Former CBS correspondent, Thalia Assuras, joined us today to talk about working on camera for a network. Here she talks about what was expected of her as a correspondent.
Here is Thalia on getting a story in tough situations.
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Recent Travels
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Last Day Of Boot Camp
In the words of Ice Cube, “today was a good day”. Boot camp has been enjoyable and an extremely valuable learning experience. But 8 hours of class a day gets a little tiring. In true boot camp fashion we ended with talks from a Pulitzer Prize winner and Jeremy Stone, the late I.F. Stone’s son.
Jan Schaffer began her career as a journalists for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her Pulitzer was won after writing several stories which helped free a wrongly accused mentally challenged person who was charged with 5 murders. Schaffer decided it was time to re-invent herself when she moved to Washington DC with her husband who had gotten a job at the Washington Post. Schaffer began her career at the Pew Center For Civic Journalism in 1994. Her interests then took a turn toward interactive journalism. In 2002 she launched J-Lab: The Institute For Interactive Journalism. The objective of J-Lab is to use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to interact in public life says Shaffer. She spoke to the class today on her concerns about how the web is changing journalism. “New media is fracturing to a lot of individual components that have value,” she said. On the other hand stenography has become a problem. To many journalists are relying on hear say to write stories says Schaffer. Don’t leave your investigative side behind when working in multimedia. Having a hunch that something isn’t right here is still a valuable asset of a reporter she said.
Jeremy Talked About His Father's Legacy
I.F. Stone was an innate journalists. He began writing when he was fourteen. As a pioneer for independent journalism Stone stood up for what he believed in. Stone ran his own publication along with his wife Esther. He was known as a radical and many feared of having any type of relationship with him during the McCarthy Era. Jeremy spoke of what qualities made his father an excellent journalist. Those qualities included knowing history, a sense of independence, , and the ability to overcome obstacles. “You have to be prepared for hostility and isolation if you want to do anything worth while,” Jeremy said.
Word To The Wise: Embrace The Internet
Former Executive editor for WashingtonPost.com, Jim Brady, explained to boot campers today the best way to embrace online journalism. Again, the first step to a successful website is to have a niche. As Brady said, web is not a general interest medium, it is a niche medium. Therefore if you produce interesting information on your topic and you understand the DNA of the web, you will get a following, says Brady. Second thing to remember is to build a community. By encouraging your viewers to participate in your posts you will actually attract more viewers. In the process build relationships with other blogs.
A problem for many online journalists is how to be compensated for their websites. Brady suggests display and classified advertising. There are ad networks to assist you in finding advertisers that fit with your niche.
An Honest Talk With A Busy Executive Producer
In a few words, Susan Zirinsky is a bold, quick witted, hard working woman. She is also the executive producer of 48 Hours, a CBS show which she has been overseeing since 1996. Susan has also served as an executive producer for many other CBS News and Entertainment programs. During a Skype interview today Susan taught students a lesson on the ins and outs of being an executive producer. An executive producer is “the person that green lights anything in it’s programming,” Susan said.
The most essential element to having a successful television show is to have a good story. Susan said that a good TV story:
- Brings out an emotional reaction in people
- Creates some type of drama
- Has an impact on peoples day to day lives
- Reflects an incredible tale of human nature
During her time as an undergraduate at American University Susan had a part time job at CBS. Following college she continued to work for CBS and about a year after graduating was promoted to associate producer. Fear from inexperience almost prohibited her from taking the job. She learned to embrace the fear. ” I don’t think I’ve ever gone into a job that I thought I was ready for,” Zirinsky said, telling us that we will probably have the same experience.
Listen To Zirinksky On Being Competitive While Working For A Network
On a final note Susan spoke about the ever aging CBS viewers. To counter act this CBS is hiring younger correspondents to make it’s news more appealing to younger viewers. The major change will probably happen in the next five years she said. In that time CBS will be making a bigger financial commitment to digital multimedia.
Video Story: Maintaining A DC Cemetery In The Heat
Here is a video story that I created with Andy Medici. This is the first video story that I’ve created using FinalCut.
FinalCut During The Final Days
Days get longer as our time at Boot Camp gets shorter. After an unexpected fire drill I was briefly stuck in the elevator with a few other boot campers. Thankfully we got out and the rest of the day was devoted to learning FinalCut pro. FinalCut pro is an innovative program that makes Audacity look completely inadequate. We used Final Cut to edit our DC in the heat stories filmed yesterday.
Andy Edits With Final Cut
On a more personal note, I believe that boot campers are beginning to get to know one another. Professor Olmsted mentioned to the group today that she feels we are meshing well and that we have a good group. After doing this for twenty years I have a good sense of how a group is going to come together she said.
Video Firsts At Local Cemetary
According to the Senior video editor at USA Today, Rob Roberts, the first rule of video is that it isn’t that hard. The trick to having a successful video is to have an interesting story. So when Andy Medici and I went out to create a video about the heat engulfing DC today we chose to think out of the ordinary. We spent our day at a cemetery in NE DC. Our story was about how the heat is effecting the groundskeepers who maintain the cemetery.
Walking around the cemetery during the dead heat of the day was a tiring task but we tried to use all the useful tips Roberts gave us in the morning.
Some of the rules he gave us to make a successful video are as follows:
- Figure out who you want to interview and what you want out of it before you get on location.
- Film three different types of B roll shots- wide , medium, and close-up shots. About half of your B roll shots should be close up.
- Let the action happen within the frame. Don’t pan or zoom.
- Try not to center your subjects. Use the rule of thirds.
We found out that the groundskeepers take pride in the aesthetics of their cemetery. Despite the heat they continue to frequently mow the lawn, maintain on-site construction, and take great care in respecting those buried there.
From Radio To Skype
Jim Asendio, news director at WAMU, empowered himself during the race struggle of the 1960s in Harlem by writing for small publications at the age of 12. For someone who emphasized the importance of contacts, he sure started early. His interest in journalism led him to a passion for public radio. For the past three years Jim has worked for WAMU. Previously he worked for WLIU/WCWP in Long Island. This past weekend he went to Long Island to try and prevent the station from going dark as a result of lack of funds. “Timing is everything in this business,” he said.
Jim Ascendio From WAMU
In a business that has been floundering for the past couple of years, Asendio’s news budget has actually doubled. He must be doing something right. “Everything about reporting is your ability to connect some way,” Jim said about the importance of being able to relate to people. “We are word smiths, take your listener or viewer into another reality”, he said.
We attempted to skype with Rawand Darwesh an Iraqi journalist living in Kurdistan. We were able to reach him by phone. He spoke of the sense of normalcy in Kurdistan and Baghdad. He said that while visiting Baghdad a month ago he saw people shopping and eating ice cream which he said is much different then how Baghdad was a year ago.
Darwesh Speaks To The Class From Iraq
Keiosha Johnson a former American University graduate student spoke to us about her experience as an employee for the NBC News Associates Program. Out of one thousand applications chosen, Johnson was one of six finalists to be offered the job. She got her start by freelancing for fashion and culture blogs. Now she is starting a new job at WAMU working for Jim Asendio.
Audio Practice At The National Zoo
CHECK OUT MY FIRST SLIDE SHOW HERE
Today was fun. After a short introduction on creating a sound slide we were sent to the National Zoo in pairs with our audio recorders and cameras. My partner, Will Cummings, and I chose to focus our story on the panda’s. We wondered around the panda habitat interviewing visitors from all around the world, many of whom had not seen a panda before. Approaching someone with an audio recorder for the first time feels a little awkward but I found myself concentrating so hard on the sound that I just forgot about it. We tried to interview the volunteers at the panda research center but the zoo has a strict policy on interviewing it’s workers. Will got chewed out by the PR lady who seemed to be frustrated by all the calls she was receiving from boot camper’s. Little did we know that learning how to make sound slides for the first time would be more frustrating then trying to get the PR lady to talk.
Will Interviews Zoo Visitors From Italy
Upon returning to school in the afternoon we began to create a sound slide with the material we collected at the zoo. Audio software is intimidating. All those blue squiggly lines can be confusing but I quickly learned how to gauge sound by the variation of the lines. Sound slides are fun to make. After completing my first one I am hoping to look back in 5 years and laugh at it.
