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.

Personal Reflection: Reporting Shift #1

This past Tuesday, I completed my first reporting shift at KOMU 8 News. I was reporting nightside, which meant my shift began at 1:30 pm to complete a package for the 10 p.m. newscast. Let's just say, it was quite the memorable first shift.

In the middle of our afternoon story meeting, the news director received a press release detailing a 3-year-old girl in Owensville, MO, had been shot in her backyard and was in critical condition at a hospital in St. Louis. I immediately volunteered to take this story. After making a call to the Gasconade County Sheriff's Department, the Sheriff agreed to do an on-camera interview with me to talk about what happened. With more than an hour to drive to get to the Sheriff, I grabbed my gear and hit the road.

Upon arriving at the Sheriff's office, I quickly unloaded my gear and began the interview. Sheriff Randy Esphorst would not release to me the name of the victim or who the shooter was, but was able to give me the facts of what led up to this horrible accident. While in the middle of our interview, the Sheriff received a call the little girl had died. I was the first journalist to be informed this young victim had not survived. After making a call to my producer and sharing this news on KOMU's twitter feed, I finished talking with the Sheriff. 

Back on the road, I headed another 35 miles to Owensville. The Sheriff informed me the shooting took place in the little girl's back yard, located at her home on Highway EE. Upon finding the location, I pulled to the side of the road, which happened to have a bit of tilt to it. This was a bad idea, as it was also muddy, and my station car got stuck. The sun was also starting to go down, so I went into panic mode. I still needed b-roll of where the shooting took place and a reaction from a member of the community. After standing on the side of the road, Jeff Mades pulled over to help. It turns out he lives in Owensville and has a 3-year-old himself. He waited with me for a tow truck to get my car out of the ditch. While we chatted, he went on camera to share with me his reaction.

Meanwhile, across the street from where my car got stuck was a house sharing the backyard with the victim's home. This neighbor had seen me in distress and had also called a tow truck. As I asked him about the shooting, he got emotional and shared with me what had happened. He did not want to be identified or go on camera, but was willing to let me stand on his property to get b-roll of exactly where the accident occurred. 

As I was shooting b-roll, two tow trucks arrived to pull out my car. While only one was needed, both drivers stuck around to make sure the car made it out okay. After the car was back on "flat" road and was ready to go, one tow truck driver shared with me he knew the bullets had been shot from a house around the bend. After thanking the gentlemen who called the first two truck, the neighbor, and both tow truck drivers, I headed down the street to get some b-roll of the shooter's home as well as a paper plate target on a nearby tree. This target was similar to the one the shooter had been aiming for, when his bullet missed and traveled 365 yards, striking the young girl in the head.

At this point, it was nearly dark, so I packed up the car and headed to the station. Just over 1.5 hours later, I was back at KOMU 8 writing and editing my package. I was quickly informed my package would be the lead story. Was I nervous? Petrified is more like it. However, my adrenaline quickly kicked in and I got into work mode. Less than 2 hours later, my package was ready to go-with 30 minutes until air. Not too bad for a first shift!

This is a reporting day I will always remember. While it would have been easy for me to give up or quit because of the car situation, I "pulled up my bootstraps" and did what my duty as a journalist is: getting the story straight to inform our viewers about this horrible accident. I will never forget how a minor "bump" in the road turned into getting the story.

Read my story about the Glasconade County shooting. 

Journalism Reflection: The New Yorker

For my news reflection this week, I decided to review and discuss the article "Chin Music" by Louis Menand of The New Yorker. The writer discusses the current "war" between President Barack Obama's administration and the Fox News Channel. Political coverage is a main component of most news organizations, whether it is on a local, national, or international level. Reading about a "battle" between the current presidential administration of one of the most powerful nations in the world and a highly successful right-wing cable news network ought to make for an interesting article, I thought. 

Menand's statement, "...cable news, in short, is a sandbox. People throw things at one another, not just for fun but for profit," got me thinking. Is the drama factor of two opposing (in this case political) viewpoints dishing it out at one another on national television overtaking the meaning of honest journalism? Is cable news too sensationalized? Have these journalists lost sight of what their role is? It could be argued cable news requires its news teams to cover issues and topics in a different way than in traditional news outlets. On the other hand, it can be argued cable news should still be sticking to the methods of traditional journalism. Despite what your opinion or mine is, one thing is clear: whatever the Fox News Channel is doing, it's working.

The author reports in 2008, half the people who watched the Fox News Channel were over sixty-three. This makes it the oldest demographic in the cable-news business. Since Barack Obama took office, the channel's ratings continue to do well as the news network has taken an anti-Administration stance. Menand writes the current administration's decision to "declare war" on Fox News should only help the channel's ratings. 

Menand raises the question, "are Presidential wars against the press always futile and self-defeating?" President Lyndon Johnson attempted to make friends with the press, which proved unsuccessful. President Richard Nixon took the opposite approach but still managed to get reelected. Obama's spokespersons have been giving Fox News a substantial amount of material to work with, which Menand feels has contributed to the network's success. 

Menand does not deny the Fox News Channel has a certain agenda; it is a politically biased organization. Roger Ailes (under supervision of Rupert Murdoch) launched the network in 1996. He had previously worked with President Nixon to shape his "newer" image. Since Nixon's time, though, Menand argues news professionals like Ailes no longer hold the power to completely sway public opinion based on a newscast. He writes, "although political reporting today is both softer and more critical, it has less effect on how the public regards the President than it did back in the days of balanced disinterestedness."

The writer adds some interesting statistics worth noting. In a recent Pew survey, he writes, public belief in the accuracy of news stories is at a twenty-year low. Twenty-nine percent of Americans think news outlets have correct facts; sixty-three percent think they do not; sixty percent believe that reporting is politically biased. These are some eye-opening statistics to take into consideration. Menand believes, "...in a climate which bias is increasingly taken for granted, cable channels have every incentive to enhance their appeal to their core constituencies." Translation: Fox News is doing everything it can to maintain and add to its large right-wing viewer base.

As a young journalist, this makes me wonder how far an individual or group, such as the Obama administration, and how far a news outlet, such as Fox News, should go before enough is enough. To this, Louis Menand says, "...the state may, and should, rebut opinions that it finds obnoxious, but it should not single out speakers for the purpose of intimidating them. At the end of the day, you do not want your opponents to be able to say they could not be heard. It may be exasperating, but that is what the First Amendment is all about." So, for now, it looks as though the "battle" between the two opposing political sides will continue...all in the name of journalism, of course.