Tara Grimes

Joplin Tornado: An Outsider's Perspective

2011-05-27T10:13:00.001-07:00

It's an indescribable sight: homes leveled, large amounts of debris scattered about including cars twisted in in abnormal shapes, tree's stripped down to the stumps...

Just last week I was standing right in the middle of it all, trying to figure out where I should start taping for my story while also trying to take it in. Turning to the left, I spotted a baby's toy on the edge of the curb. I sat and stared for at least two minutes. Where was this baby now? Where was the family? Did they all get out safe? I took my camera and focused in on it.

Next I turned slightly more to my left and noticed a tricycle wedged between a broken home and the stump of a tree. What had that home looked like before the single deadliest tornado since 1950 tore through this small town of about 50,000 people? Everywhere lied bits of people's life, torn apart and in a pile of shambles.

I've been trying to write this blog post since I got back, but where do I start? How do you explain how it feels to stand in the middle of a place where hundreds of lives have been destroyed? How do you explain the empty pit you get in your stomach the second you see it? It's not easy, but here it is. This is an outsider's perspective.

When I first arrived in Joplin, I began to get nervous and braced myself by taking a few deep breaths. I had heard about the horror, I had seen the pictures, but I knew it was going to be different when I saw it myself. I was right. It's one thing to see the pictures, another to see it first-hand, and a completely another to live it. I can't explain how it is to live it - because I didn't, but I can describe what I saw.

My first day there I didn't get much of a chance to talk to residents, but I did visit a site where volunteers were handing out necessities. It was clear these people were reaching out for any sort of help they could get. Thousands had visited throughout the day to get things like toothbrushes, toilet paper, and water. Next door the only good source of communication the town had, the radio station, was broadcasting pleas from people asking if anyone had seen friends and family.

After the 9 p.m. liveshot it started lightening pretty bad, so we packed up. Curfew had started at 9 anyway. As soon as we got everything back in the sat truck, the tornado sirens started going off. My two friends and I jumped into our car and raced to a friend's house. On our way there we almost collided with another car in a hurry. As we tried to turn they stuck their heads out of the window and started yelling and swearing at us, asking us what we were thinking and asking us to move. I don't blame them for their actions, not after what they had been through a few days before.

At my friends house we took cover in her bathroom:

Thankfully the stormed passed. During the sirens though, I thought about how I would never think lightly of a tornado warning again. After seeing the devastation that day, I was terrified. I noticed however, how those at my friend's house were laughing and making jokes. One friend was staying over because he had lost his home. I kept asking them how they were so calm, and the guy who lost his home replied, "I've lost everything I have, I have nothing more to lose than my life."

After a few zzz's, it was time for the morning show. We headed back to our live location at 3:30 a.m.

During the morning show, I decided to take a walk around by myself. I peered into what was what left of buildings, staring down at the ground to see what things I might see. It felt odd to be looking into open buildings and homes, as if I were invading people's private lives. What irked me is, while there were belongings that had been tossed thousands of feet from where they had once been, there were several things that sat in the same place they had been before the storm. One in particular I remember is a binder. Our live shot was located next to the Stained Glass Theatre. On the night of the storm, a production had just closed it curtains. Two people were killed in the theatre. Beside some exterior walls, the theater itself had practically been demolished. On top of it sat a car. Inside, where I suspect the basement had been, was a binder sitting on a wooden shelf. It looked virtually untouched. You wonder how things like that happen... The storm can throw a truck against a tree and bend the metal so the front of the truck is touching the back, but a binder didn't move one inch.

After the morning show, the two I had come down with left back to Columbia and I went with the sat truck operator back to his hotel to wait for the next to two reporters coming down.

While sitting in the hotel lobby an sweet elderly man sitting at the table next to me smiled and said hello to me. His eyes were barely open, glued shut by a lack of sleep and I'm assuming lots of crying. I explained to him who I was and asked if it'd be okay if I sat next to him. From there we talked for a good 45 minutes. He told me about how he and his wife had lost his home and how he was thankful to be alive. He told me how he was taking it okay, but his wife wasn't. He said she was finally getting sleep for the first time since the tornado. He couldn't sleep though. He seemed in good spirits for someone who had been through such a tragic event. It wasn't until I asked him if he saw the support coming in from surrounding communities that he started crying. He explained how some boys from Kansas City came to help him, people he didn't even know. Throughout my trip in Joplin, I met several people who didn't cry when telling me their story... only when they started explaining how volunteers who randomly showed up to help them did they cry. It gave me a sense this was a strong community, one that just needed help from the outside to rebuild itself.

Once the two reporters got there we headed out to where officials were handing out permits for families to get back into the devastated areas for the first time... except they had run out of permits and were now allowing people into the areas with photo identifications such as driver's licenses. The problem they were having is many people had lost everything including their driver's license. Finally they just started letting everybody in. I spoke with a police officer who said they had hoped to stop looting in the areas, but it wasn't almost impossible to tell who had lived in the area and who hadn't. Many had lost their identifications in the tornado and many others were family members wanting to help. I didn't see any looting, but I sure hope there wasn't any. I know there was when the tornado first hit. There were plenty of "gawkers" driving through that day though.

After this, I headed back to the devastated area where I had been the past few days. It took awhile, but I finally gathered up the courage to talk with a couple digging through their grandfather's home. I heisted at first because I heard some swearing and thought they might be too upset to talk. Turns out they were more than glad to see the media out there. "People need to know what's going on here," they told me. It goes to show though how many stories can be missed if you don't bother to politely ask if you can talk to them. If feel it's never good to say you understand what they are going through, but it is okay to comfort them and tell them you are sorry... even if they don't want to talk with you.

The man, Dustin Orange, explained to me how he ran many blocks to his grandfather's home after the tornado, jumping power lines, trees, and dodging through traffic. As soon as he got to the home he began digging where he thought his grandfather might be. A neighbor came by to say he had gotten his uncle and grandfather out from under a van and got them help. Read his entire story in his own words here. Watch my story below watch as he and his wife dig through the home to see what they could salvage:

I next talked to a couple digging through their own home. Adam, the husband, told me about he and his wife Maggie were Hurricane Katrina victims and how they had only been in Joplin for 10 months. Adam told me the amazing story of how he had searched for his puppy Saint after the tornado hit, but couldn't find him. The next day he and Maggie came back and dug through the rubble to find Saint's cage. Once they caught a glimpse of it, they called his name, but didn't hear anything. Finally his wife stuck her finger through the cage and felt Saint's licking her fingers. A Tulsa photographer was there to capture the moment they pulled Saint out of the rubble. It's photo that has been splashed on the front cover of many big name newspapers, giving other Joplin resident's hope:

The day I met them they were going through their home picking out any personal item they could save. About 30 volunteers, ranging from kids to adults from nearby ministries, had come to help Adam, Maggie, and other residents sift through the rubble. Adam and Maggie had garbage bags full of what they had saved. Adam said it would not have been possible to find everything they had without the help of those volunteers. Now, he and his wife plan to move to Texas where they have family.

Halfway through the second day I was already exhausted. I was tired of seeing faces filled with pain. Tired of seeing broken trees and tangled cars everywhere. The town itself had an eerie feeling hanging over it, even in the parts that hadn't been touched by the tornado. The few naps I took in the car definitely helped take it all in, but even time I woke up, I still felt like I was in a dream.

Coming home I had many mixed emotions. The hardest part for me was going to bed the morning I got home. My favorite part of my day is always climbing into my warm bed after a long day, but here I was feeling terribly guilty. These people no longer have beds to climb into, no place but stiff cots to rest their tired bodies. I can't even imagine what it feels like to have the comfort of your own home completely stripped from you. I can't imagine not having a quiet place to go to pray that family and friends will come home safely. That morning I was slightly afraid to fall asleep, I was afraid I would dream of the horror stories I had heard. The story of the 18-year-old boy who was traveling home with his father after his high school graduation when the tornado sucked him out out of the car's sunroof. The story of several people being sucked out of the hospital's windows. The stories I can't even share on here. But I did fall asleep and that evening I woke up, still feeling like all I had witnessed the past few days was just a dream...I just wish I could say it was.

A few links I felt were worth sharing: Before and after street views, as well as an overhead aerial view, in the devastated areas.

LA Times compilation of photos.

Daily Mail's before and after shots, aerial shots, and incredible photos from after the tornado.

My own Flickr slideshow coming soon!

UPDATE: With the help of KOMU and United Way, mid-Missouri has raised over a million dollars for Joplin. I can't express how proud of my community I am!!!

Bon Jovi Set Up Takes More Than A Prayer

2011-05-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

Got some Bon Jovi lovin'? I spent yesterday learning how a concert on the tour is set up. Boy, it was quite the experience and a fun story to tell! The entire crew was extremely friendly and helpful!

Take a look at my story and the photos I took:

Read the online story by clicking here.

St. Louis Community Banding Together After Tornado Destruction

2011-04-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

As soon as the news hit and the photos surfaced, I sat shocked. The Lambert - St. Louis International Airport I had been to just a week before had been hit by a strong tornado and now looked like a war zone. Pieces of broken glass lay scattered about, a MO-X bus teetered off the side of a parking garage, and people inside the terminals were still reeling from what they had just witnessed.

The moment it hit I knew I wanted and needed to go out to St. Louis to cover it. Since this was the first time I was going to cover a tornado, I didn't know exactly what to expect. At first I thought I actually thought the entire process of finding a story might be easy, but the stories emotionally draining. Well, I was right on the second part, wrong on the first.

My trip started off late and I didn't get down to St. Louis and working on my story until 2 p.m. Considering I had a 2.5 hr long trip back to Columbia to get my package done for the 9 p.m. show I had to work quickly. I started looking for the towns hit by the tornado, but oddly enough it was much harder than I anticipated. I decided to head to a nearby community center where Red Cross had set up a shelter to see if they could help. I spoke with the shelter manager who talked with me about what they were doing,

Next the Red Cross Volunteers introduced me to a brave family of seven whose home had completely been destroyed. I spoke with the owner of the home (the mother), and the uncle and his son on camera. The mother was still in church when the tornado hit. The other six were home at the time and just reached the bottom of the basement stairs when the tornado tore through the home. They were all extremely happy to be alive and astonished not even the toddler was hurt. In fact, the thing I'm most thankful for is there were no deaths in this tornado. Just incredible.

After having them show me where in the shelter they were sleeping now, I headed out to their community. I ran into a few workers doing estimations on homes and spoke with them about how long rebuilding the place would take. About a year they told me.

I continued on to look for the more devastated areas. Time was running thin and I began to worry since I hadn't even seen much tornado damage yet, except along the highway. Finally I saw a group of police cars, along with some black SUV's driving into a neighborhood. I followed them deep into the subdivision and found out this is where most of the damage took place. I talked with workers, the church providing food and water to those still in their homes, and I talked with residents who shared their stories. Since our station had already covered the aspect of what people thought when the tornado hit (and it was a day and a half after the tornado hit), I decided to focus it on how the town was coming together to help each other out. Overall it was a very touching experience and I hope someday I'll be able to go back and see the small town of Berkeley (as well as the rest of the St. Louis area) rebuilt.

When Dull Turns Into Interesting...

2011-04-10T15:00:00.001-07:00

From plane rides to gas leaks, and a contest to spread awareness about a rare form of cancer, I've had an interesting month at KOMU.

Since I live report on Fridays, my stories can be pretty dull, but I try to find a way to make them newsworthy and interesting. I did have an exciting Friday last week when a man involved in a Jefferson City murder was caught. Then right before my 6 p.m. liveshot, the JC PIO pulled up to tell me they had caught a second man involved. Click here to read the full story.

Here are a few other stories I've done/worked on in the past few weeks at KOMU and Newsy:

Gas Leak:

Missouri River Relief:

Video of Bully Beatdown Raises Questions

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Census Data: Motown Becomes 'No Town'

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Did Texas Violate Lethal Drug Procedural Laws?

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Foundation Gives Bristol Palin More Money Than Its Own Cause

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Multiple Sources, The Real Story

2011-03-31T14:18:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed... Newsy stories have appeared on AOL News Videos in the past few weeks. Reproduced as "AOL News Now," Newsy videos are now available from one of the top news providers in the world.

Here are a few of my favorite Newsy stories I've done in the past few weeks... click on the title to read the transcript or watch the video:

Victim-Blaming In Child Gang Rape Story?

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Does Nessie Have An English Cousin?

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

JPMorgan Investing $450 Million in Twitter?

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

NY Considers Cap On Medical Malpractice:

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

DNA Testing In The Future For Airports?

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Is Anonymous’ Bank of America Leak Real?

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

In Memory Of A DIPG Warrior

2011-03-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

There are DIPG warriors and angels. He was once a warrior and now he is an angel. His name is Zac Talley and he was 7-years-old when a rare form of cancer that only affects 200 children in the US a year took his life. But he was not just a child suffering from cancer, he was also a child that loved horses, Uno, and cracking jokes. Family says he was wise beyond his age.

I met his amazing family and friends this week and I want to tell you all about them.

Chrystal Terrell is his mother. She is sweet, kind, caring, and among one of the strongest people I have met. She has taken this tragedy and turned it into something good. When talking about Zac she smiles and laughs at the memories, and when she cries she says she shouldn't because Zac would be mad at her during those moments. In Zac's memory she created the Zac Attack Foundation. She hopes to spread awareness about diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, the cancer Zac had. She hopes enough awareness will lead to a cure.

Tyler is Zac's best friend and twin. Nothing could separate the two. They did practically everything together. Tyler loves looking back at the time that Zac put underwear on his head and pretended to be Captain Underpants. He and Zac played a lot of baseball together, as well as many other sports. He and Zac shared that twin connection you always hear about. He doesn't go anywhere now without wearing a Zac Attack shirt in Zac's memory.

Brandon is Zac's older brother. He's a bit shy, but isn't tepid at all when it comes to talking about his brother. Brandon says he remembers Zac's smile and says life would be much easier if Zac were here now. He misses shooting hoops with Zac.

Megan is Zac's sister. She says because of Zac's love for horses she is inspired to become a veterinarian. She remembers reading the bible next to Zac's bedside when he was in a coma and he couldn't make it to church. A sparkle seems to twinkle in her eye when she talks about Zac.

Zac also has other brother and sisters and there was no question he loved them too. Terrell said one of the family's favorite memories is when Zac decided to take his family on a vacation to Tennessee through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Terrell said Zac had the choice of going to Disney World, but instead choose Tennessee so he could bring along his five brothers, sister, mom, and step-dad.

Finally there is Kristina Maddox. She is a family friend keeping Zac's spirit alive in a way so big no one could ever imagine. Kristina decided to enter the Toyota Racing Sponsafy Your Ride contest to create a car in memory of Zac and to raise awareness about DIPG. Now she's asking for the community's help to win this contest. Maddox is an interactive digital media major at North West University in Maryville. She created the car green with baseballs on it because Talley played for the North Callaway little league team. It reads "DIPG Warriors" and "Zac Attack" on the car. With the eighth car out of more than 40,000 cars, she may get that wish. The top 10 cars will be featured on TV during the Nascar Sprint All-Star race. The winning design will be applied to a real race car. People can vote once a day until March 21. Kristina says he grew up with Zac and hopes this contest will bring DIPG awareness to a national platform.

Everyday we hear of people dying. But behind each of those deaths is a family mourning and grieving. To hear those families share those memories feels as if that person has come back alive. I will never forget the Talley's and Maddox's.

Zac seemed like an incredible little boy and I wish I had the chance to meet him. I hope he continues to inspire people like me in the years to come.

From A Reporter's Viewpoint

As a reporter, there was one story that stuck out to me. Before interviewing Megan, I asked if she had ever been interviewed before. She told me once right after her brother passed away she was walking away from her softball game when a reporter ran up to her and thrust a microphone in her face asking "are you the girl whose brother died?" I was stunned when she told me this. It's something she will never forget... It saddens me when reporters don't take in consideration a person's feelings, especially a young girl like Megan. They may argue that they need a story, but my response is good luck getting a good story that way or rather good luck getting a story at all.

It was a struggle writing this story because I wanted to share everything, I wanted to include everyone, but unfortunately I didn't have time. Even the stories above I wrote above are only a quarter of what I learned about the family. I've also been trying to do different things with my stories and I really don't think the intro worked... but you can watch for yourself!

An Array Of Stories From The Past Few Weeks

2011-03-06T12:56:00.001-08:00

Since life has been so busy, I haven't gotten a chance to update you all on my happenings. Below is a few stories I've worked on in the past couple of weeks!!

Packages:
Union Supporters, Tea Party Groups Rally At Capitol

VO's/VOSOT's:

Man Shot At Gas Station:

Anti-Abortion Prayer Vigil:

Live:

Columbia Superintendent Wants To Get Rid Of Mobile Classrooms

Onsets:

City Manager Chooses Replacement For Transition

National Salute to Veteran Patients Week

2011-02-17T12:19:00.000-08:00

The only way I could describe my visit to the VA Hospital for "National Salute to Veteran Patients Week" is unforgettable.

This week, a few of us from KOMU visited the VA Hospital here in Columbia to thank all those there for their service. We also handed out Valentine's Day cards that kids all over the country had made for them. I loved hearing these people's stories and experiences while serving overseas.

During our visit, we also went up to the care center. We weren't allowed to visit each room separately because there was a virus going around, but as I walked past the veteran's rooms I saw them sitting alone, doing crossword puzzles and watching TV. I really wanted to go up to them and give them a giant hug. It really made my heart break to see them sitting in their rooms all alone...Also visiting with some who could barely speak, much less walk, made me really appreciate my life and what they had done for us.

There was one veteran up there who our anchor/reporter had remembered from one of her many stories on the "Honor Flight." This anchor started raising enough money to do Honor Flights here in Columbia a few years ago. A Honor Flight takes a planeload of WWII veterans to Washington D.C. to see their memorial. For many WWII veterans, before they pass away, many will never even get to see their own memorial. The Honor Flight is a valuable experience for those who go. For this one man, our anchor asked if he could remember his visit there. As he started his story, we weren't sure if he really did remember it, since we didn't have a clue where the story was going. Slowly, but surely, he told us the story of how he remembered getting off the plane and this little 4-year-old girl running up to him and hugging him. She thanked him for his service. He told us this is something he will never forget. Pretty sure most of us in that room were near tears.

I now hold all those stories very close to my heart. It was great to see some of them out and about though interacting with others. Many told us this was the best VA Hospital in the country and the care they've received has been phenomenal. This made me proud of our community.

Being able to do these types of things for my community, makes me value my job as a journalist even more. I loved seeing these people's faces light up and having them know that their service didn't go unnoticed. Because I'm so young I had a few tell me they thought in a town full of college students nobody would care about what they did for their country, but they were so glad to see at least one. It really made my heart melt.

By the end of the visit we made a few friends:

*First picture courtesy of Flagsbay.com

(Life And) Death Through The Eyes Of A Journalist

2011-02-15T06:43:00.000-08:00

I was sitting on my bed last night when I heard the fire engine sirens outside my window. I tried to drone out the piercing noise with my music, but I couldn’t. It was then the images came flowing back to me.

I saw my first dead body on Saturday. That’s something I don’t think any journalist ever forgets.

A little after 5:30 on Saturday night news of a structure fire came over the scanner. Police were saying it was on a road near the station. A producer ran outside and sure enough he could see the smoke. I clambered for my camera, jumped in the station car and rushed across the street.

I was one of the first on the scene, even before most of the firefighters. I remember standing on the roadway staring at the gray smoke swirling up into the sky from the mobile home. I saw the flames flying up out of the door; the burning orange inside captivated me. As I stood there for a couple of minutes, I remember thinking “wow this is not good,” but not once did I think someone was still in there.

It wasn’t long before a rush of firefighters came running in. Police cars and personal cars of volunteer firefighters began lining up and down the road near our station. I decided I needed to get closer for better video and climbed up the hill in the deep snow. As soon as I got up the hill I heard a voice behind me. “My son, my son!” I turned around a saw a lady in a blue sweater frantically running towards the home. “My son! That’s my son’s house!” she screamed out. Her distraught face was filled with fear. She stumbled a couple of times trying to get up the hill. A police officer came running towards her and grabbed her by the hand. But she didn’t want to hold his hand; she just wanted to see if her son was all right. Trembling, she kept trying to run towards the house, but the police officer held her back. “Ma'am” he told her. “Ma'am I can’t let you go over there.” “But it’s my son’s house,” she cried out again. She tried bolting for the home again, but she tripped and fell in the snow. But, she didn’t seem to care and began crawling in the snow towards the house. The officer helped her up, grabbed her shoe that had gotten stuck in the snow, and led her over to spot away from the home.

I looked away from the woman and focused back on the camera, trying to get some shots of the firefighters forging their way into the burning home. I had the camera pointed towards the door of the home and that’s when I heard more screams.

“Over here! Over here!” firefighters inside the home yelled out. I zoomed in with my camera and fixated it on the firefighters. I saw a couple of them struggling with something, but because there were so many of them I couldn’t figure out what it was. I kept my camera on them and my eyes staring at the display. When they were a few steps out the door and I looked up from the camera, that’s when I saw it. Two legs dangled from the firefighters’ arms. Black, burnt and limp.

The firefighters placed the man on the ground and surrounded him to see if there was anything they could do. It didn’t take long before they got up and reached for the blue tarp. It was too late. He was gone before they had even gotten inside the home.

I decided to swing the camera around and put the lens on the mother. I watched through the screen as the police officer held the woman’s hand and told her there was nothing they could do. I watched through the viewfinder of the camera as this woman’s whole life came crumbling down. It’s something I know as a journalist I will watch many more times.

I decided to turn the camera back to the house where the firefighters continued to battle the fire. While I was doing this, a police officer came over and told me to try and keep from taping the body. He also told me he would have the fire chief talk with me when he could. Soon other reporters started showing up and I spread the word. No one else had seen the body, but they saw the tarp sitting on the group and they knew.

The body lay there that whole night. Firefighters held up the tarp and surrounded it when they had to have an official look at it…when they had to have the mother identify the body. Finally at the end of the night they wrapped the body up into a brown blanket, put it on the stretcher and carried it off.

After the interview with the fire chief, I had to go back to the station and watch the video over and over. If I had known what the firefighters were pulling out the home I probably wouldn’t have taped it. But I didn’t know, and I had to relive that moment over and over at the station when putting together my VOSOT.

----

I’ve seen fires before (take a look at my "The Art Of Detaching Yourself From A Story" entry) and I’ve seen car wrecks bad enough for somebody to have died. But, besides funerals, I’ve never seen a dead body. It makes you wonder how firefighters, police officers, military officers do their jobs. Do they become numb to it? Do they feel guilty if they lose someone or do they know they did the best they could? They really are courageous people.

It makes me think of journalists how have to work through crises like Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina. They really are courageous people as well.

I’ve lost plenty of loved ones. I even lost a friend in preschool from a fire. But nothing really compares to seeing a dead body being carried away and not knowing what that person was like in life. You only get a glance of them in death.

If I didn’t say it hurt to see the legs just dangling there limp, I’d be lying.

If I didn’t say it made me sick to my stomach watching the video over and over of the firefighters carrying the man, I’d be lying. I just wish I could have put a face and a personality with the name.

If I didn’t say it hurt to see the woman falling in the snow yelling “that’s my son”, I’d be lying.

No journalist wants to meet a person for the first time on the worst day of their life, but it happens. It’s just part of the job.

When covering these stories, we have to "put on our reporter face," and watch death through the eyes of journalist; that means holding in our feelings and focusing on the story at hand. That means getting up the next morning after stories like this one and moving onto the next one. I’ve heard people say journalists are heartless people, but trust me, most of us may look like we move on from stories from this… but we don’t, it will always be embedded in our minds.

The night of the fire, I found out his name was Jerry, but his friends called him Gerald. Now that I know his name, I hope someday, before I leave Columbia, I will run into someone who can tell me something about Gerald’s life. This way I will have memories of not just his death, but of his life.

Breaking News Galore... Well Almost

2011-02-06T16:31:00.001-08:00

This past week has been a crazy one, and not just because of the snow! Check out some of my recent work below.

After spending all day in Jefferson City (about a 30 minute drive from the station), I went back to the station to write my script and cut my video. Just before the 5 p.m. newscast I began driving back to Jefferson City for my liveshot. Unfortunately, about halfway there the live truck operator called to me he couldn't get a signal. So back to the station I went to do an onset. After my onset, the live truck operator and master control was able to get a signal, so I raced back to Jefferson City to do my live shot for the 6 p.m. I really want to practice going live, so I was extremely happy about this. It also really made me appreciate the work our live truck operators do. Just another day in the life of a reporter!

Two State Buildings Evacuate In Fear The Roof Could Collapse:

On the way home from the liveshot I passed what looked like a really bad accident. Although I wasn't able to get any info on it (highway patrol was supposed to post a press release and didn't) we still aired it as a VO because it did effect traffic.

I anchored the Saturday newscast as well as visited a car mechanic that day to see if business had increased or not due to the large ice storm. They said since people were still digging their cars out business hadn't increased, but they expected it to this week. Click here to read "Car Mechanics Gear Up to Deal With Storm Aftermath" or look for it in my anchoring segments below!

Planned Parenthood Video Sparks Debate Over Federal Funding

2011-02-03T11:29:00.001-08:00

Due to the large snowstorm, I was able to work for Newsy from home yesterday! Click here to read "Planned Parenthood Video Sparks Debate Over Funding" or watch the video below.

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Attack Of The Snowpocalypse!!

2011-02-02T16:09:00.000-08:00

If snowpocalypse isn't a real word, well then it should be after this week's snowstorm. Most people I know seemed to think it was the end of the world.... If you've been living under a rock, then you may have seen it through a small peephole, but probably haven't heard.... Snow, ice, and freezing temperatures hit 2000 miles of the Midwest and part of the Northeast this week. Two-thirds of the nation faced down power lines, several deaths were reported and thousands of airports made cancellations.

Here in Columbia, we also had a large interstate shut completely down after we received about 18 inches of snow. I experienced driving in my first (complete) white-out conditions, and that's saying a lot because I'm a Chicagoian. On my way home from the station yesterday, I had to remember from memory where the roads were. I drove only about 10 miles per hour the entire way and I'm pretty sure I hurt my car trying to get up a hill covered in at least 6 inches of snow.

Before this took place however... let me take you back to the beginning.

Tuesday morning I was prepared to go out and cover the beginning of the storm for our morning show, but then around 1 a.m. an apartment fire broke out in Columbia. So I ran out with a camera to get some footage and all the details... Thankfully it wasn't that cold out, and it hadn't started snowing yet. In my first few liveshots my hair wasn't blowing widely around just yet. Watch the video below:

The snow was starting to come down really hard and the wind started to pick up a little before 7 a.m. During my last hit I mixed the apartment fire details with a little bit of weather news. As you can see, the wind I was talking about earlier, blew my hair to one side of my head. This next live hit wasn't done very well, but you do get to see some of the video I took from the fire!

Finally at 7 a.m., just when the live truck operator and I thought we could start packing up and heading back, we received news the crew back at the station extended the morning show and wanted us to stay. This time I would be talking about weather. I asked the live truck operator to move the camera so viewers could see the road. Not only could the viewers see the road, but the wind was blowing towards my back and not my face. This also came in exceptionally handy when the producer and director had us stand out there for more than 30 minutes to figure out audio problems. I was definitely covered in snow by then!

Below is my liveshot and also a glance at how the entire KOMU crew came out to help when the snowstorm began to move in. When I got back to the station people were flooding in with their sleeping bags and food, ready to spend the night at the station.

To say the least, I had a great deal of fun helping to cover the snowstorm this week. Our newscasts provided a ton of interaction with the audience and I feel it improved the newscasts a lot when we showed people's pictures and videos they had tweeted. It really got our audience excited and involved. Weather is only fun to cover if you make it fun.

Also this past week I wrote a story on Newsy about how underage sex rings spike during the Super Bowl. Click here to read "Super Bowl A Magnet For Sex Trafficking" or watch my story below.

You Know You're A Reporter When...

2011-01-30T14:07:00.000-08:00

Friday's are my only day to sleep in (if you call 9 a.m. sleeping in!). So normally I'd be happy to wake up, nice and rested, ready for a day of live reporting. But not this Friday.

This Friday I woke up to a voicemail left at 7:30 a.m.

"Hey Tara, the verdict for the Wright trial is supposed to be announced today. The trial resumes at 9 a.m. and so if you can cover it today call me back in the next 20 minutes or we're going to have to call the next reporter."

It has always been my dream to cover a trial and this trial wasn't just your normal trial. It was trial in a 35-year-old murder case. So waking up to the message at 9 a.m. pretty much devastated me. How could I have been so stupid as to leave my phone on silent? I called the assignment desk to make sure they had gotten someone, and sure enough they had. It took me the whole day to get over. I guess you know you're a true reporter when you're beating yourself over the head because you missed a story. You win some, you lose some though and one day I will get the chance. I'm just happy for my friend who got to cover it because I know he likes trials as well.

After this internal debacle, I pitched the tuition story that I had worked on Tuesday morning, but another reporter was already on it. Finally I was given a story about the National Winston Churchill Museum in Fulton being selected this past week to showcase a Smithsonian exhibit next year. I guess it's a good thing I don't mind a nice soft news story every once in a while. It's fun to be able to get creative with and easy to bring out your personality on camera. Those at the museum were extremely nice as well and I had great time learning a thing or two about Winston Churchill while I was there.

Click here to read "Churchill Museum Will Showcase Smithsonian Exhibit" or watch the video below. I included both liveshots since they are each unique in their own ways. Different sots, different intros.

After my shift I stuck around the newsroom to help out. I was going to head over to the courthouse to help the live reporter, but the trial was pretty much over so I went to the other station in town to pick up the pool tape. I cut the VO of the trial video when I got back. Once again, even if I didn't get to cover the story, it feels nice just to help out!

The next day, before my anchoring shift, I was supposed to pick up a vosot. It was an EXTREMELY slow news day. Finally I decided to settle on an email we received about a school in town holding a rummage sale. Expecting to get there and find a small amount of people milling around, I encountered something completely different.

Come to find out, a group of five students were holding the sale to raise money so they can travel to India in July to build a school for disabled children. There were a ton of people there and apparently there had been a long line out the door that morning. I was able to speak with a parent whose child is going, his daughter, another student going, and a teacher also going. I called my producer and asked him if I could do a package on it. Pretty cool story if you ask me! It was a rushed package with only an hour and 45 minutes to do it, but it was good enough for the producer to run in the 6 pm and 9 pm. A vosotvo ran in the 10 pm.

Click here to read "Students Hold Rummage Sale To Raise Funds For Trip" or watch the video below!

Along with the package, I also co-anchored the 6 p.m. newscast. Watch a few clips below!

Busy Break, But Now It's Back To Work!

2011-01-27T18:48:00.001-08:00

Hello friends! It's been way too long...

I've been wanting to update my blogs (Psychology of Crime included... I've been working on two entries that still haven't finished yet!), but I just haven't had the time. Over break I visited family in New York, took a trip to Washington DC, and had the chance to tour the Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV. In Washington DC, I spent the day at the Newseum and absolutely loved it! It's definitely a journalist's haven. I hope to post pictures soon of the tours in Chicago and the Newseum!

Currently I've been busy with KOMU and Newsy.com. Last week I had a weather liveshot which is always a blast. Missouri was hit hard with 8 inches of snow and a few days later when I was scheduled to report, we were expecting another inch. Click here to read "More Snow Expected Around Rush Hour" on KOMU.com or watch below!

I also had a liveshot for the morning show a few days later. The UM System Board of Curators is planning to raise tuition for next year's students. Click here to read "UM System Board Of Curators Decide Tuition Increase Fate Friday" on KOMU.com or watch the video below.

I also started working at Newsy.com last week. As I explained on my website, Newsy is a "multi-source online video news site that monitors, analyzes, and presents the world's news coverage." As a reporter for Newsy I am expected to research and dissect a news story from a variety of news outlets. I pull sources from many platforms including print and broadcast. From there I use these stories to write a well thought out piece on how the media is portraying this story in different ways. Essentially I'm sharing how the media feels about a story. This story is shared on multiple multimedia platforms such as the iPad, iPhone, and iTouch through the Newsy application. While writing the story I must also grab the multimedia to put together the story. This includes pictures and video for the broadcast story. This requires me to use programs such as Snapz, Shadowtv, and Photoshop. Finally I am required to input the story into a content management system.

My first story was about how the number of law enforcement deaths have been rising. Click here to read "Two Florida Officers Killed In Gunfire" or watch the video below!

I also wrote another story yesterday. A New York State Senator is pushing to pass a ban on pedestrians using electronic device while crossing streets in New York. He first tried to pass the ban in 2007, but the bill was shot down. You may have seen the video that stirred up the conversation once again... It's the video of the lady in Pennsylvania falling into a mall fountain while texting. Click here to read "New York Considering Fines For Distracted Pedestrians" or watch my story below!

Thanks for reading, watching, and clicking! Until next time, ciao!

Using Unique Methods And Different Platforms To Tell A Powerful Story

2010-12-21T11:55:00.000-08:00

When a journalist is asked what makes a powerful story they may reply with an answer that includes a well written script, visually appealing, unique characters with a different perspective, and plenty of natural sound. But there are so many ways to make a story powerful. Sometimes just finding a different way to tell a story can make it powerful. Below is a few examples.

Full nat sound stories can be quite powerful if done correctly. Well, this story I'm going to share with you isn't exactly a nat sound story, but it doesn't have any voice overs either. It's a sad story about a teen who has ALS disease. After being told she only has a few months to live she decides what she wants to do with those last few months.

Click here to see "Dying Teen's Chance On Love."

Also... wonder how powerful facebook statues can be? This next story is a heartbreaking story told through facebook posts. It's a story of a mother who shares her joys and heartbreaks of motherhood, with an unexpected twist at the end.

Click here to read "A Mother's Joy and a Family's Sorrow."

I've always had a love for photography. The way one can manipulate the color, angle, and perspective of an object in a photo to let the viewer feel an emotion has always fascinated me. Just a single photo or a series of photos can also make for a powerful statement or story.

Click here to see "35 Powerful Photos That Tell A Story."

And of course this entry wouldn't be complete if I didn't include the site Media Storm. The entire site is composed of powerful stories told in unique ways through multimedia story telling. Click here to visit "Media Storm."

City Council, Post Office Working Out Mail Delivery Issues

2010-12-20T13:36:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago at the Columbia City Council meeting, residents complained they weren't getting mail because of cars parking in front of their mailboxes. These cars were parked by a neighbor or someone they didn't know. On Wednesday, I went around investigating these complaints and found out what the post office and the city council's ideas were to fixing this problem. I spoke with Columbia postmaster Cindy Bolles, a resident, and a mail carrier.

I feel this story had a lot to do with luck. I was really hoping to ride along with a mail carrier, but the post office said this was not possible. So Bolles gave me the subdivisions where most of the complaints came from and I traveled there in hopes of finding someone who had a strong opinion on the issue.

After knocking on about 20 doors and speaking with numerous residents, I found most did have a problem with cars parking in front of their mailboxes. While in the subdivision, I also got really lucky and saw the mail carrier drive by. I ran up to her and let her know what I was working on and asked if she wouldn't mind me following her. I also asked her opinion. Without the resident and the mail carrier, I don't feel this story would have much value to it. I also tried to add as much nat sound as I could in the minute and ten seconds I had. Watch the story below.

Click here to read "City Council, Post Office Working Out Mail Delivery Issues" on KOMU.com.

Icy Conditions Cause Semi To Overturn

2010-12-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

I've always been a very cautious driver, but this past Wednesday night no matter how cautious some drivers were they weren't able to stay on the road. The freezing rain and icy conditions made the roads extremely slippery. On my way to my liveshot, I saw a few cars off the road. Salt trucks were out, but it didn't really help until the morning. When I got to my liveshot location I discovered a tractor-trailer overturned. It had been carrying new cars and many were scattered about the road. Police, ambulances, and firetrucks were at the scene attempting to clean up some of the mess while the rain continued to come down.

Before the 9 show, I had a few minutes to prepare and go live for the first time. It was just as exciting as I've always imagined it. Although I did learn a valuable lesson: always speak clearly with producers to let them know what you're going to do. I wanted to explain where I was, what had happened behind me (the overturned truck) and then explain road closings. Since there wasn't much time the communication between the producers and I, the graphics about the road closings were up when I was explaining what was going on behind me. Another thing I've learned is always be prepared. My hair tends to curl up in the rain, in a very unpleasant way, and I couldn't find my hair tie. I also should have brought boots along so my feet didn't freeze. I was in such a rush because the liveshot was a last minute thing that I didn't really think about these things. Next semester my main focus is liveshots. I hope to continue to learn more ways to improve them then.

Afterwards, while waiting warmly in the livetruck before the 10 hit, a woman came by asking us if we had any tools to get her vehicle unstuck after she had slipped off the road. About an hour later we saw a tow truck drive by carrying another different vehicle. There was also a large backup near the exit our liveshot was set up. Unfortunately it cleared before the 10 hit. So instead we tried to find a different angle of the overturned semi. Since the liveshot didn't really show much because we couldn't get near the scene, I included the VO I wrote, shot, and edited for the morning show below. I also included a slideshow I put together for KOMU.com.

Liveshot:

VO for the morning show:

Slideshow of the overturned semi:

Future of Television News: The Reality Of Social Media Moving In And Those Who Need To Move Out

2010-12-12T13:36:00.000-08:00

This past April the Audit Bureau of Circulations, an independent firm that checks the average circulation of print periodicals, reported the drop of newspaper circulation nationwide was 8.7 percent. They also restated what everybody’s been saying for years, “newspapers are dying.” This has been the prediction by many, but what has actually happened? Some newspapers found ways to adapt to the changing culture of a society obsessed with the Internet. Those that did survive found a new wave of readers by putting their articles online. Now, as it comes time for local television news to “die off”, I believe we are already finding many ways to adapt to a changing culture as well.

To find ways to adapt to this changing culture, we must examine what is currently wrong with local television and why it does not work. There are a few smaller things that are wrong and can be changed, and there are also larger aspects that could be introduced to local television news to make it better. An example of something simple is the way we cover the news. An example of a larger aspect could be how local television stations use social media. Below is a list of problems with local television news and the approaches we can take to fix them.

Problem: From my own personal experience, I have noticed older generations claiming, “social media tools are the wave of the future.” The big problem with that statement: social media tools are already here! I don’t believe local television stations use social media to its full potential.

Solution: Social media is a very powerful tool and by using it correctly television stations can increase interaction with viewers, as well as gain viewers. Twitter is a perfect example. Many stations run its twitter accounts like RSS feeds. By doing this, it really isn’t meaningful to the viewers. They can go to a station’s website to find the story if they wanted (although even then station websites are usually not user-friendly). If reporters were to post bits of information throughout the day, viewers would feel as if they were along for the ride. This not only provides them with useful knowledge, but it encourages them to tune in and see the final product during the newscast. Providing immediate facts to viewers isn’t the only thing social media tools are useful for. They can also be great outlets for interacting with viewers at all times of the day, including during newscasts. This can build a strong, loyal group of viewers, another way to get story ideas and sources, and can be an outlet for viewers to talk about important community issues to each other. Not to mention the Internet has unlimited space, which means stations can provide boundless amounts of information to the public, perhaps even creating micro niche websites for really in-depth stories. Social media tools include blogs, Facebook, event calendars, forums, photo sharing sites such as Flickr and Photobucket, tags and book marking tools such as digg, delicious, and reddit, and video sharing sites like Vimeo and Youtube. Currently local television stations have fallen behind in the social media world and it’s hindering newsrooms.

Problem: I don’t believe people are ever going to completely lose interest in watching their news on a regular television, but the way they do it could change. I think there are a few ways television stations could increase the quality of their newscasts as well as keep up with the times.

Solution: There are simple things that could change the number of viewers that watch the news. If stations were to change these things about their news, perhaps viewership would increase:

• Less crime/violence stories
• More local news
• More in-depth pieces that affect a majority of the viewers
• Not beating the same story to death, but adding more follow-ups to the web stories

It’s not only what we cover though, but how we present the news. As technology advances, I think it would be neat to make the news on television interactive. As soon as a story is done, if we are able to get it on television or online, viewers could essentially create their own newscasts by stacking their own show with the stories they want to see. This way a viewer doesn't have to click around online and watch each story separately. People with busy lifestyles could just watch their newscasts whenever they wanted. In the age of TiVo’s and DVR’s, people love to record shows and have what they want when they want it. Interactive newscasts would give them these options. Advertisements would also be linked to the newscasts, so stations would not lose ad revenue.

Problem: I have also heard about many internal problems within newsrooms. News directors and managers who don’t embrace social media can be a huge setback to a newsroom. They are set in their old ways and don’t really grasp where the future of news is headed.

Solution: Reality is harsh, but I believe by keeping those news directors and managers a station suffers. I believe newsrooms need the experience of those long-standing workers, but if they’re not willing to learn ways to advance the news than they’re holding the newsroom back from improving. Perhaps the station could find them a more useful in different positions if they aren’t willing to embrace current trends. It’s not always the ND’s and managers however. Some of the problems start at the top of the ladder with the CEO’s and heads of the companies. If they are not willing to give money to hire an Internet sales person and web editors, then it’s impossible to get the station up to speed. This can only be fixed by persuasion or other ways that don’t involve the newsroom staff.

Problem: Another internal problem within the newsrooms seem to be the quality of our news. I understand management needs to make cutbacks so they have relied more on one-man-bands, but the quality of news is lost when one reporter is frantically trying to do the job of many throughout the day. One of these jobs includes posting their stories online. Is there a way to bring in money to stop the cuts?

Solution: Since the future of news is more geared towards online, companies should look at finding ways to make money online. If this happens companies will see more revenue and perhaps this can help reduce staff cuts. There is money to be made online, but television stations just haven’t figured out how yet. This is mostly because stations haven’t even gotten up to speed with what the Internet can do for them. Some stations don’t even have a web person or sales person dedicated to the web!

If newsrooms aren’t willing to drop the one-man-band mentality (I'm not totally against it, I love to shoot, write, and edit my stories!), then they need to lower the amount of work a reporter does so the story quality can be better. In fact some newsrooms have decided to have their reporter/photographer teams put together packages, while making their one-man-bands cover only vo-sots.

With these solutions in place, I believe local television stations could be well on their way to catching up with the current times. When research shows local television viewership declining, they are referring to the loss of viewers mostly from the younger generation. This is because the younger generation is a need-it-now type and they don’t want to wait until the 5 p.m. newscast. With the help of social media tools, interactive newscasts, and increasing the quality of the news I believe local television can thrive once again.

What are your thoughts?

*Thanks to Google TV Box for the above image!

7 Going On 70 - Life With Progeria

2010-12-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share this story with you because it was one that really touched me. The life and joy these girls have while facing such a terrible disease is tremendous. This was a very well done story by ABC News about three little girls who have progeria - a disease that causes rapid aging starting in childhood. A disease where the life span is only about 13-years-old. I found myself laughing and almost crying at the same time as these little girls spoke. They're so funny and endearing, yet you know their time here isn't much longer.

Help Columbia Develop Solar Energy

2010-12-10T22:49:00.000-08:00

This blog entry was originally written for 8 Goes Green.

This past week I decided to venture out to see how Columbian’s can help the city go green. Two years Columbia Water & Light started planning the Solar One program. It’s a program that’s dedicated to developing solar power.

The way the project works is local businesses make proposals to Water & Light. Water & Light goes through the proposals and finds the best deals. It then installs the solar panels on the businesses rooftops. The solar energy from the panels goes directly into the grid and then everyone in Columbia benefits from the energy.

Water & Light spokeswoman Connie Kacprowicz told me Columbia is perfect for developing solar energy because Columbia has some tall buildings with large rooftops. This is great for solar exposure. She also said businesses can receive tax incentives from having these solar panels installed. Solar energy is already being developed in Columbia at Quaker Oats, Bright City Lights (see my story above) and from solar systems on Bernadette Drive.

The coolest thing, however, is now residents can take part in helping to pay for the solar energy. Residents in Columbia who are electric customers of Water & Light can be subscribers. These subscribers help pay the extra cost of the energy. This is in addition to their utility bills each month.

Since the cost of the new solar projects went down, so did the price for residents wanting to contribute to pay for the solar energy. The city council approved lowering the cost of Solar One blocks of energy. It went down from $4 to $3.35 for a 100 kilowatt hour block of energy. Subscribers can purchase up to nine blocks of Solar One energy.

Wondering why you might want to contribute? Here’s a little history lesson for you:

You may not know it, but solar energy has a fascinating history. Contrary to popular belief, the use of solar power wasn’t just discovered less than a century ago. It actually dates as far back as 400BC when the Greek and Native Americans first began to use it. Both built their houses into the side of hills to store the heat from the day and use that heat during the night.

In 1776, Horace de Saussare created the first solar collector. According to History Of Solar Power, is collector was cone shaped and would boil ammonia that would then perform like refrigeration and locomotion.

To put that in perspective, 1776 was also the year: Thomas Paine published Common Sense, the American Revolution continued, and Rhode Island became the first American colony to the first American colony to renounce its loyalty to King George III of Great Britain. As you can see… dating way for back people realized the usefulness of solar energy. The supply of solar power is virtually endless and since no fuels are required to produce it, it doesn’t harm the environment in any way.

Now you can become part of that history right here in Columbia and help our community go green!

You can sign up to purchase Solar One energy blocks by clicking here. You can also learn more about the Solar One program by clicking here.

Photoshop versus Illustrator

2010-12-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

For those new to Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, I always hear the common question... what's the difference between the two?

Here are a few basic differences:

Adobe Photoshop:

Photoshop is excellent for manipulating photographic images. You can add borders, apply filters, fix any sort of blemishes in a photo, cut out images from the photographs, change the color of a photograph, and do an array of other things to your existing photographs.
Photoshop brings in the digital files as a fixed image meaning it brings in the images as pixels in a bitmap form.
You can manipulate each colored pixel within the bitmap form.
Overall: Photoshop is good for changing existing images in bitmap form.

Adobe Illustrator:

Illustrator generates "vector images". Photoshop can make vector images, but once you rasterize them, they become a bitmap image. Compared to Photoshop, many would call Illustrator a "true vector application," meaning you can do more advanced complex vector graphics than you can do on Photoshop.
I'm about to use Wikipedia as a source because it defines the term "vector graphics" better than I can. According to Wikipedia, a vector graphic is: the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygons, which are all based on mathematical equations, to represent images in computer graphics." Basically just imagine a very detailed drawing. It is composed of gradients, curves, lines, and shapes. That would be something Illustrator could create. You can manipulate shapes in Illustrator, changing their curves and lines with anchor points.
Overall: Illustrator is good for creating new graphics and artwork with vector graphics. The images can be used on line, in print, and even on your cell phone.

Personally I prefer Photoshop, only because I like to shoot photos and I can't really draw. It really depends on what you're working on though. But what's the greatest thing about Adobe products? They were created to all work together.

The image below was made using a combination of photoshop and illustrator. I created it to hopefully use as my Crime In The News blog banner. It was a simple graphic created from scratch. I used Illustrator to create the pencil and photoshop to create the background and crime scene tape. Click on the graphic below to go to my blog (where I have yet to put the graphic up! haha):

*Thanks to Icones.pro for the above two icons for Photoshop and Illustrator.

Thinking Outside The Box

2010-12-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it: I'm a perfectionist. But, as I spend more time reporting I realize things aren't always going to go your way. Example: this past week.

Before going out on a story, I imagine how I want it to play out; I think about the questions I want to ask, the people I want to talk to, and who the perfect CCC would be. I think about the shots I want, how I'm going to write the package, and how the sequence of shots are going to be laid out. Although this doesn't always work out, I'm always willing to adapt to my surroundings and story.

This week I pitched a story about the Central Missouri Community Action's funds for energy aid running out. The funds help low income families, the elderly and disabled, and those in danger of having their utility services disconnected with their energy bills. The funds are in danger of running out by next year if the federal government does not provide the center with extra money. The funds the center received this year are only half of what they received last year. For my story, I hoped to talk to the woman in charge of energy assistance and then someone who would be extremely affected by the funds running out.

When I couldn't reach the center I headed there. I spoke with the community service supervisor who was gracious enough to explain how the funding works. After the interview, I wanted to grab a CCC: someone who would be affected. However, many of the people who had appointments with the center had left. I tried getting the few people in the waiting room to talk to me, but they didn't want to go on camera. I did talk to someone off camera and used her as a source, but by the time the center closed I didn't have my "perfect" CCC to make people really care about the story.

This happens a lot in journalism, and the only thing that determines how your story turns out is how you handle the situation. Learning to always think outside the box is key. When the center was empty and time was running short, I hoped for a CCC to walk through the doors, but I also thought about ways I could write the package without them. I started shooting the empty chairs and thought about how I could start my package.

To see how I went about my story, watch it below:

Click here to view my story on KOMU.com.

Ten Commandments To Using Social Media

2010-12-05T12:28:00.000-08:00

As social media tools become more prominent in today's world of journalism, it is important to use these tools with a sense of professionalism. However, while journalists do need to use professionalism in social media, adding a personal touch in their posts are a great way to connect with audiences. So where is the divide between professional and personal posts? How should journalists determine how to use social media tools and what should the ethical guidelines be?

After speaking with numerous media outlets, three colleagues and I put together a list of 10 rules we feel all outlets should follow when using social media. View these rules below or watch the slideshow and let me know what you think:

The Ten Commandments To Using Social Media

Social Media Mission Statement: to harbor and create dialogue about what is happening in the community. Therefore, it is our responsibility as journalists to continue and stimulate the dialogue, with that, we have created the following ethical guidelines for social media use:

1. Unbiased: Journalists must remain objective whenever generating content through social media.

2. Attribution: Journalists must provide accurate attribution for any facts they post.

3. Truth: Journalists must be truthful in every post.

4. Timeliness: Journalists must provide breaking, urgent facts to news consumers as soon as accuracy can be fully obtained.

5. Professionalism: Journalists must maintain a professional demeanor so as not to taint their personal or professional brand or that of their newsroom.

6. Accessibility: Journalists are masters of the content they generate therefore, they must remain open and accountable to challenges and questions news consumers may have about their content.

7. Privacy: Journalists must remain open to the public through social media in order to be adequately accessible, and therefore should not expect full privacy while posting.

8. Moderation: Journalists are not obligated to endure senseless abuse from news consumers, and are therefore entitled to moderate personal social media outlets this includes but is not limited to: blocking users and deleting comments.

9. Service: Journalists must work as an extended arm of the public; therefore they should utilize social media to gather questions from news consumers to ensure adequate coverage of issues.

10. Mindful: Journalists must bear in mind that videos, pictures, and other forms of media posted online remain under the same journalistic scrutiny as written content.

The above guidelines were written with the understanding that a journalist is an extension of his/her newsroom regardless of physical location. Journalists are encouraged to live by the Journalists Creed introduced by Walter Williams. Therefore, these guidelines subscribe to the general common sense as should be understood by all journalists.

View the slideshow below:

Ten Commandments To Using Social Media

View more presentations from taraeg.

Sources:

Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland

WBNS-TV, Columbus, Ohio

WSIL-TV, Carterville, Illinois

Kansas City Star, Kansas City, Missouri

WEWS-TV, Cleveland, Ohio

Charleston Daily Mail, Charleston, West Virginia

WTVR-TV, Richmond Virginia

KING-TV, Seattle, Washington

First Nation Reports

2010-12-02T21:00:00.000-08:00

I bring to you another two First Nation Reports:

Still Photographs: President Obama and Vice President Biden Speak At Auto Plant

2010-11-23T23:36:00.000-08:00

How many journalists can say they have the chance to take part in coverage of the president and the vice president? Not many...but today I had the opportunity to attend a press conference with WNDU to take still pictures of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for wndu.com.

Obama and Biden traveled to Kokomo, Ind. to speak to several hundred Chrysler transmission plant workers. They talked about the state and recovery of the auto industry and gave thanks to the auto restructuring plan at the plant, which helped the unemployment rate drop in Kokomo from 20 percent in 2009 to 10.9 percent last month. The visit was part of the White House to Main Street tour.

Click through the slideshow below to see some of the pictures I took:

Fulton Prepares For Upcoming Smoking Ban

2010-11-21T01:01:00.000-08:00

Fulton city officials said Wednesday they are preparing businesses and places of employment for the smoking ban that goes into effect Dec. 4. Watch my story below to see how they are preparing for the upcoming smoking ban:

Click here to read my story on KOMU.com.

Update: Garth Nature Area Dog Park Gets New Seating

2010-11-20T00:43:00.000-08:00

Last week ago I did a story on Columbia residents who were upset after their chairs, windbreaks, and dog toys were taken from the Garth Nature Area Dog Park. They claimed the Parks and Recreation Department took them. (Click here to read "Columbia Residents Fuming After Personal Items Taken.")

This past week I found out who took their stuff and the park received a few new renovations, so yesterday I did an update to my previous story.

In this followup, the residents I spoke with last story were unwilling to talk with me on camera. Watch the story below to find out why the resident's personal items were taken and what kind of renovations were done to the park.

I also left the VO after my story attached because I shot, wrote, and edited that one as well.

Click here to read my story on KOMU.com.

New Blog: Crime And Health In The News

2010-11-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

I finally launched a new blog tonight: Crime And Health In The News

Do not worry though! I will continue to take you on more journalistic adventures in this blog!

The focus of the crime and health blog though, is to examine different elements of crime while tying it together with news stories. The blog will also cover different health stories in the news. I will pull together facts from various sources for both topics.

The blog includes links to crime and health sources, as well as my recommendations for the best books on true crime and health.

I originally wanted to separate the crime and the health stories, but for now I have decided to do that by separating them into categories.

Please check it out and let me know what you think could be improved, or anything you think I should change!

Thank you!

First Nation Reports

2010-11-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

During our 5 p.m. newscast we have a segment called "First Nation" that gives an overview of the top three stories in the nation that day.

Watch the videos below to see the past two weeks "First Nation" reports.

First Five Nation 11/04

First Five Nation 11/11

Look for more of these to come!

Columbia Residents Fuming After Personal Items Taken

2010-11-12T13:18:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, I started off with a story about "spoofing" scam phone calls in Fulton. Many people had been receiving phone calls with the Callaway County Sheriff's phone number showing up on their caller ID's. After a few phone calls and driving to the Sheriff's department to find the Sheriff gone for the day, my story fell though. Stories falling through isn't such an uncommon thing to happen to reporters so I wasn't worried and headed back to the newsroom to look for a new conquest.

Once back, the assignment desk handed me a few phone numbers of residents who had called in to complain about a situation they were facing. Watch my story below to find out why they were so upset:

Click here to read my story on KOMU.com.

On Thursday I also tagged along with a reporter to what I had hoped to be breaking news. Over the scanner we had heard six shots were fired in an apartment complex behind a YMCA in Jefferson City. Click here to read the story.

Jefferson City Seeks Resident's Input On New Rec Center

2010-11-10T10:22:00.000-08:00

With only local YMCA's and smaller fitness centers scattered about, Jefferson City is looking at the possibly of putting in the first city-owned recreation center.

Last week I covered a story in which the Jefferson City Parks and Recreation met with residents to discuss plans or a proposed multipurpose recreation center:

The Power Of Social Media On Election Night

2010-11-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

Election night: the day we love, the day we hate... the day we love to hate and like only because it's exciting, hectic, and when it's done we could use a full night's sleep... which usually doesn't happen. I guess if you're a journalist, only you would understand this last paragraph.

This past election night was just that... exciting and hectic. Reporters running around, the phone ringing off the hook, producers rapidly clicking away at their keyboards, and the shouts of the results across the newsroom once the polls are closed are enough to make that adrenaline rush kick in.

Although I wasn't out in the field, I still had my duties on the web this year and though this may not seem entirely exciting, I can guarantee you it was. For the first time on election night I saw the full force of social media come to life. I was personally manning the KOMU News twitter account and helping with the facebook, but I also experienced a live chat our new media director was holding on KOMU.com.

The idea of a livechat on a news station's website is brilliant. During our livechat we had members of the community come together to speak out the issues on the ballot. One of our anchors stuck around to join the chat, we used a hashtag on twitter (#komuelx) so tweeters and those out reporting could join the chat as well, and we also had important public figures such as Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer join us as well. It certainly is exciting to have a politician joining us on election night to answer questions from our viewers.

I truly believe this election night was a chance for me to really realize how valuable social media is. In topics such as politics where issues are heated and engaging to viewers, news stations can provide an outlet for community members to come together and express their views. Social media provided us with the tools to create a live chat and we, a local television station, gave viewers a place to go to make the live chat more localized.

As the years go on I believe social media will take a more prominent place in society and more newsrooms will see the value of social media on election night. So I suppose when you look at a typical newsroom on election night now, and you watch as the reporters scramble around to get out the door, the producers clicking away at their shows, and the shouts of results across the room, in the future you will be able to add in social media guru's also rapidly clicking away their keyboards as well.

*Election button photo courtesy of georgia.com

Local Commercial Breeders Speak Out Against Prop. B

2010-11-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is election day and one big proposition is causing a ruckus across Missouri: Proposition B. If passed, Prop B would create tighter regulations on larger commercial dog breeders. Breeder would be limited to 50 breeding dogs.

Here is my story that aired last Tuesday:

Since I didn't feel the issue could be covered in just a short story I also included an extended 10 minute interview on the web where head of the Missouri department of the Humane Society of the United States Barbara Schmitz and commercial breeder Mark Santo explain their sides of the proposition B issue.

Click here to read my story on KOMU.com.

Click on the links below to learn more about Proposition B:

Click here to read Proposition B.

Missourians For The Protection Of Dogs

Alliance For Truth

Inspiration From The Missouri Honor Medal Banquet

2010-10-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the Missouri Honor Medal Ceremony and Banquet as a journalism ambassador for the Missouri School of Journalism. It was just as inspiring as I had remembered the first time to be.

The Missouri Honor Medal Banquet is held to honor some of the most outstanding journalists in the world. Since 1930, the Missouri School of Journalism has held this ceremony. Medalists are chosen on the "basis of lifetime or superior achievement, for distinguished service performed in such lines of journalistic endeavor."

The first time I attended the honor banquet was my freshman year here at Mizzou. I had eagerly jumped at the chance of writing an article on it for the school's newspaper The Maneater. I remember the overwhelming feeling of amazement rushing over me. I couldn't believe I was in the presence of some of the most successful journalists in the world. It was an honor that would stick with me throughout my years here at Mizzou.

The first article I wrote almost four years ago was a preview for the ceremony and class the honorees would teach. Click here to read "J-School Honors 10."

The second article covered the ceremony itself and touched upon a few stories on how the honorees had gotten into journalism. Click here to read "J School Honors Accomplished Professionals With Awards."

Last night I was able to meet all the medalists and chat with them for a few minutes after the ceremony and dinner. I can truly say the stories of the those at the Zeta newspaper in the Northwest region of Mexico and Ignacio Gomez from The Foundation For the Freedom of the Press in Colombia made me appreciate the ability we have in America to freely tell our stories without fearing for our lives. It touched me to hear their stories and their courage to push for freedom of the press in their countries. I don't believe too many people can say they have the courage to do this.

Here are a few photos from the ceremony:

From left to right, top row: MU Dean Mills, Co-Chairman Larry Postaer of Rubin Postaer & Associates, Founder and Director James Balog of Extreme Ice Survey and Earth Vision Trust, Ignacio Gomez, CNN founding financial editor and economic commentator Myron Kandel, journalist from Zeta Newspaper and MU Chancellor Brady Deaton.

From left to right, bottom row: Adela Navarro from Zeta Newspaper, former The Oregonian editor and now Harvard University Knight Shorenstein Fellow Sandy Rowe, Hearst Magazine Chairman and now (as of November) NYC School Chancellor Cathleen Black, and Wine Columnist and Author Dorothy J. Gaiter.

Here I am with Larry Postaer, Cathleen Black and Myron Kandel.

Family, Friends Remember Elizabeth Olten One Year Later

2010-10-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

These aren't the easiest of stories to cover, but with a little bit of effort and empathy I was able to talk with two of Elizabeth's friends and a family friend on how they have been able to deal with this tragedy throughout the past year. For all the stories of her killer and the stories of her search, she deserved a story on the person she was. Before watching this story, please read my previous post on the story:

November 9, 2009: Elizabeth Olten Update

Click here to read the story on KOMU.com.

Creating A Culture Of Fear Through The Stories We Tell

2010-10-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

Remember I promised to post about the culture of fear... well here you go! Feel free to share your comments with me!

According to the book, “The Culture of Fear” by Barry Glassner three out of four Americans say they feel more afraid today than they did twenty years ago. Glassner writes of how journalists perpetuate a culture of fear through their work and stories, by over-exaggerating dangers that are not truly imminent dangers to the general public. But is this really true and is there a way, we as journalists, can try and limit creating these fears?

In a newscast of NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams I observed, I rarely found any story that would perpetuate unjustifiable fears in viewers. Below I describe the newscast and its contents; a newscast I feel all stations should try and emulate to help prevent creating cultures of fear.

The newscast began with a story about the state of American politics. Although mostly non-fear driven, there were a few phrases I feel, and I believe Glassner would feel, could create a culture of fear among the public. The writers labeled the nation, “America the angry” and stated, “On Thursday night, what should have been a staged political debate turned into a fight night in Vegas. Audience members broke into a physical scuffle, trading punches…” These statements could make it seem the entire nation is an uproar about politics, and people are getting into fights everywhere just because of it. But this is clearly, by my observances, not true. Glassner writes, “Fear mongers have knocked the optimism out of us by stuffing us full of negative presumptions about our fellow citizens and social institutions.” This is exactly what happened in that story. I feel if I ever face a story like this one I would carefully choose the words I decide to use. I would not sensationalize to the point that will cause the public unneeded fears. I would also stay away from labeling, such as “America the angry,” and shining negative thoughts upon things that aren’t truly negative. However, I do not feel journalists should tone down the truth of the story just for the sake of not trying to create a culture of fear.

In the next story about the American hiker released from an Iranian prison, the reporter talks about how Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with her and how compassionate he was towards her. They could have spent more time with the two people held hostage and created a fear about perpetuating a stereotype that Iran is filled with a bunch of terrorists, but they didn’t.

In another story, however, about how Mark Zuckerburg, the founder of Facebook, is awarding a $100 million grant to the Newark, New Jersey school district, a soundbite grabbed my attention. Zuckerburg created a deal with the mayor, saying the city must raise $100 million in matching funds and raise $50 million for disadvantaged kids. After this is said, Derrell Bradford from the Excellent Education for Everyone is quoted as saying, “If they fail, every foundation, every mayor, every governor is going to look at this as proof of why this will never work and it may never happen again.” A soundbite like this, from a so-called expert, could perpetuate a fear if this truly does fail we may never see a grant like this again. Glassner even writes, “Fear mongers make their scares all the more credible by backing up would-be experts’ assertions with testimonials from people the audience will find sympathetic.” The reporter should look for a soundbite from Bradford providing information about how the grant will work and let the public judge for themselves whether it can work or not. The reporter should also allow the public to make a decision, if they believe the grant won’t work, if it will destroy all future grants like this one.

There are many ways to combat these types of fear cultivating stories. Suggestions I would make: take watch in what you write, include the facts and solid numbers and don’t over sensationalize a story. Be careful whom you decide to interview and what soundbites you decide to use. While looking for stories to cover, make sure you do not overlook stories you feel are too overdone.

As Glassner writes, “I point out dangerous trends that have been around for a while and are thus viewed as old news and unappealing to the media. Motor vehicle injuries, for example, are the leading cause of death in the U.S. for children ages one to fifteen…. If a parent is concerned about his or her children, their money is best spent on car seats, smoke detectors, swimming lessons, and bike helmets as opposed to GPS locators and child identification kits. They would hardly know that, however, from watching their local TV news or listening to the hype from advocacy groups.” I urge you, as journalists, to get out and cover these stories; make the public aware of the dangers they should taken precaution of.

In regards to what I have written, I do not agree with everything Glassner talked about in his book. Glassner writes, “Statements of alarm by newscasters and glorification of wannabe experts are two telltale tricks of the fear monger’s trade. In the preceding chapters I pointed out others as well: the use of poignant anecdotes in place of scientific evidence, the christening of isolated incidents as trends, depictions of entire categories of people as innately dangers. If journalists would curtail such practices, there would be fewer anxious and misinformed Americans.”

Isolated incidents, such as school shootings and airplane crashes, are news. They need to be covered. The public needs to know and wants to know about these situations. So although it may seem as if journalists are constantly covering these stories and creating a fear surrounding the problem, journalists just need to remind the public with accurately portrayed facts and figures these are not trends. When creating a culture of fear, what it really comes down to is not the news we cover, but how we cover it.

There's More To The Story Than Just What You See On TV

2010-10-17T20:19:00.000-07:00

Mistakes happen all the time on air and I'll be the first to admit... I love going to youtube just to get out a laugh out of on air bloopers. I'm sure anyone in the business does it. Yeah, we feel bad and know what it feels like to be in their shoes, but if it happened to us we know that person would be laughing at us.

Just today I saw a video that came out years ago. It took place at Ball State University's television station. The title above the video read "Sports Anchor Doing Poorly" so I didn't know exactly what to expect... and boy I don't think I was ready for what I was about to get!

"Sports anchor reading poorly? How bad could it be?" I asked myself. I guess you can judge for yourself:

Just a little bit curious on how this might have happened, I decided to look it up. I came upon a "behind the scenes" article on what really happened that day... from the minute the teleprompter "stopped working", to the scripts being out of order, and how even though his "boom goes the dynamite" quote made him famous, it didn't score him any dates.

Click here to read ESPN columnist Wojciechowski's take on this "dreadful, so tragically funny" video.

Next time you see a blooper on air, I urge you to think about what might have happened behind the scenes. Most of the time it's not the anchor's fault, although it is what they get paid to do and because they're the face on the screen people attribute the mistake entirely to them. I think the end of the column pretty much sums it up. For all you that think anchoring is easy... it's not.

Your thoughts?

Jefferson City Hotels Look At Possible Smoking Ban Effects

2010-10-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

Click here to read the story on KOMU.com.

Sedalia Community Raises $3 Million For Health Center

2010-10-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

Click here to read my story on KOMU.com.

Perfect Stranger In L.A.

2010-10-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know me... well you know I love in-depth featury human interest stories.

About three years ago, when I first started here at Mizzou, I started my own project and website called "Eyes Into Columbia." The website featured people around Columbia and their life stories. Since then the project was swept under the rug, the stories long since forgotten. As many of you have experienced, college leaves very little time for a lot of side projects.... and "Eyes Into Columbia" just wasn't one I could keep up with.

Tonight I came across a blog I wanted to share with you. Perfect Stranger in L.A. features stories about people around L.A. I like the simple format of each blog post as well as the delineative and eloquent writing. If you have time I definitely suggest checking it out.

Props and congrats to the writer who was able to carry out a dream... that someday I hope I can carry out too.

Blowing A Small Story Out Of Proportion

2010-10-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

During my reporting shift this past week I came across a problem all journalists come across from time to time. How can we tell a story without blowing it out of proportion?

This past week I covered a story about a local landfill that is facing fines after breaking three violations. From what I had heard, residents were extremely concerned with the violations and also had other complaints about the landfill. Seems like your typical story right? Right. But what I came across was an issue of deciding how to cover this story fairly. Did the landfill deserve to ripped on by neighbors and get a chance to speak out against them? Should I only focus the story on the violations or even see what they were doing to fix them? With only a minute to tell the story, I needed to tightly focus it on something I felt was the most important.

How I decided what to focus my story on:

I started out by doing what all journalists should do. I investigated the matter by going door to door to all the neighbor’s homes. The homes were pretty spread out and there weren’t too many near the landfill, so right away I knew it might not be as big of a deal as some made it out to be. After knocking on doors, I found some residents had no complaints at all and some were upset over various things. One neighbor declined to go on camera and the other neighbor who was upset wasn’t home to talk.

After talking with neighbors I visited the landfill, toured it, and investigated whether nearby neighbors were actually in danger. Although the neighbor’s complaints were legitimate, blowing trash and odor smells, it didn’t put them in any sort of danger. I found the landfill was being close in May of next year, so once that time comes, all the complaints they have now will essentially disappear.

In the end, I decided to focus my story on the violations and what the landfill is doing to curb their problems.

As I realize, every story needs to include how it affects people. I definitely believe we need to address resident’s concerns, but is it too much to write an entire story around it if only a few people are affected? In my web story, I included the resident’s concerns, but felt it would be too much to revolve the entire broadcast story around a few complaints. I decided telling our viewers what the violations were, and what the landfill was doing to help get rid of those violations would give them much more information than just a story about how a few residents are mad. It’s also a much more of an updated story this way.

Sometimes I feel stories blow a situation out of proportion, giving viewers the wrong impression of the problem. Our job is to inform the viewers, not to create an illegitimate fear. I didn’t need viewers thinking this landfill is purely evil, when in fact they received violations that almost all landfills face at one time or another. But with the accurate facts I gave the audience, I leave it up to them to decide, without trying to obscure the true situation of the story.

If you’re interested, take a look at my story below. You can also read the extended web story here by clicking here.

In the next blog entry I’ll be examining how blowing national stories out of proportion can create a culture of fear. Stay tuned!

D.C. Sniper Attacks: One Side Of The Story You've Never Heard

2010-09-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

On Oct. 24, 2002, relief washed over Washington D.C., Virginia, and Maryland after the “D.C. Sniper” John Muhammad’s arrest. For 22 days before his arrest, residents felt danger and fear around every corner; many barely even dared to step outside. In the course of these 22 days, ten random people were killed and six hurt by Muhammad and his accomplice 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo. For weeks on end this story plagued the front of newspapers and captured the attention of millions around the nation, but there’s one side of the story you probably never heard.

Last night I had the opportunity to hear a lecture from Muhammad’s ex-wife Mildred on domestic violence. The story I heard enthralled me, entranced me, and most of all touched me. It was a story I knew I wouldn’t be able to find anyway in the media, especially in the days following Muhammad’s arrest. Mildred opened up her heart to the audience and let out her emotions. She spoke to us about the beginning of her and John’s relationship, how it began as normal. When John came back from the Gulf War everything changed. He became violent and started seeing other woman. After she demanded a divorce, he was granted visitation times with the kids on weekends. One weekend though, he never brought them back. For 18 months Mildred didn’t hear from her kids, they had been kidnapped and taken to Antigua by John. This is also where John met his accomplice in the shootings Lee Boyd Malvo, taking him in and acting as a father figure to him. Mildred went to the police, but they marked the case as “custodial interference” and told her they couldn’t do anything about it because there was no parenting plan in place. Later John called her and told her, “You are my enemy and as my enemy I will kill you.” “John was a man of his word,” Mildred told us.

This threat caused Mildred, a hardworking woman who owned her own business, into hiding for 8 months. After an emergency custody hearing, Mildred got her children back. But once again she was forced finding a place she hoped John wouldn’t find them. This is when the shootings started. She never believed it could have been John, but she did know he was “the perfect shot”, able to take one shot from afar and kill someone. This is what she feared. Everywhere she went, she looked up and around at the rooftops, waiting to see John standing there with a gun aimed at her. But the shot never came, rather it was the police who came… knocking on her door one day and convincing her to come to the jail for questioning. This is when she found out her ex-husband was the prime suspect in the D.C. shootings. This is also when she found out the main target of the shootings was her. John had planned to carry out random killings, so once he was able to get her everyone would blame it on the “D.C. sniper”. However, no one would know who the sniper really was and he would gain custody of the children.

Since he hadn’t been caught when the police took Mildred in for questioning, they rushed her to a hotel under police protection. Mildred shared with us what exactly happened in that hotel that night… how when his picture popped up on CNN she reached out to the TV and placed her hand over his picture saying “Who have you become?”, how after she tucked her three children into bed for the night she went to the bathroom, turned on the bathtub water, and curled up on the cold floor and cried into a pillow for hours.

She shared with us what she and her children went through the day of his execution on Nov. 10, 2009. How it took her all her strength and will to go against what she believed could be harmful to her children… asking them if they wanted to talk with their father one last time. She believed one sentence from the manipulative man she had once married could ruin the years of counseling her kids went through, but she knew if she didn’t allow them to talk to their dad they would be mad at her forever. They decided yes, they did want to talk to them. At 9 pm though, they turned on the TV and at 9:11 pm the news declared him dead. The last call never came. She was later given a reason by John’s attorney: John, who proclaimed his innocence since his arrest, would have to answer the question “why” to his kids. This would ruin all the years he had spent declaring his innocence.

It hasn’t even been a year yet since his execution, so it surprised me she was able to come out and speak to all of us. But she wanted to share her story of being a survivor of domestic violence; in hopes those being abused all around the country can find ways to survive.

What I also find really interesting about this story is how much coverage the shootings and her husband received, but how I never once found her side of the story. Sometimes, when reading news stories, you forgot about the third party in the story. Mildred mentioned the media never really blamed the shootings on John just wanting to kill her and gain custody of the kids. The media decided John had really committed his acts for other reasons, so Mildred’s story never came out. What we decide to print and broadcast over air is the only story the public will ever know. I think it’s something we as journalists have to remember. We need to investigate all sides of a story.

If you get a chance, I suggest reading her memoir: Scared Silent… When the one you love becomes the one you fear.

Thanks to www.conoperative.com for the "terror of a random killer photo" and www.newsone.com for the photo of Malvo and Muhammad.

Callaway County Farmer Wins Agri-Business Award

2010-09-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

Click here to read the story on KOMU.com.

After 33 Years, Sedalia Area Business Closing

2010-09-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

Click here to read the story on KOMU.com.

Live Shots... The Rawest Form Of Reporting

2010-09-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

Live shots... the rawest form of reporting. For some reporters live shots are a great time, and for others it can be a bit nerve wracking.

Here are some live shots I've seen... and what makes me believe they are good:

This liveshot is a combination of good video, the reporter putting us in the moment, and giving us an idea what is happening during the chaos of the Virginia Tech shootings. I really like that she explains how the alert system is still going on behind her.

This reporter has a lot of nerve and is able to keep his composure as he reports on wildfires ripping through San Diego. He reports on the home burning down behind him... his own home. He was able to convince the firefighters to let him get through to see it and report on it. One of the most craziest and sad liveshots I've seen.

After a terrible incident like the Columbine High School shootings, a liveshot like this can inform the parents at home real fast.

This is the only video I know of a reporter going live before the second tower collapsed on 9/11.

Click here to see what happens when you expect one news story and you get another. Props to the photographer for getting the video inside the courtroom and outside the window.

Being in the elements, as you saw in the wildfire video, can sometimes make the best live shots... although dangerous they really show the audience what it's like out in a storm. Click here to see a reporter going live during Hurricane Andrew.

New Cole County Jail Set To Open April 1, 2011

2010-09-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

Click here to read the story on KOMU.com.

Jefferson City Officials Certify Petition; Not In Time For Ballot

2010-08-31T18:18:00.000-07:00

Not one of my finer stories, but one I have been covering over the course of a year...

Click here to read the story on KOMU.com: Jefferson City Officials Certify Petition; Not In Time For Ballot

View the video below.

Previous stories about the issue can be found here:

Recycling Debate Heats Up In Jefferson City

Continuing Coverage On The Jefferson City Recycling Debate

Mandatory Trash and Recycling Service Debate Continues

Digging Deep And Finding The Real Story

2010-08-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

The news is in and it's official --- University of Missouri tailback Derrick Washington's arraignment has been set for Sept. 23 after he was charged with deviate sexual assault, a class C felony.

But the news isn't exactly... "new."

Last week the Columbia Missourian posted the story after Missouri head coach Coach Gary Pinkel refused to speak about why he indefinitely suspended Washington. All other news outlets reported he had suspended Washington, but didn't give a reason as to why. The Missourian, however, obtained court documents (exercising their rights!) and figured out why.

From word of mouth, I heard another local news outlet was upset with the Missourian for posting the story. They called the reporting "irresponsible." But what part of doing research and informing the public is irresponsible?

I do agree with Coach Gary Pinkel's decision to protect his players and not tell the press why he indefinitely suspended Washington. But Washington is a public figure, and if you've done your digging and your research, and you are 110 percent sure your facts are right then I say go for it.

Isn't it our responsibility as journalists to not just take no as an answer? Washington is a pretty big player for the Tigers and I'm sure the public would want to know what could cause an indefinite suspension. He was the one who knowingly took on the role as a public figure.

So congrats to the Missourian for doing their research and for all those other outlets calling it "irresponsible reporting"... it isn't irresponsible until the facts are wrong.

As for Washington, if he did do it he should face the consequences. If not, I hope he is able to clear the charges and move on with his life.

Top Ten Hardest Things About Being A Reporter

2010-08-29T14:18:00.001-07:00

If you've ever thought about being a reporter you may want to know you can never truly know what it's like until you've done it. (And thanks to Flickr for the perfect picture to the left... exactly what it's all about!)

After completing my reporting shift this past week, I took time to reflect upon what I think is the hardest parts about being a reporter. Of course this can vary from one reporter to another, but for all of us there are some certain things we can agree upon to be difficult. In this list I'm about to show you, these are things that maybe only I believe to be difficult, but for some I can certainly say all reporters believe these aspects to be difficult.

And now... in no particular order... I bring you: "The Top Ten Hardest Things About Being A Reporter!"

1) Interviewing talkers who want you to know anything and everything. On a hard deadline it can be difficult to sort through a plethora of information and so most of the time, unless it's a follow-up, we just want the basics and good little facts or stories that make our story unique. If we have to cut you off, it's probably not because we don't like talking to you, it's just we only have have a small amount of time. Speaking with very talkitive people also means, as a broadcast journalist, you must be very good at picking out the most important facts in your story... you only have a minute to a minute thirty to tell your story!

2) Going from talkative people to people who don't want to talk at all! Sometimes it can very difficult to find sources. This is why it's good for journalists to build up a list of sources. This can mean taking the chief of police out to dinner or even just asking how their kids are doing the next time we see them. Building personal relationships with our sources is key to building trust with others. If they can help us, hopefully sometime there will be a time when we can help them!

3) Video poor stories. It's nothing new... to tell a good story a broadcast journalist must have good video and as we all know that's very rarely possible. Sometimes you get stuck with stories containing an abundance of numbers or stories where the action has already happened and all the evidence is cleared, such as covering a robbery the next day. This is where the creativity comes in. How can you find video that will tell the viewers exactly what you're trying to say? Who can you talk to that will make your story come alive?

4) Chasing down a story that turns out not to be a story at all. It happens to all of us. We see something or find something we think could turn out spectacular. We start making phone calls after phone calls until we find out there was no story there at all. The best thing to do in situations like these is to wait pitching the stories to your assignment editor and find a day in advance if it's really a story. If you pitch it and they like it... by the time you finishing making your phone calls, finding out it's not a story at 2 p.m., you'll be running around like a chicken with your head cut off looking for a new story to get done by 5.

5) Keeping your cool on camera, when really everything isn't cool at all. Everybody has their bad days, if someone told me they didn't I'd never believe them. As a broadcast journalist though, no matter what kind of day you've had (and you can be sure we have lots of bad ones!), you're expected to come on camera with a smile on your face, your makeup and hair all pretty, and ready to present your story in a calm professional manner.

6) Deadline... and working well under pressure. It's 30 minutes to showtime and you just sat down to write your story. You grab some quick SOTs, write your story as best as you can, voice it, crash edit it, and transfer it just in time. There might be a few jump cuts and some passive voice, but you just hope it isn't too districting to the viewers. Unfortunately, days like these aren't too uncommon in the news world. As a journalist you are expected to have a story everyday no matter what. I'm a perfectionist, and I've learned you definitely can't expect to have a master piece everyday.

7) Everybody knows... technology can be amazing, but it doesn't always work. If you get into broadcast journalism, you must expect this. Cameras break, tripods break, computers crash, etc. And as I said before, no matter what happens with your equipment or your story, you're still expected to have a story done by its deadline. Your microphone breaks while you're out on an interview? Find another way to capture the sound. You're computer crashes right before show time? You better have saved it and checked it into another editing bay. Always know your options and never freak out when something breaks.

8) Working those not-so-regular hours. When you 9 to 5 workday folks are out to the beach on a hot Saturday afternoon with your family or talking a nice evening jog on a weekday, it's a safe bet to say new journalists will be in the newsroom working. Unless you've worked many-a-years in the business, a normal workday isn't 9 to 5 (and even veterans won't get out until 6:30 p.m.). It's more like whatever-your-boss-tells-you-to-do workday. This could mean on Sunday's you work mornings from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday's 3:15 a.m. to 11 a.m., Tuesday's 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Wednesday's 3:15 p.m. until 11:15 p.m. and so on... Your assignment manager can call you in early if he wants or can keep you late if there's breaking news. If you want to be a journalist, expect to miss birthdays, Christmases, anniversaries, New Year's Eves, and any other big event.

The way I look at it though, even if I have to miss all those holidays, I still have the best job in the world.

9) Facing difficult stories on topics such as death or trying to cover a story we know nothing about. I'm a very curious person and love to learn new things everyday, but even sometimes I get a little freaked out when I'm expected to cover a story I know nothing about or don't know who to contact to understand it. We have a limited amount of time to try and talk to everybody we can to make the story unbiased. We also must use that time to find out all we can about the story. People expect us to experts on every story we cover. The truth is, we aren't experts, but we do the best we can in giving you the facts on what we know.

As for facing difficult stories and interviewing those who have just dealt with a tragedy, I've covered the topic of disconnecting yourself from your story before in this blog. Click here to read "The Art Of Detaching Yourself From Your Stories."

10) Being a girl and a one man band sometimes I wonder if they expect us to be she-mans. In the real world tripods and cameras are each thirty pounds. Sixty pounds on my back everyday is a sure reason for a call to the chiropractor. But even if I wasn't a girl, it wouldn't matter... being a one man band is hard for anyone. In just a short course of a few hours, one man bands are expected to do one million and one jobs. Okay, not that many but sometimes it feels like it. We are expected to find our own sources, set up interview times with our sources, research our story, talk on the phone and take notes while driving to the locations (could be right in town to a few hours away), shoot all our own video while also trying to interview multiple people and think out what our story is about, tweet every so often, have our web story up before our story airs, write, script and edit our own stories, and finally be that cool, calm, and collected I told you about before when the show airs.

This is just some of the stuff we do... all in a sweaty day's of work.

To all the reporters out there... what would be on your list?

Indiana Gov. Rides Motorcycle To Raise Safety Awareness and Donations

2010-08-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels rode across the state on his motorcycle with at least 500 others to raise money for the Indiana National Guard, as well as talk about bike safety. The American Bikers Aimed Towards Education (ABATE) ride is done each year. This year riders began at the Capitol and stopped in Brookston and Fair Oaks, before arriving here in Plymouth at Swan Lake Resort:

Dew Tour 2010 In Pictures

2010-08-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

Nike 6.0 BMX Open in Chicago, IL

Young BMX Pro Reaching New Heights

2010-08-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

Most 15-year-olds spend their summer hanging out with their friends, but for one South Bend teen... he spends his summer traveling the world and competing in BMX competitions.

Brett "Maddog" Banasiewicz is the youngest BMX pro to ever compete and win a medal in the Alli Sports "Dew Action Tour".

I went to Chicago during the Dew Tour to catch up with this extraordinary teen who is reaching new heights with his skills.

Brett won first place in the dirt finals for the Dew Tour.

That's the first gold medal he has won since becoming a pro two years ago.

*Dirt final video at the end courtesy of Alli Sports

Helping Hands: Teens Work To Serve Those In Need

2010-08-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

After finishing up this home on Broadway Boulevard, the teens will move onto a home on West Blaine Avenue. There, they will be building a fence for an elderly widow . The current fence is falling apart and overcome with overgrown brush. The City of Elkhart told the woman she must fix or remove the fence, but she just can't afford it.

Another View From The Flipcam

2010-08-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

Helping hands: A group of teens from Faith United Methodist Youth helped to re-roof a community member's home. Here the reporter is interviewing someone on the roof.

The group of teens, along with Builders of Hope, a faith based non-profit group that helps to local families with home repairs, spent the week working on the roof. Many had never done any sort of roof work before and learned a lot!

Shooting away!

A bad car accident closed off a portion of a busy highway. A 38-year-old female driver crossed into the opposite lane, slamming into a pickup truck who then rammed into the back of a semi.

The force from the pick up into the semi was so strong that it caused the semi to move forward a few feet. The man driving the pick up truck later died.

It was a celebration night for State Representative John Proos as he claimed the victory for the nomination of State Senator.

Congressman Fred Upton also claimed the republican nomination for 6th district congressional representative.

A vacant building in South Bend caught fire for the third time in three months. Firefighters hope code enforcement will take action before someone gets seriously hurt.

Plenty of firefighters showed up to stop the blaze.

An 18-year-old man was sent to the hospital after being shot in the neck. He was in the passenger seat of a car when another car pulled up and fired a shot through the windshield.

After a game of golf on the opening day of Benton Harbor's new golf course Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller sat down for a roundtable discussion at Lake Michigan College

Police Find $3.6 million Worth Of Pot, Guns, And More Than 30 Illegal Dead Raccoons

2010-08-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

Police say it's one of the biggest pot busts they've ever had in Polaski County... one that shocked all who saw it.

Winamac police are still searching for the man who they say hid $3.6 million worth of marijuana and seven illegal guns.

Even stranger, they also found more than 30 illegal dead raccoons.

I bring you to to the home where it all happened and introduce you to family members left to deal.

Officials say they didn't find cash at the home and for that reason believe other homes and people are involved in the operation.

Police arrested Whited last year for drug charges, including marijuana.

He was also arrested for habitual traffic violation and invasion of privacy.

Pawn Shop Robbery... "Like Something Out Of The Movies"

2010-08-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

Police are still searching for three men who robbed Worldwide Jewelry and Pawn on Lincoln Way East in South Bend.

The robbery happened just before 5:30 p.m. when plenty of people were around, but still police have no leads.

In the 37 years since they've been there, the vice president says he's never seen anything like it.

I went to the store and found out what made this robbery so unusual.

Howard says they don't know the exact total of what's missing, but one Rolex Watch is valued up to $11,000.

Other pawn shops in the area have been alerted to keep an eye out for jewelry serial numbers to see if it matches any of the stolen jewelry.

Trent says take-over robberies like this are unusual.

A Look At The Past Few Weeks In Pictures

2010-07-30T17:04:00.000-07:00

A street becomes flooded after a large rain storm moves through South Bend. The water was a few inches deep, but cars still forged their way through it.

This office at the Laporte County Fair Grounds says Sheriff's office, but this year a privately owned security firm will be on hand after a lawsuit was filed against several deputies.

Two men in ski masks, dropped off by a third man, robbed this pawn shop. As soon as they got in the door the door they fired a shot into the ceiling and told the customers to get down.

They then smashed in this case where the high end jewelry was, grabbed it, and ran out the door. The whole robbery took about 60 to 90 seconds.

The two men ran to this side of the store, where they knew there were no security cameras, and ran into the woods. Police are still looking for the three men. A version of the story that I did, coming soon!

State Representative John Proos, Congressman Fred Upton, and State Senator Ron Jelinek met in Niles to learn how one manufacturing company has managed to thrive. We took a tour around Delta Machining, a company that manufactures parts for the wind and solar industry, to see how they've become so successful during these tough times.

I interviewed all three politicians to see hear their thoughts on where Michigan's business economy is headed. Click here to read the story I wrote.

Police rescue a man off a bridge after the man threatened to commit suicide by jumping.

You think "cat stuck in tree stories" are only cliches? Think again! Little Chewy got stuck up in that green tree for four days, braving the wind, pouring rain, and even 97 degree heat.

Walt Temple Tree Service agreed to come rescue Chewy... and boy it sure was quite the rescue! Cherry picker and all...

Here's little Chewy enjoying his much needed Tuna... If you happen to get your cat stuck in a tree, don't call the fire department or your local Humane Society. Walt Temple suggests placing the cat's favorite food or toy in your cat's sight to help bring it down. If this doesn't work, try spraying a hose above the cat and hopefully the falling water will force it down.
A shredder coming to South Bend? The man who owns this property sure hopes not! Jim Parker owns 90 acres of land, but butted up against a portion of his land is a metal recycling business that hopes to put a shredder in. Parker doesn't want to deal with the noise the shedder could create and he says his property could be a great development in a few years.. but not in a shedder is put in.

We spoke with Parker who calls the shedder idea "ludicrous".

Here is the metal recycling yard right next to Parker's property.

Randy Schlipp, the man who owns the recycling company, says the shedder shouldn't make much noise, won't create an odor, and will bring about 30 jobs to South Bend.

Doing a stand up describing how the metal recycling company tested the sound a shredder would make with a decibel reader. My version of the story coming soon!

NISPCO is debating whether or not to have a base rate hike for natural gas use. We spoke with the Studebaker National Museum to see how it could affect them.

Passing by on the heat or air conditioning is not an option for the museum. They must keep their temperature at a constant 68 degrees to preserve artifacts and cars like these in the museum.

A 17-year-old boy is found shot dead in his trailer home here at Countryside Village. You can't tell in the pictures, but more than a dozen police cars showed up, along with Metro homicide and investigators. They still haven't caught the person who did it.

A man on his way to the restaurant he visited every Saturday with family, was killed at this intersection while riding his motorcycle. The man who killed him was on his way home from Indianapolis. He was high and traveling at a very high rate of speed when he hit the man on the motorcycle, sending him the length of two football fields. We spoke with the motorcyclist's pastor who describes him as a lover of this country. The man driving his BMW, ended flipping his car several times.

Urban Adventure Games is coming back to South Bend for a second year! Teams from South Bend and states across the Midwest will travel on foot, bike, and even down the East Race (pictured here). They will be asked to do either mental or physical tasks.

Protesters marched the street of South Bend expressing their thoughts on why they are against Arizona's Immigration Law.

They ended their protest at the public natatorium where a few speakers made their statements.

Dinner-time Storms Rock Michiana

2010-07-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

A massive storm tore through Michiana June 18th, showing no forgiveness or gentleness to the towns in its path.

The storm stretched more than 100 miles long with winds reported as strong as 90 miles per hour.

The driving rain and ferocious wind left thousands of trees down and tens of thousands without power.

I'll share with you how one group at the Blackthorn Golf Course in South Bend dealt with the vicious weather.

Day At The Skatepark

2010-07-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

Runaway Teen Held Captive And Raped

2010-07-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

A South Bend man is behind bars after allededly raping a 15-year-old girl.

But the details on this story extend way beyond that.

I'll tell you what happened in this bizarre case.

Police say they have opened a second case after pornographic images of the girl were found at another home.

Boy Nearly Drowns At Silver Beach

2010-07-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

Losing a child is something no parent wants to face.

But according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the second leading cause of death for children ages one through fourteen.

I'll tell you how a day at the beach for one boy turned into a scary situation and what parents can do to keep their kids safe.

The incident at Silver Beach was one of three near drownings that day.

Expelled Students Get A Chance To Re-Enter School

2010-07-14T17:56:00.000-07:00

When students are expelled from school, they must do something positive to get back in.

For some students, one program is giving them that chance.

I'll show you how the Fresh Start Program reshapes student's lives and teaches them the skills they need to succeed in school.

Oladle says he he expects to return to traditional school in the fall.

The Art Of Detaching Yourself From Stories

2010-07-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Disconnect. It’s a word you must learn how to do as a journalist. From time to time, you must disconnect yourself from your story and your subjects.

In college, professors have warned us. There will be stories you cover where you will see dead bodies, burning buildings, car crashes, people shot and stabbed, and many times people going through the most painful time in their lives. There will be so many things you will experience that perhaps you’ve never even thought about, and if you can’t handle it than this certainly isn’t a job you should be doing.

Recently I read 60 Minutes correspondent Byron Pitt’s autobiography “Step Out On Nothing.” In it he describes various disasters and catastrophes he’s covered in his career. September 11 was one of them. Pitt’s was in NYC when 9/11 happened and he recounts the horror he and others faced that day. He depicts of how the ground covered in dust made is seem as if they were walking on the moon, the people he watched fall from the towers, and the firefighter he interviewed near the WTC site covered from head to toe in dust, the only streak of skin showing was from a tear that had rolled down from his eyes. The firefighter had just lost all of his men.

He writes, “On September 11, 2001 and on many days like it, I found it best to hide behind my job. Reporters are supposed to keep some detachment from the people and the subjects in their reporting. It was that professional distance that kept me grounded in the notion that I was placed in this moment to cover history not get caught up in it. It was not about me or particularly what I was feeling, it was about the people around me and reporting on their experiences, their emotions, and not my own.”

The other day I went out with a reporter and a photog on a story about eight apartments that had been completely destroyed by a fierce fire. I’ve been out on car crash stories and others where disaster has struck, but I can honestly say this was the first fire story I’ve gone out on.

When I first walked up the stairs to an apartment that had been affected, I couldn’t help but notice the reeking stench of smoke filling the air. As workers moved in an out, shoveling debris into garbage cans and dragging them across the room to be taken to the dumpster, their feet squished against the sopping wet carpet. Pieces of charred black wood that had fallen from the ceiling lay on the carpet. The entire apartment, although not the place where the fire had started, was stripped of its inside walls and there was almost nothing left except a few appliances.

In the room where I’m guessing the master bedroom had been, sat a dresser and a large mirror… the only lonely pieces of furniture left in the entire apartment. Across the way was another bedroom and under the mound of wreckage lay a few Christmas decorations that had been left behind. I also noticed a half a loaf of bread stuck behind a few boards and wondered how it had survived…

While standing there watching the photog shoot, I watched as the workers excavated the bathroom. I couldn’t help but stare at the bathtub thinking that someone once took showers there.

It’s a weird thing, standing in the middle of a place destroyed by fire. You start to think all these things you never would until you’re there. You wonder what sort of things the family lost in the fire, how the apartment looked before the fire, what the family was thinking while they stood and watched as their home was consumed by unforgiving flames, how they feel after the spectators and firemen are long gone, and when you see little collectibles laying around you wonder why they decided not to take them with when they come back to salvage their belongings.

And unlike other stories, although the apartment owners weren’t around for this one, I didn’t feel as if I was intruding in on their place. Maybe that’s part of the disconnecting and detaching yourself from the story.

This is only the first of many fires I will cover and each time I will learn more and more how to detach myself from the subjects I may want to get close to and express sorrow and sympathy for. It’s not always an easy process, but if you want to be a journalist, it’s just something you just have to do.