COM 117/4: Multimedia Storytelling

On March 31^st, 2011, ESPN sports broadcaster and Syracuse alum, Mike Tirico, spoke at Syracuse University in the Herg.  Tirico has a long history in the field of broadcast journalism.  In fact, next week will be his 25^th year on the air, and this June will be his 20^th year at ESPN.

Tirico’s dedication to his work has greatly contributed to his success.  He worked at a local radio station his senior year at Syracuse, and admitted to dedicating more time to the radio station then to his school work.  Although he regrets not working hard enough in class, he believes that his hands-on experience is what has made him so skilled.  In today’s world, you can’t solely rely on just a good education.  You step into the real world and get experience in the field you are pursuing. Tirico is extremely passionate about his work and stressed the importance of loving your job in order to be good at it.  Everyday, he looks forward to finding new information and data for upcoming events.

The quality of broadcast journalists entering the field is improving.  However, Tirico said that the creation of new networks and outlets of information is having  a negative effect on the field, because the quality of the information itself is decreasing.  Tirico compared a small burger joint to McDonalds as an analogy.  The smaller burger place has a few options of high quality, possibly a few speciality burgers, where as McDonalds has greater variety of lower quality.

A pedestal stood next to Tirico with a sign which read “#tirico,” representing a Twitter account. This sign in itself defined social media in society.  It’s everywhere, it’s growing, and it’s not going anywhere.  Tirico spoke about the impact of Twitter and the spread of information, saying that there is “no such thing as off the record anymore.”  Every move that one makes can be tweeted, made available on Facebook, or blogged about.  Social media has become an unbelievably effective tool, for both individuals and companies, to spread information and connect with others.  There’s no question that social media is changing society, one tweet at a time.

On March 28th, 2011, The First Annual Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting ceremony was held at Syracuse University.  The Toner Prize is given in honor of the late Robin Toner, who set some of the highest standards for political reporting.  Toner was the first woman, national political correspondent of the New York Times. Robert Kennedy called her “a reporter’s reporter,” one of the highest compliments to be given to someone in her position.

The Toner Prize is the Pulitzer Prize of political reporting.  The winner of this year’s Toner Prize went to Craig Harris.  Harris was rewarded $5,000 for his political reporting on Arizona’s public pension plan.  Three other reporters, Marcus Stern, Sebastian Jones and Ryan Lizza, received honorable mentions.  Unfortunately, Lizza was unable to attend the event.   The awards were presented by Toner’s children, Nora and Jake Gosselin, who gave a speech with eloquence and pride.

Following the awards ceremony, leading healthcare political reporter, Marilyn Serafini, discussed the coverage of healthcare in the media.  She believes that reforming healthcare is “one of the most contentious stories,” and that the debate over it is difficult to cover.   Serafini spoke about the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, and its 2,000 page bill, saying that it “couldn’t have been shorter.”  The Act, which people often call Obamacare, works to reform the current healthcare system.

The economy and jobs are people’s biggest concerns, and will continue to receive the most media coverage.  However, Serafini stated that healthcare reform will still be on people’s minds. How it all plays out really depends on what happens before the election.

Harris, Stern and Jones spoke after Serafini on the issue of access to information in 2010 and 2011. They all stressed the importance of never revealing one’s sources.  Harris said that he’d be prepared to go to jail to protect his sources.

I was glad to leave the presentation much more knowledgeable then I was before. Political reporting isn’t a field I am interested in, and I do not have a strong background in politics.  However, from this presentation I was able to learn about respectable people in the field, the current healthcare status, and the important rules of political reporting.  I enjoyed the award ceremony in honor of Robin Toner, and look forward to attending it next year, if held at Syracuse again.

On Thursday, March 31, I attended the Mike Tirico event in the Herg. Originally I was just going to go because I love sports and I am a fan of Tirico’s, but then I received an e-mail the day before from my editor at the D.O. asking if I would cover the event. I accepted the invitation and was thrilled to be able to have a personal interview with Tirico following the event.

Tirico talked a lot about his time at Syracuse University and how he broke into the industry himself. For me, the most interesting part of Tirico’s speech was during the question and answer period. A girl in the audience was called on and asked Tirico’s opinion on women covering sports in the communications industry today. Tirico explained that women are held to a much higher “mistake-level.” He said that when a women makes a mistake on-air or even in print, she is criticized because of her gender. But yet when a man makes a similar mistake, he gets off easy.

I was interested in this question because I myself would love to write for the sports section of a major newspaper one day, but I often doubt whether or not I will be able to get a job. Not only is the newspaper industry in trouble, but I would also have a problem finding a job in sports because I’m a female.

The advice that Tirico gave the girl and the rest of the audience was that if you don’t want people criticizing you for being a female and messing up when covering sports, then you have to become an unidentifiable expert. That way no one will ever be able to criticize you because you will know everything there is to know about a specific sport.

The encouraging words from Tirico inspired me and made me reconsider doubting myself and my goals as a journalist. I look forward to hearing him speak again at Newhouse in the future.

On Friday, April 1, 2011, the Fashion Communications Milestone held their 5th annual fashion show, “Fashion Follows Form.”

The Fashion Communications Milestone is a collaboration of the students from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication and the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The Milestone created a theme that embraced every body shape and color form. The fashion show showcased a variety of collections, each touching upon a different theme. Each theme was hosted by a different group, and brilliantly showcased fashion’s diversity.

There were a total of 5 collections and 105 different looks.

The first collection, “All Shapes and Sizes.” This collection showed the different shapes and sizes of not only people but of fabrics as well. It had very inspiring outfits, which were donated by the Thrifty Shopper store.

The second collection, “Breast Cancer Awareness,” was by far the most inspring collection. It held a significant meaning behind it, and casted some models that were actual breast cancer surviviors. It proved to be the highlight of the show.

The third collection proved to be the most creative. This collections was done by professor Laurel Morton, SU students, and students from the Syracuse City middle school. This collection showed looks that were made from recyclable fabric. It was a great collection to live an eco-friendly life.

The Fouth colloction was by Syracuse University’s Fashion Conscience organization. This collection was inspired by both African and modern American cultures. They used a lot of patterens and colors throughout the collection. It was a great collection to invite the new Spring season.

The final collection was done by the freshman, sophomore, and junior SU students. They had the chance to showcase their talents, as future designers for the industry.

They put on a very talented show, and put me in the mood to go SHOPPING to get ready for the spring season.

On February 9th, 2011, Matt VanDyke, the director of US Communications for Ford Motor Company came to speak in the Herg. Auditorium in Newhouse 3. Matt and his team were named “Marketer of the Year” by Advertising Age. They won based on their industry and leading use of digital and social media techniques.

Matt’s speech, “Breaking out of the Box” consisted of his breakthroughs for Ford and how he managed to get the product out to the public in a new and inventive way. Matt knew that Ford had a stigma for being the American car company that reeked of oversized and gas-guzzling automobiles and trucks. He was faced with the challenge of switching over to please a new market of people who valued smaller, more fuel efficient cars.

Ford was compelled to create a new type of car, one that was consumer pleasing, yet lived up to the Ford expectations and was worth their investment. In 2008, Ford was changing at a rapid pace as they incorporated safety along with new “green” values. The Ford Fiesta gave other green cars a run for their money even before it hit the market. The Ford team created hype through social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and peaked customer interest. Over 4,000 people sent in videos to Ford explaining why they should be picked to test drive the Ford Fiesta, which was more buzz than Ford expected.

They knew that in order to reach the most people at once, they needed more than just primetime television commercial slots. By using social media, they successfully promoted their new product and it quickly went viral.

I think that a lot of companies can learn from this social experiment by using media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter to promote product awareness.  It is a great way to reach a large range of people without buying a primetime television slot that isn’t guaranteed effective.

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the first ever Robin Toner prize and lecture for excellence in political reporting. I found out about this lecture from a professor I had last semester, Charlotte Grimes, who helped to organize the event. Professor Grimes is the Knight Chair in political reporting and teaches an AWESOME class (COM 200, I highly recommend taking it) that is both informative and a lot of fun. Anyways, Professor Grimes emailed all of her former students about the event, and I was very glad she did.

Robin Toner recently passed away, so last night was dedicated to her amazing work. Toner was the first woman to become a national political reporter for the New York Times, and a graduate from Newhouse. The first half of the event focused on awarding the Robin Toner Prize, $5000 for great work in political reporting. Craig Harris, of The Arizona Republic, won the award for his recent work on Arizona’s public pension plan. His eight part series inspired Arizona lawmakers to change the pension system and correct the abuse.

In the second half of the program, Marilyn Serafini, a journalist focusing on health care reform, gave a lecture on the performance of the media in the health care debate. It was very interesting to hear Serafini critique herself and her colleagues, and explain to us why there is still such confusion when it comes to the public’s perception of the health care bill. She explained how the bill is 2000 pages, and that many of the congressmen voting on the bill have not had the chance to read it all, and probably never will. She also explained how complicated the bill is, because there were multiple parties involved in writing it, including pharmaceutical companies. I gained a much better outlook on the health care bill because of her lecture, and am very glad I attended.

The Robin Toner Program hopes to continue a prize and lecture annually, and I highly suggest everyone attends in the future. Toner is a great role model, both as a Newhouse graduate and as a woman and mother.

Civil rights activist Karen Tse spoke at Syracuse last Tuesday, March 22. In Hendricks Chapel, Tse told stories about the horrors of torture and poor prison conditions. There are no torture laws in 113 countries and Tse is making it her mission to change this. Torture is the cheapest way to get an admission of guilt, but it is also one of the least accurate and effective. Victims of torture often admit to crimes they did not even commit as a way to escape the torture.

Tse founded International Bridges of Justice, an organization that provides legal counsel to those in countries where legal counsel is not as readily or easily available. In addition to International Bridges of Justice, Tse founded JusticeMakers. JusticeMakers is an online program that allows people to apply for a fellowship to create a project to eliminate torture and other unfair legal practices.

While most of what Tse spoke about was incredibly moving and touching as well as informative, she had the entire audience sing at the end. I felt that this singing detracted from the overall message and was a sort of cheesy way to end it. However, as silly as the end may have been, overall Tse’s speech was incredibly moving.

On Monday, February 21st I attended Ed Gala’s lecture titled “One Size Fits No One Well: The Power of Customization in a Cluttered World”. Gala is a Newhouse alum and is currently the vice president of marketing at Xerox. His lecture focused on the increasing necessity for customization in marketing and advertising today in order to reach an audience more effectively. I liked his powerpoint presentation, it was organized nicely and featured pictures of the many customized projects Xerox has completed.

Gala made a clear statement in the beginning of his lecture: “You can’t talk to everyone in the same way.” It’s true. With the rise of the Internet, social media and mobile phones, more money is going towards targeting the audiences that use them.

The power of personalization was a focal point of Gala’s lecture. He named examples such as customized M&M candies, ketchup bottles and online photo galleries. Through the personalization of things such as a video or a college acceptance letter, Gala spoke of making a connection with a consumer that can often cost more to carry out but establish a relationship. He played a video customized with a Newhouse professor’s name in multiple parts throughout, and it was pretty cool. Xerox seems to go pretty in depth with their efforts to reach publics. Gala mentioned the company was working with a major bank in Japan to produce ads that are tailored to individual buying patterns.

The lecture emphasized the importance of advertising, marketing and public relations adapting to the growth of technology and social networking. In order to successfully reach potential customers or clients, adaptation and adjustment is key. Gala presented these ideas in a conversational yet concise way.

Towards the beginning of this semester I attended the Vagina Monologues. I had heard of this show before, but I didn’t know much about it. I honestly had no idea what to expect when I first got there. I went with my roommate and when we first walked in we were offered vagina shaped chocolate lollipops. The tickets cost 7 dollars, but all proceeds of the show went to Planned Parenthood.

The show consisted of a group of women on stage all wearing red. Either an individual woman would step forward and give her monologue or a group of women would step forward and deliver their monologue together. There was a vast range of stories that the women shared. Some were funny and others were very serious. The stories ranged from the gruesomeness such as female mutilation and rape, too others that supplied comic relief through talking about periods and sex.

My favorite monologue was one where a woman told a story about the different types of moaning people yell during sex. She walked up on stage in a long coat and took it off to reveal that all she was wearing was a corset. She then went on to start crawling around the stage and moaning comically. Her college impression, “must study” moan was truly hilarious. Not only did I like this skit because it was funny, but it showed the actor’s true confidence to be strutting around the stage like this and not becoming embarrassed or shy.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the show as I went in having no idea what to expect. It was a powerful show that showed the hardships of women. It wasn’t over the top feministic though, which I was expecting which was nice. It was a show that was fun and relatable and basically just a fun time for women to get together and relate about problems that no one usually talks about.

In the beginning of March, I attended the lecture Nancy Hill gave on advertising.

She opened her presentation by addressing the 4 key pillars of the organization. These pillars include leadership, community, advocacy, and guidance. I found this foundation for American Advertising agencies intriguing. I always thought advertising’s soul purpose was to sell/promote a product or idea. I never considered advertising as being deeper than that.

Beginning with the 1984 Macintosh computer ad, which changed the face of advertising, Ms. Hill showed brilliant advertising campaigns that exemplified at least one of the four pillars. One of her examples was the most recent Old Spice campaign.

I personally love the hilarious commercials starring the Old Spice man. With tag lines such as “the man your man could smell like,” the ads provide the same ridiculous antics found in films such as “Anchorman” which many young adults such as myself enjoy. Ms. Hill allowed me to see that Old Spice is not necessarily targeting men, but their girlfriends or wives as well.

Old Spice took this campaign to another level by hosting live question and answer sessions between the Old Spice man and his fans and utilizing all forms of social media. This campaign, on top of recapturing a large market share for the company, certainly demonstrated the “community” aspect of advertising.

By setting up an online environment where individuals can discuss a common interest and be engaged by such an interest, a community is established. I never imagined that such silly advertisements could do more than just manipulate the target market to purchase the product.

A better example would be the HBO campaign that consisted of cubes centrally located in designated cities. Such cubes depicted different aspects of a story. Depending on how one walked around the cube, different aspects of the story were revealed. Viewers were encouraged to go to the cube’s website and continue rearranging the story.

I thought this campaign was brilliant and fun! It engaged viewers in an intriguing manner and didn’t outright proclaim “watch HBO.”

Ms. Hill’s presentation opened my eyes to the positive, community building nature of advertising. I initially ruled out advertising as a possible major but am not so certain if I should anymore.

Here is one of my favorite commercials:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE[/youtube]