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Katherine Puryear Anthony Barrero ENGL 1101 26 November 2012

Literacy Ethnography NinerNews


It is five oclock on a Wednesday, and this small eight by ten room filled with topnotch computers and equipment is about to reach its capacity. Soon enough a swarm of people start walking in and out of the room, everyone is there from cameramen, news anchors and even boyfriends. Bumping into one another to get the equipment for shooting a segment, bombarding each other to hurry and edit their video; all this chaos, all this stress last for about twenty minutes and then abruptly goes away. Calmness takes over the room; no one is left except for the four students I observed in order to grasp an understanding of the subculture, NinerNews. This is a mere glimpse of the world of broadcast journalism. A world where one has to be able to work under pressure, have self management skills along with organizational and analytical skills, all while being able to report, produce and deliver the news in order to convey a general understanding to the audience (Field). This develops the purpose of my ethnographic study; which explains how NinerNews uses their broadcast journalism skills to ultimately create a broadcast for the UNC Charlotte students. In order to achieve this goal I will discuss preproduction, which they use to brainstorm and plan their writings, the shooting process during production, and the editing styles for postproduction. Through describing these elements I hope not only to enlighten the use of their literacy tactics, but also guide experts to think critically about the overall structure of their work.

To be able to fully understand this subculture, one must be able to understand the history of broadcast journalism. My initial thought of broadcasting was to get news delivered to the audience as quickly as possible. However, providing news to millions of people came about during the 20th century. Before then, the speed of news could take anywhere from days, weeks, months, and even years to get across. For example, in 1481 a handwritten letter reporting the death of a Turkish sultan took two years to make its way to England (Stephens 208). Eventually as time evolved, the telegraph line during 1844, enabled telegraph operators to send news almost instantly (Stephens 208). From there it continued to evolve into the black and white images of television, putting emphasis on the event during World War II. All of America was able to see the devastation of the mad war right there on their screen (Introduction). With this hardhitting event being documented it created a pathway for broadcast journalist. In 2003, when journalists traveled with American troops during the war in Iraq, they made media history. It was the first time that broadcast journalists could send "real time" reports from the battlefield. Communication technology improved and allowed the American people to hear and see many different aspects of the war as they were happening (Field). Seeing these men and women fight on television adds another dimension to broadcasting, when one sees a cloud of dust in the air from the attack of a machine gun it hits closer to home, doesnt it? Well thats the point. Broadcasters want to engage their audience whether it be with news, drama, natural history, sports, education, lifestyle, music or art it is important for stations to meet their required ratings so they can stay on the air (Russell 812). The best way to show all of these responsibilities is to have a preproduction, production and postproduction, without it there would be no show.

However, the NinerNews history is somewhat different from the overall general context of broadcast news. When asking the producer, Andrew Baker how their charter came about he claimed, It started about four years ago as a source for general news on campus. But Baker is trying to make more of the organization, trying to make it as legitimate as possible because from here it can only continue to grow. Their central goal as a subculture is simply educate the UNC Charlotte campus on the news. The best way to describe the members of this community is a family, whether they like it or not claimed one of the staff members; the members are unique and really have an area they strive in. With any family there will be disagreements and clashing personalities, but the families that strive together are the ones who learn and help aid their members in time of need. Which is how the NinerNews discourse community works. Embodying a family-type demeanor shows how they can effectively use communication between one another; having the necessary tools to covey their message to the audience. Another element that plays a slight factor in their community is the environment they are placed in. A small back room in the basement of the Union may seem like an unmotivated atmosphere. However, with the motivational quotes, enlightening pictures of crewmembers, group reminders and goals to reach for November (which are posted all around the perimeter of the room), the remote location does not seem to bother the crew of NinerNews. This reiterates my purpose; because of their environment influencing their broadcasting skills they are able to preform the necessary tasks of reading and writing. It may not seem like much, but the excerpts are giving members direct views on their own central purpose to increase views and educate the Charlotte campus.

Now that a general understanding of broadcast journalism has been established, and how NinerNews functions as a subculture, you may be asking, Where do journalist begin when creating a broadcast? Well, with my observations I was able to explore the process they take in order to create the big picture. It all starts with Preproduction work. According to Wikipedia, preproduction is, the process of preparing all the elements involved in a film, play, or other performance. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the content starts being produced. Since I was prevented from the brainstorming meeting, I interviewed Lauren Calucag, the assistant producer, in order to get my information. Initially the first question I asked Lauren was, why I was not able to participate in the meeting; she claimed, In order to keep our show confidential and prevent other stations from reaching our audience first, we only allow myself and the producer, Andrew Baker in the room with our boss. When reflecting on this, it seems like they hold so much responsibility on their hands; brainstorming at least five to six possible interviews, along with the weather, sports and the news is a lot for two people. Yet, when researching how experts brainstorm their ideas, it seems like majority of stations, businesses and individual groups use the Alex F. Osborn method, (see Appendix A). Personally I believe that having more of their crew members join in the brainstorming process will generate more ideas; which will in-turn bring forth innovative concepts, ability to combine and improve those ideas and hopefully feel more involved with their subculture. Looking back on the tactics that experts go through when brainstorming, it seems like an easier task than it is for the staff at NinerNews. However, when it comes to getting approval, this is where they differ again. We get approved for the majority of the ideas

we present the first time, mainly because of the boss we have (Calucag). Easy enough, right? Maybe this is because they are a school news station and their reputation is not as outstanding as those in the professional field; or maybe the level of interest is not as high from their boss strictly because it is a volunteer basis. For the most part, it seems like they do not share a common interest when creating a broadcast; on the contrary, an area they do have in common is the amount of importance when it comes to writing a script and the interview questions. Calucag says, We always stress to our crew members how important the questions are when asking the interviewee. We cannot ask a double barrel question (asking two questions in one) or a leading question (pushing respondent to give a certain answer), it needs to be a balanced question. What Lauren said made an effective point for broadcasting in general, validating that the simple skill of writing is a key tool when ultimately creating a broadcast. Not only for an interview but for a script as well, having the Proper language (understood by most listeners), simple words, small sentences, no jarring / jumbling, ethics, and proper terminology (Introduction). Now with an actual news station, they may have a professional script writer(Introduction); nevertheless, both news stations focus on the main points of their script or interview while remembering to use their literacy skills. Once everything has been approved and there is a clear direction of how the staff wants the show to run, then it is off to shoot for the production. While observing NinerNews, I recognized that they had crewmembers designated to a specific task, whether it was the cameraman, news anchor, sports anchor or meteorologist. What really surprised me were, the obligations of the assistant producer. Lauren, who I remind you is a first semester freshman, has to be knowledgeable in every aspect of the news; which

means, being the cameraman, news anchor, sports anchor or meteorologist. This holds a great deal of responsibility on her part because, she needs to know the specific literacy skills for each specific job. With this in mind, shooting cannot begin until the cameraman has first set everything up. For the most part this means, getting the camera in the best place to show the onscreen personnel and displaying appealing scenery; which could be anything from the background to the exact side a pen is on from the anchors paper. Lighting plays a major factor as well since they have to consider where to place lights, know the different intensity and angles of lighting so in turn they do not disturb the talents. All of these factors create shadows and help show texture of various articles and the individuals on the set (Introduction). Basically, the cameraman needs to be able to read how their display comes across to the audience. With the right set up, a visual story will already be displayed for the audience before it is told by the anchor. After the cameraman has reached his level of visual creativity, the person on screen should be an addition to their surroundings. This is done by the way they read and communicate their scripts and cue cards. While I was observing Sara, the News anchor also known as the Host of the show, preformed these tasks quite diligently. I noticed that while the cameraman was setting up, she was practicing the exact way she was going to produce it on camera. In the process, she was able to revise her script again to make it flow and deliver a clear message to the audience; as a result Sara was able to finish the job with only three takes. Although she did practice her script multiple times, there are more factors that she acquired in order for her to reach a level of confidence in her performance. One feature was having the ability to write her own script; because Sara did

some research, she became knowledgeable on the subjects. This made it easier for her to memorize all that she needed to say, and have the ability to adlib if it was needed. All of this makes the editors job much easier when it comes to piecing the clips together to make a segment. Another factor that made Sara really stand out from the rest of the anchors was the way she enunciated her words, and the compassion in her eyes made her look alive and compelling. The inflexion in her voice was constantly changing according to the type of story she was telling. For instance, with the darker story her tone was more serious and attention getting, with the lighter story she was more inviting and genuinely wanting the audience to come to the event. When watching I was extremely captivated by what she had to say; because she encompassed all of these abilities, it was made into one cohesive piece that you could not take your eyes off of. What Sara ultimately ending up doing was creating some interpersonal relationship between her and the audience. Of course, not all anchors have the same ability as one another, some have trouble with keeping the flow of things, like Muhamed. When observing him do an interview, it was like night and day from Sara. Muhamed did not write his own script, nor did he research the event he was going to, so his questions were all over the place. When watching him, I felt flustered because that is how he came across on screen. Constantly saying umm and uhh, staring up into the air searching for a question that was obviously not there. To add to the mess, he never engaged with the camera, which made him seem unapproachable and a little insecure. The whole thing was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, it was hard to watch but there was no way you could turn away! By showing Sara and Muhamed it allows one to see how important communication and reading is in broadcasting. Communication cannot be transferred to the audience without

putting forth the required amount of preparation; the goal is keep the attention of the audience, which is done by persuasion, tone and body language from the anchor. Now that you have an understanding of the tactics used by professional and NinerNews during their preproduction and production phase, there is one more process they need to complete. When the staff effectively puts together the edited videos to make it most appealing to the audience and strategically promotes their show, this is when everything comes together. Making this the final step of broadcasting, which is called postproduction. NinerNews being a college news station they have to be more resourceful than those who work at a news station. Most professional news stations have an editor whose job is to specifically cater to those needs, consequently that is not the case for the members of NinerNews. When reflecting on the requirements of an anchor, they usually have to be fluent in their own profession, but in this case they need to be knowledgeable in technology, as well as their opposite profession. The staff has to be able to edit their own video, and then it is thoroughly revised over by the assistant producer and the again checked by the producer, in the journalism world this is known as micro editing (Calucag). Lauren Calucag was making this very clear to Nate, the intern, when she taught him the basics of editing. She taught him how to edit a video by showing him what to do, then allowing him to do it himself. What I noticed was how detailed Lauren was when she was editing the rest of the videos. In this case, she was putting a background in for the weather portion (because the meterologist stands in front of a green screen) and it took her four tries before she was happy with the result. This may not seem like a lot of tries, but it took her at least twenty minutes to create the background for one clip and she still had much more to do with the video, now imagine this six more times. While editing,

the onscreen personnel/editor not only has to remember the different keys and colors that are used in order to complete the editing process; like using the spacebar to pause, the blue key for video and green for audio. They also need to be conscience of the clothes they wear, especially when they are in front of a green screen. By wearing purples, blues, yellows, teals, or any color that can be traced back to green it will create a type of glow around the person or even make them a floating head when it comes time to edit the video. So the little things that may not seem like a big deal during preproduction and production are subsequently the things one will have the most trouble with during postproduction. All of the dynamics of broadcasting end up feeding off of each other, when the staff starts with a strong foundation they are more than likely to end it with it as well; then all that is left is the support from the audience. Since times are evolving and social media has taken the Internet by storm, it is obvious that this would be the best way to create more attention for their group. Andrew Baker, the producer, told me that one way they try to raise their views are through social media and flyers placed around the school. This normally raises about 230 views (Baker). That may seem high when it is one episode per week, but think about it, UNC Charlotte has more than 25,000 students. I made a suggestion to Baker to try and have it broadcasted on a local television station; however, I was already a step behind. He went on to explain that not only do they have their own channel, unccnineronline, on YouTube, but their news station airs on channel 22 from Monday through Friday at 10pm. Then it hit me! When thinking of the news usually electronic media has three categories of timings - ordinary hours: from morning to 6 O' clock in the evening, prime hours: from 6pm to 10pm and thereafter the late night programs (Introduction).

Basically they are considered a late night program, and those generally do not create high ratings because they are not predicted to do very well. Comparatively with professional news stations they have at least three opportunities to reach their rating goal, do you see the downfall of NinerNews? They have all of the tactics that is required of broadcast journalism from a pretty proficient level, but their problem is the competition against professional news stations. The best way to emphasize the importance of this ethnographic study is to reverse the roles. What if you were the staff members of NinerNews, working just as long and just as hard as those in the professional field. Receiving no pay and you are strictly donating your time to be there, all the while trying to gain a broader audience. Seems like a lot to go through, right? Well this is what most people have to go through in order to be seen in the broadcasting world, its not as glamorous as it looks on camera. With my new understanding of this subculture, I discovered that everyone plays an important part and has to adapt to many different roles. With this information I hope that NinerNews can see areas they strive in and places they need improvement on, because it can only develop their literacy skills and allow them to grow as a group. From the interpersonal skills, persuasion techniques, writing their own script and editing videos on a tight deadline, professional News Stations and NinerNews conducts a broadcast to entertain you, the audience. So now it is your turn, do you think you have what it takes to survive in the unknown world of broadcast journalism?

Appendix A Divergent Thinking Guidelines: Generating lots of Opinions

Convergent Thinking: Judging Opinions, Making Decisions

Work Cited Baker, Andrew. Personal interview. 14 Nov. 2012. Calucag, Lauren. Personal interview. 7 Nov. 2012. "Field of Study: Broadcast Journalism." Iseek Education. ISeek Solutions, 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. "Introduction to Broadcasting." ZeePedia. N.p, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. "Pre-production." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Nov. 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2012. Russell, Fiona. Getting into Broadcasting. Richmond: Trotman, 1997. 7-23. Getting into Broadcasting. Trotman and Company Ltd, np. Web. 22 Nov. 2012. Stephens, Mitchell. "Before Reporting." A History of News. New York: Oxford UP, 2007. 205-62. Print.

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