Deadline: 24 hours before next week’s class (session 7)
Pitch your final project idea via the class forum at http://jmsc.hku.hk/courses/jmsc6091/forum/#/news/
Please start a new thread for each person – and use your full name in the slug
Pitching is important — you can have the best story in the world ready to go but unless you can convince your news editor or, if freelance, your commissioning editor, that it’s worth reporting and producing, that story will languish unpublished, unread, unviewed and unloved!
About pitching:
See How to: impress commissioning editors
What doesn’t work:
- Student A: “Um, how about something on fishermen?”
- Student B: “I plan to interview Chief Executive Donald Tsang …. I’ve sent an e-mail requesting an interview next Tuesday ….”
So be REALISTIC. Choose a topic that you know you can find out plenty of information about. Choose a topic that you can REALISTICALLY find people to interview / sources / people to photograph and record. Be careful about children – many parents/schools won’t let you photograph them. These stories will be live on the net.
- Think of the ANGLE — you may have more than one — and the angle may change slightly as you do your research.
Take for example the recent row over illegal extensions to properties in the New Territories. You may want to approach this story from the angle of:
– How did this dispute arise?
– Or from the point of view of villagers of a particular village — how many houses have been extended — why do they think they should be allowed to break the law?
– Or take a broader view and use this latest dispute to examine the entire New Territories housing policy and how it came to pass that 18-year-old male indigenous villagers get the right to free land.
— Or from the point of view of what female villagers think of the policy as they are excluded — and what it means for their families.
- Think about how you are going to APPROACH and REPORT the story — do you plan to visit a certain village? Who do you plan to talk to? If the interviews are refused, do you have a plan B?
- Think about PRESENTATION. Which aspect of your story will make a good soundslide? Which bit is best expressed through photos? What sort of audio do you plan to include? Would a map or chart be appropriate?
YOU WILL NEED TO MENTION THESE STEPS TO CONVINCE ME THAT YOUR PROPOSED ARTICLE IS BOTH DO-ABLE AND INTERESTING.
Please AVOID the following topics:
The plight of Foreign Domestic Helpers – other angles are OK but not a generic story on what it’s like to be a FDH
Problems/joys of being a mainland student in Hong Kong
