MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
Posted 11/03/2010:
November 3, 2010
Election coverage was great. I enjoyed being at Carnahan's campaign and working with all the professional journalists. Balancing coverage for KMOX and KSMU was a challenge, but not too difficult. There were also troubleshooting issues with the Audacity files being converted to our lineup back here in Jefferson City, so learning to fix problems on the job was important, albeit stressful. I also took calls from the B1 students about technical difficulties. KMOX called me for two live hits throughout the night. The first was a Q and A about the setting up of the watch party right after Fox News called the race for Blunt with only one percent of precincts reporting. The second was after Carnahan's concession speech for 40 seconds of voicer. Overall, though I was nervous, I was proud of myself.
Today is time to look at what the effects of the election are on the House and Senate. With such a sweeping change from the left to the right, new leadership will need to take hold before the session begins in January. The next few weeks will set the stage for how much will get done in the next session, especially with the more moderate candidates being thrown out of their seats.
September 23, 2010
Making sure B1 students get election features done on time can be a tiring process. Features themselves are very involved stories; often natural sound is needed for the stories to have the depth they need. This requires students to leave the office and go into the world to talk to sources. This, for some reason, is difficult for our reporters to do. It's puzzling to me because this office has no windows and is often crowded. Still, they choose to stay here and do phone interviews. I saw a couple of reporters do interviews in Columbia today, and I was proud of them. Between the inherent change of scenery and the natural sound, I'm sure they'll have better stories for it.
Personally I have been trying my hand at editing. I don't always know if I'm helpful, because sometimes I have the attitude that I could just re-write their wraps for them and then everything would go much faster. I realize that is not teaching them anything, and it's only making me frustrated if they're not better week after week. I certainly hope this experience is as positive for them as it was for me; I learned so much in my first semester. I quickly became addicted to Capitol reporting, and I hope I've gotten better over the years. If I'm not a good teacher, I may as well be a fabulous reporter...
September 2, 2010
Today was the end of my first full week as a teaching assistant this year. Thursdays are crazy but great. There are so many reporters so I hope that allows us to cover absolutely everything. I am hoping once the B1 students get comfortable with story structure and using the equiptment, they will head out into the city to get stories with good natural sound. Our phones have been causing problems, so that's just another reason in-person interviews are always best.
I enjoy teaching, but find myself between doing my own stories and helping others. I absolutely don't mind helping out, but sometimes it's difficult to balance both. In talking with Brooks I think on Thursdays I will be more centered on my own stories because there are other TAs here. I am looking to do some stories about biomass as a possible fuel source and possibly also helping Scott Kanowski with his dog breeding story.