Week of 10/30 - 11/05
Writing Web News
Informed on the writing news for the world wide web.
Susan Golia, 13 Wham's Web Editor gave my communication class
a loadfull of information that I'll be sure to remember:
Cliché are corny on TV, says Golia, but its okay on the web. Umm…I see it a lot cliché from another of Rochester’s news station; WROCTV CBS channel 8. Well I like corny, or maybe it’s because I have an old soul? Since I’m sure that compared to the other 4 local Rochester news stations, CBS targets and attracts more of the older audience.
On a side note, I like Channel 9's RNEWS. The anchors and reporters seem nicer, more straightforward and they don’t act like their big deal.
‘A picture’s worth a 1000 words, but on the web, you have to explain it.' This is one of many things to take care of when writing for the web. Its must be a drag sometimes for Golia constantly trying to find ‘What’s the reason of this story,' 'the local connection,' always 'Thinking first, thinking different.’
Online users have a shorter attention span, they want constant news. The selection, ordering, and especially updates are the most important things to keep in mind. The older news goes below the updated news says Golia, people might think your not updating if they arrive at you site and it looks the same way it did before the last time they were there.
Location, Location, Location - The easiest way to let readers know where the article their reading is coming from is by putting the location right in the beginning, before anything else says Golia. This definitely works for me. I like to Google different news stories and have many time wondered, ‘Wow, I can’t believe that, where is this happening at?” Click on these links to see an example.
Written in Rochester, NY
Written in Atlanta
Since I love ‘The Google’ so much, I’m glad Google News
places the published location in the search results, right under the news title. To see an example, click here.
Simply the Best thing about writing news stories online would have to be that most of you readers will likely skip over my typos, which will always be continuous effort on my part to improve. Its also something I can go back and fix, can’t do that in print. So thanks for being you and skimming through this post.
Week of 10/16 to 10/22 - RSS 
RSS has multiple meanings, but ‘Really Simple Syndication’ works for me. So what is RSS exactly? It turns out that it’s a much cooler, organize and grouped online newsletters. It looks a little something like this:
Not until one of SUNY Geneseo’s research librarian, Kate Pitcher told me and the rest of my communication class, did I know what RSS is and what it can do for me. Basically I can quickly view headlines through an any RSS reader, which can be downloaded here, from all of my favorite sites and decide if I want to continue reading one by a simple click.
‘The New York Times' offers RSS news feed for different sections of their online version, you only want the sports section; you can go through and pick what section you want,’ an example by pitcher. I think this very helpful. Sometimes it gets frustrating, searching through a site for certain news. I find RSS:
easier on the eye
the headline are usually bolded
there’s less scrolling
you know exactly what the article is going to be about, clicking on it
I can also get past stories that I might have missed. It also seems like there’s more articles displayed in the
RSS feed than an e-mail newsletter. I can also subscribe to sites that will help me with any research.
RSS are files that are created through Extensible Markup Language (XML) codes, a way of describing data. Aside from the mumbo jumbo; all you have to know is that you subscribe to a particular website or link already on the website and look for any of these orange buttons says pitcher.
Click on the RSS above to subscribe to some of my favorite news, after installing a reader which can also be founded when upgrading Internet Explorer.
Week of 10/9 - 10/15 - N/A
There is no report on this speaker...because there was no speaker.
Week of 10/2 - 10/08
There is no report on this speaker.
Week of 9/18 - 9/24
Backpack Journalism!
Doesn’t that sound interesting? But what is it you ask? Well…
Can you be a reporter who’s able to shoot, edit, air and post online?
That sure seems like a fun, fast-pace, all-over-the-place gig. It also sounds like you’ll get some appreciated too. That sounds really interesting to me.
News Director from Channel 2 News in Buffalo, NY Ellen Crook was in Geneseo, NY and offered some tips about a job in new broadcast:
Be smart (keep-up on current news)
Know who’s who (especially in your surrounding community)
Learn codes (such as HTML)
Be Confident
‘The Red Coats’ a nick name given by the Buffalo residents to the Channel 2 News crew for the huge red coats they often wear during their newscast in Upstate NY’s frigid weather.
It’s great that they have this nickname, I think. It’s can easily be recognize in their community. Which means the viewers can associate Channel News reporters with someone they can trust.My biggest wonder though; is all the times Crooke said
“We sent 3 reporters to cover this story.”
How many reporters does she have!?
I don’t know much about broadcast journalism, but I didn’t know that you needed 3 reporters covering one story all the time. Can the reporters can any type of individual identification or popularity this way? Or is ‘The Red Coats’ good enough? Or maybe it doesn’t matter at all.
Either way, it’s always nice to see a Geneseo Graduate furthering her or himself.
