The Best Way to Master a Craft

The best way to master a craft is to see how it’s done by professionals, over and over and over again. I critiqued a 30-minute segment on WSB-TV, which aired on Monday, Jan. 27. I analyzed the soundbites, editing techniques, visual congruity and the way sets were designed for the night beat.

First off, I liked the distinct bulldozer beeps and cash register rings for NATSOT in the beginning of a few packages. It nicely accommodated the story being reported. There was a package during the Atlanta “Snowpocalypse” that contained plenty of important information from the Emergency Management Director. However, instead of hearing and watching the director speak for the whole package, the reporter began with a short clip of the director speaking and explained the rest of the valuable information through a voiceover with great visuals. One the other hand, there were soundbites put in packages that seemed like fillers for the news package. An example would be when a reporter was seen asking a woman, “Are you nervous about driving in that weather,” and woman responded with a simple “yes” before cutting the scene to something else. The reporter should have utilized that time for a more meaningful question that exceeded a “yes” or “no” answer. The same woman was seen three other times in the package, and it looked repetitive. In one of the clips, viewers could hardly comprehend what was being said, so audio should have been triple checked before airing.

The second aspect of the segment I critiqued was involved with the station’s editing techniques. There were a few points during the segment when the reporters said sentences that sounded awkward and unintelligent. I could be wrong for blaming the reporters for mistakes by others, but in reality, that is how the audience is going to perceive the error as well. For example, one reporter was caught saying that inmates “could be get put to work.” What? Not only was the sentence structure awkward, but the entire story was confusing. It began mentioning jail inmates for a brief second, and then never elaborated on