Interviews shaped the story

I spent this beautiful Sunday in the building 9 labs, where I finished writing, editing and recording my stories. I know I know. Day before the assignment, but at least I made the deadline! I decided to take three different angles for each of my stories based on my interviews and I framed them all using the recently released National Health Survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. I was a bit concerned about the newsworthiness of the interviews, and so I felt this added a bit of timeliness, and also credibility to the stories.

I decided that my angle would mostly be concerning the high rate of obesity found amongst the middle aged to older aged group. The statistics were not pretty after all.

The 2007-08 National Health Survey has for the first time since 1995 measured the exact height and weight of adults and children. Using the Body Mass Index (BMI) approach, the ABS found that 68% of adult men and 55% of adult women were overweight or obese. This is an increase over 12 years as only 64% of men and 49% of women were overweight or obese in 1995.

When looking at the age pattern of obesity in adults, the highest proportion who were overweight or obese were in the middle to older age groups (peaking at 65-74 years of age - 79% for men, and 55-64 years for women – 68%).

From here.

I found this study very interesting as the media often concentrates overwhelmingly on child obesity, where there is an actual crisis occurring in the middle aged to older aged group. I had collected a lot of quotes on this sort of thing from both interview talents. My main talents had actually commented that the reason the media hadn't focused on the over 40s age group was simply because it wasn't as 'sexy' an issue. I though this was an awesome sort of viewpoint (and also, a easy way to 'sex' up my story) and decided to take this lead as the copy and grab.

I decided to make my voicer the first story in my collection, and basically reported the findings of the survey, as well as paraphrased a quote from the nutritionist about how the environment we live in has shaped this trend. I thought this was a good way to inject a bit of explanation in a story based on boring statistics. I also wanted to make full use of my talent. I found it incredibly hard to keep to the set time limit in my voicer. I had to re-record several times in the recording booth in building 9, because I kept editing words and paragraphs out to try and make the whole thing shorter. That seemed to be the hardest bit of the assignment!

For the second story I decided to go with the copy and grab and use the great quote from my first interview, going for the angle that there really needs to be more public awareness raised about the issue of over 40s health problems. I felt this fit in perfectly with the health challenge that my interviewee was organizing and also was a very interesting critique on the media and its obsession with 'sexier' issues. I am a big believer in the power of the media to help shape perception. Although health is largely an individual responsibility, the amount of education that gets out there can also play a part of this, and the media can be a huge actor.

The third story was a kind of human interest, wrap-up of how if people over 40s start a healthier lifestyle now, the benefits on their long term health can be enormous. I used 6 second grabs of both talent to illustrate this. The voice package was probably the hardest story to condense and I am not entirely happy with the result. Keeping it so short and yet still transmitting the right information was extremely difficult. I tried to cut down the grabs to 3-5 seconds but I found it impossible. I would try editing out ums and ahs and I cut off as many unnecessary bits but I really couldn't sacrifice a lot of the quote. I think this is something I obviously have to work on, but the package did end up running to about 44.5 seconds, which I felt was perfect.

To edit the voice package together I made use of the multitrack editor function on newsboss. I first recorded my voicer in two parts, each before I introduced a talent. Then I cut the quotes and added them all together in multitrack manager. It seemed to go smoothly, although I edited the completed product in audio cut to try and make it shorter.

Another problem I realized was that during interviews, I would occasionally interject a quote with "yeah"... I had to be careful not to do this, because in one occasion it did wreck the integrity of a quote. I tried my best to edit it out, but there would be a loud ugly pop, and the audio would become inconsistent, so I ended up leaving it in. I think this is a habit radio journalists must have to abandon, I am so used to interjecting and agreeing or adding my two cents during interviews for print.

The other interesting aspect was actually recording and making sure my voice sounded good on radio. I attempted several times and tried to get my voice a little bit lower because I have a naturally high voice that sounds slightly amateur on radio. I also tried to use ranges a bit, adding emphasis and expression to words. The fact I read and re-read my stories helped me in this.

Now I am trying to burn the CD and having a bit of trouble, although I'm not sure why. Because I don't have access to Itunes at the moment I am attempting to do it in Windows Media Player... but so far no luck. Will continue trying and will update in the next hour!

I have the attention span of a goldfish

I have learned from this assignment that I really am suited to journalism, mainly because I do have the attention span of a gold fish. Yes, I did change my topic yet again... although it really has a lot to do with one of my ideas I originally had.

On Tuesday I was still following up with various refugee agencies and people I was researching on the internet. The lady from Companion house rang me late in the afternoon on Tuesday but by then I had largely abandoned the idea because I had found the source of many a journalist's happiness - the media release. If any journalist says they don't rely on media releases on occasion, they are lying. Sure, media releases are designed to spin the author's opinion etc, but I think you can get some good stories out of them occasionally.

In this case, it was a community event in Queanbeyan, and although it may not have sounded too newsworthy on first notice, I immediately saw the potential to turn it into a good health story. It was about the owner and founder of these fitness clubs in Queanbeyan which are specifically designed to help the health of people over 40. I am a regular to the gym and I know how intimidating it can be, and my mother also just went to hospital due to an illness that was very much life-style related, so I felt it was a good opportunity to maybe raise awareness on health problems for over 40s. Especially, since both my sources agreed that it was a very much neglected issue. If you think of all the attention, say child obesity gets, the health problems of over 40s and how they can reverse the damage is often ignored.

So I emailed the man behind the media release, and he emailed me back in less than 30 minutes, saying he would be glad to help. I was very relieved, I can assure you. He said that he was willing to talk to me the very next day. Phew. I began frantically emailing nutritionists as well - hoping to get an email back. My angle was basically at that point the health challenge that the man was running, but also how these health problems could possibly be extended over generations. With child obesity so topical, will Australia's trend towards obesity ever be solved, particularly as we face a burgeoning recession?

The next day I had my ediroll ready for the drive to Queanbeyan and I contacted my talent to confirm, saying I would see him later that day. He then gave me a shock saying he was actually in Coffs Harbour, setting up a new gym, and asked me to conduct the interview over the phone! That was my mistake - I forgot to even check that I would be able to physically interview him. So I quickly arranged with Simon to use the recording facilities, and arranged to interview my talent the next day.

During this time I was able to make contact with a nutritionist who has authored several books, written for magazines, and is a regular on channel nine. It was a great moment for me, i can assure you! She was very happy to help, and I was assuming, very media saavy. I arranged to pick her brain on Friday, and because she was based in Sydney, I had to again rely on the phone interview.

I know that Simon said we should use this as a last resort, but in my day job, I do interviews via phone more often than I do physical interviews. I understand that you create a better relationship with your talent, but sometimes you just can't help but rely on the phone - and I'm guessing with time constraints in many radio newsrooms, this is a practice that is more than common.

I was a bit nervous about using the phone recording facilities, because I was positive I would stuff up. Luckily there was this guy Matt in the labs who helped me through the whole thing - he was doing the same assignment as me and he was lovely - he basically stopped his assignment to help me. I found the recording booth relatively easy to use. It was just a pain having to wait for people, knowing my interviewees had busy schedules and I was keeping them waiting. But what can you do?

The interviews I felt went well. I liked the fact I could just talk and listen, and didn't have to type quotes like in print journalism. It was a relief not having to think and type at the same time!

I am planning to record my stories in the labs on Sunday, it's late I know but I am working on Saturday. I am going to try and cut my audio in audacity tonight though and formulate my scripts so all I will have to do is walk into building 9 on Sunday!

Will keep you updated!

Stressing out

I haven't blogged for a while and I confess I may have left my broadcast assignment too late, although that seems to be the story for the majority of my class. Part of the reason for the lateness has been my constant change of topics. I have abandoned the recession and strain on public health services idea because I was unable to secure any talent and have since switched to looking at refugee health services and what challenges refugees face in accessing the health system.

I have been ringing around and have contacted the Migrant and Refugee Resource Centre, the Canberra Refugee Support centre, Belconnen Community Services, the Refugee Action Committee and Companion House. MRRS and Companion House are still to get back to me and the Canberra Refugee Support Centre, Refugee Action Committee and BCS were very helpful, but unfortunately unable to help me.

This has put me in a bit of a bind as I have less than a week to secure the interviews. It has really shown me how frustrating it can be to have hardly any contacts in this field and no brand name behind me. I can imagine if one works for the ABC or a big metropolitan newspaper, the availability of access increases substantially. Even in my day job at an Indigenous newspaper, the mast head will often help in securing interviews. I find that at the moment, saying "University of Canberra" is actually inhibiting my progress. And if I say I'm a NowUC reporter I feel slightly dishonest, as this is largely for the marks, not in getting the issue on the public record.

So that is my big problem at the moment. I have a couple of prospects for more first hand accounts of refugee health services but have been unable to secure them either. I am really stressing and praying that I get a call back soon. Otherwise I will just have to continue being persistent. I am not sure how other students are finding it, but I am getting increasingly frustrated.

I do have a prospect I will ring this afternoon - it is a man I met who came out to Australia on a boat from Pakistan awhile ago. He was even locked up at Woomera for a lengthy period of time and yet has managed to make something out of his life. He graduated from university and now has a good job. I am hoping that he may be able to help me by either passing me onto someone else, or telling me a first hand account of his experiences dealing with the health services in Australia.

I am excited by this prospect more than anything else because it seems to me that asylum seekers do not get a voice in the media - they are often lost and I can understand this. A lady from one of the refugee organisations I rang told me that she had many refugee friends, but knew that alot of them are not comfortable with people because they kind of just want to disappear into society. That's a paraphrase, but they don't want to be singled out. I can imagine when Australian journalists have strict deadlines, and with distrust of the media abounding, it would be hard to find first hand accounts.

I really wanted to get an organisation to back up a possible first hand story, but unless I can secure this, I might just have to ring up a few doctor offices and see if there are any people who would be willing to speak to me. Otherwise I'm not sure what I will do as time is running up. I will blog everyday about my progress on interviews... I am a bit scared because I definitely need two by Friday otherwise I will have no hope of finishing this story on time.

Developing an angle

I am pretty set on looking at the impacts a recession can have on health, but have found that I need to develop a unique angle. It goes without saying that the impact a financial crisis can have on mental health and nutrition has been reported to an extent.

A recent example was in the Sydney Morning Herald's lifestyle section, which reported on a study that claimed a recession could encourage lower-income families to make healthier choices. Click here.

The global recession is bad news for most, but it might be having a positive effect on Australians' physical health if not their financial health.

A survey of 1,500 people found Australians were cooking at home more and eating more vegetarian meals as they cut back on costly options such as eating out or takeaways.

The survey conflicts with Australian Bureau of Statistics evidence in January that found spending on fast food up 11.2 per cent as Australians from lower socio-economic groups opted for cheaper, unhealthy options.

The survey by food group Heinz found that people were saving money by eating at home with one third starting a vegetable patch in the past six months.

I don't really agree with this study, it seems illogical and a bit shady considering it comes from a food company, but I have decided to go on a different road anyway.

I read somewhere (off a whim, didn't clip the article) that a recession can have a negative impact on public health services. As people become financially insecure, they will opt out of renewing private health insurance, and will fall back solely on Medicare. I'm not sure on the reliability of this data, but I think its an interesting question to ponder nonetheless.

It will also be interesting to see how much funding the Rudd government allocates to health in next week's budget. I don't think health will take a serious cut,but I read in a World Health Organisation report that in some countries, health funding does suffer.

So I want to look at the strain on public health services. Possible interviewees include the Australian Health Insurance Association, who are based in the ACT, and maybe even a doctor.

I guess if I narrowed it down a bit I could also look solely at student experiences. I don't have private health insurance, and thus rely on the Uni of Canberra health service, so that is also a possible avenue I could take. I imagine there are many students who don't have private health insurance, although they may be covered by their parents.

I have begun researching this topic extensively and will begin searching for interview talent when I have all my thoughts together.

In other news, today is the day of our radio writing tests! Wish me luck :-)

New idea

I have a new idea for a story and I actually think its better than kava, although I would love to touch on this subject. I recently wrote a feature article for my work about how Indigenous health is suffering because people in remote communities just can't afford to eat healthily, and the quality is often very bad.

When you are on a limited income, like CDEP wages, you are obviously going to buy the food that is going to keep you and your family full. Unfortunately, most of these foods end up being the unhealthy options and therefore, it does little for your health in the long run.

So I started thinking about broadening the issue, and with Kevin Rudd recently admitting that we will hit recession, I wondered how people's health will cope?

Does a recession force you to seek out unhealthier food choices, where you begin sacrificing nutrition? It's an interesting topic and I haven't researched it yet - it may be the source of several articles. Either way, I would love to find a new spin on it. My friend, who is also doing this subject, gave me a great suggestion to maybe interview the Salvation Army and places like that and I would also interview a dietician or nutritionist.

I am thinking of contacting the Dietitians Association of Australia as I have had dealings with them before. I'm a bit concerned about when I am going to get time to do this assignment though. We actually have to physically meet out interviewees and record using our epirolls. I was under the impression we could do it over the phone and now I am a bit scared about time.

Thank God we got an extension!!

A new round, a new assignment

We were given our rounds for our second assignment a while ago, and I have begun thinking about a topic to start on.

I nearly cried with happiness when I drew the health round out of the hat. It is so broad I can touch on basically anything. Of course, then I realized picking a particular topic was going to be even more challenging - which one will I do?

I have been toying with the idea of kava use, and how it's ban has affected both Aboriginal and Pacific Islander communities in Australia.

I am particularly interested in this idea since reading this story on the National Indigenous Times website:


Police seize kava, cannabis

ISSUE 174, April 2, 2009: Police in the Northern Territory outback have seized kava and cannabis worth more than $160,000.



A Landcruiser travelling on the Central Arnhem Highway towards Arnhem Land was pulled over and searched earlier this month. 

Inside the car, police officers allegedly discovered 137.4 kg of kava in 6,560 separate deal bags and 225g of cannabis in 588 bags.



Police said the drugs had an estimated street value in remote communities of about $165,000.



The haul led to a search of a home in the Darwin suburb of Coconut Grove, where officers allegedly uncovered another 3.4 kg of kava and 7 g of cannabis.



Four men - aged 49, 46, 43 and 41 - are in custody and police expect to charge them with possessing and supplying a commercial quantity of kava, possessing cannabis of a trafficable quantity and unlawfully supplying cannabis to another.



Kava was banned from Aboriginal communities as part of the government intervention purportedly launched to combat child sexual abuse. - AAP


This is interesting to me because of it shows banning a substance doesn't seem to do enough, it only spurs a black market trade. I am also interested in finding out whether kava actually does pose health problems, considering Pacific islanders have been using it for centuries and I have read of differing studies where the health effects are contested.

I am also interested in this topic from a personal perspective. I am of both Pacific Islander and Aboriginal heritage. My dad is both a descendent of the Darumbal peoples of Central Queensland as well as Vanuatu, the Solomons and New Caledonia. So I am conflicted as to whether kava should have been banned. I understand the social importance of kava to islanders, and yet I know there are affects on Aboriginal communities.

But has it's ban affected the mental health of expat Islander communities in Australia? That sounds stupid but i know when you are unable to practice your culture, it can affect health.

I'm probing for an angle around these issues... haven't really collated my thoughts yet.

DONE

I write in celebration because I have finished my editing, my writing and basically... everything... I do still have to burn my two CDs but that takes a majority of two minutes.

I just feel relief because after yesterday's crucial mistake, I seriously doubted my ability with the Epiroll. I figured I would have had about 25 raw vox pops if all of them had worked. Now I have 17. It's funny, I ended up taking most of the interviews from the last outing I made... so I think it shows how much I felt I had improved in my questioning.

The editing process was quite simple- I basically followed the guidelines on the internet and what I had previously learned in class. It didn't seem to be that much of a problem.

I ended up going four seconds over, and I know that if I had cut out a lot of the "ums and ahs" I would have decreased the time to the limit. But when I tried to do this, it would really affect the quality of the recording - there would be either a really awkward "pop" or it would just sound ridiculous.

I still have a few of those "pops" in there, but they are scattered throughout so don't sound too bad.

The only other thing I had trouble with was in multitrack editor with the volumes. As much as I tried - I couldn't get everything consistent. It just wouldn't work. The last person quoted in my vox pop package is very low, and I just don't know how to bring it up. I tried adjusting the volume levels and it just won't work. Most of the other interviews are consistent though.

I ended up enjoying this assignment. At first I was slightly dreading standing on a street and asking random people, but when I got there all the fears just melted away. It's like having a simple chat. I learned that you really have to choose your location well if you want people to speak to you. Simply bouncing on people leaving shopping centres was definitely the wrong approach - I got the most knock backs there.

In contrast, Garema Place, where everyone was just walking around peacefully, was easy. Most people were willing to talk and even seemed happy to contribute.

Lessons Learned

I just got back from redoing my interviews at Garema Place in Civic. I am obviously annoyed that about eight of my interviews were totally wasted by my technological incompetance. I have figured out that I either didn't turn the microphone on, or messed around somehow with the output levels. Two of my interviews at Woden were also wasted - the people sound like chipmunks! I remember my tutor briefly warning us to do something so we could prevent this, but I have no idea what it was. I'm kicking myself for not writing it down.

Thankfully, after three separate outings I feel very confident and stable in my ability to go up to random people and ask their opinion. Woden and Belconnen were definite problem areas and I think it was because where I was situated. Both times I parked myself outside where people were walking in - people were either too busy getting to the shops, or in a hurry to get home. They tended to avoid me as much as possible.

Garema Place was pleasently different. Everyone was relaxed, walking around or sitting. Even the people who refused to be interviewed were nice about it. I ended up having a lot of fun because most of the time it was just me having a quick chat with strangers I would usually never have contact with. I also was able to engage a larger demographic with several different ethnicities within Canberra's community putting their spin on things. Even though I felt a bit rushed and I don't think I did my interviews up to the standard that they were previously, I actually enjoyed the experience alot more.

I really wish I could have saved a lot of my other interviews though. Here were some key interviews that were lost:

- Opinion from a man who had actually become a founding member of the future soccer team.
- Opinion from a man who had signed a petition calling for an A-League team.
- An international perspective from an African man now set in Canberra's community.

I also felt I did better in actual questioning on the interviews I lost - I know it sounds like I am lying or talking myself up, I really felt I interviewed best on my second outing.

I still have to edit the whole piece together so have set aside tomorrow to do that.

Oh no

I just listened to the last seven of my vox pops and they were really low quality - you can't hear anything. I have no idea what went wrong. I have a feeling I may have turned the microphone off by accident. The first one was perfectly clear.... I am very very annoyed and will have to go in and redo them.

More vox-popping thoughts

I tried my luck vox-popping again today at Belconnen shopping centre. This time I didn't last long because I felt I had enough material. It went alot of the same way as yesterday, although people were generally a bit more relaxed, which I judged was due to it being on a Sunday afternoon.

I thought I would write on how I prepared to use my Eprioll. I started by re-reading the help sheets we were given in class and made sure all my settings were correct, that the batteries are working fine, and making sure I set up the microphone to ensure the best possible atmosphere.

I practiced by conducting an interview with my friend three times, and then I played it back. I'm glad I did this as the first time I completely stuffed up the recording - pressing the hold button instead of the off button and then completely forgetting to press record two times.

I found the Epiroll quite easy to use, and afterwards I just downloaded all the audio files onto my computer and listened to it. The background noise was a slight problem as I had conducted all my vox pops on the outside of a shopping centre, but I guess this is to be expected.

A day out vox popping

Well today I finally hit the streets to collect my vox pops. The location was Woden shopping centre, the time was early Saturday afternoon. I placed myself at the entrance of the shopping centre, near the supermarkets.

I wasn't nervous leading up to doing my vox pops but I definitely underestimated how hard they were going to be. I literally thought people would be willing to answer a couple of questions, but many didn't even let me open my mouth. I think the main thing that surprised me was how many looks of distrust my epiroll recieved. Most of the time people would avoid making eye contact with me in favour of looking unfavourably towards the microphone.

I am not naturally shy, so I had no trouble approaching random people. But when I got knocked back the first four times, I must admit I felt a bit disheartened. Sometimes I couldn't drum up the courage for about five minutes, and I would have to wait until I regained my confidence. I soon learned that I would be more successful approaching people who were coming out of the shopping centre, rather than going in. I also waited alot of the time for the person to make eye contact with me, and then I would try and corner them. I think I should have prepared how I would break the ice first, as I kept saying "Are you busy?" and I think that gave people the excuse to brush me off.

Some people were downright rude, like a group of boys I thought I would target due to their age. But there were a number of really nice people, mostly middle-aged, who even though admitting they knew nothing about soccer, were able to answer a few of my questions.

I decided to stick to the "Would you personally go out and support a Canberra team?" and "How do you think the community would react" questions, but I varied them around a bit and kind of made it more natural. Getting a person's attention was the hard part, but when I did achieve this, I found that interviewing them was like having a normal conversation.

I wish I could have gotten a large range of ages, but for some reason, I mostly got people in the middle-aged bracket. I guess this is ok. I was also able to get comment from three different teenagers. Most of my interviewees were white and I would have liked a more multicultural mix, but I guess in a subject like this, a person's background may not affect their view because sport is universal and soccer is the world game.

To be honest, if I had to do a lot of vox pop interviews as part of my work, I would easily fall into depression. I didn't generally enjoy the experience and would not like to do it on a daily basis. I was kind of glad I wasn't doing it for TV though - I feel that it would have been harder. I couldn't believe the distrust associated with the microphone, so I feel having a video camera would have made the task all the more problematic.

Another interesting point was how I represented myself. I was dressed in office attire, as was suggested, but I found it was easier to say I was working on an assignment than a news report. My lecturer had reccomended saying we were a reporter for the UC website, but a few times people looked worringly at me and asked whether it would end up being broadcast. I had to reassure them that it was not. So I think it would be a lot harder if I actually do become a radio journalist and have to do this. I found people were more willing to deal with me when I said I was a student.

I intend to try a few more times. I checked my interviews and they sounded fine quality wise but the tutor reccomended we have about 20 raw interviews, and we use only five. I am considering doing it tomorrow or hiring the epiroll again. But I will see how they turn out in newsboss when I try and edit and find a good angle for the story.

A stupid mistake means a wasted weekend

I had my Epiroll reservation set for this weekend and guess what? I couldn't get to the office on time on Friday to pick it up. I was very frustrated over the weekend, especially since the assignment is edging closer and closer.

Epirolls and questions

Well I’ve hired the Epiroll out for this weekend, and now all I have to do is contemplate my questions, my location and how I approach people. I will write an entry on working around the Epiroll problems after I have recorded.

The reason I am keen to get my vox pops done is because I know that slowly, the issue is leaking out of timeliness. There have been a number of other sporting achievements in the capital this week – most notably our woman’s basketball team’s win over the Bulleen Boomers.


Also murking the waters is the beginning of the NRL and AFL seasons – which means a lot of people no longer really have soccer on their minds. I will consider this when I start drafting my questions.

My tutor recommended thinking about how we will approach people when we conduct our vox pops, and even said that we should also consider simple things, like how we are dressed.

He also said that we should think about the appropriateness of the location. I have considered this over the past few day in relation to my subject matter. Going to a local shopping centre seemed a little bit ambiguous to me, as I didn’t think normal shoppers would actually have an opinion, or particularly care, about a soccer team for Canberra.

So I thought I could attend a local game, which is sure to bring out some passionate supporters, and possible opponents of the bid.

But I checked the website – http://www.capitalfootball.com.au - and discovered that the men, women and junior draws don’t start until next month. That is a shame, but I guess a reality of journalism. Sometimes you have to make the most of what you have when working to a deadline.

Then I thought that maybe it is a blessing in disguise. A local soccer team representing Canberra in the A-League will not just be of interest to those involved in soccer activities on a regular basis – it may also be eagerly awaited by average punters, those you see in shopping centres. So although I had wanted to be original and solicit some great quotes, I think in the interest of getting a broader community opinion, shopping centres really are the only way to go.

To be honest, I’m kind of dreading going up to random strangers and asking them questions. It’s worse then ringing up a prominent person and challenging them with the tough questions.

But I have found some sort of opinions on popular Canberra blog the RiotACT, that may help me understand what the average Canberran feels about the proposal.

Here are some of the comments:

FredJ, There would be some support for an A-League team here. Canberra has some very good football(soccer) teams here and a lot of players have come from and/or have spent time in Canberra , Carl Valeri, Lindsay Wilson even Joe Simunic (croatia) to name a few. Canberra also has a lot of registered players ,although most would be juniors…
The problem we have in Canberra is that we are really not loyal to our sporting teams. Canberra loves a winning team, no matter what sport, unfortunately when that team doesn’t win the Canberra support starts to falter. There is always the hardcore fans that would a support their team no matter what, but I dont think that they are enough to be viable.
Unfortunately, in the world of proffessional sport (especially Football) money talks. I dont see Canberra as being big enough. Being able to drum up enough support to draw crowds in through the gate week in and week out might be a bit of a problem.
Having said that, I hope that I am wrong. I would love to see an A-League team here.
- From RAGD


They (Cosmos) averaged 2 or 3 thousand a game each season…I reckon an A League team would easily double that (higher profile of the comp) without even trying. With some promotion (& yes, some good results) I’m sure they’d pull enough punters through the gates to make it viable. The Brumbies still get around 14000 (at a time when they’re not as good as they once were), Raiders probably get around 8000 or so a game (bit of a guess). We’re not all that fickle as a crowd really.
- From justbands

The A-League is a whole new ball game. Crowds have sharply increased for all the A-League ‘cities’ accept for Perth who have not been able to get their act together. Canberra could do well in the A-League and I think they would attract a decent crowd but money (sponsorship) is the main problem.
- Crikey

an a-league team in canberra is inevitable, just a matter of three or seven years, or whatever… the a-league have sponsored (for want of better term) a national youth league next season and the wellington phoenix, not being an australian side, are ineligible, so are behind a canbera-based squad, so we’ll get to see a raft of future a-league stars in action.
- from astrojax

Soccer failed previously in Canberra and would fail again. I also suspect that the Raiders will end up with a crowd average higher than the Brumbies in 2008… in a few years time, the Brumbies will move to Melbourne as the core support (without bandwagoners) isn’t large enough for union.
- from greeneyed

Read more of the comments here.

This has given me a bit of an insight into one of the concerns about having an A-League team – it will fail to draw a crowd to compete with other sports. I can frame one of my questions around this. I’m thinking something along the lines of, would the person ever attend a game if Canberra did have an A-League team. Or would they support them over other teams.

This is interesting because the blog entry was written last year, before record crowds turned out to see Kuwait vs the Socceroos in Canberra earlier this month. Although it should be noted that this is a national team, so of course it is going to draw higher crowds.

I know that when I do my vox pops, I will only have space to ask maybe two questions of the one person – and in the interest of fairness, I really should make my first question the same for everybody. But I think I can draft a few extra questions to ask different people, in order to get an interesting assortment of opinions.

Soccer - yikes!

Last week I received my topic for my Vox Pop assignment. I did not have much of a choice unfortunately, due to my lateness in turning up to class (always come early!), but I am satisfied with what I was given. Even if the topic had been as boring as dishwater, I would still have appreciated it. I know that in journalism, not every topic is going to interest you. It's just a simple part of the industry. I would have been interested in getting the Indigenous affairs question, but I know since I work in this field daily, it would not have stretched my abilities.

So I will introduce you, dear reader, to my topic... drum rolls please:

Canberra is lauching a bid to join soccer/s national A-League competition but is there enough public and financial support for a team from the ACT?

So that involves me researching sport. Yikes. I've never been good at sport and to be honest, I don't care that much about it. The only time I take an interest is when politics leaks into it, like the recent case of the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan. Was it the Tamil Tigers? Was it the Pakistan Taliban? Was it the ISI? *clears throat* Ok.. .back to the subject.

Luckily, I have had quite the history in soccer. My father is an excellent player and would have made it big had he not broken both his legs, and my sister is planning to accept a soccer scholarship to America later this year. My family pretty much views soccer as their second religion. You can imagine the shame when I didn't convert.

Anyway, despite my background, I still needed to read up on this bid to host an A-League soccer team from Canberra.

I have only just touched the surface, so here are some news articles which I have dug up on the subject:

This is an after-shot of the Australia vs Kuwait game held in Canberra, written by the Canberra Times:

Proponents of an A-League team in Canberra would have been delighted at Thursday evening's Asian Cup qualifier between Australia and Kuwait at Canberra Stadium: not at the result the Socceroos lost to the lowly rated Kuwait team but at the fact that 20,000 people turned up for the match.

The healthy turnout adds weight to their claims that the ACT is ready to support an A-League team if the game's governing body, Football Federation Australia, grants it a licence when the competition expands from 10 to 12 teams in the 2010-11 season.

Here's another one I found over the weekend, and it looks as if we are pretty set to get our A-League team:

Canberra is a significant step closer to having its own A-League team.
That's the word from Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley after a successful audition from the Canberra community on Thursday night and a meeting with the A-League4Canberra bid team yesterday.

Buckley attended Thursday night's Asian Cup qualifier between Australia and Kuwait and said the crowd of 20,032 had impressed him.

''It's been a fantastic two days,'' Buckley told The Canberra Times yesterday.

''[On Thursday] it was a great atmosphere and the crowd was enthusiastic in their support and they came out in strong numbers.

''So we were delighted with the response from the football and sporting community from Canberra and the surrounding region.''

Buckley and other FFA officials sat down yesterday with Canberra's A-League bid team led by Ivan Slavich to find out the finer details of the bid.

Buckley confirmed it was likely to be the last meeting with the full bid team before the FFA makes its decision on the 12th A-League team in June.

As I was researching, I had the feeling that I would need to go to external websites, as the bid seems to be covered only by The Canberra Times. This makes it seem as if it is largely a local agenda, so I have decided to frame my questions around this when I begin drafting them. I will also have to be careful in picking my target audience, because soccer is not a huge sport in Canberra.

The A-League 4 Canberra site is a good one for general information. It can be found here.

The Football Federation of Australia is also an important site for research.

So that is all I have done so far. I will do my vox pop questions fairly soon, as I am worried about the timeliness of the questions I will ask. The Australia vs Kuwait game is gradually becoming a distant memory for Canberrans, so I feel as if I will have to get an epiroll out soon and try and get as many opinions as possible. This feels rushed, but I feel I will get the best reaction from people if the questions I ask are more current.

I plan to draft my questions soon and I will document this process later in the week.

Another interesting sidenote is, my friend offered to give me the phone number of an ex-soccer player who represented Australia, and is since heavily involved in the decision over A-League teams etc. I decided against it, mainly because this is a vox-pop assignment with ordinary voices. But it's interesting to note that contacts go a long way, especially in Canberra!