"It's The Small Things That Change Lives"

I’ve heard too many people tell me any type of journalism work I did in high school means nothing when I get to college, but I couldn’t disagree more. Sounds like they didn’t have a journalism teacher like mine.

I first tried to join a newspaper staff in middle school, but once I learned we had to stay after school for an hour a day, once a week studying a grammar book I decided to drop out. (Who knew now I’d be so in love with grammar?) Once I got into high school I was recommended by one of my teachers to join the newspaper staff. After a bit of convincing from my older brother I jumped on board.

I quickly learned I had a love for features. Our newspaper was split up in different sections like opinion, news, a center spread, entertainment, features ect. Anytime I wrote a story, no matter what section, I always unintentionally morphed it into a feature (news is about PEOPLE). My junior year, I guess non-surprisingly, I became the feature editor of my paper. As the years went on, my passion for journalism grew, with a special thanks to my high school journalism teacher who pushed us to do the best we could. And who I truly believe could be teaching college journalism if he wanted.

When I came to college, besides trying to write a collection of features, I quickly lost sight of what I loved to do. I was also told that features weren’t that loved in the broadcast business, unless you had been in the business for a long time, were very trusted, and were good at doing them. I started writing more timely news stories. This didn’t bother me, especially because I fell in love with writing these kinds of stories as well. I’m a huge fan of breaking news and hard-hitting news as well. As time has gone on though I miss sitting down with people and divulging deep into their lives, asking them questions about anything and everything. I just accepted the fact that I probably would never be able to features (although I do still like to add a feature twist to every story I do).

But, hearing Today Show Feature Correspondent Mike Leonard talk yesterday and Lisa Ling talk a few weeks ago has been uplifting, as they made me realized features are not dying and it is possible to become a journalist that does them. As Mike said, “it’s the small things that change people.” I truly believe in this. Hard hitting news and breaking news is important, but features are just as important. Back in high school when I wrote features stories, I looked to provoke thoughts from at least one person, to get them to see life from someone else’s perspective.

Coming to college has helped to inspire my love for hard-hitting news and breaking news, but I will never lose sight of the fact that features will always be dear and near to my heart. (And why not make hard-hitting news into a feature?) In my career, I would like to be able to do both and the best thing about life is it’s an open road. You’re free to travel wherever you like. When people ask me what’s my ultimate dream--- I don’t have one. I have never aspired to be on a certain show or network; I’m just going wherever life takes me. I just want to be able to tell stories, whether it reaches a small or large audience, I just want to be able to affect at least one person’s life. I hear so many journalists aiming for a certain market number, but I feel that I just can’t do that. It’s great to have goals, but I don’t think many realize that there are stories everywhere, even in the small towns. I want to experience everything I can, no matter where it is.

High school began my love for journalism. I credit my high school teacher for taking our staff to conferences were I met journalists in the real world that continued to feed my passion for journalism as well as encouraging the staff to exercise our first amendment rights (paper was censored senior year--- we won!)

In high school there were a million stories to tell… and I don’t care how many people tell me high school doesn’t matter. I would not be here if it weren’t for high school. I would not have a love for features or news in general. And if I could, I wouldn’t change my past in journalism for anything.

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I once interviewed a nurse that worked in a psychiatric ward who told me about how one day the nurses were looking for this woman and couldn’t find her. When they finally did, she was scrunched up in her narrow closet; she believed she was living on an Indian Reservation and that Indians were coming to scalp her. The fear in the woman’s eyes was unbearable. “I’ve learned to never take what you have for granted, and to appreciate gifts and abilities,” she told me. “When you’ve been around people who can’t, you learn to appreciate life so much more.”

I once met an 8-year-old African girl whose only dream was to become a nurse to help others. Despite how much she was picked on for wearing clothes different than her classmates, she wanted to be the one to save their lives. Her mother had brought her over to America to lead a better life and within six months this little girl had an ample understanding of the English language and a greater knowledge on US politics than I ever will.

I once interviewed a guy who had worked in the film industry for 22 years and laughed about the memories he had working with actors. But his past life wasn’t filled with so much happiness. “I was raised in a foster family,” he told me. “The hardest part was not knowing if someone was going to come and take me away.”

I once interviewed a homeless man (as many of you have heard) who told me “People look down on me like I’m poor because I don’t have a front door, but home is where the heart is. The world is my home.”

I once interviewed someone who had come seconds away from committing suicide, but a friend saved her. “If he wasn’t there, I don’t know where I’d be today,” she said. “I felt like no one cared, but he was the person who spared my life. He made me realize, by showing me how much life would change if I weren’t there. All that time he had spent trying to convince me to live just wasted if I killed myself. If you know a friend in need make sure you talk to them because it can make all the difference.”

I once interviewed someone who became an All-American Tennis player because the coach of the baseball team he tried out for told him he was too short to be on the team. Because of this he joined the tennis team and later lead him to a career in teaching. Eventually he also met his wife because of this. “I wish I could go back today and hold out a picture to that coach and be like ‘here, look what you did’. I have a wife and two beautiful kids all because of you,” he told me. “If that hadn’t happened then I wouldn’t be here today. Tennis has definitely changed the course of my life.”

I once interviewed an ex-NFL football player who told me about the first time he put on his football jersey: “I felt great pride, knowing that I made it to where I wanted to be in life. You feel something inside and Iʼm sure I had a big smile on my face. My main goal in football was to put on a pro football uniform and play a pro game.”

I once interviewed someone who was so near death at age 13 that her parents had the priest come to the hospital to say last words. As she recalled this memory her eyes filled with tears, she had felt it was her fault that her parent’s were in so much pain. The worst was having them look at her and knowing there was nothing they could do. Now she continues to live everyday to the fullest and her parent’s consider her their “miracle child”. “If I got through that, I can get through anything,” she told me.

I’ve had countless people cry in front of me telling me their life story.

One who told me of her survival from cancer, not knowing if she would live to be able to hold her newborn in her arms and be able to guide him through life like a mother should. One who’s husband has been to Iraq three times and how she watches her kids grow everyday knowing that he's not there to see them. One who recalled the last car ride along the ocean with her best friend before he passed away. One who just loved his job so much, a job that has saved thousands of lives, that he was overcome by emotion as he told me about one of the lives he touched.

Someone who I looked up to that now has passed on…

…..

If you ever interviewed me I might be able to tell you that I love to stand outside during the calm before a storm. I might be able to tell you that I love to sit in the middle of the city and watch people go about their daily tasks (creepy). I might be able to tell you that my favorite thing is to drive to nowhere while blasting music. (yes I am that car with the unnecessary blasting music you hate)

But the only important thing I would want to tell you is what I want to do with the rest of my life: hearing other’s stories. It’s my way of discovering the beautiful things in this world. Journalism has taught me more than I could have ever asked for. Beyond the lens of the video camera, beyond the words on the paper there are real people with stories of struggles, joy, failure, and triumph. The camera and the piece of paper captures these moments to share them with the rest of the world, perhaps giving others the hope they need to move on with life. I want to be that person casting these stories out into the world, giving them a glimpse into what I’ve seen.

Sometimes I ask myself "Am I living or am I just alive?"

I believe that love is the most powerful thing in the world… and my love for journalism keeps me living.

Maybe you should ask yourself what keeps you living?

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.

Columbia Community Prepares For WBC Protests

As the protesting of the Westboro Baptist Church nears today, I took a look at how the community is preparing to respond to the protests. The community meeting was held yesterday, but the story aired this morning. The most difficult part of writing this article was not trying to be too bias towards one party and finding the right angle to not just make it the WBC versus the people they are targeting. In effect, I decided to base it on how communities respond to protests like the WBC is holding today. I tried to get a variety of voices in my piece, but couldn’t fit everyone. Read the text below, click here to listen to the story or click here to read on the KBIA web site. Keep in mind, the text below was originally written to air yesterday, but did not.

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Members of various organizations in Columbia gathered Thursday at the Jewish Campus Center to learn and prepare for what they call organized hate protests being held Friday around the community. About seven members of the Westboro Baptist Church are scheduled to protest in four different places in Columbia. The Topeka, Kansas, based church is known for protesting all over the nation bearing signs and signing songs with anti-gay, anti-Semitic, and anti-government remarks, as well as picketing at military funerals. WBC is not known to be affiliated with any other Baptist associations. Members of the organizations listened intently to suggestions and asked questions to form what they feel would be an appropriate community response. KBIA’s Tara Grimes reports.

Fighting back against organized hate crimes is nothing new to Anti-Defamation League Regional Director Karen Aroesty. She has traveled the area to talk with many communities about how to handle protests like the one being held Friday. She says her goal is to protect, investigate and educate. Aroesty says WBC is likely targeting this area because the group is looking for new opportunities, although they have been here before. During yesterday’s meeting, Aroesty explained who the WBC is and what they do. She says each community is unique and therefore should handle situations like this differently.

“I do have a very strong sense of what we would like to see the community do in response and I’ll share that,” Aroesty said. “ But ultimately in the end these sorts of things are up to the community. Because in the end, fighting hate and doing community building is going to be best for the unique environment the community is in. And I think given the campus atmosphere and also the diversity in Columbia, I think it has to be a very Columbia-oriented decision.”

She suggests the best way to handle protesters is to give them the least attention possible. She also encourages MU students to stay educated.

“You want to encourage students to independently come to a decision themselves about how they want to respond to this,” Aroesty said.

Aroesty’s message resonated with the Hillel Jewish Campus Center Executive Director Kerry Hollander, who says she doesn’t anticipate any problems. She says she believes many students learned how to handle protests when National Socialist Movement came to Columbia in March of 2007. Hollander says she understands WBC has a right to speak their minds.

“I wouldn’t want my rights curtailed, I wouldn’t want their rights curtailed,” Hollander said. “I don’t like what they’re going to say, but they have a right to say it.”

LGBTQ Community Resource Center Coordinator Ryan Black agrees.

“I’ve never seen any major ruckus the last few times when groups like this have come into town so we’ll make people be aware to a degree without raising any kind of frenzy or fear,” Black said.

WBC plans to protest in areas near Hickman High School, Mizzou Hillel, Macklanburg Playhouse and Congregation Beth Shalom.

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I was supposed to go to the protests today to cover them, but my enthusiasm has slowed after coming down with sickness. I look forward to hearing how another reporter covers the story!

*Picture Courtesy of National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com

Missouri River Relief Works To Clean Up Pollutants

The calming sensation waves splashing up against the shore brings, the rippling streams winding through the woods, the sweet musical sound birds sing flowing through the air ... I love it all.

It’s no secret that I have a fondness for bodies of water and nature in general. I have found Missouri to be one of the most beautiful places to walk along rivers and trails next to streams (may I suggest the MKT trail near Rocheport or Grindstone Nature Trail in Columbia?). But a closer look at the river isn’t such a pretty picture. From 2001 to 2008 the Missouri River Relief organization removed almost 500 tons of trash from the Missouri River. Without a doubt the river has changed over the years. Looking back in time when the members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled it, it was described as dangerous. Now it can be better noted as tires washed up along the shore, car bodies found at the bottom of the river, and a large variety of pollutants carried into the estuaries by runoffs.

For this story I spoke with the Lower Reach Manager and the Director of Missouri River Relief along with two volunteers at the cleanup. Apparently it was National Pirate Day because one interviewee decided to wear an eye patch and talk in a pirate voice the entire time, exclaiming they were going to find “booty” and “treasure” along the river. Of course I couldn’t use the interview, but nonetheless it was amusing.

This week, instead of a reader, I wrote a wrap which I found to be much more fun to write! Click here to hear the story or read the text below.

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More than 200 people showed up in Jefferson City Saturday ready to get dirty and lend a helping hand in cleaning up the Missouri River. Since 2001, Missouri River Relief has organized clean ups all over the state. This is the second time it’s worked to clear out trash from Jefferson City’s part of the Missouri River. KBIA’s Tara Grimes reports.

Dressed in lifejackets, work boots, and work clothes, volunteers boarded boats and traveled to parts of the river that collects the most trash. Kids, adults and a variety of service groups from colleges and high schools showed up to take part in the action. River Relief volunteers find everything from tires to refrigerators, but most of the trash is plastic bottles. Manager Steve Schnarr says volunteers are out for two to three hours. Afterwards, trash is either recycled or taken to the landfill.

“People get to see in a way they never would be able to otherwise; the impact that all of these communities along the river have on the river,” Schnarr said. “The visual impact of the trash that ends up getting deposited here. That’s not to mention the invisible impacts that we can’t see.”

At big cleanups volunteers sometimes collect as much as ten tons of trash. Director Jeff Barrow says most volunteers go out on the river as strangers, but they come back as friends.

“The really remarkable thing is they’ll go out looking like they’re soldiers at D-Day. They’re scared, they’re nervous, they’re adrenalinized and when they come back they’re laughing, they’ve got little adventure stories, things that they’ve found, things that they’ve seen along the river and it’s just a really remarkable transition,” Barrow said.

He says most people forget their drinking water comes from the Missouri River.

“It’s just a really important part of our lives here and I think it’s forgotten or invisible thing to a lot of people,” Barrow said.

About 19 cleanups are done a year. The next cleanup is in Kansas City in October.

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After this story, I have been inspired to partake in the next river cleanup (close to Columbia). I can always rely on journalism to introduce me to new experiences and find something new for me to do in the future.

MoDOT Looks To Increase Safety On I-70 By Adding Truck-Only Lane

According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, trucks are involved in 28 percent of accidents and 48 percent of fatalities on Interstate 70.

Last week, I spoke with MoDOT project manager Bob Brendel and Federal Highway Administration public affairs spokeswoman Nancy Singer about a new project that would help to reduce these accidents and causalities. Read the story I wrote for KBIA below.

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MoDOT is moving forward with its plans to create a truck only lane on Interstate 70.

The Federal Highway Administration gave its approval this week on the project that would create a median in the highway to separate trucks from cars. MoDOT project manager Bob Brendel says it would make the highway safer for drivers.

“It enhances safety, reduces congestion and provides for future efficiency in freight flows that allow mid-west companies and farmers to compete better in a global economy,” Brendel says.

Brendel says money is the biggest hurdle. The project is not funded at this time, but the price tag is estimated at $4 billion. MoDOT says they’re applying for $200 million in federal stimulus money to create a test lane. The test lane would cover a 30-mile stretch in Cooper and Saline counties Brendel says. If completed, the truck lane would be the first of its kind in the country.

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Brendel pointed out that as cars become more fuel efficient and smaller, and as trucks become bigger, the causalities of accidents are on an increase. After conducting a 2006 environmental study and checking out other options, MoDOT opted that rebuilding the highway would be their best alternative.

As I spoke to Brendel, I also wondered how trucks would be entering their lane safety. He did say they have to cross car traffic to get into their lane, but the slip ramps would be lengthened to provide them with easier movement around other vehicles.

MoDOT measured the amount of truck traffic getting off and on different interchanges along I-70. They found US 65, US 63, and US 54 have heavy truck movement and decided that separate interchanges would be needed for trucks only.

Brendel said they are keeping an eye out on four other interchanges to see if truck traffic goes up and if so, they would consider adding separate interchanges at these locations as well.

The application for the $200 million stimulus money is due this fall and MoDOT is expected to hear from USDOT in January 2010. Brendel said he feels the test strip will demonstrate the benefits and create momentum to get funding for the rest of the project to be built. If they are granted the money, Brendel said they will work hard and fast to get the test strip done. Designers constructed I-70 50 years ago and it has since outlived its design.

I felt covering this story was important because of course people care about where our stimulus money is going and also because drivers have complained about the stop and go traffic on I-70 along with feeling uncomfortable maneuvering around large trucks. For this story, I would have loved to talk to truck drivers to see how they felt about this project, but didn't have the time. The fact that this would be the first time in our country that a highway has constructed a truck only lane fascinated me.

If this story has sparked your interest, MoDOT is conducing an online public meeting through Sept. 26, where you can raise your voice and speak out.

My Version of a Great Feature Package

As I was getting ready to leave my shift last night one of the producers turned to one of our reporters and told him great job on his package. The reporter had found out about a couple who decided to have a “Harley-Davidson wedding”. Their ceremony was held in the Mid America Harley Davidson showcase room…and my guess is they rode off into the sunset with their motorcycle too.

I very much enjoyed the package so I decided to throw my two cents in.

How did I know it was a great (feature, we're talking about features here) package? As a web editor, the best way I can sum it up is… a good package is hard to edit for the web. Like I actually have to do some work (shock!) to make the story comprehensible to our readers. It’s my job to piece together the sentences and make them readable on the computer screen. You'd be surprised how many packages I've edited that haven't been hard hit news stories that were so simple to edit because the reporter basically told the watcher everything and just laid video over it.

We’ve been taught in broadcast to make sentences short and simple, breaking up facts so listeners and watchers can take in the information piece by piece.

In print or web, pieces are much more extensive. More than just one fact is compiled and put into a sentence. You don’t really need to break up sentences for the reader because if they are confused they can just go back. Commas are frequently used, as well as things like participles.

So what do I mean it’s hard for a web person to edit it?

Sentences aren’t complete because the video is doing the story telling. Soundbites or SOTS rather may not be a complete sentence either because it’s advancing the story or just adding to the story. A SOT might make sense in a broadcast story, but on the web the quote is confusing for readers.

This is why I love broadcast journalism. The ability that we have to evoke emotion with video is powerful.

A good story written down on paper describes facial expressions, describes an environment, it draws emotion from the reader. But broadcast journalists must use video to do this. Tears, smiles, anger. It’s all there for us to capture. (As you might guess, I’m a huge fan of natural sound/ambient sound as well.)

I guess I can finally deem myself a web nerd when I start relating everything to the web. Oh sigh.

The other way we know it was a great package? CNN called to put it on pathfire and then aired it. Zing!

Be sure to check out Kevin’s story: Click on me and then watch the video on the right!

Back in the Newsroom: Like Cold Water on a Blistering Hot Day

It’s like an icy cold glass of water on a sweltering summer day, the soothing feeling that washes over you as you gulp down the liquid, your dry scratchy throat instantly assuaged.

That’s how it feels to back at KOMU, with the exception of a dry scratchy throat beforehand (and I suppose ironic now that summer is over too). Walking back into the newsroom on Saturday after a summer full of invaluable journalistic experiences, I encountered a cool wave of relief and happiness. I felt like I was finally home again.*

One year ago began my quest at KOMU working assignment desk, a job now combined with web. I remember stepping into the newsroom weeks before I started there, the excitement bubbling inside. But as soon as I entered the station for my first shift, a rush of nervousness quickly displaced the excitement. How do you use iNews? What's Avid? Where do I transfer calls to? Are the police ever going to tell me anything on the beat calls? What equipment do I need to make sure is in the camera cases? I had no clue what I was doing. Luckily I ran into another desk worker who understood first day jitters and who went over the basics of what needed to be done.

This was probably the first thing I ever learned about journalism in the newsroom. If you don’t understand something you just have to get out there and learn yourself. Or ask someone else for help. You’re going to make mistakes, but you learn from them and don’t make them again. And in the end success is entirely dependent on the initiative you’re willing to take… with just a little bit of luck.

It’s crazy to think how far I’ve come in one year and I can only imagine what this year will bring. I’m finally starting classes in the journalism school and will hopefully be reporting for KOMU by next semester.

So I’m taking in. I’m not going to take a single moment for granted. I’m going to appreciate the long hours, the feisty people I come across, the fight with failing technology, and take advantage of every opportunity possible. I’m going to look past the feelings of doubt that I presume every journalist faces at one time or another. The feelings of not being good enough or that the job isn’t quite right for them.

And after going through that, who knows where I’ll be in another year. Only time can tell.

In the end my only hope is the feeling of a cold glass of water on a blazing hot summer day sticks with me. That every time I walk into the newsroom I feel relief, happiness and the sense that I’m at home once again.

…Bring it on junior year!

*This is not to say I never felt at home with my internships this summer, in fact both of them I felt treated me like I was on staff, but it’s just a different feeling walking into a place like KOMU where you have a specific job you need to get done and you’re not constantly asking questions about how to do it.

Random Ramblings About the Web and What It Should Mean to Broadcast Journalists

The other day I was sitting in front of the computer, wondering how people ever did without. It brought me back to the first time I ever signed onto the Internet, sometime around the fourth grade. I remember this overwhelming feeling of vast possibilities, knowing that I had every piece of knowledge at my fingertips. I could type a word into a search engine and gather all the information there was about it. Now everyday people connect to the Internet without a thought in the world, a contributing factor into why web’s effect on society sometimes goes unseen. As far as a it goes for being journalists, we’re so content with the fact that we can do a lot of our basic research on the computer that I think many forget that the internet is more than just a place to find information, but a place to promote and better your news organization.

As a student in journalism, I know it’s not a new fact. Journalism is constantly evolving and during this time the majority of people looking for news log onto the web. Because of this I believe that broadcast journalists and print journalists alike should know how to use it.

So why do I think it’s important for EVERY broadcast journalist to know how to use the web and perhaps participate on putting content up on their stations website?

You’ve heard it before from broadcast students. “This is stupid. I don’t know why I have to put my stories up online… why can’t the web editors do it? It’s their job.” The complaints constantly flow out of the newsroom.

But to those who complain I’m sure you’ve heard of one-man-banding. And now to add to the list of the other jobs a one-man-band must do you can add web editor, at least while you’re still climbing your way up the market ladder.

First and foremost, our job as journalists is to create a public discussion and by using the web as an open forum we expand thoughts on these discussions. The web is a quick and easy way for a massive audience to view others opinions. I know that when I’m reading an article on the web and scroll down to read comments I read things that prompt thoughts I would have never had if there weren’t a comment section. Sometimes comments even spark an idea for an entirely different story. If enough people are talking about something on the web, then it’s probably something good to cover.

You may ask why can’t web editors just upload your story for you then? Sure they can, but what about information that didn’t make it to your broadcast story that the audience would like to know?

In a broadcast you have a 1 min 45 secs to tell your story. So when it comes to web extras, sometimes they are almost as important as the story itself. What other information do you have for the interested viewers? No one knows your story better than you, so that leaves you to take responsibility for putting it up on the web, not the web editors. (Besides don’t you love it when a friend says “Opps I missed your story because I was sitting on the potty!” A story appears -most of the time- on air once, but the Internet serves as the archiver of that story…. Where potty sitting friends go to find it. Don’t you want to make sure they see all the hard work you put into it?)

Take a chance to use the web as a way to give viewers all the facts you've gathered as well as using it to monitor the community and what it wants. It will improve the stories you report on.

Finally I would like to say a good luck to any newbie broadcast journalist that believes they can have a job without ever having to do any web work. I have yet to be in a small market newsroom where journalists aren’t expected to upload various things to a stations website.

What should every journalist know about posting content on their stations website that they probably don’t?

What I find funny is how hard people think posting content for the web is.

Too many people think being a web editor consists of maintaining the look of the site. Of course starting from scratch to build a website can be difficult, in fact impossible if you don’t have perspicacity of HTML and even more important CSS. But the thing is building up a website is completely different than maintaining one. Forget about HTML and CSS, journalists aren’t expected to know how to build or design a website. (Hand over this job to the IT guys.) This is why Content Manager Systems (CMS) were created. A CMS is an easily learnable tool designed to manage what appears on the website. Granted if you are looking to make a simple site you don’t need a CMS, but news sites aren’t simple with their many stories being posted a day. CMSs are used for sites needing archiving and easily searchable documents because there are so many on the site. Basically they keep the work-flow in order.

It may have taken a little bit of getting used to my first CMS, but after that it took 15-20 minutes tops to learn basics on the others. A CMS consists of different tabs, text boxes that you fill out and different uploading features. You write up an article and it pops up on the site in the correct way for you.

As my brother explains it, CMS was created specially for dummies. Or he says, to be less callous, those who aren’t so technological.

After working for komu.com, wrex.com, and nbcchicago.com rest assured that anybody with a basic understanding of the Internet can easily grasp the concepts of a CMS.

So to those just joining the world of journalism, or even for those who believe they are too old to go forward into the new trend don’t be afraid to jump in, it’s not as hard as it looks.

Behind the scenes… things a journalist doesn’t have to know about a news site, but might be interesting to know anyway.

Have you ever thought about the time and thought that goes into a news site? Not just the design of the site must be thought out, but things such as advertising and marketing as well. This is to say, even if we want to believe that our main goal is getting the news to the viewers, at the end of the day it all comes down to money. How will the site profit?

Who is your target audience? Throughout my internship at NBC I have watched as we transformed our site to grab an audience in the age range of 20’s-30’s. Our snarky writing is designed to provoke emotion and to have readers think about things in a different way. We put a nice fun spin on the news. Because we don’t necessarily work with the broadcast that airs, the news we put up on the site generally isn’t news you would see on air. We also have things on our site such as a mood indictor for each story. It gives readers a chance to tell us how they feel about a topic. On our main page we have a sentence telling how the city is feeling about a certain topic that is popular. These types of things set us apart from other sites.

All sites are different. I believe that when you move to a new news organization or station it’s very important to know who your target audience is, what is the main goal of the website (besides money!), and how they go about reaching their goals. You will find many don’t even know what they want yet though; stations are still testing different ways of doing things because no one really knows what works the best.

Knowing the goals of the station’s site will also give you an insight on how a station wants content to appear on the site-word wise. There are many news sites that take on the most prevalent form of online writing: shorter articles than AP style, but longer than broadcast articles.

Off topic, quick thoughts. Beyond knowing news sites…how has social media had an effect on society?

It’s simple, social media has had and will continue to have a prodigious and lasting effect on society.

Think about this simple fact. There are bloggers whose entire supporting income is based on advertisements they sell. And another. Twitter has served as a free tool to increase awareness and draw in revenue for business’ who choose to use it (twitter business model). It also is another way to have a community forum. Topics that people are discussing here and now, what they want to know about. What about social networking sites? Myspace gave Tila Tequila a show. Of course whether or not she should have had that show is a whole other topic (I’m sure myspace has other uses, but marketing people is the largest use I can think of at the moment)…Facebook has allowed people to brand themselves, talk to people they would have otherwise never been able to, connect with peers and continue to build on relationships, and finally for those who choose to market it’s a free way to do so.

I always believed that in a slumping economy, the way we pick ourselves back up is being innovators. New inventions may take away jobs, but it only opens the doors to new ones. Different social media tools, obviously the thought of innovators, quickly create jobs for those who know how to use them (and of course those who created the social media tools drew in some cash too… i.e. facebook, myspace).

This going back to news sites, if someone is able to design a great news site (someone who is an innovator) and broadcast journalists are able to learn how to maintain it, they can benefit by archiving their stories, improving their stories and by creating other outlets for public forums. Great news websites draw a larger audience as well, creating more revenue for the station (if you can show advertisers that you have a large audience!). I’m sure though, once you start posting your content online, learning how to use your news' website you find many more benefits.

In conclusion to these never-ending topics, what does it all mean? Well, I'm not quite sure, except that I love the internet and what it is doing for us journalists and what it is doing for society. So I will continue to learn and extend my knowledge about it. I hope other broadcast journalists will follow the same path.

Investigation On Train Derailment Continues... And Dew Tour

This week was a crazy blur and I’ll be surprised if I remember half of it…

The biggest challenge I’ve found so far is going from one internship to the other doing completely different things. Transferring from writing broadcast to writing for web has been interesting and I find sometimes it might take me a day to slip into a comfortable zone with my writing for each of them. Going from web to broadcast doesn’t seem to difficult, but going from short and to the point broadcast to witty web articles has been.

Sunday I got my real first taste of learning how not to be timid about touchy subjects. After it was announced that one woman was killed in the train derailment we thought it would be nice to talk to her family. Starting in the phone book another reporter and I called a few people with her last name that lived in Rockford. When this turned up no results, the photog and I left to find the houses that had no number connected to them. We drove to four different houses and were able to rule out a couple, but for two of the homes, no one was there. Even though we weren’t able to find any of the relatives of the woman (which no other media outlet seems to be able to either), I did come out of the trip learning a lot about the history of Rockford… thanks to Bill.

On our way back from the homes, we stopped at a performing arts center to get some video of a father’s day music celebration. When I came back I called the spokesman of CN to get a few more details on the assistance program they are setting up to help for the families affected by the derailment.

Next I digitized in the video for the musical performance, wrote the script for it and rewrote a script about a Malaysian kung fu expert broke his own record by piercing four coconuts with his right index finger in just 30 seconds.

Afterwards I did some beat calls, but almost like always found nothing new going on. With that, it was time to get ready for the 10 newcast… I started chatting with the anchor and sports anchor while they got ready and we talked about Oprah and how she had rented the Rockford airport to send out her entire staff to Spain. Our question for Oprah--- does she know she’s really human?

On Tuesday, I came into the station earlier than I normally would have to learn how the web works at WREX, but as soon as I walked in, one of the reporters asked if I could go out on assignment with them. I couldn’t decline, so I asked the guy who’s in control of the web and he was fine with it.

I headed out with the reporter and photog. Our first stop was to check out a street that a viewer had said the tracks had been washed out at. A huge gully had formed and as soon as it gets closer to the tracks, the train is likely to topple over as it goes past…

On our way to the site of the train derailment Bob, the reporter I was shadowing, gave me a bit of history of some streets we passed in Rockford. Did you know the police found some sex slaves upstairs in that club, chained up, only a few hours of heat during the day, no furniture in the rooms? Bob asked me. And another street was famous for homicides… I guess it wasn’t a surprise when we drove past that area later we saw two women getting into a physical fight, one woman hitting the other with a broomstick.

At the site of the train derailment I learned how to work my way past the cops… well that is if the hard cop decides to go on lunch break and another soft one comes back out. I finally got a close look up of the tracks and how they were progressing in their repairs. We got some good shots, talked to a man from the NTPS.

Next it was off to check out another area of tracks near the Kishwakee River that had been washed out as well. This time we ran into a man walking out of his sisters apartment where he has been working for a couple of weeks repainting for her. He said that sometimes, after it rains, it looks like the tracks turn into a river. Finding all these washed out areas, make it a little worrisome that nothing is being done to fix them.

Wednesday was back to Chicago! Not too much to say about this day, mostly just putting together slideshows and writing articles.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday was Dew Tour days. Thursday was the Dew Tour’s opening day. Only media, friends of the media, and bmx/event coordinators were allowed into the park. It was the preliminary’s for the bmxers to see who would continue on in the contest. When I first got to Grant Park I thought we were going to get a tour. Instead Kristin and I got our press passes and were free to walk around where ever we wanted. Talk about understanding exactly why people love press passes so much. I met a ton of the bikers, got some good shots and although it rained, had a lot of fun.

On Friday the contest continued. Took lots of pictures and met plenty of bikers.

The last day of the Dew Tour I went alone. This was probably the most exciting of the three days because I got the chance to meet some big time bmx riders. I also was granted the chance, with the media pass, to be right up close and personal with the riders when they received their awards. Before the awards, I stood in the media and family section of the park next to the ramp to take photos. I appreciated being able to get some good shots of when one of the bmxers fell and had to be taken away, only to come back later and hug one of his best friends who had just finished their run. Right there in the action.