These 3 stories, all coming in during my city desk shift and within about an hour of each other, were stressful and time consuming (since I was trying to also finish the medical school's rural program story). By this time I felt like I had a feel for how to write quick briefs based on media releases. I tried to speak to police representatives when I could and did for the car chase story. Matt helped me out tremendously on that one (and really all of them) by giving me the number of someone who could answer my questions while the PIO was not returning my calls.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Rural Medicine
This was another story passed to me by the ACE's and was a story that grew on me the more I worked on it. The story was originally held a day with the hope of getting an interview with one of the students entering the program, but unfortunately none of the names responded to my calls (only one responded ever and she called me back on sunday, 2 days later). However with the help of a previous Missourian article and a good interview with the director of the program I thought that I at least had the important information down.
High-speed Internet
I picked up this assignment from one of the ACE's and did my best with research and understanding the program and what the award might mean for Columbia. Unfortunately, I was scheduled to work my job that evening and none of my sources were returning my phone calls. I passed all my information off to the ACE's (who in turn passed it off to Mallory) and continued to pass information along as I received it (of course the sources all return my phone calls right as I arrived at work).
Election Day
This assignment was an exciting opportunity to do what I love. I hadn't taken my camera out much during my Missourian shifts so this was a nice change of pace. I worked with Alysha to get the whole story (she recorded audio and I made pictures) and as a result I thought we had a nice collection of images and audio. Alysha, who had never recorded audio before did a great job watching the levels. I put together the audio and stills because I could get it done quicker. After working in the newsroom all day and doing the final edits with Alysha I feel our final piece came together nicely.
Grizzly
Photographing the bears was an exciting chance to make up for the debacle that was the Boone County Fair Queen. It was pretty basic event coverage and I tried to do my best to explain what one would see and talk about the bears trainers. Despite the miserable heat, I watch the show and watched the audience. The first quote of the article came from the little boy sitting next to me and I knew I would have to use it once he said it.
Friday, August 6, 2010
IBM story
This story was fairly simple, mostly just rewriting a media release, however the effort of trying to reach public relations officials was more difficult than I would care for it to be. Getting a return phone call was an uphill battle frequently ending in an awkward phone conversation at an inopportune time. The story went well I thought, I like doing that type of research.
Queen crowned at Boone County Fair
This story was a disappointing experience on all levels, however that is not to say that it was not beneficial. Covering this event was challenging mainly due to my own insecurities. I went into the event nervous and unsure how to cover an event like that. I allowed my attitude to effect my work, causing me to be more cynical and, as a result, made me a bad observer. Although this story was a failure, I learned quickly from it to approach each story with confidence. A story is only as difficult as I allow it to be.
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