CNN Student News Video Podcast, September 20, 2016

  • Podcast Link: CNN Student News, September 20, 2016. (Note: This podcast is produced the day before it airs so that teachers can retrieve it and use it in their lesson plans. Thus, even though it is dated September 20, 2016, I found it on September 19.)
  • Why I Chose It: I’m unfamiliar with podcasts, so I figured I couldn’t go too wrong with one geared toward middle and high school students. This one was a video podcast.
  • What I Liked About It:
    1. I liked the fact that it explained unfamiliar concepts briefly but well. For example, the broadcaster stated the term terrorist cell, and then gave a brief definition (a small group of terrorists) so that his viewers would know what it is. This helps students especially, who may be unfamiliar with concepts and nomenclature we as adults take for granted.
    2. I also like the fact that it took breaks from the narrative by filming (with audio) some nice B-roll elements that supported the story. For example, at one point we hear an off-camera officer shout “Fire in the hole!” three times, each time the scenery panning to a different place on a near-empty bomb range. The final shot (with audio) is of a van exploding in slow motion, a brief shot of music, the approach of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) agents to the exploded van, and an interview with one of those agents.
  • Interview Segments and Voiceovers: I’m still new to the terminology of podcasts and a Google search was not as revealing as I would have preferred, so I’m going to guess at what what these terms mean.
    1. This podcast had interviews with ATF Trainer Agent Will Creech and ATF Public Information Officer Michael Knight in a segment explaining what ATF agents do in processing a bomb scene; during their interviews, they were sometimes in the shot while at others B-roll footage was creating the visual.
    2. This segment then flashed to the next stage of bomb-scene processing, lab analysis, and the podcast played an interview with forensic scientist Natasha Neel while lab B-roll footage played intermittently.
    3. Then it flashed back to the ATF guys before returning to the broadcaster.