Editors update & the WINOL Week Ahead

Today marks the first week of WINOL; exciting stuff!

As we have only just started work again, today's Editors meeting was just a brief discussion to make sure everyone was prepared ready for the week ahead.

The major thing that needs to be worked on at the moment is ensuring you are on time for the debrief and meetings as, whilst this is improving, a good proportion of people have been late or absent without explanation.

For News conference notes, please refer to Spencer's blog. I would like both Features & the future News Editors to do something similar but much more formal & including more information on the story & angle after each conference as it allows people who were are unable to attend meetings to catch up on what they missed. Next week's News Editor is Zeena Al-Obaidi; Spence has said he will be around to help if needed next week. You should make note of what he is doing this week to prepare yourself for your turn. The rota runs in order of the roles list on the BA Journalism website.

As some of you have changed roles already, please inform me of your new role so I can make an updated list. So far, I know Ben has changed to a features writer and Katherine is now working on Absolute:ly. To fill the Editors roles left, I have, at least on a temporary basis, put Karina in charge of The Way It Is and Andrew back in charge of New Winchester Review however, as they already hold Editor jobs, it would be good if someone else were to volunteer to take over as they will already be under a lot of pressure with their roles.

Due to the lack of feature writers, we are welcoming contributors from around the campus. We need people (students and lecturers alike) with a good knowledge and passion for the arts, literature, fashion and travel to write for us. Please let people know whilst we work on a strategy to spread word of this.

Our Social Media Editor is away this week so Managing Editor Shona Race has taken over this role temporarily. At the moment, we are trying to ensure that reporters are tweeting about their stories and what they are working towards & retweeting things put up on the WINOL account. When Georgia returns next week, we will discuss the use of other social platforms.

The future of Venta/Sound Radio is unsure at the moment. Nadine has looked into getting our own broadcast license but for what we would use it for, it is looking to be more hassle than it's worth. However, it is our intention to create radio style, as-live podcasts: one to discuss the arts (similar to BBC4's Front Row) and another for philosophy. Once there is a definite structure in place, I will get Nadine to brief everyone on how it will work.

If you are interested in scripting and presenting the bulletin, please let me know as I will put together a rota to give everyone an equal opportunity.

The list of people for still camera training has been sent to the loan counter. If you have not made yourself known to Nicole but want to do the training, please let her know as there is still a chance we can add you on. Once we have a definite date and time, I will let you know on the Facebook group page.

To implement the picture by-lines, I will need everyone to come in on Monday 7th October suited and booted for a few quick snaps to put up on the site. If you are unable to some in on the Monday or are busy filming, then I will also be around for a few hours on Thursday to photograph anyone I have missed.

Please ensure you stick to the deadlines given to you by your Editor and leave a few seconds of image at the the end of VTs for the bulletin to make it easier for those in the gallery. If your package is not ready in time for the bulletin, it will have to be dropped and replaced by something on the spike to allow time for people to script and rehearse before we go live. Even if you are not finished in time for the bulletin, you will have to finish your package so that it can go alongside your written piece for the website.

If you have any questions, queries or points to raise, please let me know.

Editors meeting minutes

For those who didn't attend the editors meeting, people who didn't make notes and those who want to know what we talk about whilst contemplating whether we want to have any of the free biscuits or if we should stick to our diets, here is a brief look at what was discussed and how we intend to solve certain dilemmas (most of which will be fed back to you on Monday)

• Punctuality - Please ensure you are on time to meetings as it makes it difficult to fully discuss issues if you are not all in attendance.
• Boards & the spike - News, Sports & Features Editors need to ensure there are enough packages on the spike to fill any gaps formed by people missing the deadline or legally questionable packages; Editors need to be more willing to drop packages if they are not done on time or do not fit in with the style of package/article required; ensure deadlines are appropriate to the type of article/package in features and ensure bulletin package deadlines fit in with the amount of time production need to put the packages through the gallery and practice with the presenter before we go live.
• Sub-editing - Sub-editors need to ensure text stories are properly formatted and grammatically and factually accurate and follow the style guide; turnover speed for features would be within 2 days and for news it will need to be uploaded on the same day.
• Conferences - Rather than an ideas meeting, Monday conferences should be much more like a pitch; you should already have a story, an angle, a contact and a headline in mind ahead of these meetings.
• Feature writers - As there are not many dedicated features writers, we would like anyone with an interest to start writing for our magazines, including MAs, 1st years and even passionate people from other courses; to make it easier for others to pitch their features ideas, we will create a contact page on the website.
• Video packages -To help the Production team with editing, please ensure your video packages end with 2-3 seconds of lingering picture after your sign off as this will help make sure the bulletin goes out on time; for voice over on your packages, you should use the radio booth for the best sound quality, currently though, the loan counter have introduced a swipe in system which means you have to use your student card every time you enter and therefore must have a had training to access it. Nicole is currently trying to work out a system to sort this.
• Still Camera training - As you have hopefully seen on the Facebook page, I would like everyone to participate in still camera training which Nicole & I am currently organising as the pictures across all of the sites need improvement.
• Text stories - Rather than waiting until Wednesday to upload text stories, they should be written for the site as soon as possible then updated once you have more detail (such as quotes and better pictures.)
• Social media strategy - Ensure you have a separate, professional twitter account and follow as many relevant people and groups to your beat as possible to help spread word of WINOL (you should also feel free to tweet links directly to people than you know are likely to have an interest in it.)
• Picture by-lines - To make the site look more professional and encourage you to produce more articles for the website, we are trying to introduce picture by-lines so that everyone can see your beautiful faces next to your work; to put this into operation we will need our best photographer to take a photo of each of you which I am currently in the process of trying to organise; in the meantime, I need to work out which of you has the best photographic skill so that the pictures are of the best possible quality.
• COMPASS Meeting - Our chief reporter has been asked to film an important meeting with Police and Crime Commissioner (Mr Simon Hayes) and Chief Constable Andy Marsh and needs to assemble a team to help with this; if you are interested please contact either me or Spencer as soon as possible.
• Radio - Nadine is currently trying to organise a regular set of radio shows and needs a completely dedicated and driven radio team to support her efforts; if you are interested, please contact either me or Nadine.
• Presenting - If you are interested in presenting the bulletin (or anything else for that matter) please contact me and I'll try to draw up some kind of rota
• Editor Conferences - From now on, there will be regular Editor meetings on Mondays after the News, Sports and Features conferences, please ensure you attend if you are on the Editors list (or no biscuits for you)

 If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact me or any of the editors.

WINOL Work - First Week back

For anyone who missed the first lecture back, people who need a little recap or to get a little more detail about what’s happening and what you need to do in preparation for our first WINOL next week (so basically everyone), I thought I’d write a quick update for you all here on my blog.

A lot of what Brian was saying about sticking to deadlines, getting still camera training and so on, I have already covered in my aims as editor blog which lays out the major points I think can be improved on this year compared to last and some ways to achieve these goals. Personally, I can’t wait until we get the new TriCaster as I feel the quality of our studio background detracts from the usually brilliant quality of work that goes into making the bulletin. For the full schedule of what is happening on what days, take a look at the WINOL briefing page.

~*~

For the full list of job roles and more detail on what they involve, head to the WINOL role list.

Editors:

·         Hannah Hayesmore – Editor

·         Jason French – Web Editor

·         Nicole Collas – Production Editor

·         Georgia Spears – Social Media Editor

·         Shona Race – Managing Editor

·         Spence Spencer – News Editor*

·         Thomas Baxter – Sports Editor

·         Andrew McHarg – Features Editor

·         Sophie Webb – Absolute:ly Editor

·         Harry Parkhill – Volt Editor

·         Katherine Bailey – NWR Editor

·         Ben Hatton – TWII Editor

·         Amy Moore – Adventure Editor

·         Jack Webb – ‘Showbiz’ Editor

·         Nadine Foreshaw – Politics Editor

·         Christina Michaels – Crime Editor/Correspondent

·         Karina – European Editor/Correspondent

* For the first week; the News Editor position is changed weekly in the order listed on the WINOL role list

By Friday 27^th September, I need to meet with all the Editors (listed above) together to discuss what they have planned already for their sections, check they are ready to go live on Monday and ensure they are confident in their roles. This meeting should also help us to know what each section is doing in the future and allow editors both to share ideas and to collaborate on larger projects. From then on, I intend to hold these Editors meetings after the news & features meetings on a Monday. The best time and place to hold the first meeting should be discussed on the WINOL team facebook page. If you have not been added to this yet, please ask to join as soon as possible so I can add you in and allow you to see the posts & discussions.

When going through the job role list, I noticed that there were no specific features writers, so if you have an idea for features and the time to write the article, please find one of the features editors or come to the features conference and pitch your idea. I also noticed that a few people (listed below) did not seem to have a role assigned to them so should become dedicated feature writers to help fill this gap.

Role-less people:

·         Dominic Chandler

·         Eric Cunha-Mahomee

~*~

If you have any questions, feel free to give me a ring/text/email/facebook message/post on the facebook page and I’ll do my best to sort everything out.

Hannah Hayesmore - Editor for WINOL

That’s something I’m going to have to get used to writing and saying pretty quickly…

As WINOL’s Editor this semester, I am also going to have to make sure I stick to the points I laid out in my manifesto. As such, I thought it would be a good idea if I wrote a brief post on my aims for this semester so that we can get straight back into working on WINOL on Monday. Whilst not all of what I will be writing will be relevant to everyone, I feel it is a good idea to have a quick read of everything anyway to get a sense of both how each section should operate and how they should work together. (It may also give you ideas on how things could be further improved or other ways to make our work more efficient which would be great!)

News & Sports

·         Arguably the most important change that needs to be made is the way the news board & spike are used. There needs to be enough additional packages or longer versions on the spike ready in case one or more packages aren’t ready or legal by their deadline. Therefore, people will need to film enough material for a full package & probably edit it together even if they are only expected to make an OOV so that there is something to fill any gaps if they appear. Reporters should try as much as possible to make their packages fit the length the News or Feature Editor requires rather than them changing the bulletin to suit the package

·         Subeditors need to carefully check spelling & grammar, style & formatting and facts & sources before making it live on the site

·         News & sport text stories should be uploaded quickly rather than waiting until after the bulletin has come out as it makes the text stories look out of date quickly. We also need to update the site over the weekend to keep it looking fresh and relevant and helps drive more people to the site

·         Live news events need to have multiple OB equipment tests and practice runs ahead of time to ensure smooth live coverage

·         To bring our work more in line with other local news sites, we should aim to use more contact-lead stories

·         The sports bulletin should be uploaded on a different day to the news bulletin to spread out the workload and try to get a better spread with hits on the website

Features

·         Also need to use a similar spike system to the news in order to keep the various features sites up to date on a regular basis

·         Need to decide on a system for when they update their site and stick to it – probably either a couple of articles daily or a complete update every fortnight/month – to help build a regular audience

·         Keep deadlines realistic but appropriate for the type of article – reviews need to be turned over quickly after the event as they quickly become irrelevant whilst organising a bungee jump with a go pro takes a lot more planning and editing and is relatively timeless

Website & Social Media

·         Social media editor needs to work alongside news and features team to ensure tweets are relevant to stories and that others are also tweeting and re-tweeting stories.

·         Keep the website modern and user friendly

·         Over the holidays, redesign the web page to highlight the best features so as not to lose our audience

Meetings & Editors

·         Editors need to be clear and decisive when ordering stories in the bulletin and giving instruction to their team  as well as giving detailed and relevant feedback as much as possible

·         Meetings need to be pitches for your articles rather than idea discussions which, if needed, should be held before hand

·         Writers should try to have more than one idea so that editors can chose between stories or when to run them; this will make it easier for editors to use the spike properly too

·         After the news and features meetings, I will introduce Editors meetings to help ensure that everyone knows what is happening in each of the sections and that people are working together as much as possible

Packages & Write-ups

·         Packages need to include ‘camera stare’ top and tailing them to make it easier for the production team during recording

·         To improve still image quality, I feel everyone should participate in still camera training and try to improve photoshop use as better images will benefit both the site and social media output

·         Packages need to be edited to the time given on the board rather than adjusting the times to the packages & must be finished by the deadline given

·         The script needs to be finished earlier in order to have a lot of time to practice and adjust the show as necessary. This will also make it easier for the production team as it will minimise the amount of postproduction editing needed and makes it more likely that the bulletin will be up on time

·         Articles and packages should follow the style guide to ensure consistency across the site & on social media platforms

Whilst my aim is to enforce these points, I want to ensure I am around to help editors, reporters & the production team alike and want everyone to remember that I am open to any suggestions to improve things further.

Manifesto for Editor

Somehow I've ended up as Editor for WINOL this year. I like to think this manifesto helped me get this position and, to stop me becoming a politician, I thought I would post it up here to help me stick to my promises. So, here it is:

Hannah Hayesmore: Editing WINOL’s Future

Winchester News Online (WINOL) is the top single-university student journalism site in the UK and as such deserves an editor that will not only get the job done and keep WINOL at the top of the tables but also has the determination to get it to new heights by keeping up with innovations and coming up with new ideas. By making me the overall editor, you will have someone who has the tenacity to make things happen, the forethought to avoid problems before they arise and the experience to know how to improve WINOL even further.

I will work on the 4 key issues WINOL has:

Efficiency

·         Packages should include a few seconds of ‘camera stare’ to top & tail package to help with production & stop black holes and accurate timing for script & in and out words to help with timing which will help lead to less reliance on post-production to fix production issues

·         Use News & Features meetings pitch stories, not discuss ideas which should be done in a separate meeting as well as having all features writers to double up as production and vice versa

·         Have more than 1 person designing & developing the website to innovate it, balance work load & keep the website modern & user friendly

·         Deadlines to be set more realistically according to the type of article as well as to be followed more and a simplified submission system that can be used in the same way by all sections and editors

·         Ensure editors prioritize their role over any others they do & keep the editors the same for the term rather than on a rota to give more stability to the news room

·         Social media editor role needs to be given more authority  to ensure the person in the role can do their job effectively

·         Ensure OB equipment has been tested on multiple occasions prior to the event by enforcing an OB testing system to follow

Quality

·         Have a dedicated subeditor to look for spelling and grammar errors, check facts and sources and ensure all article are correctly formatted so that they can be uploaded quickly as well as to a high quality

·         Writers to come up with more than 1 idea so editor can chose between them as well as help them to better use the news & features board & the spike (as it gives us room to change bulletin if things fall through, etc.; use of board helps show people any changes, current order, etc.)

·         Ensure the dated web layout is updated and constantly improved & innovated as and when it starts to look old fashioned or stops being user friendly, plus check that dead links are removed, pic slider is fixed & site is updated quickly when problem is encountered

·         Everyone to have still camera training and greater photo shop training (due to bad edges on photo features) so that photo quality can improve which will benefit the site & social media output

·         Editors have to make decisions on length, necessity, order, whether or not to kill a story, and so on more readily and ensure the reporters know this as well as updating it on the board as it is more professional to film to time rather than adjust time to film

·         Ensure no-one to have more than 2 roles within WINOL & its extended family so that people can focus on their jobs better & give greater quality and frequency to their work

·         Scripting should be improved and finished earlier to allow for more rehearsal time and give greater certainty to the crew

·         More contact-lead news as this is more in line with corporate news practice and will make us seem more professional and knowledgeable

·         Event Specials to have a plan “locked in” at least 2 weeks before and should not change unless something dramatic happens and purchase a WINOL dongle for OBs to stop the internet connection issues interfering with shows in the future

·         A new, physical “flat pack” set for new studio (different ones for different studio pieces) to put up and take down as necessary as this will keep our studio looking professional and allow us greater variety in the camera angles and shots available to use

Frequency

·         News & Sport stories should be uploaded quickly & not wait until the bulletin is up in order to keep the website fresh

·         Magazines need to choose to either upload content frequently (like a website) or everything once a month (like a magazine) as the inconstancy can put off some readers

·         We need people to work over the weekend to keep site fresh & drive more people to it

Communication

·         Editors should give detailed, relevant feedback to their team in each debrief and on their blogs

·         As Editor, I will hold an editors meeting after news and features so that everyone can know what is going on. This will also make collaborations between sections much easier

·         Enforce use of style guide, social media bible, etc. to ensure consistency in articles both on the websites and on all other media platforms

I would also like to ensure the slim stat Word Press app on all of the WINOL sites and that the relevant editor has access to look at these to help us track what articles our readers are interested to keep our circulation figures high. As well as this, to aid with falling circulation figures, I believe Sports Week should be uploaded on a different day to the bulletin as a way of driving extra traffic to the site throughout the week.

By implementing my ideas and making me the overall editor, I feel that we can improve our circulation, innovate our output and impress future employers with our professional content.