Your next assignment...

Read the assignment due for next class (about attending a speech or meeting).

The blog post (an article) is due Wednesday evening. The script is due IN CLASS! I stress the HARD COPY!

I am sorry I didn't return some of your broadcast script assignment/ grade. (Those of you who did not give me a hard copy has not received the assignment back yet.)

What I want to remind you are three things:

1) The broadcast script format

Check this link for Dr. Hughes' tips on writing a VO broadcast script.

Make sure to format your script this way. Don't just write "Script: Yesterday was a groundbreaking day in human history...."

Write who the new reader is, when the VO starts, what the video is that you are writing for, definitely include a VO-SOT (since this was a proper interview), remember to include the Total Run Time (TRT) for your VO-SOT, etc....

If you have questions, EMAIL me before hand. It won't be an excuse if you tell me "I didn't understand the assignment." during the Wednesday class.



2) The writing of broadcast scripts

This should be more conversational than writing stories for print. (After all, you are going to be 'speaking' the lines!) Broadcast stories must catch viewers'/ listeners' attention because other than newscast on news websites, one can't rewind to lsiten to stories over and over again. That means you should keep the language simple, sophisticated, readable, simple, concise, direct and.... what was the other one... SIMPLE! Remember that it should be no more than 30 seconds long, when read out loud.

Do you know what 'simplicity' also indicates? ACTIVE VOICE!



3) I said "Try to keep it past tense, except for ongoing concepts" during class today. This may be a good example...

EX:

a) President Obama said ...... on Monday, after a series of meeting with global leaders.

b) North Korea says that Japan ........

Either can work. If you focus on how the script is read on these two clips below (you can even just notice the first sentences the newscasters utter), you will hear that one uses past tense, while the other uses present tense, even though both of the events have already happened technically.





One is about a event that happened. An action that a figure took.
= Past tense

The other is about a comment a figure made, AND simultaneously a stance that the government is maintaining (until a contradiction, a change of policy, or recantation is made).
= Ongoing = Present tense

Notice this present tense turns back to past tense as soon as past events are discussed.

HINTS Current Events pt. 9

There was a deadly attack very recently, which was reported to have killed 130 people last night, and which is currently confirmed to have killed over 160.

The IAEA was recently on the move again. The hot spot for their investigation was (again)...
Watch the video on the article too.

Read about the recent happenings at the MLB World Series...


Madoff's partner-in-crime has died of a heart attack. Read about it here, and read on about who Madoff is , if you need to refresh your memory...

Look out for a Grammy-winning, former boy band member celebrity who has recently won a restraining order against a stalker...

Is the White House waging war on a new front, other than Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Public Option? Read this.

Microsoft has released a new OS (operating system) succeeding Windows Vista. Read about this topic. (CNN has a good article, fyi.)

Was he asleep? Was he spacing out? Was he carried away while using his laptop? What happened to the NWA flight 188 and its pilot? Read on...

Senior trips are supposed to be fun, but it didn't turn out to be exactly thrilling for some of the senior students of Washington University... Read the article, and watch the video to it too.




An interesting edict proposed by education officials in China: read about it!

I hope some of the questions, types of questions, preparation (knowing the background of the interviewee and the topic of the interview), and proper conduct (or rather the lack of it, in this video!?) will give you ideas.

Don't hesitate to write down questions you want to ask your interviewees, but don't feel constrained to these questions also. Be quick to think of follow-up questions too. BE FLEXIBLE BUT ON-TOPIC!

An example of an interview between Wolf Blitzer and Michael Moore:

The below interview is less heated than the above, but the one being interviewed is no less controversial than Michael Moore. Feel free to compare the two, but remember that, just because the interview is getting heated does not mean it was not a bad interview. If you were listening in class provocative and challenging probes are as important as neutral ones, for example. BE CIVIL BUT GET THE INFO YOU WANT (AND MORE!) FROM THE INTERVIEWEE!

An example of a CBS interview, on Glenn Beck:



Watch CBS News Videos Online

HINTS for the current events quiz pt. 8

We mentioned in one of our classes that a teenage honor student was brutally beaten to death by fellow school mates, back in September. Read about the latest on this story... Watch what happened to Derrion below. (Viewer's discretion advised.)



Some worrying news for future journalists? Read this... (but don't lose heart!)

A wanted poster on Interpol's website reveals an unexpected situation at Nebraska's Tecumseh State Correctional Institute... Click here.

Review what we talked about last class about the Balloon boy story. Here is the (HILARIOUS) clip of the family, where the father is left speechless after his son's utterance.



Is Pakistan spiraling towards an internal conflict? Read about the latest developments there.

Check the Maine Campus for information about Question 5, for the upcoming general election in Maine. Do some further reading and find out more about the election itself...

And some good news for media freedom, which may at the same time put others in grief.

A Maine plan to contain H1N1 and sickness in general. Like everything else in life, this proposal may create winners as well as losers.

Read the latest on the never-ending electoral battle between candidates Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah.

HINTS FOR CURRENT EVENTS 7

We will take the Current Events quiz this Friday!

The health care bill was voted on by the Senate Finance Committee. Read about it here.

There has been another natural disaster... but not in Southeast Asia, and instead in the US. Read about this Pacific storm, which was predicted to cause series of mudslides.

A scientist has been accused of contributing to a terrorist enterprise, in Europe. Read about it here.

You've seen the ads, you've heard about it in the community, and you've even seen it in one of our quiz items. Read what Maine Campus has to say about Question 1.

An unexpected cover model for Playboy magazine's November issue...

Read about a recent Nobel Peace Prize winner. Many claim that the individual has been awarded not for things he has done already, but to encourage him to put words and intentions into action...

It has not been a great week for the New England sports teams, for instance the Boston Red Sox. Find out what happened to the team during their play-off on Sunday.

Chicago was unfortunately voted off as a candidate to host the 2016 Olympics. Read about it. (The Economist has a good article on the hosting city.)

After a meeting between US Secretary of State Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, Russian reactions to a possible sanction against Iran took the US officials by surprise. Read about the latest development here.

On October 23rd, a special guest speaker will be visiting UMaine. Find out about this topic on our good ol' Maine Campus.

Hints for Current Events Quiz pt 6

Check out what took place last week during Banned Books Week. The most banned book's sales has surged on Amazon.com since then!

The war in Afghanistan seems far from being over... Check the latest casualties.

A prominent movie director has been detained for a crime he committed 32 years ago. Watch and learn more.



What is Question 1, in relation to the debate over same sex marriage in Maine? Read and watch about how Question 1 ads are being accusd of misinforming viewers...

Maine: the "Saudi Arabia of wind"!?

There has been scores of natural catastrophes in Southeast Asia. Read about Typhoon Parma.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009 being split among 3...

Remember the clip we watched last class....

Check out some latest news on Iran...

The Supreme Court started its new session this Monday. Read about it here.

Feature article on NYT

Here is an interesting feature article on Bueno de Mesquita. Some may call him a game theorist, others may call him a psychic...