The first two lectures concerning audio journalism for JEM 200 have covered:

• Introduction to audio journalism
  The importance of sound. Sound can be an excellent way to go beyond the pictures and text a reporter produces in covering a story. Sound gives voice to sources in a way that text cannot.
  
  Differences in writing for sound and writing text.
  
  Dramatic unity, the standard form of writing news.
  
  
• Writing for audio
  New forms of writing for audio that web journalism offers. We have already referred to audio slide shows, but we also must give some attention to writing introductions that alert readers as to what they are about to hear and to describe links included with the sound stories.
  
  Sound supplement and sound dominant formats; scripts. Most of what is broadcast in traditional media begins with and follows a script. Good scripts promote the efficient presentation of news and information, and they are likely to continue to be necessary on the web.

Speaking clearly

Enunciation and beyond. In previous times, training in this area could generally be ignored by most journalists, particularly those going into print. No longer. Journalists now need to use their own voices. Their accent, grammar and pronunciation skills must be developed beyond the normal level of speaking. Their speaking habits must exclude the use of the word "like" after every third word (grow up -- you're no longer a pre-teen), and they must speak with the confidence that allows them to drop the hesitant pauses, the "uhs" and the "you knows."

Developing habits and practices that enhance the clarity of sound and the quality of reporting. We might jokingly call this our "radio voice," but it is no longer a joke. Journalists -- all journalists -- must be heard and understood.

Speak clearly and correctly. By now, you should have cast aside all of your bad grammatical habits. Use English acoording to the standard rules.
Recognize difficult words. And practice them.
Speak with commas. This means speaking in phrases that are meaningful and pausing where pauses should occur.


Speak confidently. Practice what you are going to record before you record it. Understand the words that you are saying and the information you are trying to convey. You should "sound" like you know what you are talking about.


Slow down. When we get into situations where people are listening to us, we tend to speed up. We talk too fast. Make a deliberate effort to slow the pace of the words down. Our purpose in speaking is to allow people to understand what we are saying, not to stop talking as fast as we can.


But don't slow down too much. The pace of your speech should be clear and conversation. To slow down too much is to become hesitant and boring.


Record yourself; listen to yourself; critique and improve.
One habit that many young have is to raise their voice slightly toward the end of a sentence as if they are making it into a question. Avoid this or get out of the habit if this is what you tend to do.


Use inflections to deliver information. An inflection is a change of tone and pace in a normal speaking voice. These changes are meaningful to the listener, and they should be used effectively by the speaker.

Brevity. Acquiring the skill of the short, concise question. Asking well-formed, concise questions -- and then shutting up -- is a rare skill, but it is one that should be developed by all of our students.

Recording

Tools and equipment. Basic recording equipment is inexpensive and simple to use. Every journalism student must have some kind of ditigal recorder and must be aware of its capacity.

The importance of sound quality. Sound quality does not have to be an obsession because of the good equipment that is available. Still, journalism students must learn to make their equipment produce clear, understandable sound on all occasions.

Ambient sound and music. The qualities of ambient sound and music can enhance the reporting. They are special products of audio journalism that cannot be duplicated by any other medium.

Editing

Putting audio files together for presentation. Editing audio can be as simple or as complex as the reporter and editor choose to make it. Some audio reporters, such as NPR's science reporter Robert Krulwich, develop their stories through complex and highly sophisticated editing techniques (see Darwin's Very Bad Day, for example). Our goals for beginning journalism students are more modest. Simply producing a clear, coherent recording would be enough.

• Multiple tracks. Student should have some basic understanding of mixing sound tracks.
  
  
• Importance of beginning and ending. Writing good introductions and planning the sound story from beginning to end is basic to good audio journalism.
  
  
• Standard constructions and techniques. Students should learn the standard techniques of audio editing as the well as the terms, such as fades, cross-fading, establish music, segue, transition, voice out, music up, and voice wrap.
  

Audacity

The one piece of software that students should learn for audio journalism is Audacity.

While editing sound has a wide array of possibilities, it has been rendered simple and easy by Audacity, a free and downloadable piece of software from SourceForge.net. Audacity comes with a set of tutorials, the basics of Audacity can be grasped in just a few minutes by those who simply use the software. Audacity allows users to add and delete portions of a soundtrack and to place new soundtracks into a file. Its visual dashboard (below) includes all of the tools for basic sound editing, and it is likely that student will be able to learn the program to create audio files very quickly.

Below is a screen shot of a audio file being edited in Audacity. Editing an audio file is a relatively straightforward matter.

Podcasting

Podcasting is a term sometimes used for the general idea of audio journalism, but in reality it has a much more specific meaning. Podcasting is a means of distributing audio files through RSS (really simple syndication) feeds. Students should be taught the basics of using this system for distributing the audio files they produce, but we will refrain from going into details about it until a later post.

Video journalism

Video journalism uses pictures and video along with sound to help inform the viewer. As with audio journalism, video journalism was confined to the medium of television before the web developed as a news medium. With the web, however, new avenues of using still and moving pictures and combining those with sound are opening up to journalists. Video is no longer confined to the television screen. Nor is it generally outside the control of the consumer.

Much of the writing techniques and styles that you have learned for audio journalism can be applied to video journalism.

Video journalism requires the use of a video camera (just as audio journalism requires a digital recorder) and a basic knowledge of video editing software. Learning to use a video camera and video editing software is beyond the scope of JEM 200 and will be covered in other course, but those skills are a necessary part of the journalist's talents for the future. The wise journalism student will learn to use a video camera and edit video on his or her own.

Many of them have already started. How about you?

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