Luck of the Draw

Isn't interesting how the world has it's moments that just have us wondering: Why? Why me? One Saint Paul, MN woman knows exactly what I'm talking about. KARE 11 in Minneapolis covered a story about a singer with a shocking story. Just before Molly Maher's band would be booked for Rock The Cure, a concert dedicated to fight breast cancer, Maher received news she has breast cancer.

• Maher works at a guitar store in Saint Paul, Willie's American Guitars. 
• She's 39-years-old and never expected cancer to be in the cards. 
• No one in her family has a history of any cancer. 
• Maher found a lump in her breast. 
• Doctors diagnosed her in February. 

In the article, she claims to be healthy, eat right and exercise, but luck gets in the way." Not the kind of luck you wish for.


The founder of Rock The Cure, Angie Hanzel-Palomo, wanted Mahler's band to be the opening band for this year's breast cancer fundraiser. Maher and Hanzel-Palomo go years back as Molly has helped Willie's donate guitars to Rock The Cure.  These are guitars signed by musicians such as Bruce Springsteen and Melissa Etheridge.

Photo Courtesy: KARE 11

Moller Maher and Her Disbelievers would be a part of the concert this time. Maher's already has a connection with the fund's benefits. The Susan Komen fund, Rock The Cure's breast cancer fund, offers free breast exams through the SAGE women's clinic. Maher's had these free exams.

• This year's concert will be the ninth annual Rock The Cure. It's raised a whopping $120,000 for breast cancer already. 

Maher's had a few months to fight her own battle while preparing for the performance.

• The rocking and rolling takes place May 1 at 8 p.m. 

I like the way Kare 11's Renee Tessman writes this story. She includes facts, great, emotional quotes and background into the character leading into the story. The story has a good flow.

I was confused whether or not Hanzel-Palomo had sent the email before or after Maher's diagnosis. Tessman quotes Hanzel-Palomo saying she had the invite email to Maher in her drafts email.

• The reporter never clarifies when she sent the invite and the reaction Hanzel-Palomo gets. I think this is important to make clear to readers. 

It makes us assume what we want. We shouldn't have to assume anything. That kind of irritated me.

I like that there are a few links embedded in the story. It's easy to navigate and find any additional information right in the body of the story.

• I wish we used our links that way at KOMU. I think it would be easier for viewers to have the option to go to the links and numbers section and/or click on links directly in the story. 

The photos have plenty of depth to it. I was jealous of the fantastic photography.

• I want to improve my videography to take shots that compel viewers like Maher's photos do. The depth allows you to feel emotions through the photos. 

It's a simple story with a deeper meaning. Although Maher has bad news, she gets to experience it in a good way.

• Performing to help others while fighting her own battle. 

That's made me feel very bittersweet.

The reporter demonstrates this idea very well with the structure of the story. Like I said before, it has a nice flow. That is the most important thing for a story, I believe.

The story made me want to close my eyes and listen because the audio was very enticing. At the same time, I kept wanting to watch the smooth flow of shots of Maher and others playing. I felt at ease with this story. The flow showed in words and through broadcast. That is a tough thing to accomplish; one I'm striving for every day.

Market Madness

Fresh fruits and veggies galore all in one spot grown right in your local area. Yumm! Too bad the city is cutting funding that helps support this place. I'm talking about a farmer's market in Myrtle Beach, SC. I figured since I'm heading down to Myrtle Beach this summer for an internship, I should check out how all the local television stations cover news. I simply searched Myrtle Beach in Google News and found this story. It caught my eye because I did my first story about how popular farmer's markets have become last semester.

The anchor seems to be a little distracted in the intro. It takes her a while to spit out what she's trying to get across. It's distracting to the viewers. As the directors takes the package they use a graphic that says "Top Story" which I found to be interesting and eye-catching.

PHOTO COURTESY: scnow.com

One thing I noticed was a lack of a natural sound opening. This brings viewers closer to listen and watch. The reporter did not start her story with sounds of the market but with her voice. It's not as appealing. I'm an avid fan of nat opens. It's a must!

I enjoyed much of the video, especially the close-up shot of the tomatoes. You could see how plump and juicy they looked; it made me want to go out and buy one! However, I feel like the reporter didn't demonstrate how many people were at the market. I wanted a few more wide shots in the story.

Wendi, the reporter, does provide good facts with numbers of how much money the city will save by cutting support to the market. I like that she talks to several different people shoppers and vendors, but I want to hear from one of them sooner. There's too much of her talking in the beginning to the first sound bite.  I also noticed that she re-used a piece of video within 15 seconds of the story. That's a bit redundant.

I did like the framing on all of the interviews. You had a good feel for where they were at; she created a good background for all of them. I'm a fan of starting your sound bite with b-roll video then going to the video of the interviewee and back to b-roll. It has a nice flow. I'd like to incorporate that in my reporting more often. I wish I had more time in my past two reporting shifts to tweak my stories to do that. However, that's not always appropriate. I think it can be used often but not always.

PHOTO COURTESY: sodahead.com

The sound of the cash register was a great transition out of the sound bite and into her voice track. That's the kind of sound viewers want to hear. Wendi's stand-up was very demonstrative and provided good information. She showed us the fruits and veggies and turned to a local vendor as she talked about the changes local vendors will see.

She goes to a sound bite with a "Myrtle Beach Spokesperson". I'm not sure what that means. I feel like that title is way too vague. I'm assuming he's on the city council or maybe not. I would want a more direct title for this person.

Wendi uses phrases like "plans to tackle" and "funding slated to stop". These are catchy and flashy. Love them! Good writing makes a big difference. I'm working on making mine better with every story.

Tragedy for Local Theater

Acting's been a hobby of mine since the seventh grade. I fell in love with theater from the first play I witnessed in junior high. When I came to college, it was so hard to realize I no longer had time to take part in theater. I've taken a few theater classes luckily, attending a few plays here and there.

Sunday night a friend of mine told me he went to a play over the summer at this outdoor theater. He said he the audience sat outside and watched the play; it's stage was outside too. There was a barn behind it as it's back stage and storage place.

On the night of Monday, April 5, that very barn theater went up in flames. I couldn't believe one day after my friend told that story, the theater was gone. My friend Laura and I were jogging that night nearby and saw the giant cloud of smoke from afar. Then, the sirens came. One fire truck after another after another flew past us on Grindstone Parkway. To make a long story short, we tried to get closer to the fire to see what exactly was up in flames, but we never got close enough to figure it out.

We ran back and I immediately got on twitter. There were several tweets from KOMUNews that the Maplewood Barn Theatre was on fire. I learned the following morning it had burned to the ground completely.  This is one great thing I love about news nowadays. You can get instant coverage from reporters and citizens on Twitter. I'll always use this in my reporting.

Tuesday afternoon I walked into KOMU wanting to know more. KOMU 8's Allison Archer was already working on the fire investigation story. I spoke with her and found out what she knew and also looked at her video. I was purely interested in the story on my own without knowing what happened next. Randy assigned me to cover the board members' meeting that night; they'd be discussing what to do now that the theater is gone. Looking at the video and asking Allison really helped me get a better idea what was going on so I could further my story. I'm so glad I was so curious.

I started looking into finding out the exact time and location of the meeting by searching on the theater's website, looking for phone numbers. After I got several voice mails, I realize that I should've asked Allison before I did all the unnecessary searching. She had the president's cell phone number. I called him and told him I'd like to attend the meeting and get an interview afterward. He said he'd love to have me and felt it was necessary for the media to cover what they'd be discussing.
                                                             
Thereafter, I went through media manager and pulled in all the potential video I could use of the fire the night before and the destruction video Allison had shot Tuesday morning. I'm really glad I did this because it really saved me time later on.

I pre-wrote my script as much as I could so that once I got back from the meeting, I could just plug in the rest of what I got from the meeting. I decided I'd talk about the brand new stage built three weeks ago in my stand-up. I asked one of the other reporters who was covering the election if he'd like some photog experience to shoot my stand-up. Chris Saunders and I headed out to the scene. We both learned a great deal how to use the cameras in tough lighting and how to make my stand-up look the best it could to show the burnt stage. I'm very proud that we took the time to make it look good. The only thing I wish I did was say, "it's just a burnt platform" instead of "just a burnt platform." The "it's" would've named the stage that I left out.

I pulled in my stand-up and laid it down on my sequence. I did as much as I could before I headed to the meeting. I'm glad I pre-planned like I did. I learned a lot about creating your own luck, being organized and planning ahead.

When I got to the meeting at Flat Branch, I was a little overwhelmed because the lighting was poor and it was so loud, I could barely hear what was being said. I adjusted everything on the camera so the lighting was decent. That turned out okay, I wish I got more shots that weren't so shaky. I took the camera off the tripod to get a different angle, but it was still too shaky. I got all my information written down and asked the president, Michael Scott, to verify what I had overheard. Then, I did my interview with him and another board member. I got great sound bites, but Michael spoke softly. I pulled him away from the crowd, but it wasn't enough. I learned that in that kind of situation, maybe I should have pulled him outside the restaurant.

I got back and put the package together in less than an hour. It was pretty difficult but I got it done. It wasn't the very best, but I learned a lot and I think I did well with the timing and all. I got a lot of compliments on my stand-up. I'm definitely proud of that.

Theater board members want to try and fix up the burnt stage and put on next month's play at Nifong Park. It all depends if they can afford to put up tents to store the costumes, props, tools and such to use in place of the barn. The other option is to perform at local colleges.

Covering a theater fire was interesting and sad at the same time. I felt sympathetic for the board members as a reporter and a theater lover. I'm glad I can add this story to my background. I learned a great deal.

Covering Fires

Smoke escapes and flames ignite as scared faces watch a burning building. It's always interesting to see how stations cover fires. I looked at WMBF News in Myrtle Beach at a recent fire it covered. I think its reporters did a fine job covering this fire.

There were also two photos on the web of the fire. One photo showed the smoke building up from the apartments on fire. The other was just a shot of the fire truck. I didn't think it was very stimulating.

Photo Courtesy: wmbfnews.com

The reporter should have put a photo of the fire more close-up. It's a 'duh' moment showing a fire truck. We all know they're going to have a fire truck at the scene of fire.                                    


It's extremely important to show viewers where a fire is located.
WMBF News' story is a great example of how to do this.

Photo Courtesy: wmbfnews.com    
              
They go from the anchor to boxes with a map and zoom in to show the exact location of the fire. Then, the story uses photos sent in by viewers of the fire scene. This is a phenomenal way to use social media and citizen journalism to your advantage.                                                    

You can use what you don't have when your crew wasn't on the scene. I love how journalism has grown to use things kinds of opportunities.

They had a live reporter on the phone. I'm assuming that they simply couldn't get their live truck on the scene for some reason. This is another good way to get a reporter's perspective live when you don't have all of your tools. They used a picture of the reporter so you see who was talking on the phone. This is a tool many stations use that I think is a smart move. People want to see what they hear. Since they can't see the reporter, a photo is the next best thing. The producers rolled the fire photos while the reporter was talking about the fire. This is another way to put pictures to what you're hearing.

The reporter talks about the status of the fire, what neighbors are saying, how many apartments were affected by the fire and what fire investigators are looking into. These are the fine details you want to talk about to inform your viewers.

Here's Kyle Grainger's story: Fire

Green is Alive with the Sound of Music!

Go Green! That's the big fad these days. Many people advocate to save the environment.  But I'm not blogging about that. I'm talking about the one day everyone wears green...for the Irish! St. Patrick's Day. One Columbia woman doesn't just wear green on this day. She's a musician who brings her talents to senior citizens on St. Patty's Day. Another reporter, Kylie, and I went out to cover the holiday festivities and ended up with a great, little story. The executive producer at KOMU told us she passed by a house fully decorated in green. She thought it'd be worth stopping by and possibly talking to the owner.

 
When we got there, no one was home. We decided to get some video and head downtown and talk to people celebrating there. Just before we packed up our gear, Cookie Hagan pulled in her driveway. She was wearing this great black hat rimmed with green and green beads around her neck. "This is going to be great!" I thought to myself. We told her that we were doing a little story about St. Pat's Day. We said we loved her house and we'd love to talk to her if she didn't mind. She was more than willing. We began to set-up while she went inside. I shot most of the video while Kylie gave her thoughts. Since we were set-up in front of the house, Cookie came out her front door, so we had the perfect video of her to use. Turns out Cookie plays the harmonica and ukulele in several bands.
Photo Courtesy: thegift.com

We asked her questions like, "Why decorate on St. Pat's?" "Is there any special meaning?" "Are you Irish?" We got some great quotes from those questions. She said she's 'Cookie O'Hagan' every March 17th. What a crack up. I was having one of the best St. Pat's Days and I was working! Imagine that!

We asked if she'd be stopping by a senior center to play her harmonica and she said, "Sure! Why not?" We asked if she could play play her for us in her house in case we couldn't get in the senior center. This worked out perfectly because it provided us with more video. She played O' Danny Boy; an appropriate melody for the day. One thing I wish I did: get video of the boom box playing so the viewers could see music came from her playing and the CD player.

Luckily, we got in the senior center and got video of Cookie playing for her friend Sue. Sue was a bundle of joy. The expression on her face was priceless. I wish I had a different angle on the two of them. I eventually moved my camera angle, but didn't have very much time to get enough video from that view point.

Here's the story we put together at KOMU: An Irish Song.
                                                   
                                                                                                          Photo Courtesy: musicwithease.com

Up In The Air

Heights have never made me nervous like some people. I could stand at the edge of a cliff, feel my heart beating and love every bit of it. Every vacation my family and I took, I wanted to partake in any adventurous, dangerous activity offered. When I was ten, my brother, sister and me hopped on a small plane and took a ride around the area of the North Woods of Wisconsin. It was one of the greatest memories I have.

When an airplane story crossed my journalism path, I jumped to cover it. There's this little aircraft repair shop in Fulton, MO. It's been open for 10 years, but any average passerby probably never noticed the shop.

I'll admit that I could have covered this story a heck of a lot better. I needed more of a business side. I only spoke to the guys at the shop. As my professor stated, too much like a commercial; I agreed.

Nevertheless, I had fun and learned a great deal.

Skytek's shop is a four-car sized garage at the Elton Memorial Airport in Fulton. During the wintertime, the owner, Bob Moseley, says they're pretty slow. But lately, they've had the business this winter since opening.

I wish I had gone to Skytek when it was a little warmer and not so much snow on the ground. That day kind of limited me to what I could shoot. I wish I had video and sound of the plane engine and the mechanics moving the planes.

I shot my stand-up in front of the plane. It looked pretty cool but I thought of a better idea after I had already shot it. I could've sat in the actual plane and talked. That would've been much more captivating. Worried about returning the camera, I left Skytek without re-shooting. Looking back, I wish I had just stayed a bit longer and re-did my stand-up.

I had some nice sequence shots but the natural sound wasn't as strong as I had hoped. Again, having the plane engine noise would've made the story much better.

Also, my framing on my interview with Moseley was too wide. After I shot my third story, Running For Robert, I think I learned my framing lesson.

Even though my story wasn't up to par, or to my liking, I learned what it takes to repair small airplanes. It takes a lot more knowledge to repair small airplanes because mechanics need to know how to fix every part. On commercial planes, each part of the plane is designated to certain mechanics. Moseley said he and his guys could easily walk into a big plane shop and fix those air crafts but it wouldn't be quite as simple for the big plane mechanics.

I had a good laugh with all the Skytek employees. I'd love to see the skies one day again...maybe Skytek can help.

Ah! Unda' Da Sea!

Oceans are a mystical land...or should I say land of seas? Bodies of water where there are more species and plants than the mind can imagine. Beneath the big blue waves lives a world unknown to the average boat rider. An article describes how half of the Earth's life may very well may be under the sea. After I skimmed through Huffington Post's 'Green' stories, I found a link to a story on McClatchydc.com. "Buried alive: Half of Earth's life may lie below land, sea" captures readers from the get-go. The writer, Robert S. Boyd, describes astronauts' duties seamlessly into biologists' jobs. He uses strong, catchy verbs like scour. Those kind of verbs are what make good writing.

The story goes on to say that scientists believe half the living organisms on the planet are buried in the ocean or places alike. A few examples: rocks, soil, tree roots and aquifers. Along with the writing accompanies a graphic depicting the 'subsurface biosphere'.

The area that half of our living things are in the dark, Earth's basement, as Boyd says. I've always wondered what lies underneath all that sand we see, lurking down under the sand.

There was a fascinating quote in the article about what may be beneath the surface. Boyd quotes a microbiologist saying,"The organisms that live in this environment may collectively have a mass equivalent to that of all of Earth's surface dwellers." Isn't that profound? Could you imagine having twice as many living animals and plants as we do now? We simply don't have room. The microbiologist goes on to say that these creatures may help essential environmental, agricultural and industrial problems.

I didn't like the way the writer set-up these quotes. They were combined into one paragraph; it's hard to distinguish. I think he should have separated them more clearly. He described the microbiologist in the same paragraph all bunched together; that was distracting.

In 2011, several scientists will venture to North Pond in the Atlantic to drill four holes in the seafloor to observe what lies beneath. Boyd ends his story with this last bit about the future plans. This is the perfect way for readers to look for more.

Here's a link to another story I found similar to this one. Check it out! World's Largest Live Underwater