Spartan News Now - ID# 116

Highland Park

News Program

Entry Description

This is Spartan News Now, Glenbrook North's student run newscast. The TV Broadcasting class produces SNN shows through the year. The focus is to address news relevant to students and the community. Students produce, anchor, report, and edit the show. We are proud that many of our SNN graduates have gone onto professional careers in news and that this show gave them their start.

Copyright Info

Recent Teacher Comments

Judge 1

Positives: I liked the piece on recent grads who have gone off to college. It was a great way for students to see what their former classmates are experiencing Both of the anchors had a lot of energy and were great on camera

Improvements: The school has a new principal - for those of us who don't know him - i would've said his name in the intro to the package or right off the top of it. Be mindful of how long your packages are running. I love dogs- but the piece was 2:30 and by the end it started to feel long. In news keep things tight to ensure that you're keeping the viewers attention

Judge 2

Positives: -It was a super creative idea since you couldn't anchor from within the school and the two talents did a good job explaining that right off the bat. It's always fun to have the anchors move around location to location as well! -The show had a nice flow. Started off with a super interesting "coming up" segment to prep me for what I was about to watch. Did a great job with the teasers and transitioning package to package.

Improvements: -I really liked the story choices made, I would just do them in a different order. kick off the newscast like you did, then do the story about former spartans handling covid in college. That was an interesting lead story. The breaking news went well with it too. End the newscast on a high note with the adorable dog story. From my days as a reporter, I loved telling those types of features but they tend to find their way to what's called the "kicker." Something to leave the viewers with a smile to end rather than a down note. -The anchors were super high energy and fun and bubbly. In a newscast that can be great, but maybe tone down for the covid stories and go back up to bubbly for the puppy story. Viewers pick on everything, this is just a thought from someone who has been on that side of the camera getting criticized for being too happy about something on the news that I was reporting on.

Judge 3

Positives: -Great bold open package -l love the outdoor anchoring, shows creativity and adaptation to news in the COVID era -Really great anchor energy -Great start off the top with "breaking news." That shows a really high level of newscast understanding, and hooks the viewer right away. -Teases were really great here, too. That's a way to engage a viewer and make them want to keep watching. It's also one of the hardest things to write in a newscast, so good job! -Good job getting student voices on the biggest story of the newscast

Improvements: -This is very nitpicky, but audio is key. In reporter packages, like the dog one, make sure we're hearing natural audio when we're watching video of things we know have sound. I want to hear the dog's noises when I see it. -Great job taking on and tackling a very serious issue with the political coverage. I think there was a good effort to be balanced, but anything related to politics especially needs to be fair and balanced. If we hear from a protester on one side and you mention there were counter-protesters, we need to hear a soundbite from them too. If they all said they didn't want to be interviewed, that's okay. Say that to be transparent to a viewer and do your best to summarize their point of view in your delivery.

Judge 4

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