Jared Pearman CMAT 495 Prof.

Morrison

Applying communication context to real world experience During the winter 2014 class session at Salisbury University, I had the opportunity to participate in an internship program with a CBS affiliate news station WBOC-TV 16. During my time as an intern I was exposed to the fast-paced nature of the news media industry, and also learned to see the news as a form of communication. News media is used as a means to convey information to a broad range of viewers. The tasks I was assigned helped me to realize the value of news broadcast in the information distribution field. News broadcast is a very widespread form of communication. Every day, people all over the world rely on television news as a source of information. News media can give people information about their local area, and can also give them information on a national and even international scale. Each day there are professionals in the news industry gathering new information and relaying it to their audience in a way that they can easily comprehend. My time with WBOC showed me this first hand. Each day during my internship, my supervisor Joe Carmean sent me out to shadow reporters in the field. We exclusively covered stories local to the Delmarva Peninsula that would appear in the 4, 5, or 6 oclock news broadcast. We would contact local business

and community leaders to schedule interviews, write scripts, and shoot video to support the story. These experiences remind me of the lessons I learned in CMAT production classes at Salisbury University. When I would put together stories or packages in my classes, I would usually have a 2-week deadline to do so. At WBOC, the reporters would do the same thing, but would have a deadline to meet every day. The local news keeps its audience informed with accurate information. The subjects of the stories we covered varied day-by-day, including special interest pieces, political stories, breaking news, and many more. Several times I attended local government press releases and budget hearings with reporters, who would cover the events and produce segments for the evening news. This allowed for a much faster delivery of important information to the public than other forms of information delivery like the newspaper, which would be limited to delivering that information in the morning paper the next day. Part of the reason for WBOCs success can be attributed to their inclination to reach out to viewers for opinions or possible ideas for stories to cover. WBOC has a phone number where viewers can call to give information, an e-mail address, and also a facebook page where viewers can keep up to date with stories if they happened to miss the news broadcast. This allows the audience to potentially contribute to what appears during a broadcast. This can also give them a sense of loyalty to the station itself; if they feel as if their voice will be heard, they would be more inclined to watch on a regular basis. Several times throughout my time as an intern, we covered stories that were discovered via phone calls or e-mails from viewers in the area. A specific story comes to mind in which reporter Aisha Khan and I traveled to a remote area in

Somerset County Maryland because of a fire that burned down the house of a family that had lived there for over 50 years. We were alerted to the story because of an e-mail sent to us by a concerned friend of the family affected by the fire. Partly due to the coverage on the news, people from all over the area donated money in order to help the family recover from the tragic event. This is a perfect example of community outreach accentuated by effective communication from news media. In addition to covering local news, WBOCs affiliation with CBS news allows them to broadcast national news as well. Following the local news produced by WBOC, the station would air national news produced by CBS headquarters in New York City. The national news airs stories of national importance, featuring subjects like federal government changes, national tragedies, politics, and many more. This keeps the local audience of WBOC current with issues that face the country, not just the local area. To cite a specific example, the recent mall shooting in Columbia Maryland was broadcast as soon as information was available on the national news. Myself included, many people in the Delmarva area have friends and family from the Columbia area and have been to the mall in which the shooting happened. As soon as I saw what was happening on the news I called my immediate family, all of whom live 2 miles from the scene of the shooting. Cases like this display the importance of news media in modern society as a form of communication. Without seeing that information on the news, many people would be unaware that people they know could potentially be in danger. Local and national news also keeps its viewers informed with weather updates. The daily weather segment keeps the audience informed about possible inclement weather so as to

help them to be adequately prepared for adverse conditions. Information about possible hurricanes or snowstorms usually prompts people to purchase supplies or take precautions to prevent damage to their homes or other at risk property. For example, if the weather report reveals that some residents in a specific area could potentially be snowed in following a winter storm, people from that area would buy things like food, water, and other necessary supplies in order to prepare. One thing I noticed during my internship was the extent to which writing for news differs from traditional writing. Being that news media caters to a widespread audience, careful consideration must be taken when writing a script for broadcast. Reporters and producers with WBOC gave me several useful tips for script writing during my time as an intern. It is always important to keep the intelligence of the audience in mind. People from many different walks of life with varying levels of education regularly watch the news. I was told to stay away from using complex or confusing language; the viewer should always be able to understand the information being relayed to them. If they become confused by a complex word that they do not understand, they might feel insulted and lose interest in the piece entirely. Script writing should be short and concise, and be able to effectively deliver information in a timely fashion. When writing scripts for news, one must also avoid obvious statements that could potentially insult the intelligence of the audience. For example, during a producers meeting following a snowstorm, the executive producer John Dearing addressed the reporters responsible for covering stories featuring the weather. He made sure they understood not to say things like Its cold out there or make sure to bundle up, but rather give them useful

information regarding things like traffic conditions, school or government closures, and cleanup efforts. People watch the news in order to acquire information. Stating the obvious does not give them information that they can use, and if they feel as if they are not getting quality information from you, they will get that information elsewhere. My time with WBOC helped me to realize what sets news media apart from print as a means of communication; spoken information as opposed to print articles. Regular viewers of news enjoy the ease of having information relayed to them through easy to understand dialogue as opposed to having to read long articles in a confusing format (i.e. flipping through newspaper to find continuations of articles on different pages). Watching the news instead of reading it means less work for the audience, which contributes to the popularity of news media as a whole. Also, through what is known in the news industry as stingers or teases, the viewer can get a sense of what information is to come and what to look for later on in a broadcast. These stingers play during a commercial slot in a program that comes on preceding the news broadcast, and gives them a slight bit of information about one of the stories that will appear during the news. If a viewer sees something he or she might be interested in, this would give them incentive to stay tuned to the channel in order to see the full story. Stories themselves typically last from one to two minutes, which serves to deliver important information without boring the viewer with a drawn-out conveyance. Where someone might spend five minutes reading an article in the newspaper or online, one would spend much less time gleaning the same information from news broadcast. This efficient style of information distribution is an important factor in the popularity of the news as a whole.

Another important element in news media is the addition of visuals, either static or variable, to accompany spoken information. While newspapers and internet articles do sometimes feature still pictures to help clarify information, this is not as effective as the multiple varying shots that appear during a television news segment. While forming a segment for news broadcast video journalists are responsible for shooting video, otherwise known as Broll, which reinforces the subject of the story they are covering. For example, when covering a story about a specific small business one would need to get several shots not only inside the establishment itself, but also the outside and surrounding area of the business. Reporters must come up with creative shots that grab the attention of the viewer, using different angles and depth of field manipulation among many other shooting techniques. Once interviews are complete and a sufficient amount of B-roll has been recorded, the reporter then records a narration track for the story itself. Once that has been completed, the reporter chooses the most efficient shots and edits them into a sequence for broadcast. Seeing these images along with narration help the viewer to better understand the information they are being given through examples. Editing plays a huge role in the storytelling process. It is a process that changes from person to person, allowing for a variety of different styles of reporting within a single news broadcast. The way a reporter edits determines the way the story looks as a whole. Editing affects all elements of a story; the number of shots used in a sequence, the length of each shot used, the pacing of each cut or fade, and/or the use of graphics all affect the reception of the story by the audience. If an editor has done his or her job effectively, the finished story will flow such that the viewer will not notice the editing techniques at all. Video will be present during

the entirety of the sequence, with no gaps whatsoever. The editor should be able to deal with problems that arise during the editing process in a quick and efficient manner. That is why being well versed in many different audio and video editing programs is so important in the media industry. During my time as an intern I became familiar with two multi-track editing programs that I previously had little experience in. Halfway through my internship the station as a whole switched to Adobe Premiere, as opposed to the program they had previously been using, Final Cut Pro. I had previous experience with Final Cut so it was not very hard to learn, being that I was already familiar with some commands and shortcuts. I took more time learning Adobe Premiere, however, because I had no prior experience using it. Once I became proficient with both programs, I started to realize the similarities between the two, and even noticed similarities with other editing programs I had already learned. This experience revealed to me that once you have a hold on the editing process, the difference between editing programs becomes less noticeable. Another thing that WBOC helped me improve on is my time management skills. While shadowing reporters in the field, I learned that in the news media industry, every minute counts. Reporters are constantly busy chasing down stories; this means scheduling interviews and shooting footage early on in the day to allow for time in the afternoon to log interview dialogue, write scripts, record voiceover narration, and edit the entire package together before a deadline. This process repeated itself every day while I worked as an intern, and I learned several effective time management techniques from the reporters I shadowed. Each reporter

would often check their phones or watches regularly in order to keep track of time; staying in a specific area for too long would cut down on the time we had to accomplish other important tasks. Before we left to cover a story, we would factor in the time needed to travel to a location and set priorities in order of importance. We also usually set a time at which we needed to return to the station, giving us a sense of urgency to stick to schedule. My internship with WBOC was a great experience through which I was able to develop a firm understanding of the news media business. I received exposure to many broad and technical elements that contribute to a full news broadcast production that helped me to become well versed as a media professional. I also learned much about news media as a form of mass communication. Local and national news gives a broad audience information and perspective on important events in an efficient manner. My time as an intern served to reinforce the ideas and concepts that I have been learning during my education with Salisbury University. Thanks to my experiences with WBOC, I am now confident that I am fully prepared for a career in the media industry.

Works Cited:

Kalbfeld, Brad. Associated Press Broadcast News Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001. Print. Juster, Eugene E. AES Journal. New York: National Broadcasting Company, 1963. Print.