The rest of my second week of interning proved to be an exciting one.
Wednesday began my first day at WREX. When I got there, the news director introduced me to those working in the station and I hung out with the producer of the noon newscast. Because the station is so short staffed, almost like every station in the country right now, everyone in the newsroom is doing multiple jobs. So the producer of this show was also the morning show anchor.
As I discussed this with one of the anchors/producers there, I’m in love with the concept of not only one-man-bands, but having reporters knowing how to produce, direct, or any other job they may be asked to do.
I’m always yearning for more knowledge about everything journalism and being able to switch between these tasks keeps life exciting.
After the noon show the station had its monthly meeting--- glad to have come on that day! It gave me insight on how this particular station runs. Oh and I found out something that I probably should have known. Reporters and anchors have a clothes budget! In recent events, my bank account has suffered a nice downfall from the cost of business outfits for these internships. Now future clothes buying doesn’t look so dim. I’m sure if my bank account had a face it would be smiling. (The owner of the account sure was!)
For the most part I hung around the five, six, and ten anchor for the rest of the day. I watched as he went through the stories from the wires and NBC to pull out the best ones. During the newscast meeting, I watched how they agreed upon and choose what national stories to put into the newscast for the day. Once we got down to cutting video for the newscast, he showed me the basics of editing a VO/SOT, teases, and using all the different systems. Amid the five and the six, I watched the excitement from the control room as all their hard work was put together.
After the six I was given my first ever---ever, ever--- VO to write. The story had been in the show earlier, I just had to freshen it up and rewrite it for the ten.
Later that night, Sprinkler dude (aka Brandon, aka best friend, aka boyfriend) showed up in the parking lot of the station, as part of a detour on his way to West Virginia. (haha dumb GPS believed him) I took a day off of WMAQ and WREX to spend two amazing days with him. (If there is one piece of advice I have heard many-a-times from professional journalists, and will hold onto, it is to always make time for your loved ones.)
Back to reality on Saturday. When I got to WREX, the anchor of the six and ten gave me a quick once-over of how to import video, cut, and transfer a VO/SOT. I was given a tape of an event the photog had attended earlier. From there I edited my first VO/SOT about the Rockford Chapter of Daughters of American Revolution hosting a Flag Day event.
While writing the VO, one of the photogs/reporters (Bill) told me he was going out and I could come along if I wanted. I quickly finished the script and we headed over to CherryVale Mall where four Chicago Bears players would be doing a signing for GQ sports.
GQ hosted a media session before the signing for us, WIFR (CBS 12), and WTVO (FOX/ABC 17). The two other reporters were friends with Bill and while waiting for the very late players, after having to stare at the large pile of food on the table (we were allowed to have some though), a pretty unique discussion on nasty potatoes chips and how much snacks cost in each of our stations vending machines came up.
Finally when the players showed up Dusty Dvoracek and Israel Idonije gladly talked to us, but Tommie Harris was advised by Lovie Smith to go on a media hiatus after injuring his knee. Kevin Payne was just shy, and it was obvious by the extremely shy smile he gave me when I held the door for him as we left the conference room.
We followed them to the long line outside of GQ, and despite feeling like the paparazzi, it was pretty fun.
Next it was off to Barnes and Noble to cover a story about the Rockford Symphony Orchestra raising money by doing a book fair there. We ran into some hassles and it took way longer than it should have, but I learned something important… once something is shot, by law we are allowed to use it, even if we’re told we can’t. I can’t wait to take Communications Law next semester!
When I got back to the station, I uploaded the video to the Barnes and Noble Story, wrote the script, and Bill showed me how to do a BBO.
Throughout my day with Bill I learned a lot. I don’t think I have ever not learned one thing from shadowing someone.
After my second week of interning (and nearing the end of my third) I can definitely say that the experience of internships are priceless. I know that much of the stuff I take away from them I cannot not learn anywhere else. The Mizzou Method- a hands on approach- is the way to go!
For now… this third week has possibly been one of the craziest and I can’t wait to write about it.
Video of the Week
During the week of June 7-13, I saw limited coverage on N. Korea preparing for missile tests. Since I am eminently late with this entry (not surprising!) the news has moved on without out me. Now it's being written that N. Korea will possibly be launching a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in July or towards the West Coast in three years. First talks started with N. Korea and the grave threats they pose to Asia with their missile and nuclear threats. The video below describes more about the situation:
To read more about the threats to Hawaii and the East Coast click on the links below:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-north-korea-missiles17-2009jun17,0,6469747.story
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,527020,00.html
On a lighter subject, if you haven't seen the video of Obama being distracted by a pesky fly during an interview be sure to check this video out! (better yet, if you can find the video that was shown on the Tonight Show... well tonight... it was hilarious!):
(resorting to youtube while I figure out how to embed videos from places like CNN.com):
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