National Talking Newspapers and Magazines

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Good Practice for Talking Newspapers

Introduction
1. Management
2. Infrastructure
3. Editorial
4. Presentation
5. Reading
6. Recording
7. Copying
8. Packing and Posting
9. Returns
10. Reactions
11. Repairs
12. Health, Safety and Electricity
13. Public Relations
14. Finance
15. Development

15. Development

If the service offered by the TN is to maintain and improve its value to listeners the committee will need to consciously review all aspects at least once a year. If six committee meetings are held in a year each can include one review as well as the day to day agenda items.

The reviews could be (1) Editorial, (2) Membership (listeners and volunteers), (3) Fund Raising and Public Relations, (4) Equipment (studio and loan players for listeners), (5) Management (Annual General and Committee meetings; co-ordinators), (6) Production and Premises. Those directly involved with each topic can produce a short review paper to help focus attention on recent successes, failures and future aims and requirements.

Other organisations
At least one committee member ought to keep up to date with what national and other local related bodies are doing to serve blind and partially sighted people. Regular publications to monitor include TNAUK's Newsletter, New Beacon from the RNIB, In Touch from the BBC and Soundings, sponsored by BT which itself monitors developments in general. The local Social Services Department or Voluntary Association may have a newsletter of their own.

Advise listeners
Information gained from such sources can be relayed to listeners as special interest news on the TN. This need only be in the form of a brief mention together with a contact telephone number. This should avoid annoying those listeners who have picked up the information already and should suffice to alert those who have not. Keep a ring binder in the studio with all the information scripts used because there will be follow-up calls from listeners a few weeks or more after each item went out.

If the monitoring of others reveals a good idea for development of the local TN service, your committee will need to consider adopting a similar idea to avoid short-changing your listeners. They will not expect to be left behind!

Workshops
The reactions of committee members, particularly blind members, to the cassettes published by your own TN may reveal general or particular shortcomings. The committee may consider putting on a special meeting for those involved and this could take the form of a workshop session.

One or two specialists could be persuaded to give short talks and then discuss the points arising. Workshops like this can help to hammer out the TN's house style so that there is one newspaper coming out of the listener's loudspeaker each week irrespective of whichever presenter and readers are on duty.

Recent recruits invariably find workshops particularly helpful simply because what we do is specialised and they will not have come across similar voluntary work elsewhere.

Interviews
If your TN contains only news readings, you may wish to consider leavening the mix with one or two interviews. News straight from the horse's mouth or what could be termed the audio equivalent of pictures.

The following is a transcript of a taped talk prepared for a TN workshop by a BBC journalist and TN volunteer, Sarah Drummond, in which she outlines some of the techniques involved.

A tale of two interviews.....
There can be nothing more embarrassing or irritating at times than listening to an ill prepared interview. The art of a concise and flowing piece is to do your homework not just about your subject but with your subject. Most broadcast interviews that you hear will have been researched even perhaps having something approaching a dry run beforehand.

Let's assume you have found your interviewee. It's only fair that he or she will have some warning of what will be asked but more importantly, you need to know for the proper interview, the real one, what the answers to the questions are going to be. This will help you shape the way you want the real one to go.

What if you're having trouble finding your interviewee? Let's explore some made-up scenarios. If the kinds of topics aren't relevant to you at least the principles in them will be. You might, for example, be told by the editor to come up with a finished product of a person who is blind, talking about the problem of getting across a new road system. You've no person in mind at this stage and you've got to track down your subject. It's a question of approaching some representative groups and finding out if there are any such people encountering problems. There are, and you ask to be put in touch with them.

Rather than setting-up an interview there and then, and committing yourself, it's best if possible to perform some reconnaissance. You need to know if your interviewee's going to be a good talker; if he'll express himself not just well but passionately, animatedly and willingly. You can find this out over the telephone, more often than not, by having a basic chat.

You'll soon discover whether it's going to be worth doing that real interview rather than finding out too late that you've done a proper one but the standard is poor and you're back to the drawing board.

What if you know nothing about the topic? In this case it's the road or the likely problems your man is having with it. This is your chance to do your homework. When setting up the interview, don't be proud; you can't expect to know everything. If you don't understand what the person is telling you don't be afraid to say that you don't follow or what does he mean? You wouldn't dream of doing it in the real interview but if you're prepared to show your ignorance while you're doing the leg work it will save you shying away from areas during the final take and leaving some stones unturned.

Having a preliminary chat will also give you a chance to turn over in your mind some areas where you might want to challenge your interviewee to probe the subject fully. After all you're not there to feed the questions but to ask them and get the answers.

If we take another example, this time you know about the topic of the interview you want to do but you're going to have to persuade someone to bite the bullet and be questioned. Let's say you now want the designer of the road system to explain why he's made no provision for visually impaired people to get across it safely. You'll have to track down the council, the department, the relevant officer then you'll have to persuade him that he should talk to you, including on the record. He may try to dodge and you'll have to be politely resolute.

The way to sell an interview to him might be that, after all the criticism of his design that you've heard, it's his chance to respond. As a last ditch measure you may have to tell him that you'll be submitting a piece anyway saying that he's refused to talk. So he agrees. And here again you must do your homework to be able to think better on your feet when you do the real interview. So have a dry run as you're speaking to him about it. You're testing his responses to the kind of questions that you'd like to ask and that you may have already a written or mental note of. He also gets to know what you want to ask him. Some of his answers might surprise you. This dry run then is also a chance for you to take stock of what you initially thought the picture was and what it now seems to be.

In this way your real interview can then be shaped by you to go straight to the heart of the issue and if you've sensed there may be some side tracking coming up, you'll be able to steer it back on course the way you want to take it and you'll be able to keep it accurate.

In any interview remember you're in control. The subject might have done you a massive favour by agreeing to be interviewed but you don't have to let that come across on tape.

The final important points are about where you'll conduct the interview and how. In these two scenarios the obvious place has been the side of the road rather than, say, in the canteen during your or his lunch hour. The background can make all the difference to the finished product in a face to face interview. Always try to get your interviewee in their natural habitat or in the pertinent habitat as it helps to build another layer to the piece.

Lastly, don't be afraid to have notes. The beauty of your taped interview is that your listeners won't know if you've some jottings or reminders in front of you although they might have an idea if you don't! There's nothing wrong with sketching out a little introduction or writing it as - long - as - you - can - read - it - without - sounding - like - you - have - read - it. You can hear what I mean.

Make some questions for yourself - a list, prompt, to remind you how the interview should be going or where you'll want to pick up on something contradictory that you know is going to be said. Make sure that the introduction and the questions are on the same piece of paper - not too large so that it flaps about in the wind, but on the same sheet so that you don't have to turn over pages in a pad and you're juggling hands between the pad and the microphone.
The Golden Rule at the end of the day is that preparation with your subject is the key to confidence and the interview that stays on the rails.

Back announcement to taped piece
Sarah asked me to tell you that she knows that you know that she breaks those rules from time to time!

Portable recorders
There are several portable cassette machines suitable for location recording. Any editing of cassette recordings will need to be by copying the required parts onto another cassette or reel to reel tape. The original recording must be of good quality as there could be deterioration when the copy is made.

The standard broadcasting reporter's machine is the Uher reel to reel tape recorder. See Photographs 6. The great advantage of using a Uher is that the tape can be taken off the machine and edited by using a chinagraph marker, razor blade and splicing tape. This means that there is no need to copy edit and therefore the tape is first generation.

Mini-disk recorders offer a number of advantages over both the above methods. The machine is only the size of a 'Walkman', the recording is digital and editing is achieved by pressing buttons to mark the disk at required points and pressing another button to erase an unwanted section. On playback the erased gap will have disappeared. Rearrangement of the order of any of the recording is also achieved through the use of the buttons. Output is analogue - the same as a normal cassette machine.

DAT (Digital Audio Tape) machines are also worth considering. Like the mini-disk machines mentioned above, these recorders also record digitally and can be the size of the average 'Walkman'. (See Photographs 6). The cassettes are about 3" x 2" x 3/8" thick and run for up to 2 hours. However, for editing the tape has to be copied. For TN use the analogue output is used although a digital output is also available for copying to another DAT machine..

Coverage
The geographical coverage of the TN may need to be reconsidered from time to time. If the coverage is wide it may be possible to split the area and thus give twice as much local news to all listeners. If the coverage is very parochial and there is no similar service in adjacent areas, it may be feasible to widen your patch. The aim should be to provide a cassette equivalent for each inkprint newspaper.

With a wide area, and no likelihood of splitting into two or more TN's, there may be an opportunity to introduce a more localised feel to the tape by recruiting a small team of contributors in an outlying town. This team could produce a mini TN for inclusion in the main programme. At its simplest this would be five minutes of readings from that town's paper, or better still, a short personal report of an event and, at a more advanced level, an interview with someone in the news. Technical quality and house style will need to match the main production.

This arrangement could progress to the publication of different editions of each issue of the TN in which a general side one could be followed by a really parochial side two.

The next step is to split and become two separate TNs. The two groups can still co-operate and share some production responsibilities, if it suits them.

Frequency
The frequency of TN publications should match that of its source paper. In practice that probably means its weekly source paper because matching a Monday to Friday evening paper may prove too onerous even for the most enthusiastic group.

If current TN's come out fortnightly it is quite a major change to double production. More volunteers will be needed to share the work on a rota basis. Careful planning should avoid the ultimate shame of becoming over-stretched by weekly production and having to revert to fortnightly.

While listeners may not openly request a more frequent service, possibly because of fear of the above, they will undoubtedly welcome the improvement which will give them twice as many cassettes to look forward to and much more up to date news.

If the amount of material becomes insufficient for a C90, then change to a C60. The option to produce a bumper issue will be available when required, for example, when the reading of the TN's own annual report occupies 15 minutes of the issue prior to the AGM.

Magazines
When there is a surplus of material for a C90, do not be tempted to produce a C120. Cassettes of this length will fail quickly due the thinner tape not being suitable for high speed copying. Instead consider creating even more surplus material and publishing a separate magazine cassette in addition to the TN. Content can comprise readings of longer feature articles from the papers as well as interviews and features produced by your own contributors.

There may be an inkprint local magazine which would allow its material to be used and this could become a separate TM cassette.

House style
The house style adopted for the TN should in general follow through to the magazine, but a different signature tune will be helpful to listeners. Different presenters from those on the TN rota will soon establish identity to these cassettes and they will develop a following of their own among listeners. Do not let TN and TM become rivals. They should start and remain complementary to each other.

Music
The PO Regulations allow 'an introductory and closing jingle of one or two bars, and similar interludes between sections of the recording'. In practice, most TN's and TM's use about 30 seconds of music for opening and closing. Brief excerpts from musical events are allowed to illustrate a report, although the duration of such music should not exceed 10% of the total duration of the tape. Putting this into context, if your TN/TM records on a C60 and covers the local choir festival, the total music used for the report should not exceed 6 minutes.

See Appendix 10 for the PO Regulations covering Articles for the Blind and how they apply to Talking Newspapers.

For the sake of the TN movement, please do not abuse these Regulations. If you think about it there is a vast supply of properly recorded music available and a wide choice on radio. TN's exist for a different purpose!

Specials
The TN or TM may contain a series of features such as recipes, wildlife recordings, visits to local historical houses, local history or whatever. When such a series reaches its end, the individual pieces can be collected together on one cassette and offered for sale to listeners at about cost and then, subject to the contributors' agreement, to the general public as a fund raising item. Your local housebound readers' library might like a copy.

Introduction, indexes and links need careful thought for such 'specials'. Tone indexing will make it easier to locate particular items after reference to the index at the beginning and end of each side. A cover including the TN logo will be needed for the snap pack and a label for the cassette as well as the usual side one indicator. Make these designs as smart as possible and thus enhance the image of the TN when offered to the public. A show card and rack dispenser will be useful on your sales table.

One-offs
Single subject cassettes can be produced whenever a need is identified. Topics might be an index to the spoken word cassettes available from the public or housebound readers libraries, or a taped version of a paper from the hospital about their re-organisation. They may even sponsor such a production.

A list of local Councillors might be useful to your listeners, particularly if any of them are involved with local associations and organisations working with disabled people.

Mini library
As a result of receiving a box of once used story cassettes on the death of a listener, one TN set up its own postal lending library. This proved popular with listeners in spite of the obvious 'competition' from Talking Books and the local public library. Stock was increased by purchases and further donations from listeners and others.

Reading service
Correspondence is particularly difficult for blind people who live alone. The TN may feel able to offer a one-to-one service to read printed material for listeners using volunteers who will respect confidentiality.

Campaigns
From time to time inkprint newspapers run campaigns and there is every reason why a TN should assist its listeners by campaigning for something which is of particular importance to them. Such action can run away with many hours of volunteers' time and will need a real enthusiast to drive it. Do not attempt it if TN production might suffer as a result.

Competitions
Our printed counterparts occasionally include competitions for readers both as a bit of fun and with worthwhile prizes. There is an opportunity for a TN to do something similar on tape. This could encourage participation by listeners - something which is so often lacking.

Other organisations
In any locality there are bound to be other groups working for your listeners and there will be advantages for everyone involved if there is some direct liaison. It may be possible to help each other or at least to avoid clashes of events. Cost sharing may mean a venue is affordable which would otherwise be out of the reach of the TN on its own.

National Association meetings
On the first occasion that one meets other TN volunteers at a regional or national meeting there is immediate comfort and reassurance in the realisation that the problems faced are not unique. TN's have sprung up and survived in such extremely diverse habitats as the Channel Islands to remote Scottish islands, and from bustling cities to sleepy shires.

Equipment suppliers often attend such meetings and, even if you do not need anything, you have a chance to try out the latest developments and keep up to date. You need to know if your TN's equipment has been discontinued and whether spares are still available. The representatives are useful people to get to know.
Many of the other cassettes which 'your' listeners receive will have been produced by the National Talking Newspapers and Magazines of TNAUK. The Open Forum of an Annual Conference or Regional meeting will give you a chance to represent your listeners' views to the national officers and the Association's management employees. Brick bats and bouquets can be hurled at the 'panel' and it is always difficult for them to dodge genuine concerns.

Techniques and future technology often form special mini meetings within the main event and these allow old and new hands to exchange knowledge and worries. Someone from your TN should attend regional meetings and national conferences at the TN's expense, and afterwards, give a comprehensive report to your committee. All such liaison has value. Adoption of a 'ivory tower' attitude will be to the detriment of the people you are seeking to serve.

Write on!

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