Listening Journal - BBC's "Muslims Fighting for Israel"

IDF SOLDIERS Posted By: Thomas E. Ricks

ricks.foreignpolicy.com

This audio documentary, titled Muslims Fighting for Israel discusses Muslims who do army service in Israel and according to the IDF hundreds of Muslims sign up every year.
Rachid Sekkai from the BBC's Arabic Service talks to Muslims currently serving in the IDF and also to former soldiers and hears about the conflicts they face at home and on duty, and the pride that military service sometimes brings them.

Muslims Fighting for Israel, is produced by the BBC and runs for 23 minutes. It is part of the World Stories series. These are five individual documentaries made by BBC language service producers about the region they come from.

Nat sound has been used in the beginning of this audio documentary, you could hear the sound of gun shots, which underlines the topic of this documentary. I liked the use of music effects, as a very melancholy song for the dead was used in the introduction and this also contributes to the whole atmosphere. I didn’t like the voice of the narrator, as it is very monotonous and flat. When he first started talking, the sound quality was very bad, it was a bit fuzzy as if the microphone was moving or there was the interference of wind. In addition, I felt that his narration was clashing with the sound bite of the imam, which was taken from a religious ceremony. In this instant, it was very hard to concentrate and listen to what the reporter was saying.

He used phrases like “here we have been asked to stand up,” and “this memorial site was set up in 1999 by a Bedouin Muslim and a Jew,” which I feel like is language for TV, not radio, as we can’t really see the location and hence them standing up or the memorial site. Some accompanying pictures would have complimented the documentary and kept the listener interested.

He had a lot of sound bites, but at the same time, many of the sound bites were not necessary, especially those that were of people speaking in Hebrew or Arabic, languages that the general listener doesn’t really speak or understand.

I feel like that this documentary has had very minimal editing, for example, the reporter includes sound bites of him getting out of the car and meeting the interviewee, saying hi to her. I felt like this was very unprofessional, as listener I really don’t have to listen to all these extra sounds, I just want to listen to stuff that will add to my knowledge. In addition, there is a lot of background noise, which really deterred my attention.

The use of middle-eastern music in the middle of the documentary is not suitable for such a topic of military, war and the role Muslims play in the military of a Jewish state.

Listening Journal - Long Form Audio Documentary

'The Girl at the Window'

This audio documentary is produced by Radio Netherlands (RN). It is produced and presented by Anna Yeadell and it runs for 00:29:30 minutes. This documentary is a producer’s quest for the artist who painted a picture left to her by her grandmother. Yeadell talks about how she discovered the 90 year old artist still painting with an incredible story to tell about how she survived the Second World War, her husband’s death and pursuing her dream.

I found this documentary to be very interesting because I got to listen to the artist talk about her life and her art, which I didn’t expect since she is very old. The documentary was very simple and only included interviews with a few people which make it very personal. But nevertheless, listening to this old lady telling her story, which is filled with lessons about life, was very insightful and touching. Her words were of wisdom, and I felt like the whole point behind this documentary is not the painting itself but the message behind it.

The sound quality was very good, all the voices were clear, except that I heard a shuffling sound when Ursula was talking, and towards the end of the documentary, in one of Ursula’s sound bites, I heard the sound of an airplane in the background. This shows that not much effort was put into the editing process. Natural sound was not used at all, except for some piano music which played in the background at the start of the documentary and ran for almost 3:20 minutes. It started playing again when Ursula brought up the subject of her husband’s death and the war and this set up a tragic atmosphere.

The narrator’s voice was really clear and was suitable for transition from one topic to another because it was youthful and clear, which is contrary to the interviewee’s voice, I felt like she was putting a lot of effort to talk. But, Ursula’s voice is so expressive and underlines this whole nostalgic mood.

I felt like the documentary was too long for such a topic, especially that only two people were interviewed. It included a lot of sound bites of Ursula, which is understandable since the documentary is about her, but they could have been shorter. Towards the end, it was hard to concentrate on what she was saying because she was struggling to pronounce her words.

The documentary begins strongly, they start with a sound bite of Ursula, which compelled me to keep listening because her voice is expressive and has this very sad and frustrated but asserting and determined feel to it. Although this documentary features a 90 year old woman who’s life is close to an end, the ending of the documentary leaves the listener full of hope and provides the listener with some very compelling words of advice: “you must not stand still because that means going back, you must always go forward, and that’s what I try to do,” said Ursula.

http://www.prx.org/pieces/1626-rn-documentary-the-girl-at-the-window

Listening Journal

BBC Hourly Newscast
The newscast runs up to 5:00, which was a good length.
The newscast covered a variety of international news such as the recently uncovered evidence that millions of dollars donated to the relief effort for the Ethiopian famine in the mid 1980’s went to buy weapons; the earthquake in Chile and how aid how damaged infrastructure hampers the relief efforts; and nuclear waste in Australia and where to put it, local aborigines worry about health implications.
Natural sound was not included in this newscast and only one or two sound bites were used. But it was easy for me to keep listening in because the newscast covered a variety of topics. In addition the voice of the newscaster was very engaging and conversational. It was not monotonous but rather varied, he changed his pace at different intervals.

Listening Journal - NPR Hourly News Summary

The NPR Hourly News Summary of 3 March, 2010 runs up to 4:46 minutes. The producers were not enlisted, and the newscast was aired from Washington.
The sound quality of this newscast is excellent; the newscaster has a very clear and warm voice. The newscaster and the reporters featuring in this newscast are all articulate and speak clearly, and also take their time in narrating. They are kind of slow, which I found is not something newscasters give attention to due to the time constraints. This is why I felt this newscast is too long, it might because the newscaster/reporters were taking their time in narrating their stories.
Only sound bites were used in the first report and no natural sound was used at all. In the second and third reports, the journalist didn’t use any nat. sound or sound bites.
The newscast discussed bills that add to the U.S. deficit such as the senate bill extending unemployment benefits and highway funding. In addition, the newscast discussed a lot of U.S. politics, such as layoffs in the education industry, and used a lot of financial terms.