Evaluation of Self Initiated Project

                                                            Evaluation

Exploring a Professional in the Industry

As part of developing a range of contacts and knowledge, I set out to explore a part of the industry from the viewpoint of a current local professional. I outlined BBC Humberside’s Matt Dean as a potential client as I have met him on previous occasions, and he was very helpful.

I made contact to establish my goals and ask about the possibility of gaining an interview with him and to sit in on a radio show live.

For a long time after I had made first contact I did not hear anything, as I am aware of the nature of Matt’s work, I started to identify new targets that I could carry this project out on.

Eventually, I got the reply from matt as he asked me for a set of dates that I could do, of which I obliged and we set up the date.

Sitting in on the radio show live was something I had experienced before and enjoyed, but as this was my second time, I felt a bit more involved, and I could relax more as I was conducting the interview after the show.

Being able to watch professionals at work, however small or for whatever time limit, I s a useful and good experience to have, as I enables me to be able to watch, learn and ask questions, whilst also gaining more establishment with the contact.

For the interview itself, I had prepared a set of questions as I had a particular direction of answers that I wanted to gain, but I also did this to ensure conversation did not become stuck. My aim was to coax as much information regarding my questions, and then tailor the next question to his answer if this was possible.

I set this task as a recorded podcast, as I wanted to explore doing this, as I have not done so before. The idea being that I could place this on my blog to listen to, but also to write up an interview, and also transcribe the interview.

The process of the interview itself went very well. Matt responded with a lot of answers to my questions, elaborated on many aspects, and gave me incitation into his thoughts on his current role, and the media industry’s evolution in aspects of new media technology.

Overall the interview experience was a great one, as it enabled me to gain a professional’s opinion, and also it gave me lots of content of which I could do many things with journalistically.

Analysis of Sports Clubs work

For my Self-Initiated Project I undertook a range of journalism based work to explore. My aim was to document these in relation to Sports Journalism, and to build a portfolio of many different styles and areas.

For much of the experiences, I have not had past knowledge or experience in partaking in the types of journalism that I would be conducting, nor have I had much experience in doing live journalism work with exterior parties and clients.

This aspect was something that I was looking forward to building, so that I could gain contacts for future reference, and to help me build a professional reputation as a good Sports Journalist.

As Sports Journalism is one of my particular interests, I wanted to build a wide scope of various works including articles, interviews, photography, video, and interactive based.

I researched and selected various clubs of which I identified as possible targets for my work, and contacted some based on my particular interests. I also had some of my own contacts of which I used to ensure that I could carry out the works I intended to, if I was struggling to gain alternative contacts to carry out particular works.

In ranging the portfolio, my aim was to experience a varied amount of vocational and topical journalism works that I could use or distribute and gain publication.

I delivered two pieces of journalism, of which used similar formats, for a professional newspaper, as part of an Olympic feature. This was very advantageous in gaining this opportunity as it gave me a platform and an outlet to get my work published and also it builds upon contacts, and as part of developing a style and professional portfolio of work.

Through using Sports Journalism as the area of work, it enabled me to use a section of media in Interactive, that is developing into a more common and useable medium in delivering sports stories. This is not yet a common everyday practise for local journalism professional bodies or organisations, so it was a fantastic opportunity to deliver and showcase an area of journalism that can be used as an alternative to writing articles that will not be published until the flowing day or even on the Monday after the Saturday sport in a print newspaper.

The Interactive based sports story was the area that I was most sceptical but most surprised by exploring. I had created a live Twitter feed, and Storified this using professional’s reaction, fans reaction, and my own comments, and also incorporating pictures, whilst delivering the story in full in only minutes after the game itself had finished.

A feature I found in doing this was that I had created something so quickly, and precise using professional sports persons comments and Tweets that I had essentially scooped the local newspaper to a story that they did not report until two days later.

In journalism, that would have essentially made their story old news, as it was already out there in the public domain, delivered by a trustworthy source in a sports professional.

The works I have undertaken have given me a platform of a portfolio to develop and expand upon in the future, and it has also given me confidence in my own ability as a journalist to develop and deliver stories that are in the public interest.

This has been done whilst retaining the old fashioned journalism styles of articles, but also exploring a range of new media storytelling techniques, of which I can develop and pioneer into a personal profession of delivering sports journalism to the audiences.

The sports journalism portfolio that I have created will continue to expand and develop as I create and gain more works in the profession, and I plan to undertake as many opportunities as possible in gaining the experiences needed to become recognised and published as a reliable and professional source.

Overall

The self-Initiated project was great experience as it allowed me to tailor the tasks and experiment with areas of journalism that I am interested within. It also enabled me to try other areas of journalism that I am not so familiar with to gain more experience and develop understanding and knowledge in the areas.

The ideas behind all of the work I undertook was to make contacts within the sports and media industry, gain work published or commended by professionals, of which has been identified as a possibility, and to develop a wide range of portfolio that can be expanded on in the future.

I feel that I have achieved what I set out to achieve from the beginning, although there are some areas that I would like to gain a better idea and experience within, but this has initially given me prior experience of issues and successes that I can use to keep on developing my expertise within journalism.

Review of Sports Journalism work undertaken

The Interview:

For three of my sports journalism pieces I have conducted some sort of interview. The interview to me is a form of gathering information, of which doesn’t necessarily have to follow a flow of questions, although I had some prepared in the event that conversation fell flat.

I first conducted an interview for a Boxing piece of which I later wrote up for a print medium. This was an informal interview, and I found it to be quite relaxed and chatty, and the interviewee gave all the information I could need, and more.

The second interviewee was based around gaining facts, rather than gaining a story. This was a more formal style of interview, yet it was shorter, and much more focused on specific details.

The third interview I conducted was for the podcast. This was with a weightlifter, of whom I wanted to express the information freely, without me having to prompt too much. The interview was very relaxed, yet difficult to conduct, as I found that the interview became more about what was expected to have been said, rather than what he wanted to say.

The interview itself is something that I would like to develop. If I had not done a specific type of work such as sport, I would have liked to have challenged myself to a more intense interview, using different styles such as incorporating a bit of Jeremy Paxman, and a badgering interview; possibly with a politician.  

The other style I would have like to have done is an intensified life story with close camera angles such as what use to be carried out by John Freeman.

Photojournalism:

The one piece of photojournalism I did was for the Gymnastics club. I too photo’s over a few nightly sessions, and tried to cover as many angels, types of shots, and focuses. I also used two alternative camera settings which were T.V, and Sports, which were both appropriate for use and had their different advantages. The camera I used was a Cannon 40D.

This was the first real piece of photojournalism work that I have done, as I have not had much experience on the camera. For the first part I felt that I was nervous and missed some shots that would have been good for use. As I became more familiar with the camera I relaxed and began to try different setting s and angles to gain the best shots possible.

Overall I think the photojournalism work was to a decent standard, although I would like to develop it for future reference particularly within sport.

Written Articles:

This is probably the area that I have the most experience within. As a general thing, writing is something I practise each day with journalism work. I wrote two specific sports articles for a daily newspaper, of which are due to be published as part of features.

These incorporated pictures, and a set layout of which I had to follow; a lead, and introduction to the sport, pictures, and a fact file on the sports club I visited.

In producing these pieces, I had not written for a specific purpose of audience that had to be to a set structure before. I have done work of set words, or set topics, but not set structures, and this I found to be quite difficult in keeping to the word limits, and ensuring each part of the vital information was included. To do this successfully, I used tips I had learned in writing techniques, as to write in a reverse pyramid, to keep the important information included, to then disregard the least important.

Article writing is a part of journalism that I am aiming to develop as much as possible through my degree and post study. I would like to have built a portfolio of many different styles and types of journalism that exhibit my skills.

Video journalism:

The video journalism piece was one that I did not get to carry out. I wrote the script, and identified the club, and people that I would speak to, but weather permitted that that I could not conduct this, as the scene was supposed to be at a training session.

My idea with this was to set a scene of a session, of which I would have introduced it like a sports show, and continued this on to the interview on camera, with the training session as a backdrop. The sport was American Football, so I had a great opportunity to try and probe some interesting questions as to why it is becoming so popular here, and what the participants enjoy so much about it.

I gained lots of information from one of the contact of which I could use to interview, or in the future if I can carry out the intended video piece. This is now a priority to develop my V/J skills, as I have not had much practice in doing this.

Interactive Journalism:

This is the most current piece of journalism that I have used and come across. I have used micro blogging such as Twitter, and other social networking sites, but the idea of this was to incorporate this and develop it into a story, live.

I used Twitter whilst live at a football match and I Tweeted events and match updates using a hash-tag. I also re-Tweeted any relevant Tweets to ensure I had these for future reference.

The idea of this was to then move my live commentary feed into a Storify, and create a live story, incorporating the events, the professional pundit’s reaction, the fans reaction, pictures, and my own thoughts.

I picked the Hull City V Watford game as it bared some significance to their season. I used Twitter to constantly update the events, and this was useful when creating my Storify.

In the Storify, I created the full story in minutes, as I transferred all of my Tweets and the reactions into the story. I looked for new Tweets from professionals that had held interviews with players, and placed there feedback into the story too.

I had essentially created newspaper report that would appear in the local news online the next day, or in print on Monday, into a fully readable and reliable story within half an hour of the game finishing.

I feel this method of journalism is the most prominent and accessible version of journalism that can be used as a tool to be as updated as possible.

Podcast for Audience:

Podcasts are a useful way to record interviews and place them for listening on to websites, and they are also a good form of being able to write up and interview at a later stage.

The podcast on the weightlifter was a difficult to conduct as I know him on a personal level. I found that he was picky in his wording, rather than just expressing his views as he would have normally.

The podcast making itself is a process that I have found to be good for reference and use to quickly find a piece of information, but when I have to host this on my website, I find difficulties, and it does not support MP3.

In future, I will conduct many interviews using voice recording, and possibly transfer these to be podcasts as I find that audial sometimes woks better than reading, and appeals to audiences. It is a good practise to have both, but podcasts are particularly good for having an interactive media website.

Overall:

All of the experiences I have undertaken have taught me new aspects of journalism, and developed my skills in many areas. I can build upon this portfolio, using many of these techniques, and also develop the ones that I have not had much experience within.

I will continue to undertake many journalism works, and opportunities that could enhance my portfolio and reputation as a journalist.

Podcast of Interview with Weightlifter/Bodybuilder for Sports Piece

I Interviewed 22 year old Alex, to get the low down on why he and so many others enjoy weightlifting so much...

Script for V/J Piece on American Football

Script for Video Journalism Piece

Location: Hull University

Camera work: Jason Russell/Ben Morgan

Script Writer: Jason Russell

Narrator: Jason Russell Intro.
(Piece to camera, walking towards the camera with action in background)

Hi there, and welcome to J.R Sports. I’m Jason Russell.

Today I’m at The University of Hull to uncover a major rising sport that has transferred its way across the pond, to right here in the U.K.

American Football has pledged its way into colleges, Universities, and sports clubs around the country, and is fast becoming as loved in this country, as it is in the States.

(Camera angle adjusts slightly to make me offset to the left so that the action can be seen more visible, and I can turn sideways to make reference)

As you can see behind me, here at the University of Hull, the training session for the University team is under way.

So what is it about American football that has gripped University students and sports groups alike, into making this sport so popular here in the U.K?

Joining me here is Student and Player for the University of Hull, Ben…

(Pan to the Right slowly, as Ben appears, and I am on the left, Ben is on the right of the screen. Ben speaks about American Football)

SO there you have it, American football… is (Make reference to something Ben has said i.e. fast paced, fun, energetic)

Stat attack.

Locally there are Fifteen University clubs that participate in American Football. That is in the BUAFL Northern Conference League. The UH Sharks currently sit second in the league table behind Sheffield University, and have enjoyed a great season.

The BUAFL American Football has six University Leagues around the country, organised by location. It is the largest organisation of American Football in the U.K and is growing at a phenomenal rate.

(Pan to the scenes of training, then back to me for the Outro)

Outro.

As the University season nears its climax, there is no doubt that the sports profile will continue to rise, and next season, promises to be an even bigger and popular one for American Football here in the U.K.

I’m Jason Russell, Thank you for watching.

(Approx. time, 3 ½ mins.)

Gymnastics Sports Journalism Photo-slideshow

Gymnastics Article for Olympic Feature

LEAD

GYMNASTICS is an artistic and creative sport that is held in high regard through each and every Olympic year.  It has a range of disciplines, all of which require the competitor to have acquired and perfected skills, have immense strength, and to have an energy that can help them perform at an impeccably high level.

The level that gymnasts need to reach to compete is of an unbelievably high standard. It is imperative that young gymnasts get the opportunities within the sport to enable them to learn.

Kingston Gymnastics Club of Hull has been providing this outlet for young gymnasts since 1988. Focusing on women’s artistic, and both boys and girls general, it is a grassroots route into gymnastics, to help provide the basics to start in the sport.  

Michele Hewson, who runs the club today, has been involved within the same institution for over thirty years.

“I first started coaching when I was fourteen, as an assistant coach for women’s artistic” she said.

Michele has a vast experience in coaching children of all ages and abilities, and from a variety of different backgrounds. She is one of very few pre-school qualified coaches in the city, as well having a Special Needs Gymnastics coach qualification.

“It’s important that everyone gets a chance at having a go. We’re socially inclusive, and it’s nice to have a mixture of kids from different backgrounds” she said.

Some children travel long distances to be a part of Kingston Gymnastics Club. Poppy and her younger brother travel from Grimsby to take part every week.

“Poppy is five years old. She came to the club when she was just three” said Michele.

“She’s got the potential to go a long way should she wish. She’s got a great motivation to learn the complex moves. She watches the older girls, and practises until she gets it right” she added.

Many gymnasts have come through the doors at Kingston Gym Club, and some have stayed for a long period of time.

Rosie Johnston, 18, has been coming to this same club since she was nine years old.

“My friend started coming to gymnastics, so I joined afterwards. She left, but I kept on coming.”

Gymnastics is more than just learning how to do acrobatic moves for Rosie; other aspects are an important reason as to why she enjoys the sport so much.

“Gymnastics keeps you fit, it’s fun, and it’s a really friendly small group. I also enjoy doing competitions.”

After nine and a half years of coming to the same club, Rosie will be leaving this year to study away from the area. She highlighted some of the things that will be missed the most from coming to Kingston Gymnastics Club.

“I’ll miss the support, the community feeling that the club has. We all support each other in competitions. I’ll also miss doing the coaching too.”

Rosie is one of many gymnasts that have had the opportunity through gymnastics of learning how to coach the sport too.

“I’ve been coaching since I was fifteen, as an assistant coach.”

The opportunity of learning new skills, making friends, taking part in competitions, and gaining new qualifications, are just some of the reasons why Rosie would recommend to anyone to get involved in gymnastics.

“Give it a try, there’s a variety and always something for somebody. Each person will have their favourite equipment; you’ll find something you like.”

The level of commitment that gymnasts show to the sport of gymnastics is clearly visible. The social and achievement aspect through participating in the sport plays a huge part of the success for Michele and Kingston Gymnastics Club.

“The gymnast’s that come here all want to do well. They can say that they’ve achieved something, whether it’s a move they’ve learned, or a medal at a competition. Everyone just wants to have fun.”

Michele (Head Coach), and Emmie

Kingston Gymnastics Club

Flying over, Rosie, 17

Rosie, 17

Michele with Poppy, 5

Hanging around on the bars

 

HISTORY OF THE SPORT

As a sport, gymnastics is noted to have been around for over 2000 years. Its profile as a competitive sport however, is a little over 100 years old. In the 1800’s, schools and athletic clubs brought a mass of popularity and attention to the sport by carrying out exhibitions.

In 1881, the International Gymnastics Federation was formed, and this made gymnastics open for international competition.

Germany was the first country to dominate gymnastics in the Olympics. This event took place in Athens 1896, and was the first major competition of Olympic gymnasts, which consisted of five different countries. Only men’s gymnastics was established at this point, and the apparatus and events were; pommel horse, rings, horizontal bar, parallel bar, and the vault.

The 1924 Olympic Games in Paris formed the basis of both team and individual competition for athletes in gymnastics. Shortly after this, in 1928, women’s gymnastics was first introduced, and a team event was won by the Netherlands.

The Women’s Artistic has since formed into a regular, and one of the most anticipated events in the Olympic diary. It is a mixture of strength, flexibility, endurance, and poise, as they must perform a routine of vigorous and acrobatic manoeuvres to impress the judging panel.

The scoring system works based on two things; the difficulty of the routine, and the execution of the moves within it. The difficulty point’s starts at 0.0, then increases as the moves are rated more complex to perform. The execution however, begins at 10.0, and is decreased for each error that a gymnast would make. These two scores are then combined to give the gymnast a final total score for their routine.

FACT FILE – KINGSTON GYMNASTICS CLUB

Kingston Gymnastics is run by Head Coach Michele Hewson, and is a voluntary organisation.

The club is open on Thursday evenings 5.30 - 8pm, Friday evenings 5 - 8pm, and Saturday mornings 10am until 12 midday.

All sessions run for beginner’s level up to advanced, and anyone is welcome from the age of three upwards.

Sessions run at £3 an hour, alternatively, an option to pay by term is available.

“Come have some fun, and give it a go,” added Michele.

Kingston Gymnastics Club is located at St Victors Hall, Walker Street, Anlaby Road, Hull, HU3 2HB. Telephone (01482) 508117 or 07787311947.

Interview with Matt Dean Article (re-edited to 500 words)

The BBC Sports desk in Hull can be a busy and hectic place to be involved in. With major sporting events and games each week, there is a mass of organisation, preparation, and dedicated work ethic that needs to be employed to keep a Sports Desk’s heartbeat running.

At BBC Humberside, that job is down to Radio Presenter, and current Sports Editor, Matt Dean. But what does it take to be in charge of such an important role, and, more importantly what does that role involve?

“My job is to manage two other Sports Journalists. I also look after all of the freelancers on match days.” He said.

Being the Sports Editor, Matt also has editorial decisions to make, and a responsibility to ensure the efficiency of the Sport’s desk.

“We have bulletins at breakfast time at lunchtime and in the afternoon. So I have to keep my eye across which stories are out there.”

Some people become inspired or have someone that they look up to for an aspired job. For Matt, the lure of radio has always been the main focus and aspiration.

“I always listened to radio Humberside sport. I just think that the immediacy in radio is what’s so appealing for me really. I always had that vision, so that always was the thing that drove me really.”

The job roles that Matt has held in his time with the BBC have adapted with the current climate of the media, and Matt has seen this change first hand in the work place.

“It’s changed a lot. I mean when I first started working for the BBC in nineteen ninety nine, online was in its infancy really. All of us have been trained to put stories up on the BBC Sport website. We always have to think across online as well as just on the radio,” he said.

The impact of social media such as Twitter, has prompted journalists to know and be capable of working with these new mediums as well as the old ones.

“I think that in the course of the last sort of couple of years Twitter’s sort of taken off. And there’s quite a lot of stories that could come through Twitter now, and you always have to be reactive to that.

“I think we need to be on the ball when it comes to Twitter, and I think we need to be fully switched on to it.  And we do try and do a bit of Tweeting.

“I don’t feel a major threat from Twitter. Although having said that, it’s just another means to monitor. I think that we just have to be aware of it.”

It seems as though the working day of old has evolved, and a journalist can no longer expect to be a master of one thing, but instead, a tool that can be used and adapted in all circumstances and situations.

The impact of new media has changed the job roles within journalism, particularly broadcasting, and it seems that this may only seek to increase, as time, and technology, develops.

Easter Break End - Progress Update

My Storify, An Interactive Journalism Piece for Football

Written Interview Article of Matt Dean

The BBC Sports desk in Hull can be a busy and hectic place to be involved in. With major sporting events and games each week, there is a mass of organisation, preparation, and dedicated work ethic that needs to be employed to keep a Sports Desk’s heartbeat running.

At BBC Humberside, that job is down to Radio Presenter, and current Sports Editor, Matt Dean. But what does it take to be in charge of such an important role, and, more importantly what does that role involve?

“My job is to manage two other Sports Journalists, in Mike White and Gwilym Lloyd. I also look after all of the freelancers on match days.” He said.

“I also look at which games go on which frequencies, which is always a hot topic,” he added.

Being the Sports Editor, Matt also has editorial decisions to make, and a responsibility to ensure the efficiency of the Sport’s desk.

“We have bulletins at breakfast time at lunchtime and in the afternoon. So I have to keep my eye across which stories are out there, and decide editorially which stories lead our bulletins, and what sort of angles we take for all our stories.”

Matt has not always been the Sport’s Editor, and he has recently moved in to that role in taking over from another work colleague.

“It’s a lot more demanding; the team has been reduced in number. When David Burns was the Sports Editor the team was four in number but now it’s been reduced to three,” he said.

“Because we’re still having to service the same amount of output the same amount of hours, we’re still dong all the same things that we did before. So it’s still very demanding, and there sometimes doesn’t feel like there’s enough hours in the day to do it all.”

For some people, getting in to journalism is hard, and for some it has always been a lifelong ambition. However the circumstance, radio is still one of the most popular forms of journalism mediums, and is sought by many aspiring hopefuls. For Matt, radio has always been his focus in journalism.

“I always wanted to work in radio. I got a degree in Broadcast Journalism, at Nottingham Trent University. I came out and did freelance for Sky, on their Soccer Saturday programme; I did that for a year. That was a good experience.

Then I started freelancing for radio Humberside.

I started working on contract at Radio Humberside in ninety nine, and then I became staff the following year,” he said.

Some people become inspired or have someone that they look up to for an aspired job. For Matt, the lure of radio has always been the main focus and aspiration.

“I always listened to radio Humberside sport, and I always respected what we did here. As a listener I think you kind of want to get a bit more involved. You want to know how it all works, and you have a genuine passion and enthusiasm for it.

I always felt that that helped me.

I just think that the immediacy in radio is what’s so appealing for me really. I always had that vision, so that always was the thing that drove me really.”

That vision and drive is what has led to Matt being successful in the industry, but he also feels that he has more to give as a professional.

“I still have ambition, and I’d still like to work higher and do more. But I think that we’re very lucky to do what we do here, because we can commentate, we can present, we interview, we do a bit of everything really.

We’re all very fortunate that we get on air all the time, and we’re able to do games, and see a lot of action and its good really.

We’ve got quite a small team, it’s quite a tight close knit team, and they tend to leave you to it, trust your judgement on things.”

The job roles that Matt has held in his time with the BBC have adapted with the current climate of the media, and Matt has seen this change first hand in the work place.

“It’s changed a lot. I mean when I first started working for the BBC in nineteen ninety nine, online was in its infancy really. There wasn’t things like Twitter, or anything like that. That’s very much changed how we work.”

The impact of social media such as Twitter, has prompted journalists to know and be capable of working with these new mediums as well as the old ones.

“All of us have been trained to put stories up on the BBC Sport website. We always have to think across online as well as just on the radio,” he said.

“I think that in the course of the last sort of couple of years Twitter’s sort of taken off. And there’s quite a lot of stories that could come through Twitter now, and you always have to be reactive to that.

New technologies have definitely impacted on the way we work,” he added.

These new mediums of technology are changing the broadcast industry through new methods of breaking stories, this can be challenging for non-online mediums to compete with.

“When I started, the clubs weren’t that fussed about what they had on their websites. Now all the clubs tend to prioritize their own websites. Whenever we deal with a lot of the clubs, they give us limited access to certain players, because they want the player interviewed first.

So that’s what you’re up against really.

And it’s become harder I think to break stories as well, because clubs are more determined to break stories on their website. When I first started it wasn’t like that,” said Matt.

“Now it’s more difficult, they only take phone calls from you on a very special occasion, and in the week you can’t just pick up the phone and ring the manager any more. You have to ring the head of media at any respective clubs now.”

The whole interface and personality of the broadcast and media industry has gone through many changes, non-more so than becoming familiar with social and interactive media.

“Radio audience figures are as high I think as they’ve ever been. More people are listening to radio now than probably ever before. Because they can listen through online, you can listen on your laptop, you can listen through your mobile phone.

So there are more ways to listen to the radio.

I think we need to be on the ball when it comes to Twitter, and I think we need to be fully switched on to it.  And we do try and do a bit of Tweeting. Nobody is solely brought in to look after Twitter or anything like that.”

Matt speculated on the future of Twitter and social media’s involvement with the broadcast and media industry, as it has already impacted to such an extent that it is an everyday necessity for a journalist.

“We’ll just have to be box clever with the way we work in the future and with the staff that we’ve got, and prioritize; see where things go with it in terms of the new media.

I don’t feel a major threat from Twitter and things like that. Although having said that, it’s just another means to monitor. I think that we just have to be aware of it.”

It seems as though the working day of old has evolved, and a journalist can no longer expect to be a master of one thing, but instead, a tool that can be used and adapted in all circumstances and situations.

The impact of new media has changed the job roles within journalism, particularly broadcasting, and it seems that this may only seek to increase, as time, and technology, develops.

Transcribe of Interview with BBC Humberside's Matt Dean

Transcribe of Interview with Matt Dean

Interviewer: Jason Russell

Interviewee: Matt Dean

Transcriber: Jason Russell

Date and Location of Interview: 04/04/2012, BBC Humberside studio, Radio Broadcasting room, Hull.

Jason Russell:  So Matt what is actually your job role and job title at the BBC.

Matt Dean: I am Sports Editor; I took over from David Burns last June. So my job is to look manage two other people full time members of staff; two other Sports Journalist’s in Mike White and Gwilym Lloyd. It is also to look after freelancers as well for all our games on a match day basis. So we’re looking at all our rugby league commentators, people like Craig Murdoch, Chris Park, then summarisers as well for all our respective commentary games as well, so they all need booking in, in advance. I also look at which games go on which frequencies, which is always [pause] a hot topic really, we do spend quite a lot of time debating what games go on which frequencies, and basically help the running of the sports team on a day to day basis. It’s my sort of role to look after SportsTalk as well, who comes in to do the programme, whose rota’d to do it. Editorially, we have bulletins at breakfast time at lunchtime and in the afternoon. So I have to keep my eye across which stories are out there, and decide editorially which stories lead our bulletins, and what sort of angles we take for all our stories. And it’s about generating ideas for programmes as well, for Saturday, and Sunday, the Rugby League programme, and the Football programme. We have an hour and a half’s build up on a Saturday; I present the Saturday programme, so it’s sort of down to me really to generate some ideas for that, and how it all shapes up really for the weekend. So there’s quite a lot going on really,

J.R: Yeah

M.D:  Also the replying to listeners as well, if anybody’s got a query or if anybody wants to complain about anything then I have to generally reply to that as well.

J.R: So how have you found that change from…[interjection]?

M.D: It’s a lot more demanding; the team has been reduced in number. When David Burns was the Sports Editor the team was four in number but now it’s sort of been reduced to three, because he now presents the morning programme, so that’s sort of put a lot more pressure on us really in some respects. Because we’re still having to service the same amount of output the same amount of hours, we’re still doing SportsTalk we’re still dong all the same things that we did before; bulletins in the morning at lunchtime, in the afternoon, and also Saturday sport goes on air at half past one, we’ve still got the Rugby league to look after as well. So it’s still [pause] very demanding, and there sometimes doesn’t feel like there’s enough hours in the day to do it all. You get there in the end.

J.R: Would you say that in the time that you have worked for the BBC, your job roles, whatever part you’ve worked in, have they adapted and changed a lot?

M.D: It’s changed a lot. I mean when I first started working for the BBC in nineteen ninety nine, online was in its infancy really. And there wasn’t things like Twitter, or anything like that. That’s very much changed how we work, in quite a lot of ways really I think. And we do now service online as well so any stories that you sort of hear on the radio you should be reading about them on the BBC Sport website as well. And we’ve been trained; all of us have been trained to put stories up on the BBC Sport website. So that’s affected obviously how much we can devote to putting stuff into radio production, how much time we have to put in to radio production, and it affects our, daily working routine really. We always have to think across online as well as just on the radio as well, so that’s definitely affected it, and I think that in the course of the last sort of couple of years Twitter’s sort of taken off. And there’s quite a lot of stories that could come through Twitter now, and you always have to be reactive to that, and that’s all around the clock, I mean I can get home at ten o’clock at night and I can check Twitter and I can see one of the clubs has Tweeted, and they’ve tweeted an update to a story which we obviously have to reflect. So it’s changed it very much, and I think that ya know when I first started working here definitely, you could sort of go home at night there wasn’t really [sentence change], and the stories wouldn’t develop a lot more than probably what you’d left for the bulletin order for the morning. But now you can get home having put the morning’s bulletin running order together, for the next day, and things can change. So you have to then be quite adaptable to that and change whatever you put in if the story has moved on.

J.R: So like, would you say that…[interjection]

M.D: So new technologies have definitely impacted on the way we work.

J.R: So, since you’ve first come in then in nineteen ninety nine, would you say that the actual broadcast and media industry is what you expected it to be?

M.D: It’s hard to say. I think it’s probably, it’s probably [pause] it’s expanded at a rate that I thought it wouldn’t do, I didn’t really [mumble] not that I necessarily thought, had any sort of set plans or thoughts as to how it would unfold, but I do think that, ya know, all the clubs now as well, they’ve all got their own websites. Whereas when I started, the clubs weren’t that fussed about what they had on their websites. They weren’t, [change sentence] Now all the clubs tend to prioritize their own websites, so whenever we deal with a lot of the clubs, then they probably give us limited access to certain players, because they want the player interviewed first, with the, say if they’ve got a new signing, they’ll want him on their website first rather than giving it to, to the local media, us and the daily mail. So that’s what you’re up against really, that’s something else. And it’s become harder I think to break stories as well, because clubs are more determined to break stories on their website, rather than see their managers give us a story. When I first started it wasn’t, it wasn’t like that, and access to players has become more restricted, as a consequence I think. In the old days when I first started you could sort of ring up any manager locally, now it’s more difficult, because you, they only take phone calls from you in a very sort of, on a very special occasion, and in the week you can’t just pick up the phone and ring the manager any more. You have to ring the media, the head of media at any respective clubs now. It’s not as easy to get stories I don’t think now.

J.R: Was it always Sports Broadcasting that you wanted?

M.D: I always wanted to work in radio. I got a degree in Broadcast Journalism, at Nottingham Trent at University. And I came out of Nottingham having got my degree, and I started to freelance. And I came out and did, freelance for Sky, on their Soccer Saturday programme; I did that for a year. And that meant just reporting from local games, whenever they needed a reporter. I did games for them on a Saturday, into ya know Geoff Stelling’s programme. That was a good experience. Then I started freelancing for radio Humberside. I did a few other little bits and pieces, but they were the main things really. And then I started working on contract at Radio Humberside in ninety nine, and then I became staff the following year.

J.R: In that time then that you were freelancing did you ever have an inspiration, somebody that you looked up to and thought; I want their job?

M.D: I always had a, [sentence change] I always had, [sentence change], I always listened to radio Humberside sport actually. And I always sort of respected what we did here, and I always, as a listener I think you kind of want to get a bit more involved don’t you sometimes, if you are listening to the programme, you want to know how it all works, and you have a genuine passion and enthusiasm for it so, I always felt that that helped me. And I, ever since I was young though I wanted to work in to radio, radio was always sort of the best medium for me. I didn’t really; I still don’t feel television quite has the lure that I think radio has for me. Radio has just; I just think that the immediacy in radio is what’s so appealing for me really. And that’s why I really wanted to work in, in this industry. So yeah, that’s sort of, I always had that vision, so that always was the thing that drove me really.

J.R: Would you say that your career in radio has taken you in the direction that you first intended?

M.D: Yeah I think so yeah. I still have ambition, and I’d still like to work higher and do more. But I think that we’re very luck to do what we do here, because we can commentate, we can present, we interview, we do a bit of everything really. Whereas I think if you go to somewhere like five live, you don’t necessarily get such a variety of your working day, you might be just researching stories for other people, and writing for other people, and producing other people. And I quite like doing what I do really, I mean, we’re all very fortunate that we get on air all the time, and we’re able to do games, and see a lot of action and its good really. But I still am ambitious and I’d still like to do more, I don’t see being at radio Humberside, I don’t  necessarily see myself being here for the rest of my life, but it’s a good place to work, because basically the bosses tend to let you get on with what you wanna do. They trust what you do, and, even though we’ve got quite a small team, it’s quite a tight close knit team, and they tend to leave you to it, trust your judgement on things.

J.R: Would you say in the time that you have been here, because of the impact of social media, Twitter and such, can you see in maybe the next ten years that developing even further and changing your job role?

M.D: [raised voice] Oh without a doubt, yeah without doubt. I think it will change the industry more for people who work in newspapers, because newspaper sales are [prolonged] declining. Whereas radio audience figures are as high I think as they’ve ever been. In the last sort of, If you look at Rajar figures from the last sort of year or two, more people are listening to radio now than probably ever before, because they can listen through online, you can listen on your laptop, you can listen through your mobile phone. So there are more ways to listen to the radio. So I think that the industry in itself is quite vibrant really. And I don’t think that, I don’t feel a major threat from Twitter and things like that. Although having said that it’s, it’s just another story, sorry it’s just another means to monitor, I think that we just have to be aware of it. I think we need to be on the ball when it comes to Twitter, and I think we need to be fully switched on to it, ya know. And we do try and do a bit of Tweeting ourselves, ya know, it’s difficult on the resources that we’ve got, but we do try to on a weekend now, Tweet stuff. Ya know, team news as a soon as it comes through, ya know, whenever there’s a goal on a Saturday, or a tri on a Sunday, we try and Tweet that. We just try and keep across it that way. And we also let people know what frequencies their team will be on that day. Ya know, in terms of commentaries, so yeah, we try and use it as much as we can, but it’s trying to keep, you’re spreading yourselves quite thinly across radio and everything else ya know. It’s just, it’s, if you haven’t got the resources necessarily to, nobody is solely brought in to look after Twitter or anything like that, ya know what I mean.

J.R: Could you see that happening in the future, possibly?

M.D: No, I probably can’t. Because I think that resources are so tight. That, I mean the license fees have been frozen for a few years yet, but that means that we are having to make, as a consequence, cutbacks. And, or be very careful as to how we spend money. And if anything there’s probably less money gonna be around to bring people in to do that sort of thing. We’ll just have to be box clever with the way we work in the future and with the staff that we’ve got, and prioritize, and see what, see where things go with it in terms of the new media.

J.R: That’s great thanks

M.D: No bother

Podcast of Interview with BBC Humberside's Matt Dean

Confirmation of my attendance to Matt Dean

Replay from Matt Dean with date and time

Progress Report 21/03/12

I created this as a progress chart to keep on top of my work, and organize my priorities for the remainder of the year. This charts all of the major tasks I will have to do, and the activities and smaller tasks that need to be completed in order to fulfill them.

Reply to Matt with Dates

Reply from Matt Dean

Message to BBC

I sent this Email to the BBC in February to aid my Self-Initiated Project, I got an out of office reply, and will contact them again in the neer future.

Voice artist Visit

A voice artist visited our group today and discussed her job role and work that a voice artist does.

We listened to a series of captions from TV and radio, and discussed these reflecting on the voices used, the target audiences, the styles they would have used, and how these differ.

I then took part in having an attempt myself. There were scripts to read from, and particular styles and approaches had to be used to project the script in the way it was intended.

After having a few attempts at doing this, we then had a script, and recorded these attempts in a studio.

The experience was something that I had not come across previously, but was interested in.

It was compelling to attempt the different styles and approaches to voice interpretations, and to experience the fun and difficulties surrounding this.

Upon reflection, the experience was something that I enjoyed, but it also opened my horizons to new opportunities, and would be something I would like to try once again, and harness it into a skill that could be used professionally.

Self Initiated Project Brief Idea

For the Self-Initiated Project, I have been asked to produce an assignment brief, consisting of my own ideas, incorporating various different aspects of Digital Media Journalism. This would also cover the base of the project for the Module Writing for Purpose (Two).


- I will explore a wide range of concepts and job roles surrounding various aspects of journalism in relation to Sport.



LO. 1 - Explore a professional behind the scenes of their work, producing a small written based interview, and a log report of activities undertaken.


EV. 1 - Log of visit(s) and experiences undertaken, small written interview on professional.


LO. 2 - Undertake and explore various journalism based activities in sport.

·         Photojournalism

·         Video Production

·         Interviews

·         Reports

·         Interactive Media i.e. Twitter Feeds/Storify

LO. 3 - Produce a portfolio of various Sports Journalism job roles;

Of the activities undertaken for LO. 2, I will write a brief report/evaluation on the experience with each style, drawing advantages and disadvantages, likes and dislikes for each, and also produce a piece of each style as an example.

EV. 2 and 3 - Portfolio of different activities, and Evaluation of each experience chosen in the portfolio. Blog Entries.