Holidays -- What gives?

Let me preface this blog by saying I love my family. I love spending time with them, and I love that every December without much fanfare, I will see the majority of my extended family on either side of my family. However, it is realistic to ever hope that I'll have those coveted Christmas holiday's off?

My News Director, Stacey Woelfel (also RTDNA chairman) wrote a blog about working on the holidays, and it got me thinking... Besides the religious connotations, what else is holding holiday work back?

I'm a religious person, and try by best to honor the Holy Day's of Obligation (I'm Catholic), however, I believe we've reached a point in time where the notion of holiday's are becoming obsolete. I believe it was in the "olden days" where we saw the weeks of Christmas and New Year's, as ones someone would get off for work, not so much anymore. News or otherwise.

While those Christmas shifts are not the best things to work if you have to, but has anyone noticed the HUGE snow storm moving across the US? Top story in many mid-west news markets. According to my friend Blair Miller, Dallas was using quadrouple boxes to help illustrate its snow coverage.

And while I'll be the last person to harp on millennials, especially since I am one, I cannot believe there are people my age that would change careers because they don't get holiday's off. Take that back, I believe it, I just wish it wasn't true.

Can't wait to work my first holiday next year, and I will do it with pride

Building a Show for Viewers

When producing... it's all about who's watching. As a producer, it's important to remember you're producing for the viewer, not for you. As many of you know, Diane Sawyer is leaving Good Morning America to become the anchor for World News Tonight. Two people have been identified to "take over" if you will, her spot. The first is already on the show: Chris Coumo. The other is the host of This Week, George Stephanopoulos.

The New York Times is reporting that ABC is offering the job to Stephanopoulos and they are in talks to secure a contract. This is the part of the article that concerns me...

"If Mr. Stephanopoulos finally does accept the job, 'GMA,' which has for years revolved chiefly around Ms. Sawyer and her role on the show, will likely be reshaped in some ways to suit Mr. Stephanopoulos’s talents, which are more centered on political coverage, one executive said.

'You produce a show around the strengths of the people you have.'"

I would like to disagree with part of this.... yes, you produce a show around the strengths people have, but you also don't produce a political show in the morning. And while it might not be a political show per se, it shouldn't be tailored specifically to him. First, there is another anchor whose personality should be considered, but more importantly, take into account your viewers... Moms!

Mom's watch the network morning shows... it's lighter and easier to keep on in the background. If you want to watch politics turn on a cable network. Even their morning shows are slightly easier on the ears. When I produce, you want to choose news, but you also want to cater to your viewers. A sports lead doesn't work as well at 5 o'clock after Oprah.

Blogging about Blogging!

The reason I started this blog was twofold. One, I need to do it for class (Thanks Jen!), therefore it was apart of my final grade. However, I've always wanted to voice my opinion about news coverage. I occasionally yell at the TV and computer, much like my dad does at sporting events. Everyone has a point of view, and I wanted another outlet besides my best friend Emily (another journalist) to vent out it. But the task of a blog seems so daunting! And then I remembered... there are no real "rules" to being a blogger. Blogging is what you make of it.

More often than not, I believe blogs have to be these long thoughtful articles. And then I actually read blogs, and I realize that it's not like that at all. I think of the blogs I read on a semi-consistant basis -- the entries are often a few paragraphs. This made me think of some advice my high school journalism teacher told us about writing... At a certain point the reader will stop reading unless they have a vested interest in the story, so you have to get your point accross in the first three paragraphs anyway. My first glimpse of writing concisely!

My new goal: blog once at least once a week. Hopefully, I can vent here more and save the time with my friend for more important topics: where the heck are we going to get jobs?!

Green Twitter Icons for Iran

So I've had this blog post in mind for awhile, but this is the first time I've had the chance to really update... it's been a very busy couple of weeks!

Now I'm pretty active on Twitter... well take that back, I check it a lot more than I update it. Anyway, anyone active on Twitter will know the Iran election drama has been a trending topic (thanks Twitter for your website design update) and very popular point of discussion... or at least it had been -- it's seriously been that long. Because of the issues with freedom of press and speech within the country after the elections, many Americans and citizens of other countries around the world voiced their frustrations. And as Twitter soon became a way to communicate, it also became a place to protest. Green-hued icons began popping up all over the place. Now, let me preface this by saying, those who did or do have green icons are not wrong, I'm saying this as my opinion in journalism.

Obviously, democracy and the First Amendment are two large principals our country is based on, and it's a concept we struggle to grapple with in countries which don't have the same luxury. However, as journalists it's so important for us to stay neutral. While I disagree with the governments decision to gag its citizens, I think if a reporter, producer or station at all covers this election, its imperative we stay neutral, and by a reporter having a green overlay, they don't appear neutral. We push to stay neutral in our own elections, this should carry the same weight.

My professor Randy Reeves gave me a great metaphor in the last election season. If a referee drives up to a game with a jayhawk bumper sticker on his car to ref the Mizzou v. kU basketball game, automatically you'll assume he'll favor the jayhawks, regardless of how he calls for/against the Tigers. Even if the game is called perfectly fair, you'll always believe the ref was too easy on the jayhawks.

While not necessarily supporting a specific candidate by putting the green over their Twitter icon, they're forming an opinion over the elections. Yes, I support free elections, but I don't think I can have an opinion on how this particular condition how it's being handled. I can only report on the facts. By having the green overlay I think we form an opinion. And opinions in news don't necessarily mix...

Interns -- Where's the Line?

Once again... thank you Twitter. I found this article on MSNBC about summer interns. It got me thinking about my summer intern experience and the experience I had at the DNC. This talked about paid internships becoming unpaid internships because of the economy. They spoke mostly of PR and marketing firms, but as I started thinking... T.V. internships are NEVER paid.

I think that is one of the great things about our industry. It really separates the hard workers versus the people just working. I tried to take advantage of every opportunity when I interned in Detroit, and I learned the basics of television journalism, so when I had my first job at KOMU I was already ahead of the curve. I understood iNews, I understood basic editing techniques, I had already worked on a news website so the transition was simple and straightforward.

It's easy to want a paid internship, but can you get more out of an unpaid one? I think yes. I think the people who are willing to work unpaid, week, after week, are more likely to work hard and find the will to learn. I walked into the station everyday wanting to do more, learn more and understand more. And I did that everyday. Working alongside real news web professionals gave me such an insight to the ability of the communication through the web.

Besides... no one enters the journalism industry to make money, so why not start learning the lifestyle as an intern?

In addition, PR and marketing firms (as suggested by the article) are now looking at people willing to work for free. Once these businesses see it can get the same caliber, or better caliber interns for FREE, it'll never pay interns again. Extra money will get absorbed by another budget to make the business better. It's the same with cutbacks in the television industry. We continue to lay-off and cut back, and when the economy does turn around, we'll have already adapted with the lack of reporter, producer or production staffer. Then the extra money can be used in different ways.

*UPDATE*
Here's an old email I found to my parents over a similar article about unpaid interns. Think there are some good points from a Mizzou Journalism School perspective.

Anyway, since I have had the glamorous unpaid internship, the experience I got and connections I made was payment enough. Now, I got a lot out of my internship, probably more than most. I also knew that it didn't matter if I was getting paid or not, the fact that I'll have that on my resume will look golden.

Personally, and I'd think you'd agree here, the only thing I didn't like about my internship was that we essentially had to pay for it because I was required to get class credit. A credit hour that won't even count towards graduation might I add. That is the only flaw in the unpaid internship from my standpoint. I was also fortunate because we live in a big city and you guys were able to financially support me and I don't have to worry about making money for tuition so I got the experience at a big station without having to sacrifice making money. That could be an additional downside if that was something people needed to take into consideration.

Here is another reason why Mizzou's journalism program is steller. Although I am foregoing and internship this summer, I am actually working at a news station which is much better because I will have that actual work experience. How many interns get to anchor shows at big stations? None. How many will produce the show? None. How many will be able to leave school with a GOOD resume tape that has all the elements necessary (montage of best standups, LIVE shots, anchor spots, weather walls and onsets; best packages; etc.) to get a job? None. Internships don't give you those, that you just get by working and practicing your craft.

In broadcast, internships are actually more valuable to those who intern in smaller markets because they can actually do more work because there are no union contracts. At WJBK I would never have been allowed to even touch the prompter whereas here I run it.

Howard County Fire

I love the adrenaline rush of spot news. After starting my day at KOMU anchoring and writing some Today Show cutins at 6:15 and instead of getting in my mid-morning nap because of my over-achieving (love it) producing student, I opted to leave the station at 7 after finding a sub for the ten. Went out to dinner and when I was leaving got a call from a fellow reporter, "What is the fire in Howard County? I can see from my house!"

Sure enough I look up in the sky and you can see an orange glow... clear as day... right along the horizon. Immediately, Justin Redeker and I went off to the fire. I called the newsroom to let them know I was going and to see what they needed.

When we finally got on scene, we found Kyle Seever. Soon after we arrived, Ryan Takeo and Jill Glavan came in the live truck. I've worked with Jill before on the spot news -- you might remember the tornado in Kirskville with our obsessive twittering and tornado touchdown map -- so I knew this was going to be awesome.

Immediately we started setting up the live shot. Ryan and Jill assesed the scene, got the info ready for the hit. I was the direct link to the booth -- once we got the shot set, we called in right away to find out our hit. We were slightly irritating the state troopers because we refused to set the truck up in the first place they told us due to power lines, we were trying to get what we could hit, before and if they made us move after we compromised with us on a place to set the truck.

The Howard County Fireman who was our liasion to their command post was GREAT to work with. He was really open about information and not dancing around questions. If he didn't know he just said it, got us connected to the command center, just was one of the better officials I've worked with.

I've only field produced one time before... it was for an HFR -- I didn't like it as much. This, I LOVED. I loved helping get our station's information ready for air. I wanted to help and be that extra person to get the extra information.

Here's our coverage from KOMU.com -- check out the web extras!

Through Free Media... We WON Coverage

On May 13, tornadoes hit northern Missouri in Adair and Sullivan counties, including the city of Kirksville. I was covering Jennifer Kovaleski's shift that night, and was in full in summer mode, getting ready to check out for the weekend before summer school started Sunday night at 11 p.m. to start producing the morning show. About 30 minutes into my shift, we get a call about the tornadoes in Kirskville and if we were covering them. We typically cover large weather disasters across the state and sent a reporter and photographer to the scene.

Immediately we started twittering about the tornado and that we would have more at 10. People started tweeting us back and our reporter, Jessica Miller, got requests from FOX 4 in Kansas City, the Weather Channel, the AP, along with other stations across the state, to do phone interviews.

One of the things Jill Glavan and I started to do was build a uMapper map to illustrate where these tornadoes were touching down. At first we just highlighted where possible tornadoes had touched down, but once we checked the weather wire, we were able to update our map with information from the National Weather Service and where its trained spotters had seen tornadoes.

By searching the location on uMapper, we were able to pinpoint a location, then add a text balloon which described and distributed our information. The nice thing about uMapper is once we embeded the map into our website, every update we made to the map on uMapper (when we added information) it updated the map that was embedded automatically.

To view our tornado touchdown map, please click here.

What does the future hold?

With the majority of my broadcast friends from KOMU graduating and struggling to find jobs, it has me thinking, "One year from now, what's going to happen? Where will the industry be?"

I am amazed everyday with the resilience of local news and how we continue to try and be better than the competition, try and have our content posted to the web first and find ways to be more transparent and available to our viewers... but that's now, what's going to be the new thing a year from now? I think those easy, vauge questions will be around for a long time, but if you make those questions specific... it's a whole different ballgame.

Take for instance incorporating twitter and having reporters tweet about their stories during the day -- teasing them to attract viewers. That's a recent development in the past 6 months or so, but something ND's all over the country are pushing their reporters to do. But what happens after the twitter phase is over? Nielson released a report saying 60 percent of new twitter users eventually stop using the website after about a month. Are reporters suspectible to the same fate? Will twitter be the same in a year? Two years? Ten years? What will be the new twitter?

And as we continue to converge different mediums onto the web, what happens to the broadcast version of our story? If we've twittered and already written a small story for the web, how do we get our viewers to actually WATCH the story, which maybe burried in an A-block some where? I think these days we continue to emphasize web based publication to attract viewers, but what if by doing this we give them a reason not to watch?

I realize this post is vauge, but with my recent increase in twitter posts and some discussions in my Advanced Internet Class, it has me thinking more and more about the future of journalism.

Flashing Graphics

Talk about learning. I had an insane learning curve on Adobe Flash. I couldn't really remember how to make the interactive graphics when our professor Jen Reeves showed us earlier in the semester. Thankfully, some of my classmates were able to help me figure it out.

It's a completely repetitive process, so eventually I was able to get it together. I would just repeat the steps over and over out-loud... the newsroom must of thought I was crazy because I was just sitting at dotcom talking to myself, and every so often would holler or shreak because I would figure something out or make a mistake. I might add this was after the ten, so the few people in the newsroom were probably just as sleep deprived as me.

Finally, after about an hour of tinkering, I finally had a product, but I didn't like it. It was a standard flash rollover graphic and popped up boxes. It worked... it did the job... but it was BORING. So then for another hour and a half, I tinkered with a picture element that I added to the boxes. Eventually, I liked what I had, although I will say, I came back the next day and continued to tinker with it because I had some personal control issues with where the elements popped up.

Now I don't want to give away my surprise picture element, so go look at it! Visit KOMU.com by clicking here. It gives you a direct link to the graphic.

The New Set: Part 2

The Saturday 10 p.m. newscast was the first show I produced and it was AWESOME! My first instict was to go CrAzY with all of our new toys, however our director pointed something out to me: everything is new... even our 2-shots because EVERYTHING is new.

The biggest changes I made when the show aired was doing solo teases at the monitors. It was a little different, but we finally had a great place to do those. I had a couple of other places where the anchors were going to move around, but breaking news caused me to move the stories in each block around, and while I didn't get to use the "new stuff", my a-block was more newsy... excellent story flow with Hwy 63 accidents.

I can't wait to continue working on this set -- particularly in the morning. There are so many options for some cool news setups. I'm thinking live shots in monitors behind the reporters, wx chat at our new wx peanut... the possibilities are endless! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't wait for my morning shows in the summer. Megan and Lauren are going to get a workout. I'm going to have them move everywhere. Hopefully our directors won't want to kill me.

The New Set: Part 1

Tuesday was an interesting day because it was the first day we really worked with the new set. Holly and I created a rundown (a hybrid of 5 and 6) to do a few rehearsals with the new equipment to get the anchors and production comfortable punching and working with our new toys. The set is such a great addition to our news station. The look and feel of it reminds me of top markets -- very reminiscent of FOX 2's set in Detroit (WJBK).

Working with all of the technical aspects really makes me think forward -- and how can we use this set to better show our newscast. I want these tools to be utilized properly and I really want to make sure reporters understand the importance of reading a rundown. It frustrates me that they still don't know how to read dummy lines and the cameras, talent, etc.

It is important, even more now than ever, to really understand the build of a show. There is a disconnect from B2 and shadowing to B2 reporting shifts to B3 reporting shifts. Even Advanced Reporters still don't know how to read it... and it's so frustrating to me. I even try and explain, and they just don't think like that. It's a matter of really getting it explained and even making them pass a scripting quiz.

With this new set, dummy lines and more intricate scripting will be necessary, and thus more imperative the reporters know what they are doing.

Where's the Motivation?

I'm beginning to see the downfalls of having 60ish free (or very low paid) workers at the dispense of a News Director or news manager. It's not enough for students to be at the station one day a week, because the skills they learn, they forget within a week. It's unacceptable for reporters to be "seasoned" and still not understand the correct way to script -- especially after they've been told and shown.

These are the times where journalists need to know EVERYTHING. They can't be picky anymore with location, salary or title. It has to be about the craft and the purpose it serves in society as a watchman for those that govern. It can't be about getting on T.V. No longer is it about going LIVE to have the experience, but telling stories that change the status quo and make a difference.

It's frustrating to me to see that week after week reporters still not knowing how to script a live shot, or how to script period! Granted, I think they need to be taught from the beginning to read a rundown, to understand the purpose of dummy lines and know 2/2 MEANS camera 2 on a 2 shot and that using the macros on the number keypad are going to give you the same result.

Seeing the breakdown (for lack of a better word) has made me want to modify my way of managing. This summer when I will produce at least 3 shows a week, makes me want to make sure my reporters understand the importance of their responsibility at the station. And those are not limited to importing, writing, and editing. Producing involves story flow, and construction, and most importantly the elements that go along with the story like animation or OTS's or Mapflys. When reporters understand those elements, their story looks better and flows better and the show that they are apart of is better.

Producing -- Going Backwards

Broadcast 3 is the culmination of my reporting experience at KOMU -- and thank goodness it is done with. I've been struggling with my shift every week because as much as I love journalism, the stress of reporting is not the same for me as the stress of producing. I hate the lack of control that I feel when I report. I don't like being dependent on other people to get my story done. With producing, the control I have over the show makes everything much easier to have a backup plan.

With switching to producing, I apprentice the 5 p.m. newscast on Tuesdays with Alex Carbello. It's an intersting dynamic because on Sunday's I'm his supervising producer, and then on Tuesday the role is switched. It's helping teach me control and restraint because it's not my show. In fact, one of the things I love about shadowing is being able to see how differently he produces from me. His tease writing is better, and that is definitely one of my weaknesses -- so just another learning oppourtunity. Plus, how we stack shows is different.

It's just a different learning experience. Something I know will make me a better news manager and news producer.

Columbia Tomorrow... Today.

My project involves creating maps on a program called uMapper, which is a very rudimentary program to create embeddable flash maps to put into websites. In this case it is Columbia Tomorrow. It is a program I would highly recommend every reporter learn because it is so easy to use (at least once you figure it out -- which does take awhile).

Like I said, it does take awhile to figure out, and they are not to scale or accurate at all. Well, take that back they are as accurate as I can re-create from existing maps from the city developers. And to me that is frustrating -- particularly to the type-A, perfectionists personality of mine.

This project is very different than the one I signed up for... The vision I had for the maps was very different than the one Matt had. And in all honesty, it makes sense because Columbia is a huge area, small annexations are not easy to illustrate on large scale map. That being said, I still think it would be interesting to show population growth with colors and how the city has grown and spread in the past couple of years. Even in the past year, the city has grown tremendously, and I think that is the story, not the little developments or roads that might be torn up. I mean that is a story, but I think you need the history as well.

Breaking News...

When news breaks, my first instinct is immediately the 5 W's and H... Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. Answering those questions, gives a reporter the very basic needs of the story. While it might not be the most eloquently written story, it gets the job done. It gets the nitty, gritty stuff accomplished.

When I was working on this shift, a fellow KOMU 8 reporter, Kathryn Lucchesi called and said we needed to get to Providence and Old Plank Road. She said there were police and ABC 17 on the scene. We had heard a shots fired over the scanner, but nothing really came about from it (aka Joint Comm playing dumb, and no more traffic on the scanner).

Once we got the call, we started to send a new reporter on the scene, so I offered to go with her. Thankfully I did because it was one of those neighborhoods that you wanted help. This wasn't my first time covering spot news, so I knew my way around the watering hole. We got to the scene, and the other reporter with me was more awestruck than anything, but she was able to help talk to witnesses as I got the video we needed.

I should mention all this happened around 9 p.m. so obviously our producers wanted this for the 10 p.m. newscast. As a producer, reporting is one the best ways for me to learn. And being in this situation of spot news I'm glad I answered those questions of the 5 W's and H, but it absolutely annoyed me when my producer was saying, "Is that all?" and getting upset when I couldn't answer his specific quesitons about things we didn't know yet. I knew he was trying to get the information for his newscast, but at the same time, the dynamic only works when the producer can trust the reporter to do their job. I know how to report -- that's why I went to Mizzou, to get the whole package on learning -- but it was so frustrating when I was being patronized for information I didn't have and was trying to find.

As a producer, it taught me to remember, the reporter isn't trying to screw over your entire newscast... they're just trying to get the story done right. Sometimes that doesn't mean keeping everyone updated, every minute they're there... but it means trusting the reporter that they know what they are doing so they can get their story on the air.

Strange Story Direction

In my reporting shift this week I had no idea of what my story truly entailed... I knew employees from the Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center were going to Jefferson City, but until I called the lady with the tip, I didn't know what they were trying to accomplish. When I got there I basically followed them around as they went to different legislators trying to get answers. I thought they were going to be campaigning about their jobs, which I think they were but didn't want to talk about, and said they were advocating for their patients. When I interviewed them I kept asking them about their jobs, but they kept saying it was for the patients. And it wasn't until it was off camera that they would kind of talk about their job status. I think for the story I had, it turned out pretty well. I got a lot of really good sound and tried to really use that because the video wasn't as compelling.

On the flipside, I didn't had the hard numbers like I would of liked, but that's because I was going off a Tribune article and they couldn't even say where the one cut was coming from. None of the legislators had any idea either. My video wasn't the greatest because the lighting in the capitol stinks and the light just wouldn't get bright enough (I had fresh batteries in it too!) I would of improved on getting those hard facts and my video in this story.

To view the story, you can click here.

I'm Rusty

This week I realized I am rusty. My reporting isn't really, but I'm doing that on a weekly basis and actually continue to improve on it. I actually really liked my story this week. You can view a video and text version here.

But this week I produced for the first time since January, and it was stressful. I can't wait for the week of producing I'm doing with the Spring Break crew. Producing everyday for a week straight was really great for me because I just built on the things I did the day before. I constantly try and push myself to be better than the shift before, but if I haven't done anything since January it's a little hard to remember what I need to focus on. I think on this shift I saw I wasn't as aggressive in the booth. And that's an area I think I really excel at. I'm always confidant going into shows heavy because I know what it takes to make time so we finish perfectly. (My definition of perfect? No awkward anchor chat. They come out of the last story and say, "Thanks for watching, join us at ten." It's perfect and beautiful and what I always strive for.) I noticed I was lacking that confidence. I'm going to make pro-active measures for the next two semesters to see if I can have a shift that I call my own -- even if I don't get paid for it.

My second rusty revelation was on Monday when I realized the dotcom worker didn't know ANYTHING. She didn't even know where to find the information on what to do on a shift. I didn't realize Nick and I were doing everything for her. I know she is new and I appreciate her trying to learn, but it's stressful when your partner isn't there and everything is falling back on you. This week I'm going to go through everything with her so she actually does know, but I felt bad because I wasn't as strong as I used to be at dot com. Again I'm just going to have to be proactive in making sure I understand everything as we continue to move forward.

Lots of Projects... Not Enough Time

Well I find myself needing more hours in the day again. It's been a crazy week...



We met with Matt Thompson about the Columbia Tomorrow project. We've had some problems with the mapping and physically doing it. It turns out it's a lot more complicated than we really antcipated. Mapping is really difficult to do if you're not experienced at doing it. One of the problems I've realized with this project isn't necessarily the mapping aspect (I think it's going to be fun to learn a new program that I could use) but it's just not knowing Columbia. I'm a very visual and spacial person, but I have NO idea where some of these roads are in Colubmia. Maybe next weekend when I have time...



Began to really work on the structure of my e-portfoilo. My problem is I really don't have many things I would want to show an employer. I'm a prefectionist and really struggle with putting up work I don't think is quality. This is one of the biggest problems I have when I get critqued from my News Director or other mentors. I want to bring them my best work and I don't think it's good enough. I know these are the pieces I'm going to learn more from but it's still frustrating.

One thing I will say I'm proud of this week was my reporting shift. You can find a link to the story here. My story was about the potential transition at the Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center from the state to MU. I was able to go in depth to this story and actively tried to get both sides from the offiicals. While the university was harder to get because of red tape and having to go through. The Department of Mental Health was very easy to get in touch with, plus they gave me so much more information on how this whole plan got started. Apparently the transition was something they were already considering before the budget cuts because it streamlines the work by the employees, improves patient care and costs less for the state. These are the days I don't hate reporting... as much anyway.

Project Progress... FINALLY

For the first time I was able to meet with Matt Thompson over the ColumbiaTomorrow project. This is the project I've been assigned to for my Advanced Internet Applications Class. It's been extremely difficult to schedule a meeting with the group based on my schedule this semester. However it was nice to finally get this meeting out of the way.

I learned a lot about the project and the direction Matt wants us to go in. When I first got on this project, I thought it was going to be mapping out the different ways Columbia has grown over the years. Instead it's about how Columbia is planning to grow. I think both ideas would be really interesting to do. The way Columbia has grown map would be a great sidebar to the entire website. That way visitors can see how the city has grown. It could be used as background information.

It was interesting to talk with Matt because I think my idea of mapping is VERY different from what he wants, however, I think a collaboration of ideas would really benefit. When I thought of this project I saw flash maps, but he wants us to actually map out these new developments. I think a combination of these ideas could make some really interactive graphics which would really enhance the website.

This project is going to be really interesting to work on and I can't wait to get started. It's going to be a great website and very informative for mid-Missouri.

Educating on the Web

Today was all about education on KOMU.com. I helped the convergence student put up a slideshow. Thankfully, last week I figured out how to post one myself so I could help him. My teacher Jen told me on slideshows it's better to have discriptions for the pictures, which helps tell the story. I was happy to help pass on the information. Knowledge is power.



I also educated one very important KOMUer on Facebook. I'm proud to say Angie Bailey is now on the fabulous networking site. We went over the basics of friending, notifications, the wall, comments, photos, etc. My next conquest will be to get the rest of the KOMU anchors on Twitter. Speaking of Twitter...


I have come to love Twitter. It is so much fun to update my staus and catch up on the mini-events in people's lives. I find on Monday, I update it constantly... Tuesday has less frequent updates and by the time Wednesday rolls around, I'm down to one or two a day. Hopefully, I can keep the participation up. I'm learning the @replies business and the RT capabilities. I wish there was a tweet-to-tweet function. Like wall-to-wall on facebook. Sometimes I want to look at the conversation's I've had with other people. Hopefully, they'll figure it out soon... or maybe I will...

EDIT -- The search capability on KOMU.com is struggling, and so I can't find the story I helped with. Now that I mention it... I couldn't find one of my stories last week. I want to make our content more searchable and easy to find on our website.

PROJECT UPDATE -- I have not met with Matt Thompson yet on our Columbia growth project. For some reason, I am very booked up this semester. We're working together to find a common time so at least Matt, Jill and I can meet.

Workin' on the Web

This was probably my first official web shift since the summer. It's weird because I've come full circle in a sense. My first shift at KOMU was the paid web shift a year ago... now I'm one of the freebies helping the paid person. I will say this... once you learn it though, it's hard to forget. I might not have done web in about 6 months, but I still remember how to post everything like video and images.

I came in and my partner in crime, Nick Guillory was already posting the dayside stories. Most of the reporters had their copy written and the earlier web person, Kat Lucchesi, had already saved the images.

Slowly but surely, we got everything up. At one point we thought we had a deadline of 7:20 because the video transfer system from NewsCutter to ACM was being updated. Thankfully we got most of it pushed over before the deadline. We missed the Caring Familes pkg by Meredith Miller, but the story went up and added the video later.

My pride and joy of the night was the slideshow I made for the Sarah's Story on the champion cake maker that works at HyVee. It was actually really easy on flickr. Not going to lie... the idea came from Kat. Talk about teamwork.

Nick and I started working on the nightside reporter's story. He's a grad student and it was his first shift so we wrote his vosot for him. We also worked on getting images and video. Video was having some issues once they upgraded the transfer system from NewsCutter to ACM -- the Sarah's Story video never went through, and then it took about 30 minutes for the three pieces of video we cut from the 10 p.m. show to transfer.

All in all, it's great to be back on the web.

New Saturday Format!

Last night at Jason called to do the six for him... I decided to take the show for the following reasons:
1. I'm broke.
2. The experience.
3. I had nothing better to do (except clean my room).
4. Jason did my ten last week when I was exhausted from my retreat.

And it actually worked out well... Today was the first day (since I've been at KOMU) there's been two anchors on a Saturday show and I got to produce it. I know it's so nerdy, but I love it when I get to try new things!

Working with Jen and Nick was amazing because first of all, we're such great friends, but also because I thought their dynamic would be great on air and they are just very go with the flow people. As my mom would say our personalities blend.

One of the big stories was Claire McCaskill's rant on the bailout executives and how much money they made... I planned on doing a cold open with her SOT which talked about kicking sand in the faces of American taxpayers, but then Amanda Jagdeo suggested using it in a headline -- I got uber excited.

Ever since I was back in Detroit, I became obsessed with watching the local news there and critiquing it. I wanted to see what they did and what KOMU could do, but also to see how they structured their newscasts and the content decisions they made.

New boxes aka putting a slug/headline in the boxes came from Detroit, and using SOT's in teases and headlines became this huge idea for me. Tonight when I used it, I think the headline was incomplete. I needed more explianiation on the end of it. I used the SOT and then had Nick say, "KOMU 8 News at Six starts right now," and I don't think it really worked as well as I hoped. I needed Nick to say something else after the SOT.

I love trying new things... new dual anchors, SOT's in headlines. I'm so glad I have another year and change left so I can keep trying these new things! Wow... I sound like a geek. It's fun!

Sick... so I have time

I get sick once a year... always around the end of January, early February. Freshman year I got the flu, last year minor flu stopped by a very early dose of Tamiflu. Junior year? I just got confirmation of a sinus infection.

Now, I am not one of those people who are going to let a little illness get them down. I hate missing work and feeling unreliable. I hate missing school and falling behind. Overall, I just power through whatever I've got because it just makes sense to me. It's the classic control freak in me.

I made it to three of my four KOMU shifts this week. Unfortunately, the one that probably matters the most (no offense Jen!) -- my reporting shift for B3.

Let me just say... producing, doing my web shift (or for that day teaching recuts) and writing cutins are not fun when sick. In fact I don't recommend it at all. There is such a thing as taking rest when you are under the weather.

Because there is no nightside reporter on Monday nights, there wasn't a whole lot for me to do when I got to the station for my web shift (and Nick had it under control), I got the task of teaching recuts delegated to me. I actually enjoyed this role a lot for this reason: I truly got to explain the concept of iNews, NewCutter, NRCS, NewsChannel, Pathfire, among countless other things to the new PA's.

Now I've trained people on recuts more times than I can count, and you can tell the difference between the people who learn it and the people who memorize it. The people who learn it then understand the difference between what everything is and can process it a whole lot easier. Plus, the things they learn they connect with reporting later on. And as nerdy as this sounds, I liked being able to help them learn it.