Personal Reflection: Final KOMU Reporting Shift

Last Wednesday, I reported nightside (1:30 pm-12:30 am) at KOMU. Last week marked the start of December, so I proposed a holiday-themed story for my shift. I came across a brief blurb in the Glasgow Missourian newspaper about this holiday season being the last for a local Christmas tree seller. This man is 78-year-old Clell Solomon, owner of Tannenbaum Farm in Howard County. After some research, I found Clell's contact information and made a call. He was happy to do the story, so I headed out about an hour from KOMU to meet with him.

I have to admit-it was not difficult to humanize this particular report. The story was based around this man, who has built a lifetime on his love for Christmas trees. However, I wanted viewers to be able to understand his love as well as get the opportunity to understand his effect on others. While his "claim to fame" is providing the Christmas tree for the Missouri Governor's mansion, Clell said this isn't his most memorable accomplishment. He mentioned the best part of his job was seeing families come back year after year to buy their tree, which allows him to see children grow up and bring their children and their children and so on. I wanted to include this angle of the story so I interviewed a long-time customer who started buying a tree when his 15 year-old was just a baby. 

In this report, I could have done a better job focusing the camera, as some images came out soft. I also could have made my script writing more succinct. However, I feel I attained my goal of personalizing the story and getting viewers to care about Clell Solomon and his trees. You can read and watch my story here.

It is hard to believe I started reporting and producing story packages just months ago. I feel I have improved beyond my personal expectations and look forward to learning even more in the new year!

Journalism Reflection: BBC

For my journalism reflection this week, I decided to cover the news outlet BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation. Today, the BBC (and other news outlets) had to cover the unfortunate news of the death of the 100th British soldier to die in Afghanistan in 2009. You can read the article here. The name of the killed soldier has yet to be released, which presents difficulty in humanizing the story. How can a journalist present this statistic as more than just a number? Well, the BBC reporter included an on-camera interview of a woman whose fiancee was killed in Afghanistan (scroll down to the middle of the article to view). Although she is not a family member of the soldier killed today, she can relate to them through her personal experience with a similar tragedy. 

The reporter did an excellent job of framing the interview subject and as a viewer, I am immediately drawn into her eyes, which seem to have a look of hopefulness and hopelessness at the same time. The interviewee talks about her struggle to stay positive for the sake of her children and how to explain to them that their father is not coming back. In the coming days, the identity of the 100th killed British soldier will most likely be released. It is unknown whether he or she has children of their own. This person is a daughter or a son, could be a sister or a brother, and could be leaving someone like the woman interviewed. 

Whether you agree or not with the current situation overseas, your heart goes out to the families who lose loved ones. It takes a journalist to report a statistic such as "100th UK Soldier Killed..." but it takes an excellent journalist to give that number a name and a greater sense of meaning. While this is not always possible, this report from the BBC proves one can still provide readers and viewers a "personal" connection to the story. 

I look forward to seeing the BBC's coverage of this "statistic" in the coming days ahead. Hopefully, the audience will get a "humanized" experience.

Personal Reflection: Reporting Shift #3

I learned a great lesson while reporting this week: even with planning ahead, sometimes nothing goes according to plan.

 Here is what happened-I arrived for my nightside reporting shift at KOMU 8 News yesterday. After pitching several ideas during the story meeting, I decided to cover an anonymous donation of 100 vouchers for turkeys to a food pantry in Hermann, MO. I was immediately interested in covering this story as it is in Gasconade County, which is relatively far from Columbia (about 1.5 hours) but is still in KOMU's viewing area. Also, this is a timely story as local food pantries are gearing up for Thanksgiving next week. Unfortunately, after making several calls, I discovered this food pantry is open on a volunteer basis and nobody would be in for the day. This would be perfect if I had a reporting shift next week!

After almost 2 hours of struggling to get contacts for my other story pitches, a producer suggested I do a story on "hunter safety." I made a call to the Department of Conservation but was told my contact, as well as anybody else knowledgable on the subject, was not in the office. I then hit the road and went to the nearest store which sold hunting equipment. There, I spoke with a gentleman who had been hunting for 50 years. Next, I went to Target Masters, an indoor facility where hunters and gun-owners practice shooting in a controlled environment. However, nobody was there practicing which left me with no visuals or opportunity for natural sound. While there, I spoke with the owner of the business, who also happened to be along-time gun owner. Next, I drove to a bar in Millersburg, MO, which tends to be a local hangout for hunters. Unfortunately, I stayed there for 30 minutes, with no luck-the establishment was empty as well. 

After leaving Millersburg, it was past 7 p.m. and I returned to KOMU. After speaking with producers and the script/video editor, we decided to "kill" the story. The reasoning behind this was the lack of "meat" in the story and little/no visuals. After this decision, I was extremely frustrated as I had spent the afternoon trying my very best to get a story completed. Not only did I let myself down, I also let my producers down. 

While this shift did not have the best outcome, it served as a learning experience. I had the opportunity to meet and interview people, traveled to a new town (Millersburg), and truly realized the difficulty of this profession. 

Let's hope I have better success in my shift-I'm determined to never let this happen again!

Journalism Reflection: The Boston Globe (Multimedia)

If you've ever been to Boston or know someone who has, sure enough you (or they) have heard of Brigham's. The ice cream and restaurant chain has been a staple in this city and its surrounding areas since the early 1900s. At one time, it seemed as though a Brigham's was on every corner. Brigham's ice cream is certainly part of the "local" flavor of Boston as is reflected in its ice cream flavors such as "Curse Reversed" (to reflect the Red Sox winning the 2004 World Series) and the "Big Dig" (the name of the city's large construction project). So when news broke that the last Brigham's in the city of Boston was closing, the Boston Globe sent a reporter to the restaurant during lunchtime.

As technology continues to expand and is constantly changing, the newspaper industry is changing with it. Had this Brigham's closed 10 years ago, a newspaper reporter probably would have shown up at this event with a notepad. Now, newspaper---and broadcast---journalists serve as "multimedia" journalists, presenting their story on multiple platforms. In addition to writing an article about the restaurant closing, the Boston Globe made a slideshow and a video. Being a broadcast journalist, I decided to highlight the video. You can view it here.

As a broadcast journalist, I am always faced with the question "why should people care about this story ?" Obviously, those involved in the story care about it but how about the average viewer who has no prior knowledge of the topic or issue at hand? To make viewers care, a successful journalist should humanize the story-tell it through the eyes of a person (or people) who it affects. The Boston Globe did a phenomenal job in this story video. After watching members of the long-time waitstaff cry and faithful customers say "I've been coming here for 30 years...I don't know what we'll do now," I couldn't help but start tearing up.

While the video is shaky and does not utilize many broadcast techniques such as proper interview framing, sequencing shots, and shooting video from a variety of angles, the reporter does an excellent job of making the viewer care. It doesn't matter if you've been eating Brigham's ice cream for years or had never heard of the chain before this story. This video makes you realize how important a sandwich and ice cream shop has been to this community, and the many lives it has touched. That is great journalism.