at the Pool - www.winol.co.uk

'Girls of War' - The investigation of girls playing video games.

'Lost in Luxury' - www.winol.co.uk

For every feature you make you need to post the link to your article or video on relevant Facebook pages, and YouTube channels. For example, for our fashion pieces last year, Claire and I posted the link to all our videos on all fashion pages on Facebook and all fashion YouTube channels e.g. NetAPorter/Elle.TV.

Also send all your content to your friends and family, they will want to watch it, as effectively you are on TV - that's exciting. For written pieces, you are being published, get people to read your articles!

Features are always harder to plug as they will always have a specialised audience so you need to find that audience and encourage them to watch your features. Like Zoe and Becky's cooking feature you will need to find recipe/cookery pages everywhere. Why create the feature if you do not want people to watch it?

Plugging will take time but you will benefit as people will begin to know who you are and look for your content.

As for next week, our deadline is 2pm Tuesday. There will be no excuses for missed deadlines.

You have Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday to film and edit. Make use of this time. The only way you can produce a good quality feature is by taking the time to film and edit it.

Planning is essential.

WINOL Life - Episode 1

WINOL Life is going to follow a similar format to the show produced last year, which featured Laura Barton. We are going to invite guests in to watch our features, giving them a chance to give us feedback and constructive criticism.

We filmed our first WINOL Life today. The production of the show was good. Our first guest for this year was Sally Churchward, feature writer from the Daily Echo. Our attitude towards guests needs to be improved in future weeks. We need to learn not to be afraid of the guests, they were at our stage once too. And it’s all about contacts. We should all be feeling able to approach any of the guest editors and speak to them/show them any packages and get their feedback. Today I couldn’t help but feel the awkward atmosphere towards Sally and how she was very unsure of what was going on.

In future I think it is essential for the person who booked the guest editor to be the one to stay with them and make sure they are aware of everything they are involved in. For example, as Justina had invited Sally in, she should have been with her for longer to begin with. We were rushed as Sports Week needed to be filmed, however it felt as though the guest was placed in front of the camera straight away without a warm welcome.

Organisation is essential for WINOL Life. As Justina is producer of the show, she needs to step back and assign roles to all other members of the WINOL Life team. This will ensure that the guests feel more comfortable with the situation and everything is explained to them. All other members of the team need to make sure they are free every other Tuesday and need to be aware of the role they are to perform for the show. The quality of the show will enhance vastly if these elements are improved.

Very good start to the series of WINOL Life, well done to all the team. We have more guests booked for the next few episodes – the more guests we have the more constructive criticism we will receive which is crucial.