Radio Proposal Draft

Is consent taught enough?

What: Is sexual consent taught enough in schools and universities? Student caused outrage in writing an article titled 'Why I don't need consent lessons'

Where: Warwick university - but addresses nationally how universities address consent.

When: Article published on the 14th of October 2015.

Why: Brings into question the naivety of people who do not fully understand the concept of consent.

How: Angle will be: following on from the reaction of George Lawler's article, discussion on whether men and women are educated enough about consent.

Consent is a part of a huge public interest at the moment. Rape Crisis UK revealed that 85,000 women are raped every year. And in 2015, the Telegraph found that ⅓ of students in Britain has endured or sexual assault or unwanted sexual advances. Following these statistics, it could very well be argued that lessons on consent at universities are necessary to teach young men and women about the importance of boundaries.

Student George Lawler at Warwick university caused outrage in an article he wrote for The Tab in which he accused 'I Heart Consent' workshops as being ‘the biggest insult I’ve received in a good few years.’ George Lawler's main argument is that he is well aware of what is consensual and what isn't 'Yes means yes, no means no. Its that simple'. He accompanied the article with a photograph of him holding a piece of paper which read 'This is not what a rapist looks like'. There have been many news reports and open letters in response to George Lawler's article. With the main focus being on whether there are a growing amount of people who agree with George.

This story provides a good platform for discussion on what people understand to be consentful. And brings into question whether or not schools and universities are doing enough to educate students in particular. The radio piece would be featured on Radio 4 to highlight the seriousness of the topic. Ideal interviews would include the person who created the 'I Heart Consent' workshop in Warwick on their reasonings behind it and why it's important to educate students. Would also be extremely insightful to interview George Lawler- although this is doubtful due to the large amount of bad press he has received. Finally I would like to interview a victim of sexual assault on a campus university and possibly the health minister at the University of Sussex.

Soundbites will hopefully include snippets from a ‘I Heart Consent’ workshops and sounds recorded on university campuses such as libraries or catering halls to create an atmosphere for the discussion.

Week 4 summary of reading 'Writing for Broadcast'

Writing for Broadcast

• "We are aspiring to be heard as someone who is describing the world- the stories we've decided to pay attention to- to someone we feel pretty close to, whose intelligence we respect, whom we like, and whom we're helping to explain things to."  - Robert Siegel 
• People listent to radio with the same set of ears that they listen to their spouses, family and friends.
• "The script should be a theatrical script, a dramatic script" - RS
• Great hosts write in their own voices- using words and sentence structures that come naturally to them. Write how you want to sound. You on a really good day. 'Perform' yourself.
• Say your sentences before you write them down. Express yourself in short, declaritive sentences.
• Avoid meaningless attributions and overused terms 'critics' 'experts'. Use titles sparingly. 
• Write in active voice (identifying the person and also creating vivid image for listener).
• Don't use rhetorical or hypothetical questions.
• Re-write awkward phrases- even if they are 'correct'.
• Recognize cliches and look for alternatives.
• Don't overwelm people with too many names and numbers. 

Mock radio pitch piece

SeaWorld vs Orca Actvists

What: SeaWorld has been banned from bringing wild killer whales into its San Diego park. Seaworld has also been banned from breeding orca whales in captivity. Huge victory for animal rights activists but what is the next step?

Where: San Diego, America. 

When: Ruling came into action on the 9th of October 2015 by California Costal Commission. More than 600 people attended the hearing in Long Beach.

Why: Although this ruling is a victory for San Diego, the same ruling has not been enforced on SeaWorld's other whale parks including San Antonio and Orlando where a total of 13 whales are currently being held. 

How: The ban of breeding orcas in SeaWorld's San Diego park came after mass public intrest over the 2013 documentary BlackFish, which details the mistreatment of orca whales in captivtity. 

This 6 minute radio feature will provide an insight into the current situation as it stands surrounding SeaWorld and its captivity of orca whales vs animal rights activists. It will have elements of disucssion, debate and deliberation that will provide layers to the radio piece, making for an informative and interesting feature. It will take on the format of a BBC Radio 4 show as it needs to reflect the seriousness of the issue. It also needs a formal stance in order to properly adress the debate of whether or not orcas should be kept in captivty at SeaWorld. Interviewees will hopefully consist of three people. One will be an animal rights activist who has been heavily involved with campaigning against SeaWorld and who is a part of WhaleFest (a local organisaton that focuses on the safety of whales and dolphins). Seocond interview will hopefully be someone who works in a local aqarium or zoo who will share SeaWorld's ideology that orcas whales captivity is vital to our understanding of marine life. Third and final interview... 

What will make this feature unique and engaging will be the brand new twist of events in SeaWorld being banned from importing wild orcas or breeding within its San Diego park. This ban has come just after SeaWorld requested a $100 million expansion of its whale pools. The expansion has been granted and will provide the parks 11 orca whales with a bigger area to live in. This expansion will provide debates into the level of care of the whales and will spark controvosary into how cruel SeaWorld really is. Soundbites will be used throughout the feature including: clips from old Seaworld commericals, sounds of orca whales in their tanks and nosie from demonstarations against whale captivity. The entire radio piece will provide listeners with a detailed insight and debate into what the current situation is and how different groups are working towards different goals in relation to whales in captivity. 

Week 4 summary of reading 'News Presentation'

Do's and Don'ts in Radio

• What is a good microphone voice? Being able to pronounce strong 'R's and no signs of speech impediments (lisp, stutter).   
• Most common regional accents heard are Scottish, Welsh, Irish and English. The likelihood of Brummie, Glaswegian or Geordie accents is unlikely due to the risk of them not being understood nationally.
• Most new stations have journliasts who can read, write and report as oppose to having seperate people for different roles.
• Must be able to convey the correct tones, empthasis and speed.
• 'Approachable authority' - the ways of presenting bulletins are merging. Bulletins need to compliment the formats of the programmes around them.

• You must understand everything you read. Read through the script throughougly to avoid tripping up on unfamiliar words, foregin places or super long sentecnes.
• Ask questions - is the audio cued properly? Is it in the right order?
• Use space before recording to breathe, exercise larynx before. A nervous voice usually rises in pitch (people link to lacking calirty and authority) so relax.
• Sound authoritive yet natural and informal.
• In recent survey - Radio Four averged 183 words per minute whereas Radio One averaged 228, reflecting the pace of the programming.
• In order to stress certain words without sounding biased, ask yourself what about the story is interesting, unusual, new or unexpected.
• Many sentences have an 'axis point' whislt this is happening 'here', this is happening 'there'.
• Pause slightly before a stress word, let it sink in for the listener. Quotations also need stress. Take small pause before and after reciting.

• The BBC has a Pronociation Unit which you can phone for advice.
• 'Aircheck' your bulletins - record yourself reading a bulltin and listent to it to monitre your performance.
• Some newsrooms have a 3 - 5 minute 'gate' before a bulletin where the presenter must be in the newsroom in order not to miss a cue.
• You can record with one headphone on and one off to here how your voice sounds naturally.
• In most instances, the presnter will have the most control of the newsroom.
• Start confidently, with one hand ready to touch the computer play out for the first piece of audio.
• Screen will give you countdown of remaining audio clip so prepare yourself to speak again

• Sometimes you may have to finish on a 'clock end' - exactly five minutes past.
• Keep top two stories near, incase you have extra time with nothing to fill it with.
• 'Copy taste' - Conituning to read one story aloud whilst reading over one thats just come in.
• 'Tread water' repeate information you do know whilst gathering new facts.
• A 'personality reader' someone who reads the news in a converstational way.
• 'Zoo' formats of news - lots of presenters in one newsroom each having their own contribution.

Writing Cues

1. Ditch sub clauses 
2. Use short sentences 
3. Listeners hear the cue and piece as part of a whole
4. Do not bore your audience, sit up and take notice
5. Good cues grab the attention immediately
6. Make listeners want to hear the rest of the piece
7. Human detail, graphic language 
8. Sympathetic cue to prepare listeners for sounds
9. Compose your cues for the network you are writing for
10. Listen to cues and study what you like about them

'Good news is No news' Podcast

(Make notes of topic and how its structured)

• Clear que, female broadcaster introducing Charlie Beckett and main topic along with title.
• Hard hitting news extracts grab listeners attention and give the piece volume whilst illustrating straight away what the speaker is trying to address
• 'Grim' 'War' 'Plague' 'Disaster' powerful words used individually but collectively one after the other creates forceful nature
• Fade in and outs of sound bites gives flow and professionalism
• 'Barrage of bleakness' alliteration 
• Interview sound bites of suspected other journalists 
• 'Peak negativity' small statements from interviews give story substance and keeps it interesting
• Tone to Charlie's voice goes up and down to create diversity
• After moving very quickly, report goes into back and fourth interview
• Use of archive sounds gives feeling of nostalgia (war time, cheering)
• 06.15 - fast pace drum music matches with Charlie's mention of how dramatic news is in modern day
• Clear introduction of interviewee 'Nick' 'writer for mail on sunday etc' which validates him as a good source of information to contribute to this piece
• Discussions on how the 'game is changing' 'new kids of the digital block are scooping up their audiences' 
• Ariana Huffington - founded of 'Good News' section of Huffington Post. Female voice is important to break up accents and voice bites
• 09.40- interviews are becoming longer and more in depth to give weight to middle of piece
• Making comparisons between US and UK news papers. The UK's reluctance to report on positive news
• Confrontation interview with deputy editor of The Daily Mail - incredibly relevant to the discussion as they represent sensationalism in the mainstream media. Gives piece conflict and engaging weight
• 'We are competing for peoples time and attention. The reality is that bad news does sell' - Danny
• There is no round up of each interview, the door is left open for the discussion to continue
• Charlie gives a balanced argument throughout
• 19.36- 'Is it possible to do the journalism differently without loosing its critical edge?
• 20.14- Re visiting of female interviewee, no need for introduction, listeners can instantly recognise her voice 
• Pauses for breath and thought allow for listeners to stay interested 
• 'And finally... I think it might just be possible' offering his own opinion?? 'What do we want... what do we chose?' Closing questions to stay with the listener. 

1st Radio Task

Process:

• Me and my group (Me, Gareth, Gianluca, Oscar) decided to assert ourselves as wanting to produce the magazine style piece for the first radio task. 
• We discussed possible stories that were accessible and of interest. 
• We chose the topical story of Japans victory over South Africa in the Rugby World Cup.
• Despite wanting to write the script, my lack of rugby knowledge resulted in me putting myself up for the position of reporter.
• Communicated via social networking with my group to discuss possible interviewees and script writing.
• Challenged through wanting to have a relevant interviewee but being aware of time restrictions to get equipment out, organise interview and record/edit.
• Revised skills learnt last year to record my portion of the radio piece. Speak slowly, three words per second, annunciate, breathe. 

Feedback: 

• Given that it was the first week, received very positive feedback.
• Our story was credited on its relevance and my voice was complimented on the speed and clarity. 
• Told to work on editing and shortening our featured interview