Winol - First 2 weeks back

Third year has begun, and I am settling into my new role as News Editor for WINOL.

The first two weeks have mainly been about learning how to use the new equipment, as well as refreshing our memeories on creating good packages for tv.

We have new macs in the news room, which includes an updated version of final cut - Final Cut Pro X. Many of us were hesitant at first, feeling comfortable with the old Final Cut Pro 7. However, the new version has made many tasks much easier to do, and is generally a more clean cut way of editing.
We were also trained on new JVC cameras, which use SD cards instead of tapes. The cameras are very light, and compact, although I most likely won't be using them too much this semester, they will likely make tasks like capturing the footage quicker.


I held a news meeting on Monday with the new reporters, mainly consisting of second years. With no real experience of the workings of Winols, it was already clear that things wouldn't be perfect right away, and that the proposed news stories wouldn't be as strong as they will be a few weeks later.

The meeting was shaky altogether, and the news ideas weren't particularly strong, especially in terms of shots/pictures.

I decided to give them a few more days(seeing as the first Winol was still over a week away), and held another news meeting on the Thursday.

Between the Monday and Thursday I tried to keep in contact with all my reporters, keeping myself updated with their progress and ideas, and seeing if they needed any help or guidance. This was useful, for both me and them, as it made things calmer once the news meeting started.
I had already given a bit of direction and advice on what I expected.

I printed off the upcoming meetings from Winchester City Council, Southampton City Council and Hampshire County Council, and pinned them onto the news board for the reporters to get easy access to the information.

In the Thursday news meeting, the stories still weren't as strong as we would like on Winol, but they were better than the Monday meeting, and generally seemed more likely to happen which is always a good sign.

I shared my phone number(which is important for when the reporters are out filming, so I can keep in contact). I also informed them of the meetings list, as well as their deadlines, expected package length.

After the meeting, I put all of the news stories onto the news board, so they can be easily viewed, and also altered in terms of length, deadlines and whether the story is spiked or being used.

The next news meeting will be held on Monday after the morning debrief.

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