Emma Upton reviewed three news stories she created for a college radio show targeting students aged 16-19. The first story was a copy report on the Becky Watts murder case. While the content was appropriate, feedback indicated her delivery sounded scripted. Her second story featured an interview on NHS waiting times and received positive feedback except she spoke too quickly in the introduction. Her third and final story was a vox pops on university fees, which was deemed a perfect topic but she could have benefited from slowing down her speech delivery to sound less scripted. Overall, the topics engaged the target audience but the production could improve on sounding more natural.

1. Emma Upton RadioNewsReview
For my first news story I chose to do a copy only news report about the murder and search
for Becky Watts. I think this story definitely fit our target audience for college students (aged
16-19) and I definitely think it was relevant. At the time the news story was everywhere, and
because Becky Watts was 16 when she first went missing, the story is perfect for the age
range we were targeting. We conducted a focus group to review our news stories, and the
feedback we received was very helpful. For this copy only news report the focus group
agreed it was a fairly decent first story, a few of the positives were that the story included
short pieces of information that got the point across clearly and included all the information
that was important to the case. However a negative would be that the news story sounded
quite scripted and pre prepared. In future news reports I intend to try and sound more
natural and less formal. The purpose of this news story is definitely serious and informative
and done as a copy only report. I used this style for this particular story because it was a
very serious story about a young person’s life, which meant it needed to be serious and
informative in case anyone had any information about Becky. The story is too sensitive and
emotional to be handled in any other way. With the delivery of my story I think I spoke quite
formally to suit the story, however sounded quite scripted and not as natural as it could
have. The sound quality of the news report was good; it was clear and had no background
noise to interfere with the report. When it came to editing the story it was quite simple and
straight forward, I recorded each paragraph separately so I put them in order in the
sequence. Then I increased the volume level to make sure my voice was clear and loud
enough.
My second news story I chose to do a voicer interview on the topic of the bed blocking and
A&E waiting time target crisis currently in our National Health Service, I interviewed Linda
Upton, a back and neck specialist and Advanced Practitioner who has worked for the NHS
for over 30 years to get an insider’s point of view and opinions. Even though I think this
topic does not directly affect young people or may not be a topic young adults would be
interested in, I think its important college students are aware of these issues if they ever
needed to be admitted to hospital. I think because the topic could basically affect anyone,
college students may still have been interested, especially if they have personal experience
with these issues when a loved one or they have been in hospital. When the focus group
reviewed this news story they agreed again the story was great overall, the positives of the
story being it was clear and the questions used were fitting to the topic, and kept the topic
interesting especially with an insider’s and professional opinion. However they also said the
negatives for this story would be that I may have spoken too quickly when introducing the
interview and could have spoken more slowly and clearly, also the topic wasn’t completely
fitting to the target audience however I kept the listeners interested. The purpose of this
interview was definitely formal and informative, due to the topic of the story. I also used the
style of a voicer interview. The delivery of the interview I think was great; the interviewee
(Linda Upton) gave fantastic, clear and informative answers and the questions kept relevant
to the topic. However I think I could have improved by speaking slower and clearer when

2. Emma Upton RadioNewsReview
introducing the story, the quality of the audio itself was great with no background noise and
very clear and loud. Again with this story, I recorded each part separately and added them
into the correct order in the sequence. The only thing I had to edit was the volume and
either lowers the level so they were equal and not too loud but clear enough to hear.
For my final interview I chose to do a vox pops story on uni fees and students choices when
deciding to go to uni or not, I interviewed a few different students to get different and
varied opinions on the subject. I think the chosen topic definitely fits the target audience
perfectly, as they will be thinking about going to uni, the choices they have and their
options, so I definitely believe the topic will intrigue and grab the attention of young adults
and students. When the focus group reviewed this interview, they agreed the topic was
perfect for the target audience and definitely would grab the interests of young adults, as it
is so relatable to them. They said the story was clear, accurate and kept on topic with key
points being highlighted clearly. However the weaknesses for the story would be that I may
have spoken again quite quickly and again sounded quite scripted however was still clear
enough to understand. The purpose of this story would be informal and informative,
informal due to the story being directly for and relatable to college students. However also
informative of the uni fees and their effect on the decision to go to uni, which a lot of young
people will be thinking about. It was also in the style of a vox pops story, because I recorded
the introduction on my own however then went around college and asked a varied amount
of students their opinion, and included multiple different peoples answers in the story. The
overall sound quality of this story I think is again very clear with no interruption from any
background noise. However with the presentation of the story I think if I had slowed down
and made sure I sounded more natural the story would be much better. When it came to
editing this news story, I found it was again much like the others. I decided to record each
part separately so I could fit them into sequence easier, I put the clips in order and the only
thing I changed was again the volume, due to some interviewees speaking louder than
others.
The final completed news show I think was overall a success. The main issues I think we
came across would be the volume not being equal throughout the show, and possibly we
sounded a bit too scripted and formal. However the topics we discussed fitted our target
audience perfectly and would keep young adults interested.