Har-har-hard to Stay Tuned: College Students, the News, and more...

This week, On The Media, broadcasting from the top of the CN Tower, is taking a critical look at the satirical spinning of traditional broadcasting and current event. Specifically, asking where are college students getting their news, and why it's significant. If the rumours are true, and college-aged students are less and less inclined to engage with tradition forms of news media, is it a concern that satirical news programming, like Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, SNL or the Rick Mercer Report, could be skewing their public opinion? 

Birdies and the 'Band

Thus far we have experimented with Garageband as our recording tool for the upcoming podcast. The Mac software offers a template specifically for podcast recording. In the new podcast window, we can select to record on the female or male track. Under these main tracks we can insert royalty free loops and sound effects as the background to our podcast. 

Using a Mac forum website, I found helpful and essential information on clearing noise in voice recordings with Garageband. After selecting the track you want to clean up, open the track info into the sidebar. Selecting "Treble Reducation" we can raise or lower the the manual setting to smooth the recording. After trying it on a test recording, this simple process did make a significant difference to the sound quality of our recording. 

In this test recording, I found the process fairly simple. What I liked most about the software was how easy it was to clip and rearrange tracks, and layering them with ducking, so that one voice takes precedence over others. 

At the end of the test, I was happy with what the software was able to produce--all that is left to work out is my voice sounding akin to the little birds that dress Cinderella. 

Right out of the napkin holder: a study of structure

Depicting my podcast emulation was a task I found particularly hard--and I'm a fine arts student! The technique of depicting the podcast structure through illustration is not one that I found particularly helpful for outlining our program.

Here my diagram features three steps, related to out three steps of research. The diagonal lines represent our initial research questions we ask at the beginning of our program to engage the reader and introduce our focus. Reaching each 'step' we see a list; a list of the facts we have gathered thus far. Each rise in the graph builds off the last set of research questions,'up to our questioning if humour can fairly, properly, accurately depict the news.

With that in mind I ask, can a napkin accurately depict a podcast program?

I think if we were to depict On the Media in a diagram, it would be far more linear and horizontal. I see (or hear, if we are being technical) OTM as being a regurgitation of the facts, with little argumentation applied. On the one hand, the show lets the audience criticize and as the questions, but reversely, sometimes we need someone to point out the critical questions.

In episode 102 "Icon for Access" of 99% Invisible, I counted 24 citations in the program. 

Boolean only makes sense: Boolean Logic

Boolean logic can best be described as a system of filtering results to both expand or narrow concept sand terminology. Based on three simple "filters"--AND, OR, or NOT--people can open up or narrow their search results. 

For our topic of research, and considering how recently the Rob Ford scandal took place, it was not difficult to turn up numerous results with simple searches for popular sources. Boolean was most helpful on the library databases when looking for research on satirical news reporting. To search this topic I used such terms or combinations as: 

Satire OR Humour AND News or Reporting 

Jon Stewart And Satirical AND News 

Boolean was successful in finding not only a vast amount of sources, but sources that were more related and relevant to my article because of the "filters" I applied. 

I recently used Boolean searching for an art history assignment. I was looking into indigenous representation in the early artworks of Emily Carr. My knowledge of indigenous culture, history and art gives me the background to know that the identifier for indigenous people has changed almost as much as Rachel's hair cut on Friends. In the past 30 years the terms Aboriginal, First Nations, Native, Native American, and Indian have been applied as their cultural name. To this day they label differs based even on.region. Currently in Canada we use the term indigenous, while in the States the term American Indian is in practice. 

This is all to say that when I search for an article, for efficiency I search something like: 

Indigenous OR native OR aboriginal AND Emily Carr AND representation OR identity

Boolean searches are essential when subject take on multiple names, reference systems or terminology. 

Digging Deeper

For this collaborative, 30 minute podcast episode, my partner and I have estimated that we would need perhaps 10 scholarly sources as a foundation to ask and investigate our research question. This is an over-estimate (at least I hope) accounting for the articles and scholarly research that won't end up being useful to our episode. 

So far we have several scholarly pieces we are sifting through, including: 

Amy Becker, The Impact of Exposure to Political Comedy and Cable News on Factual Recall and Anticipated Political Expression

John Marshall McKenzie, Televised Political Satire: The New Media of Political Humour and Implications for Presidential Elections

Seth Lewis, Where Young Adults Intend to Get News in Five Years

James Trier, “The Daily Show” as an experiment in journalism

We are looking for studies on source informants of current events to a specific audience. Studies in the varying ethical journalism between satirical news programming, and formal news broadcasting is of particular interest. This focus of research has largely been focused on in the communications field, as well as studies in new media. Thus far Jstor has been an excellent database, in providing articles that are available to York. Pro quest searches have provided what seem to be perfectly topical articles, but they seemed to be unavailable to our library. 

The study of your podcast focuses on the facts and journalism of varying news sources, so the majority of our research is dependent on news reports-both the formal and the satirical. So far we have found all of our satirical news sources: 

Rick Mercer Report, Rob Ford Rant, November 19, 2013 (http://m.youtube.com/watch?

v=sfdoLedAWWg)

Jon Stewart The Daily Show, Toronto Crack Mayor Rob Ford, November 5, 2013 (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WpBOCa0-mTs)

Jon Stewart The Daily Show, Obama and Mayor Rob Ford, November 14, 2013 (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aHGMtmLVcZg)

Saturday Night Live, Rob Ford, November 17, 2013 (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf7jK90IIG8)

Now we are in the stages of compiling the formal news reports and clips that we will be using for the episode. Kenya and I have chosen to focus our news research on specific outlets, specifically CBC, USA Today, CNN, CP 24 and the Toronto Star. 

Happy Reading week all! 

Topic Refinement

Our exercise in pitching our idea was an excellent prompt for defining our ultimate concept. In preparing the pitch, my partner, Kenya, and I were constinantly asking ourselves? Is that as clear and concise as it could be? Can we get it down even tighter? Does that sentence bring clarity, or confusion.
 
For our pitch, through the research and examples we looked at, we approached our pitch as posing questions. Ask the questions to the audience, have them think, and then solidify an answer. Because of this approach, Kenya and I were always questioning (seems to be a theme) whether our 'answers' were confusing the producers as to our final research question. This process of finalizing and critically reading what we planned to sell, not only made us almost obsessively familiar with the content and the questions for the pitch, but helped us refine the big, bad, important question that our podcast will revolve around.

The pure fear (let's be honest) that hits when you face presenting infront of your graders and peers kicks you (me at least) into high-gear to perfect my text. Kenya and I revised our research topic question seven, maybe eight times. Feel free to look into our evolution:

How is news affected by the age of journalism and parody news?

How is news affected by the dichotomous age of journalism and parody news?

(Here we realised we needed to be more specific is WHAT is being affected. I.e. our public opinion)
How is public opinion, which is shaped by the news, affected by the news journalism versus satircal journalism?

(Then we realised we wanted to specify our audience: not all public opinion, but a group)
What is shaping the new media generation's public opinion?

(Without further adieu...)
Where do college students get their news? How do the formal, traditional news broadcasting agencies, like CNN or CBC, compare to satirical news programs, such as Jon Stewart?

Thanks to this pitch, from now on when refining my topics, I will imagine I am selling the topic or outline and hone down my idea until it can be a clear and concise sentence or two.

Prep, plan, pitch. Prep, plan, pitch. Prep, plan, pitch

When researching my team's best approach to selling my idea, I wanted to focus my found advice within the radio medium; pitching a television program means part of what your selling is visual-something pops, someone dances... Peoples attention is easily grabbed when their eyes are engaged.

Reversely, pitching an audio podcast is a different art form. We are not enticing the producers or the audience with visual colour or movement, per se. My first source was from CBC Radio, and what they require and look for in a radio episode pitch. I deemed this resource reliable because of the credibility that CBC holds as a media outlet, and that their requirements would be along the same lines of other radio or audio programming. As well, this source was not a blog post, or an informal guide, but more like a submissions guide for a periodical.

All of this research outline what my pitch needs to embody and contain, and the tips I have to share with the class, and the blogosphere (insert sublime gasp here):

Questions to know and answer/address in your pitch:

1. What makes your show perfect for _________ radio show?

Try and answer this right off the bat. Don't let the producers wonder why you picked their program--assure them you've done your research

2. Does it fit ___________ values?

3. Can you describe your shows sound?

Is it cheeky, somber, intellectual?

4. Why you?

Tell the producers why it matters that this pitch is coming from you? What do you bring to the program                          that no one else could? Why should you be the messenger of this topic?

5. What makes this show a GREAT idea?  

(CBC Radio, Pitch to CBC Radio, www.cbc.ca)

As recommended in lecture, I also searched transom.org for pitch advice. There, I found Notes from a Pitching Novice, by Bianca Giaever. But I didn't know who this person was, or what knowledge or credibility she had to advise me. So, I looked her up on linkedin and Google; Bianca Giaever has an established career and was the associate producer of the New York Review Booklist Podcast. For me, this experience reassured me that this source is credible, and most likely an insightful one.

Other things I found for how to plan my pitch and create the most appropriate presentation geared towards my audience:

1. KNOW YOUR STORY

Understand the ins and outs of your topic; be able to answer any question; write out in point form all of the story/episode points

2. Call a friend and have them listen to your pitch

Not only does this help you in your presentation and your confidence in the material, but practice receiving feedback

3. Keeping this in mind, don't get too attached to your material

CBC advises, "fall in love with your idea, but don't marry it just yet"

4. Know the show you're pitching to

Your idea could be wonderful, but not suited to who your pitching to. Do your research to give yourself the best shot, and not waste anyone's time at the board room table

My final resoure for preparing for next week's presentation was NPR's submission guidelines (http://www.airmedia.org/PDFs/PitchPanel/NPRPitchGuidelines.pdf). Much like CBC, this is a credible outlet that hosts one of the most well known podcasts - This American Life. With a program as prestigous and well known as TAL, the pitch for an idea, theme of episode must be outstanding - which is why I found the organizations tips most appealing. 

What NPR and Ira Glass taught me in preparation for next week: 

1. Big quesiton: What is at stake? 

2. Has the organization done a similar story before -- if so, you're probably out of luck. So research, research, research. 

Best of luck this week, everyone! 

____________________________________________________________________________
"CBC Radio Pitch - Index." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. <http://www.cbc.ca/pitch/radiopitchguide.h

"Notes from a Pitching Novice."Transom.org. Atlantic Public Media, 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. <http://transom.org/?p=30815>.

"NPR Submission Guidelines."www.airmedia.org. Air Media, 22 Aug. 2011. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. <http://www.airmedia.org/PDFs/PitchPanel/

Topic Selection

I spent the last two weeks toying with either Stuff You Missed in History Class, or On the Media as my choice of  podcasts to emulate. Once we looked more into developing our research question, I decided on On the Media. I felt that, though I am a history student, I could ask a more critical question of media today than I could of past events that most likely have been heavily researched and explored. I also started to ask critical questions myself once I listened to some of the On the Media podcasts (including the "I am a Real Person" and some of the podcasts on the NSA security scandals) and it made me want to explore the roles that social media, and entertainment media play with real news events. 

In terms of emulation, I don't wish to mimic or follow in suit of On the Media. Though I have chosen it at a topic, compared to other podcasts I have listened to, I did not particularly like ther storytelling or their means of asking a broader question - in truth, I didn't find that they asked a broader question... It seemed more to pull from the wires multiple sources on one event, and meld them. Perhaps in the podcasts I listened to, the question or an overall theme was more underlying, but if so, that is not the style I wish to emulate. 

For my podcast I would like to look at a less recent topic, for the pupose of comparing its emulation in various media forms. I am considering the early Anthony Weiner scandal, or perhaps the Islamic community center that was built in New York several years ago - both have been played out and "announced" as news via Twitter, and both have been picked up as fodder for late night shows like Jon Stewart, and the HBO series, The Newsroom. 

I would like to compare one of these events as portrayed on more "informal" media as mentioned above, to the true sources released at the time. Are their variants in the stories shared? Is one more dramatic than the other? Leading to my question of: Can events, or news, be properly and fairly expressed outside of news media sources (newspapers, news television). Are the new forms of commuication distorting the news around us? 

With this question, I want to consider that perhaps people (maybe my generation in particular) are less tuned in to true news outlets, and accepting these social and entertainment media as the real story? 

I had (and still have) some reserves on my topic - I have even made a forum on the Moodle page to get some other opinions and advice. Looking at Spark kind of assured my that I should pick something that I have an interest in, which is the case. Personally enjoy Jon Stewart, and The Newsroom, but I know that they might not be the best primary source for news - but this brought me to the question, do other viewers acknowledge that? Watching The Newroom, people have mentioned, do you think people think all of this is true to the real story? 

Spark helped me most with Managing a Topic, and Revising a Topic - I think after further research I will need some revision on my research topic or general set up for the podcast discussion. I think Spark could narrow down their advice on Managing a Topic. I think the set up of when, where, why, what, how, insinuates to students that if they can answer these questions, it means they can continue with their topic (this is with the assumption that students may not click on every link to answer those questions). Morever, the PDF for "Nutshelling" gives questions students can ask themselves about their papers - but my concern with te page is that perhaps everyone cannot identify these issues in their own papers. 

Researching Kate Ferry

Bonjour, my name is Kate. 

Looking at my research skills, I feel as though I have developed my abilities of finding what I need. Taking the resources at my disposal and sifting through them is never the issue. I find, even when doing readings for classes, my issue comes from sifting through the academic jungle of text, and pulling out the really basic, and key points. I want to develop my critical skills to not feel lost half way through an article. Not only would this make my research more efficient, but I believe more accurate. 

I am currently studying two majors, art history and professional writing. I have a great interest in York's CAP (Community Arts Practice) program, which looks at art as a means of storytelling, and a method of changing the communities and world around us.

Though I know software like RefWorks and Zotero, I do not use them for my own bibliographies or annotations. 

As a student and a historical research assistant, research and data collection is a big part of my week-to-week schedule. As an art history student my research is often primary resources - artworks themselves, artists letters reflecting works, exhibition statements. Living in the city, I find myself always in search of Toronto's hidden gems. Sometimes I 'research' the city with a day of exploring, othertimes I rely on blogT.O.

I have worked with some radio and recording in the past. Years ago I played around with a local radio station in my home town. The technical process was truly fun and interesting. I am looking forward to planning a podcast, and experimenting with different softwares to record our short podcast. As an art history student, Stuff You Missed in History Class caught my eye off the bat. After to listening to some of their episodes, I liked that they tried to first identify why such a settlement, person or event had been missed in history class, especially comparing equal topics that were common knowlege in the high school halls. They create a foundation for the subject, and build from that to give listeners a thorough understanding. As a student always conflicted by the waring testaments of history books, never sure which to believe, or where to fill the holes that a text left me questioning, I appreciated the podcast's approach.