{"id":224,"date":"2019-03-15T14:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T21:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/?p=224"},"modified":"2019-03-15T14:29:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T21:29:20","slug":"the-learning-curve-of-audio-storytelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/the-learning-curve-of-audio-storytelling\/","title":{"rendered":"The learning curve of audio storytelling"},"content":{"rendered":"

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by Stephanie Aceves<\/em><\/p>\n

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During my time NextGenRadio, I had an intensive look into the world of audio journalism, a facet that I had not explored. Upon receiving my acceptance into the program, I was elated and eagerly anticipating the week ahead of me. The most important thing that I took away was feeling comfortable in work environments with big media outlets like NPR. The environment was a comfortable and encouraging atmosphere, one in which the emphasis the importance of fostering future talent. The program helped me to gain the confidence that I need to navigate newsrooms. For a person of color graduating in the Spring, I am now looking to apply to different newsrooms around the U.S. and seeing the lack of diversity that is present in different media outlets is alarming and discouraging to me. NextGenRadio bridges that diversity disparity that is present within newsrooms by allowing students like me to be mentored by professionals in the field.<\/p>\n

Also, as a person who is primarily involved in broadcast and video producing, I had never explored the importance of audio in journalism. But through the program, I learned how to edit on Audition and the intricate process of storytelling through audio. Having my mentor work closely with me during the entirety of the process was extremely valuable and I learned a lot about audio journalism. In video producing and broadcast, it\u2019s easy to tell stories and tell the news through images and captions. Within the audio piece, you have to rely on questions that are asked within the interview and it relies heavily on the importance of subject expressing themselves in complete sentences. The ability to ask questions that can accurately portray the subject\u2019s story is of utmost important.<\/p>\n

One specific challenge that I faced during the process happened during the interview. Because of my inexperience in audio and interviewing subjects with a sensitive past, I was in my head the entire time of the interview. It was hard to be in the moment and truly follow the interviewee. Instead of having a conversation, I focused on the questions that were missing and being asked. \u00a0Now that I have the experience in how to interview with audio, I can evolve into a better interviewer in all aspects.<\/p>\n

All in all, the experience allowed me to gain skills in audio and helped to give me the confidence to pursue all aspects of journalism.<\/p>\n

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During my time NextGenRadio, I had an intensive look into the world of audio journalism, a facet that I had not explored. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"

On my assignment this week, when I visited my story character\u2019s restaurant, I moved \u00a0around the kitchen taking photos, interviewing the staff while making sure I didn\u2019t forget to ask a question.<\/p>

It was a long, stressful but extremely fun week at Next Generation Radio. I didn\u2019t know what to expect but my basic journalism skills helped me survive the week. Having a mentor by my side throughout the whole process was an experience that I probably won\u2019t have again any time soon. My mentor guided throughout my reporting and helped me create a meaningful multimedia story. One thing that I realized is important in successfully meeting your deadlines is multitasking.<\/p>

Here are some tips on how to survive Next Gen Radio and meet your deadlines:<\/p>

  1. Pre-interview your subject so that you have a good sense of what your story is going to look and sound like.<\/li>
  2. When you\u2019re reporting make sure to take more photos and audio than you actually need. It makes the selection process easier.<\/li>
  3. Make sure to get all the logistical information from your character: names and how they\u2019re spelled and specific time frames of their story.<\/li>
  4. If you\u2019re waiting for an edit and have some \u201cfree time,\u201d use that time to work on another assignment (hint: social posts! They\u2019re easy and fun to do).<\/li>
  5. Make sure your files are organized in a folder. File management is crucial and makes it easier for you to find your work.<\/li>
  6. Ask a lot of questions! Your mentors are there for a reason. I would ask my mentor, Elizabeth Aguilera, everything\u2014down to what photos I should use, whether my text story sentences make sense, or how to accurately insert quotes into my text story.<\/li>
  7. Introduce yourself to the other mentees and mentors to make connections. The week can get so intense that you\u2019re focused on your story and feel like you don\u2019t have time to talk to everyone. If you do tip #3, you\u2019ll have time to network with everyone else.<\/li>
  8. Lastly, have fun! Although the week can get stressful, you\u2019re doing something that you love so you might as well enjoy the process. I know I did.<\/li><\/ol>

    This program helped me become a better journalist. The multimedia work that I produced are skills that I can take with me to any job, regardless of the platform.<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"coauthors":[9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}