Beats and blogs, posting your project, and Audacity editing part deux Feb. 28, 2013
Feb 25, 2016
Beats and blogs,posting your project, and Audacity editing part deuxFeb. 28, 2013
Class outline- Blog development exercise- Blog and headline writing- How to upload your audio project- Writing for radio- Editing in Audacity, continued
News blog vs. Personal blogWhat are some ways a news blog differs from a personal blog?
What are some of the similarities?
Blog writingJournalistic
Blog posts, like newspaper articles and TV articles, are supposed to be informative.
Each post should address a clearly identified topic, related to your beat.
Every piece of information should be attributed or sourced.
- If citing the reporting of other news organizations, provide a link- If you gathered material from an interview or report, label it as such- Try to answer the who, what and when somewhere in your post (how
and why, as needed, too!)
Blog writingSuccinct
Limit the length of your posts to no more than 500 words.
Accept that you may not be able to include every piece of information you feel is important to the story. Be selective.
Use links to give readers an opportunity to go deeper.
Blog writingClear writing
Assume Web users want information fast. How can you inform them in a direct but engaging way?
All content should be clear and concise.
Edit your content before posting. Remove information which is irrelevant.
Blog writing
Blog writingHeadlines
Must be short, accurate, direct
In present tense, active voiceNot: Supreme Court conservativesexpressed skepticism over voting lawprovision
Express a complete thought
Subject-Verb-Object- Immigrant release – sparks – firestorm
Not: Opposition to illegal immigrant release- SupCo conservatives – express – skepticism
Not: Voting law skepticism
Blog writingHeadlines
Use proper nouns only if they are common knowledge
Don’t oversell
Ensure it works out of context
Play with language to entice readers
Blog writingGenerally speaking:
Gather, organize and interpret
Posting your audio projectThere are multiple ways to post your project to your Wordpress blog.
See: en.support.wordpress.com/audio/
The quickest way is to do this via SoundCloud: www.Soundcloud.com
Posting your audio project1. Go to SoundCloud and establish an account2. Once you’re logged in, click Upload http://soundcloud.com/upload
Posting your audio project3. > Choose files, and select your file from your desktop
Posting your audio project4. When project hasuploaded, enter projectinformation …
… Then hit the Savebutton at the bottom
Posting your audio project5. You’re ready to go! Hit “Share” and copy the Wordpress code at the bottom of the pop-up window.
Posting your audio project6. Log into your Wordpress blog and paste that code into a New Post.
Posting your audio project7. Add supplemental text as needed into post body, then publish!
Writing for radio
Writing for radio
Not:Michelle Obama will visit Chicago Thursday…Michelle Obama is scheduled to visit Chicago…
Writing for radio
Active voicePresent tense
Smooth transition into a relevant soundbyte
No redundancy between reporter and interviewee
Writing for radio Want to learn more?
Listen to and read the work of pros: wbez.org and npr.org
Poynter’s News University offers two self-directed online courses:1) www.newsu.org/courses/telling-stories-sound 2) www.newsu.org/courses/writing-ear
Audacity- Creating and using multiple tracks
- How to decrease track volume
- Ambient sound
- Smooshing
- Questions?