Cleared for Takeoff

I finally got cleared for KOMU. I liked Greeley's suggested changes to my story - first off, the audio problems I had were easily fixed, and the redone standup was a lot better than my original. So, I'm quite relieved since, as I understand it, we don't have to do packages for class until our KOMU reporting shifts. I might knock out a few of them over Spring Break as I'll be here in Columbia. The VO patrols sound absurdly easy - I think I'll enjoy doing them because it basically involves going out, shooting video, and coming back to the station to edit them. The picture to the right of the police officers on the bikes is kind of how I imagine the VO patrols - we'll be ON PATROL!

I also purchased items for the "reporter's briefcase". I enjoyed an exhilarating 2+ hours at Target on Saturday, roaming the aisles to find various items. I then bought a leather briefcase on Craigslist from a woman in North Columbia. Part of this shopping spree included buying a few additions to the work/journalist wardrobe. I found a few great deals at Dillards, so I'm happy with the new threads. It's VERY rare for me to spend money on myself like that (even $50 total at one store) so to be honest, I'm happy I got it over with.

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For my journalism reflection for this week, I really enjoyed the 60 Minutes interview with Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chief. Apparently it's the first interview of any kind with said Chief, so it was impressive for Scott Pelley to get Bernanke on camera.

I thought producers Henry Schuster and Rebecca Peterson did a great job of getting video for almost everything they referenced - be it Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Bear Stearns, etc. We also saw some really cool shots of the Federal Reserve's interior, especially the machines making cash. It really looked like the most basic form of shooting in sequences and editing in the camera, but to the viewer in me, it seemed really awesome. The photog did a great job of shooting Pelley and Bernanke while walking around the Reserve - giving the two plenty of depth, showing us all the ornate artwork and masonry. I was a little surprised at how dark the interview seemed - the light was a bit odd. It could have been my TV, but the background behind Bernanke was totally red and Scott Pelley seemed out of focus on the reversal questions.

One of my favorite aspects of this story was how Bernanke is portrayed as more than just an Ivy League scholar economist. We see his hometown and his VERY humble roots in Dillon, SC. I think he has a lot more in common with the "Everyday" American than what people expect. I think one of Pelley's objectives in this story was to find out more about Bernanke and show his personal side so we can understand the difficulties his job entails. I was really impressed with this side of the story and I think Pelley did a good job of telling it.

We also saw Pelley preface his questions with phrases like "I know there are thousands of Americans thinking ____", "Everyone wants me to ask this", and "for most people". I was intrigued by how he tried to put himself in a viewer's place and really ask some tough questions - whether he was successful in getting some modicum of truth out of it, I don't know - but I really liked his approach.

Feeling the burnout

Something has hit me in the last two weeks or so and I don't have the same enthusiasm for reporting that I used to. It could be stress, it could be poorly-done packages, I don't know. It's like I have to push myself to even do something as simple as logging into this Blogger page to write a blog post. I feel like sometimes I don't have any sort of motivation to do anything. I've been falling behind in my other classes and I'm really frustrated. I did a really shitty job on my last package and I should have done a better job - I blew a great story and jumbled it together into a garbage conglomeration.

Anyway, I stumbled onto a good CBS Evening News story about the stimulus package's job creation. It's very fluffy but I enjoyed it:
Watch CBS Videos Online

I think in covering the stimulus stuff we, the media, have gotten too caught up in the political wrangling and fail to see who it will benefit - in this case, people like Philadelphia's George DiBruno. Jeff Glor and Ben Tracy did a good job of finding hourly wages for blue-collar workers, i.e. $21.50 an hour for electricians. I think it was also good to see the "working man" view of this issue - instead of just corporate spokesmen and bullshit-spewing economists. Yeah, I admit, this story could be construed as a PR piece for President Obama - but as the "brilliant" Wayne Freedman would say, this story sought to tell "what is" instead of what we expected - we could have expected to hear from a Republican opposed to the stimulus plan, or someone else against it, but from Glor's reporting it appears he did not find anyone of that opinion. It helps that Philadelphia is a liberal city, but regardless, he went into a situation and told the story from their perspective.

I have no idea what I am supposed to do for a story idea for next week. Newsgathering? I used a story idea I pitched several weeks ago for this most recent package. As I wrote previously, I'd been brewing it for several weeks. Assuming my corrections to the most recent package are enough to clear me to KOMU, then what? The syllabus says we have to do packages - I'm really confused and feeling like an idiot.

Following up...

I've been brewing the story for several weeks - the autistic kid who works at Gerbes and uses his paycheck to help his family buy groceries. I went to the Gerbes yesterday and asked the supervisor when he's working next - on the condition that I was doing a story on him. I know it's sketchy to show up and ask when someone's working! He's scheduled to work tomorrow afternoon, so it'll be perfect if I can get some video of him at work, then go to his house and interview his parents and get some video there. Obviously, I'll need to interview him too - thankfully I have the camera for an overnight, so I'll have plenty of time to interview him. A news angle of this? Not much - like my last package, this is oriented more towards human-interest. But I think as I talk to the family, there might be something I can tie in - for instance, the amount of children/teenagers who are autistic or how people in Mid-Mo could have support networks in place for people with autism.
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Reporting on my feet

My original story idea for this week was "old news" re: the pit bull ban in Fayette. I'm glad that Greeley told me beforehand about that - instead of going through with the entire story and then getting hammered for it being a crusty, old, overreported story. I had thought my angle on it - that the ban goes into effect this week - was worthy enough, but as you'll read a little bit further on, I'm glad I didn't do this story.

Greeley mentioned this week that it's vital to have a "plan B" - and for me, this week was a great time to put it to use. There's an older woman (Nancy) in my Cross Cultural Psychology class who seems to just have an incredible burden and an amazing all-around story. I spoke with her and found out she has lupus (and needs a motorized wheelchair to get around), takes 20 hours of classes at MU, cares for her two high-functioning autistic children, and has had to deal with an incredible amount of stress in the past few months. Her husband got sick and had to be placed on long-term disability from his job, and her 18-year old daughter just found out she is pregnant. Sound crazy? That's not all. Because of legal technicalities surrounding her husband's long-term disability payments, the insurance company has taken steps to try and recollect the payments at an incredibly inopportune time.

Phew. All that aside. So now, as I mentioned above, Nancy's son is considered highly-functioning autistic. He's 16 and Nancy tells me he works about 20 hours a week at Gerbes. Sound good? Yep - sure, what high schooler wouldn't want spending money? Well, it turns out that because of the family's dire financial straits, he has taken it upon himself to use his paycheck to help pay for groceries and other household items. Nancy said it best herself, "You just can't make this stuff up, I can't believe this is actually going on." So, my plan for tomorrow (Saturday) is to try and meet up with Nancy and her son - she tells me he is scheduled to work at Gerbes during the day, so I'd like to get some video of him at work, then interview him and his parents at home.

My first thought this morning upon arriving to the commuter parking lot at the Hearnes Center was, "What the hell is going on!?" There were quite a few buses already in the lot, and it seemed like the entire parking lot was full - the Missouri State High School Wrestling tournament is at Mizzou Arena for the next few days. So with my plans to interview Nancy's son in limbo, I figured I'd swing by the Arena when I had the camera today to find a story. So after picking up the camera, I fought Columbia's stop & go traffic down to Mizzou Arena and managed to sweet-talk my way into the lot behind the Arena where all the buses park. I figured there'd be a gold mine of stories waiting to be told by some of the bus drivers - especially since many come from all around the state for this.

Now, I know what you're going to ask - what's the local angle? Well, the CCC I found isn't a Mid-Missouri resident, but the story he told me sounded like something many people can identify with - and his presence at Mizzou Arena was much more than just a job.

I struck up a conversation with a gentleman by the name of Anthony (whose last name slips my mind - he gave it to me on the tape but I haven't reviewed it yet). A bus driver for two years, Anthony drives for the Kansas City Center School District. Long story short, he retired from his old full-time job several years ago, but as cost of living expenses kept rising (i.e. gas, food), Anthony says he had to take the bus driving job to help pay for the future cost of his daughter's college education. While saying he is a "Jayhawk fan", he says he is immensely proud of the fact that his daughter will be attending Mizzou in the fall. He spoke passionately about how much it meant to him that his daughter has a chance to get a college education. He says he feels, as an African-American, that society has made vast strides in furthering racial equality; but at the same time felt that it is up to our (and his daughter's) generation to truly cement the gains made in his lifetime.

It was an incredibly moving conversation. I felt like he had a lot of emotion and approached life with a lot of zeal. I followed Anthony and another bus driver into the Arena, and I got some video of Anthony watching the wrestling matches. He said he'd be here all weekend, so I'd like to try and track him down again and try to get a picture of his daughter than I can use for the story. I also got some video of him cleaning out the bus - sweeping, talking on his cell phone, etc., so I feel I'm turning an "event" story into a more full feature on the little people behind the big high school tournament show.

Phew. Quite a week, and yet all this work to do!

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As for a journalistic reflection, my Mom told me about a fantastic hour-long story on 20/20 about poverty-stricken areas of Appalachia. Diane Sawyer reported on four teenagers all trying to find a way out of their situations. I thought the stories themselves were tremendous - each kid had been through some amazing experiences - both difficult and uplifting at the same time. All four had dealt with horrible family conditions - one young man has to live in his truck because his parents are alcoholics and deal drugs, and his dream is to get out of there, get to college any way he can - which for him means playing football. Another man gets a job in a coal mine at the age of 17 - paying $65,000 a year, a fantastic sum for someone without a college diploma. There are two girls who both live in drug-infested houses. Basically, the hour-long show followed the four for about two years.

This is the story: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=6865077&page=1

I felt it was an amazing job of getting the real authentic scenario for each individual. We are taken inside each person's home and spoken to like a trusted friend. The adults even show us their drug staches. Sawyer travels miles underground into the mine where one of the teenagers works. We're shown the horrible health and dental conditions that many children have in the region. My only complaint about this story was that at some very select moments, it seemed like Sawyer inserted herself into the story.

Car Chronicles and Newsgathering 2/13

So I'm sitting in the Albert Honda waiting area to get my state inspection. For my last story, I REALLY wanted a nat sound bite of the old lady using the intercom to page and saying "KEVIN WILHITE, PICK UP LINE 4" or "ERIC CRONACHER, PICK UP LINE 3", "SALES, LINE 2".

Anywho, I'm covering the "Erase Hate 5k" tomorrow for my second package. It should be a relatively easy package with plenty of action video and a good variety of voices to use. As far as newsgathering goes, I got an email about it with a PDF file with all the details. I'm on the LGBT listerv in addition to having a class where the professor sends out any multi-cultural events going on in Columbia.

The proceeds of the race go to benefit "The Center" project, which is an LGBT community center. The Center going to be in downtown Columbia. It's significant because it's the first of its kind in Mid-Missouri, and even more interesting because it's not affiliated with any of the higher-education institutions in the area. It'll be financed purely on donations and fundraising projects, so it's quite ambitious. I have no vested interest in this because I don't plan on ever going to The Center. It's also an interesting take on the event to proclaim it a memorial for Lawrence King, a 15-year old victim of a hate crime in California. Since his death, there has been (at least from what I've read/watched) a large outcry for more anti-bullying and hate crimes protection laws. Missouri does not have laws to protect students in a situation like this.

The 5k starts at 11am at Stephens Lake Park, and later in the day is the Polar Bear Plunge at the very same location, so it'll be fun to see if there are any early-arrivers for the Plunge. I wonder if anyone practices their "plunge" too into the lake?

This is what I was hoping for

60 Minutes' story on Wilmington, Ohio and the worldwide recession's effect on a small Midwestern town. I had hoped to to tell a similar story with my "American Auto Dealers of Mid-Missouri".

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4752321n

Working On A Dream: 65 Degree Weather in February?

NPR is generally absurdly good when it comes to covering economic and political issues, and this week was no exception with the "stimulus" package in the Senate, and worsening employment numbers throughout the world. I caught a lot of All Things Considered this week, and one story that stood out to me was Nancy Mullane's story on California's job-placement offices suddenly being swamped with people desperate for work. Here's the link to it -

It really struck me as a story with great sound and a lot of very interesting characters. It was timely with 200,000 state employees being "furloughed" from work due to a complete lack of cash within California's coffers. As I re-listen to this story, her use of background sound is incredibly effective. She introduces the scene with a security guard fumbling with a lock to open the doors of the Downtown Employment Development Department. We also hear workers at the center trying to keep the job-seekers calm - we overhear a man frustratedly say "I've been coming here for 4 days!" to which someone responds "I'll treat you with respect but all these need to be stapled together." The whole story was very interesting because Mullane gets great quotes out of people, especially those recently laid-off. One woman mentions that she came to the employment office because they have direct lines to unemployment insurance processing companies; when she tried several times from home BEFORE the lines opened at 8AM, the representatives were already too busy to take her call.

She includes some intriguing details, like how some people's eyes are "sore and red" as if they had been crying. Her final soundbite is with a woman who says "It's hard to be positive but sometimes that's all you have." I felt like this story was incredibly poignant and reflected much of the frustration of people trying to deal with bureaucracy - a pain in the neck for sure, but a necessary move to begin receiving unemployment checks. The story is effective because for all the political rhetoric and garbage being thrown around about "government stimulus", we can get down to the bottom of what it's like for "normal" people to suddenly be unemployed - for example, the 32-year old working in formerly a "hot" field, internet marketing, somehow laid off. That was my goal in my American Auto Dealers of Mid Missouri story, and I feel I fell well short of it.

Oh, and the title to this entry stems a combination of Bruce Springsteen's fantastic new album, "Working on a Dream" and our fine Mid-Missouri weather treating us to three 60+degree days in a row in February!
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My first B2 package has been incredibly difficult to tell visually. I feel I found an intriguing CCC and plenty of facts to wrap around his story, but Mid-Missouri's auto dealership struggles directly affected me too. Besides John Rettis and the sales manager of Albert Honda, no dealers were willing to talk about either their struggles or the "American Auto Dealers of Mid Missouri" commercial; especially not to a student doing a story for class. I feel sometimes I am so wrapped up in finding a GREAT story outside of Columbia that I miss easy/worthwhile stories happening right around me. For instance, my story proposal about the highway intersection in Marshall - I love the notion of getting outside of Columbia, and usually it's a worthy pursuit. But it would involve a massive amount of time, travel, and research to fully tell the story. I think that same problem befell me on this story. I would need to take several trips to Fulton or elsewhere, after signing out equipment (an enormous pain in the rear) to get more interesting video. My ideal situation with this story would have involved shadowing John Rettis on a normal business day (not a Saturday, when I interviewed him) to follow his interactions with customers, employees, and his family. His wife called his cell phone as I was finishing up at the dealership, and he agreed to give her a ride home from where ever she was - that led me to believe Rettis definitely is just a normal family man trying to ride out the economic storm. I had wanted to tell that aspect in the story, but I don't think I succeeded on it. I feel I definitely put in my best effort on this, and I'm very happy with my stand-up, but I'm dissapointed in the final product.