Spartan Daily, April 2, 1996

Volume 106, Issue 41https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8826/thumbnail.jp

Topic teams in the newsroom: a qualitative inquiry into how they work (or don't)

Newspaper newsrooms in the 1990s, hard-hit by financial pressures and steady declines in circulation, sought ways to be more efficient and attract more readers. One result was the creation of topic teams: groups of journalists assigned to produce reports on topics deemed to be of interest to targeted readers. As newspapers reorganized to enable such teams, newsrooms became more participatory and less authoritarian, altering decades of journalistic routines, culture, and job descriptions. Although the first experimenters were greeted with jeers and suspicion, topic-team newsrooms were widespread by the turn of the century. This study is the first to contextualize the adoption of topic teams in the United States in terms of history and journalistic experience. In-depth interviews with topic-team journalists yielded insights into management, professional values, newsroom practices, and the interaction of all three. Within a continuum, three types of teams emerged: negative, cohesive, and synergistic. Negative teams, which were the least functional, were associated with the highest degree of management control and the lowest degree of reward for the team member. Synergistic teams offered the highest reward with the least degree of management control. Cohesive teams were moderate in both regards. Management risk appeared greatest at both extremes. A model of topic team instrumentality, using these findings, is proposed

The Efficiency Issues On The Animation Production Stages

Animation production is in essence builds a solid foundation of visual and animation theory and practice in the development of traditional and digital animation. Animation production process had variety methods and rely on production operate requirement. The process of creating animation start out the same but the difference when make a disposition and additional of process and it is a part of cost production factor. This thesis addresses the development of the animation production process. The thesis conducted a case study on production process in completing an animated movie. The case study provides information on the development of animation production. The study found the quality and completed on schedule rely organized a division of tasks and also assisted by skill and tools were applied. The study examined the outcome of organized tasks division are affect to production works. The reference points here are production studios and institution in the region and supported by 24 methods listed from literature review. The animation production case study was practiced in Malaysia. It showed that some production studios need to adapt latest tools and new experience to compete with other international studios. Applying a case study approach, the thesis made use of interview with experts, as well consulting numerous web sites and clip videos. By conceptual the process with clarification of experts practice to endorse assessment applying in outlined the process development. This research contributes significantly to the existing body of knowledge in the field of animation industry within the context of creative economy. Finally the thesis makes recommendation for practitioners to assist a better position in the industry by reducing time consumers and budgeting while retaining quality and quantity

Mapping Digital Media: France

The Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs.In France, the digital switch-over for television proceeded in a relatively timely and uncontested fashion, with appropriate support for disadvantaged households and an effective public awareness campaign. Digital licensing has also been generally perceived as transparent and fair. Media policy and regulation have also proved largely responsive and adequate to the challenges of digitization.However, the new government faces a plethora of loose ends in digital media policy. It remains to be seen whether public subsidies aimed at regenerating good-quality journalism in both print and online sectors have been effective; there is a significant shortfall in the funding of public service media as a result of their reduced advertising quotas, and the European Commission's rejection of a planned levy on telecoms; political support for traditional media in their plight against online giants such as Google may backfire if the latter carries out its threat to exclude their content; and public trust in the media is unlikely to be restored so long as entrenched links between political and media elites are maintained

News production in Greece : journalists, newspapers and the Internet

In this work, the various factors influencing the production of news analysed in the international news theory writings acted as a base for in-depth examination of the Greek newspaper and news Internet market. Influences on news writings were found to range from politics, economics and news media ownership, to newsroom organisation, journalistic practices and routines, ethics, journalist-sourcer elations and social stereotypes. From the history of the Greek newspaper market, it is made clear that the evolution of journalism and the newspaper market was directly affected by political developments in which party politics always played a dominant role. Similarly, the evolution of the human factor was marked by the country's particularities, some of which are deeply associated with today's distortions and inefficiencies in the journalism profession. The close examination of Greek newspaper journalists brought into surface particular aspects of the profession, such as daily professional tasks, routines and practices, which along with the analysis of newspapers internal organisational environmental s well as of external pressures, have offered a valuable insight of the major influences on news and its making. The primary aim was to approach journalists and newsroom processes in order to define the degree to which the quality of human resources and the power of news organisations influence the way journalism is practiced in Greece.I n this framework, the extensive analysis of economic and business reporting offered a view of how Greek journalists actively participated in the bull-bear situation in the Greek stock exchange in the late 1990s. Finally, analysing news making processes in some of the largest Greek Internet news sites revealed significant drawbacks towards the creation of a new type of journalism. The limited will and ability of local digital newsrooms to explore the particular aspects of web journalism, in combination with the traditional deficiencies of professional journalism in the country synthesise an environment that lacks innovation and dynamism

The pre-production phase in the making of Iranian full-length animated films 1979-2012

As the pre-production phase is a vital process in feature-length animation filmmaking, this study focuses on the arrangement of this phase in Iranian animation film projects. They are Mouse and Cat, Tak Taz, Namaki & The Giant, The Sun of Egypt, Jamshid & Khorshid, Simorq’s Heart and Tehran 2121. In support of the investigation of these, the research reviews the background of Iranian cinema, television and animation. It looks also at the emergence and evolution of the pre-production phase in Disney and Pixar studios. Moreover, comparisons of pre-production phases implemented by Japanese, British and Pixar filmmakers are complementary contexts highlighting this process. It comprises four key stages: writing stages e.g. script; visualization stages e.g. concept design; scene setting e.g. storyboard, and a rough version of a film in the form of a story reel (Yun Mou et al, 2013). Implementation of these stages needs strategies to be employed by successful filmmakers. Based on such facts, a theoretical comparison analyses the arrangement of the pre-production phase in the seven projects. The findings indicate two types of factors affecting the arrangement of this phase. Indirect factors such as the dependency on management by government and its financial support constitutes issues influencing productions. Direct factors include filmmakers’ abilities and their direct actions on production