Assignment Details:

In 2016, The Washington Post created a multimedia series titled “Raising Barriers”, comprising three online news stories which examined the increasing resistance to migrants and refugees around the world.

View this multimedia series here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/border-barriers/global-illegal-immigrationprevention/

Tasks

After analyzing the above-given multimedia series:

A) Critique how the various multimedia features (e.g. videos, photographs, text, etc.) work together to tell a compelling story about the increased resistance to migrants and refugees.

B) Discuss how you think the reporters would have obtained the information and footage relevant to this story. Do also discuss the ethical issues which may arise from gathering such multimedia footage and how they should be addressed.

C) Formulate the best practices for constructing engaging multimedia news stories based on what you felt was effective from these three stories.

Important Note: Do refer to specific examples/references from “Raising Barriers” to elaborate upon your points more specifically. Research on this global migration issue is also encouraged so that you will better understand the context of these stories.

Telling a story through image or sound

Still Photography

In general, it would be good to get into the habit of taking photographs regularly and not just during mealtimes (you don’t necessarily have to post them on social media platforms either). Not only does this train your eye in terms of getting interesting visual footage, but it also helps you to become more observant about the world around you.

The simple approach of taking good news photographs

1) Go for natural lighting: Photographs turn out the best when just available light is used. If the flashlight comes on automatically, move your subject to somewhere brighter. Do take note if you have a bright sun behind your subjects, they will turn out as a dark silhouette. If you want their face to be seen clearly, ensure that the light is facing them and not behind them.

2) Go for natural action photographs: Getting your subject to stiffly pose for photographs might not come across as authentic. Try to photograph people while they are doing something so the picture looks more natural.

3) For each image, you want to capture, shoot vertical (portrait) and horizontal (Landscape) versions of each image: To be on the safe side, it’s good to take multiple images of a particular subject in both vertical and horizontal formats to give you some leeway on how you may want to use them for your story.

4) Rule of the Thirds: This is a general guideline many photographers use as an off-center composition is supposed to look more visually appealing. Do take note most smartphone cameras provide this grid function to help the user frame photos according to this rule. It is best applied to wide landscape shots. It does not necessarily have to be applied to every photograph.

5) Beware of backgrounds: Avoid having something odd behind your subject as this can be distracting.

Editing photos for news stories

In general, photographs for news should be minimally touched-up. Cropping and adjusting brightness and contrast for greater clarity is generally permissible in most newsrooms. Other than that, your images should be as close to reality as possible in line with how journalism attempts to be objective and truthful.

Captioning

Well-written captions are important in getting readers hooked to a story. Since readers often look at the image first when reading a story, what you say about those pictures leaves a deep impression. Captions have the potential to transform even a rather dull image to something fascinating if the content speaks to the readers’ emotions. It is a key tool to help the photographs tell a story. At the very least, it provides context/factual information in terms of how the photographs connect to the story.

Making the most out of audio

In general, it’s good to record interviews to ensure accuracy when you want to quote your subject in a piece of news. At the same time, recording interviews to be broadcast adds depth to a standalone print news story. Audio clips can also be used as part of a video or a stills slide show. Having good audio helps make a multimedia story more dramatic and authentic.

The simple approach of recording good audio

1) Record somewhere quiet: Many sounds that may not bother you in real life (e.g. pages turning, ticking clock, whirring fan, etc.) can be distracting when recording for broadcast. If you are recording interviews, do ensure all these potential distractions have been removed. If you are recording from your smartphone, do remember to divert your phone call as the recording will be disrupted if a call comes in in the middle of an interview.

2) The importance of natural sound: Natural sounds effects add to the atmosphere of a story. If you think this would enhance your story, it might be good to record an interviewee in his or her natural settings (e.g. interviewing a kindergarten teacher with the ambient noise of children singing in the background). You might also want to record audio tracks of just natural sound which you can overlay with your videos or photographs to give readers a stronger sense of place.

3) How to conduct your interview: Try to ask more open-ended questions to avoid getting one-word yes or no answers. For easy comprehension, ask about only ONE thing per question to encourage focused answers. Start with the easier questions first to “warm-up”.

4) Edit for succinctness: Often, you may end up only using 1-2 minutes from a 30-minute interview recording. It’s best to record “extra” and then edit out the unnecessary bits while you are putting your story together.

Tip: do transcribe your audio interviews –from there it is much easier to pick out what sound bites should be in the news report. Choose quotes that are interesting, memorable or add depth or emotion to the story.

Telling a story through videos

On a news website, online videos vary from live-streaming an important event such as the General Elections, short excerpts of politicians’ speeches to a fleshed-out “mini-documentary” that uses a variety of media to highlight a particular public affairs issue.

Pre-Production

For video, it’s hard to just “wing it” (unless you have an unlimited supply of budget and time). Because of the technical considerations, it is essential to do some strategic planning before producing your multimedia news video in an efficient and clear-cut manner. But before we get to these technical considerations, it’s important that you have already done the necessary research, decided on the story angle and found suitable interview subjects for your report

Types of Film shots

• Wide shot
• Long shot
• Medium shot
• Medium close up
• Close up
• Big close up
• High angle
• Low Angle
• Eye Level

Storyboarding

Essentially, this is the visual equivalent of coming up with an outline in point form. A storyboard usually comprises several boxes with lines below it and the filmmaker will start planning the visuals necessary for a video, and an indication of the text that should accompany it (whether in written form or audio form). It is also a good point of reference to ensure that you don’t miss out on shooting any scenes and that your video covers shots from various perspectives so as not to be monotonous.

Deciding which media to use for a multimedia story

1) Still, photos work best in capturing emotional moments

2) Audio footage should be accompanied by relevant and interesting visuals whether in photo or film formats

3) Complex information should be simplified to engaging info-graphics

4) Video footage captures the “meat” of the story

5) Text: Provide key information and context to the story

6) Ensure that information does not overlap too much between the different types of media

Gathering information for public affairs reporting

In general, a public affairs reporter needs to be kept in the loop in terms of what is happening in society. The best way to stay in the loop is to make full use of what the World Wide Web can offer. While you should be no stranger to Googling, this section will give you some ideas in becoming a more efficient reporter when it comes to researching a story.

1) Online Research

Examples:
Newslink: An online newspaper archival service that offers news articles, photographs, infographics and PDF copies from 18 local newspapers published by Singapore Press Holdings.

Factiva: A global news database that provides news and business information from 10,000 sources from more than 159 countries.

2) Websites and Apps

The most “basic” way to get updated on current affairs is to subscribe to news apps where you can scan headlines at a glance or get “beeped” when breaking news stories come in through your smartphone. The Channel NewsAsia app is good for local and regional news, while the BBC News App is good for international news. Others include Daily Me or Feedly or even Reddit

Media Law and Ethics

As a public affairs reporter, it’s also important to consider the legal and ethical boundaries of your news stories. What HAS to be reported (even if it might be potentially offensive) for the greater good of the public? What should NOT be in the story (because it might be deemed unlawful or destabilizing to society)? Such questions need to be asked as you refine your news story and prepare it for publication. As you might have already figured, media law and ethics are generally complex issues to navigate around – but being aware of them helps you in practicing responsible journalism with a good conscience.

Taste, decency, and self-censorship

Every news organization will have its own set of restrictions on what you can or cannot say. Here are some common things you’ll find reporters and editors filtering in the newsroom:

Vulgar language

Editors often censor profanities to avoid offending readers. One can argue that slangs (e.g. Singlish phrases) accurately reflect the culture, but when in doubt, most editors delete.

Offensive topics

Stories involving morally-questionable lifestyles, drugs, and gruesome violence usually get editors jittery. In Singapore, news on race and religion are also treated with special sensitivity.

Conflict of interest

If a newspaper has many advertisers from cosmetic companies, its editor might hesitate to run a story on why going make-up free is beneficial to one’s health.

Libel

According to Killenberg (2013), the broad definition for libel is “any published communication that is injurious to another person’s reputation, occupation or social contacts”. However, to successfully sue someone for libel in court requires these elements:

Publication

It has to be a published story or videotape, including electronic publication. As long as someone other than the writer and the subject involved in the story has read the story, it is considered published.

Identification

The subject is identified clearly by name and other forms of personal description. However, if identification is established through other facts in the story e.g. “the culprit is a vice-principal from a top boy’s school in the North”, that can also be an issue as readers would be able to make an obvious guess on the subject’s identity.

Defamation

Defamation means falsehood that causes perceptible injury to a person’s reputation or work he or she is directly involved in. For example, incorrectly reporting that Professor Tan failed his mathematics might not be considered defamatory since he teaches Literature. However, if Professor Tan is a professor of mathematics, then inaccurately reporting that he failed his mathematics in school is defamatory as it affects his credibility as a mathematician. Also, what is considered defamatory can be subjective – what may be offensive or insensitive for some may be considered objective and balanced to others.

Privacy

While there are no privacy laws in Singapore (hence, reporters cannot be sued for invasion of privacy), there is a breach of confidence. If you publish photographs taken of another person in a private setting without authorization, you may be at risk of facing a lawsuit for breach of confidence.

When people talk to reporters, there is an assumption of implied consent to publish or broadcast such information in the future. However, sometimes, a news subject might suddenly change his/her mind. For particularly controversial conversations, it’s best if the reporter records the interview and gets the subject signed consent so he/she does not suddenly want the interview to go off-the-record.

Privacy can involve intrusion (violating someone’s solitude by trespass, harassment, surveillance or other intrusive means) or embarrassing facts (publicly disclosing private facts such as someone’s confidential medical records).

Online journalism ethics

Online multimedia journalism brings about a new set of ethical challenges and issues. Because of the speed required to produce stories for online news platforms, the quality of work and the way secondary sources are attributed can often get shoddy in a rush to meet the deadline.

According to the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (2017), here are some suggested guidelines when producing online news content:

1) If you make a correction to an article that is already published, note the correction on the updated version.

2) Don’t comment anonymously on your news story if you are replying to readers’ feedback.

3) Rely on government websites for reliable statistics (avoid referencing from unknown/unclear Internet sources that do not cite the author’s name).

4) When you are connected personally to a story, share that information in the interest of full disclosure.

5) Maintain open communication with your audience.

6) Supply supporting links to reliable sources.

7) If you don’t have your own image, don’t just cut and paste images because that is breaking copyright law. Follow attribution requirements closely for public domain images. If you find a photo you’d like to use, ask the owners for permission to use it. Check photo-sharing sites that offer Creative Commons images and appropriate attribution.