Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Swine Flu Coverage

The press won't get off this Swine Flu coverage.  Is it as big as it is being made out to be?  1,600 plus cases have broken out in Mexico and 40 in the US.  However, only one of those 40 cases have been hospitalized... I am not wanting to belittle this universal spreading of the flu that is going on; however, it has been the only thing the press has cared to talk about for a few days now.  Keep the nation updated and aware, but cover other pressing topics at the same time.  

Zootoo Makeover! update...

The winners were announced! Congratulations to the Central Missouri Humane Society on their win in the million dollar make over competition!  I am sure Amanda Huhman and Libby Burks along with many other volunteers are happy their voting paid off!  However, last year's winners out of St. Louis still haven't seen their reward.  Hopefully this doesn't happen to our local humane society.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Tea Parties

Coverage on the controversial tea parties last week hardly scraped the news. CNN reported it like it was a naughty revolt, while fox reported it like the best thing since Obama went in office.  Either way no one can deny the outrageous live report of one CNN reporter.  A CNN reporter was live and interviewed a man at one of the tea parties. She then interrupted him and started to yell.  It was obvious she let her own political beliefs come out in a very inappropriate and unprofessional way.  This is what is wrong with national news coverage today...no straight forward facts.  Both networks are biased. 

Zootoo Makeover!

For my reporting shift last Friday I got to report on the zootoo competition.  Zootoo has a million dollar makeover contest for animal shelters.  Two young girls, Amanda Huhman and Libby Burks, here in Columbia entered the Central Missouri Humane Society into the contest.  As of Friday the Central Missouri Humane Society was in first place with only three days left of voting.  The last day to vote was yesterday at midnight.  Winners will be announced April 27th on the zootoo website.  Both girls are volunteers at the shelter and say the community has gotten involved and even if the CMHS doesn't win, they know that the community will step up and help out as it has already.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Pirates...

Somalia pirates sure hit the press by taking Captain Richard Phillips hostage.  Pirates are rare to hear about so I think the  never ending coverage was great; however, what coverage I didn't quite get what how Obama was involved with the situation.  I heard from one national network that Obama gave the OK to shoot to kill the pirates, but then I heard on a different network that the Navy was the one who gave the order.  Which is true?  Was the President bound to give the OK to the Navy? The conflicting coverage made me question which sources are talking to what networks and who is the one to blame for mixing up the information.

Rock Bridge is Cookin' it Up!!

On one of my recent reporting shifts I covered two Rock Bridge students that won a state culinary arts competition.  Margaret Hughes and Ben Truesdell both are seniors in Brooke Harlan's cooking class at the Career Center in Columbia, Missouri.  Both will be going on to the national competition this June. 
My last reporting shift, I covered the new superintendent Chris Belcher's meet and greet and guess who catered it?  That's right Hughes and Truesdell's class.  It was a good feeling being out there and seeing them and having them recognize me and say they saw the story I did on KOMU. It was a good feeling and reminded me why I enjoy meeting new people and having them let me tell their stories.   

Sunday, April 5, 2009

My first VO Patrol

My first VO-patrol was this past Friday. I got to cover Russ Mitchell from CBS accepting Mizzou's highest journalism honor.  Mitchell was a student at MU and graduated with a broadcast journalism degree. He has reported in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Dallas.  I have to admit I was pretty intimidated when I gave him a few interview questions, but I ended up getting an excellent sound bite. I also learned how important it is to manually focus my camera, and not depend on auto focus because some of my shots were not too good.  I am looking forward to my next VO-patrol tomorrow and I am hoping that it goes just as well.    

What Next?

I recently attended a master class with Russ Mitchell. The last part of the hour was spent with students questions and Mitchell's answers.  One question really stood out to me and it was "how far will journalism keep going?" Journalism used to be strictly news but now its news, opinions, entertainment, opinions... and more opinions. I recently saw on the FOX NEWS website that Bridget Marquardt, ex girlfriend of Hugh Hefner, has her own show now on the Travel Channel.  She goes to different beaches and shows the different aspects of what they offer.  I thought, hmm...Is this what we are coming to? I have always considered the Travel Channel to be respected and informational with some shows and documentaries that are educational and interesting on certain places. I think this is taking it to far to let a play boy model (who lays on beaches all day) report about what beaches are best fitting for her.  This is hardly journalism and not informational but only entertainment.