Broadcast Journalism
"Content is everything the light touches" Ann Handley
Multimedia content is an incredible source of information and entertainment, and the world of media is continually adapting to new formats of broadcast and cross-platform journalism.
I started looking into non-writing based forms of journalism my sophomore year of high school when I first joined the school magazine, but several months later the schools in my district made the switch to online as a result of the pandemic, which complicated my pursuit of broadcast journalism significantly as a 15 year old with no way to report on-site.
Despite the complications, I recorded interviews over Zoom throughout my junior year, and some of the audio was very usable, but other times the audio would be unusable, or technical difficulties would occur that prevented the story from being edited and published. Regardless, each and every one of the stories I pursued in broadcast journalism was an invaluable learning experience, and I look forward to creating more of this content in my future.
Podcasting
Human Interest Podcasting
I always find the creation of human interest podcasts a very jarring experience after I have just published a written story, because I have to change my approach as a journalist significantly for the audio format. The tone and type of questions that are asked, editing in a way that makes chronological sense, and creating something that is pleasing to listen to are all challenges I’ve worked on solving as I make editing decisions. All of my audio editing is done in Adobe Audition.
OJEA
Human Interest Podcast: Superior 2021
Deja Vu: Reflecting On Quarantine Interests
I decided to pursue the story of students regressing to their childhood interests when I read an article about how traumatic experiences can cause some people to go back to the things they used to enjoy in order to simulate a simpler time. I figured the pandemic must have done this to some of the students in our school, so I reached out to people and found sources that were willing to record a podcast interview over Zoom. I ran into a lot of technical difficulties while recording and editing, because I didn’t have a computer at home to run programs like Adobe Audition. I ended up using my dad’s old Macbook to edit, and the result was this human interest audio story.
Feature/ Interview Podcasting
Sometimes, Hearing someone tell their story themselves is the best way to deliver notable content. At the beginning of the year, I got the opportunity to work with the Mid-Valley STEM-CTE Hub as a guest host for their podcast, “Closing the Gap.” The podcast’s objective is to highlight women in STEM and deliver information to women everywhere about different STEM careers that are often considered male-dominated fields. I would like to qualify that I did not edit these podcasts. I wrote the questions and conducted the interviews, but the podcast's main host, Kacey Montgomery, is the editor and beginning narration of the episodes. I love guest-hosting this podcast as it has given me opportunities to meet amazing women and improve my broadcast interview skills.
Closing the Gap: Cassie Hidalgo
The first podcast I guest-hosted was an interview with a queer woman running a bike shop that specializes in making custom bike seats for women and queer people in Portland. Her name is Cassie Hidalgo, and their bike shop is called Gladys Bikes. She was very passionate about what she does, so I was incredibly fortunate to interview her for this podcast and learn about her story. Navigating the segues in this longer-format podcast was difficult for me, but ultimately I'm happy with how it went considering it was my first project of this type.
Closing the Gap: Veronika Kivenson
After the first episode, the Closing the Gap host asked me back to guest host a second episode with an incredible microbiologist named Veronika Kivenson who had published research in journals and newspapers such as the L.A. Times. Interviewing Kivenson was some of my best work in interviewing, as is prevalent by the 40-minute episode time. We discuss her journey to becoming such a well-known microbiologist at a young age, her experience in college, and the sexism within her field and how she navigates it. Kivenson was a very interesting and successful woman that I’m so glad I got to meet and highlight on the podcast.
Opinion Podcasting
There is no scarcity of opinion-based shows in the podcasting world, and many people use them as a tool to form their own thoughts through hearing others speak about their beliefs on certain topics. I think that all opinion media plays an important role in journalism, and although I don’t often pursue opinion-based content, I still believe in it’s power and significance in the shaping of society.
Perspective: On Shaving
I'm usually pretty hesitant about using anecdotal evidence to back up a point, but I felt that this particular experience I had warranted a personal column in which The Whirlwind's viewers could listen to me telling it myself. In this perspective, I share what it's like as a woman to have the hair on your body pointed out by a man. I truly believe that body hair on women is natural, and I tried to mix in the irony of my experience with a concrete lesson to the story while writing this personal column.
Documentary
Political Pacemakers: Youth and Government club state-wide conference takes place over Zoom
When I heard that my high school's Youth and Government club wouldn’t be going to the capitol this year to participate in the state-wide conference, I knew I wanted to report on what exactly a digital conference is like. I contacted the Youth and Gov. advisor and got permission to sit in during the conference to conduct some video interviews and collect footage. I cut the story together in Adobe Premiere Pro, and as it was going through edits I had to make a significant amount of changes to the order of the clips and length of the video.