I wrote, shot, and edited this voice-over about hunting accidents that happened during the opening weekend of deer hunting season. It aired on KOMU 8 News at 5 on November 16. Check it out!
This is the package I did on the death of Bernie Breer, 67. His friend accidentally shot him while coming back from a deer hunt on the opening weekend of deer season. Breer was one of three hunters accidentally shot during opening weekend. Last year, only five hunters were accidentally shot throughout deer season. None of them died. My goal in this package was to let viewers know whether these tragedies were part of a larger trend in hunting, or if they were a coincidental spike. Check it out!
AUXVASSE - Bernie Breer, 67, died when his friend accidentally shot him after deer hunting off Route B in Callaway County.
Breer was one of three hunters accidentally shot during the opening weekend of dear season. Breer’s friend accidentally shot him while taking his gun off his shoulder.
(Reported November 16, 2009)
whatswithtodaytoday:flickflickflicker:starrysomeone:likeneelyohara:tryphena:nnzxy:infinitebutterflies:elixiroflife:hannahisdeceasedskylinesandshipwrecks:shannonsayys:brennadaugherty:partyhardbrittany:positively:sixstepfailure: katscratchrawr
JEFFERSON CITY - The Jefferson City city council drafted an ordinance that would define what it means to provoke an animal in the case of vicious animal attacks.
(Reported November 13, 2009)
The Day Twitter Took Me Hostage
Yesterday, I found myself, like many others, captivated by the Twitter feed #jcmohostage. It reinforced the conception that Twitter has become a revolutionary source of spreading and then, in this case, debunking, news. In honor of this, I’m doing my media review in segments of 140 characters or less:
What’s the difference between @Missourinet @KOMUNews and layman RTs in yesterday’s story?
@Missourinet had the advantage of citizen journalists posting up to the second info about #jcmohostage.
RT @Missourinet was all over the place w/#jcmohostage. Only one problem. Kept getting proven wrong by other reports, i.e. from JCPD!
@Missourinet shows the power of bringing the average person into the story, but that doesn’t mean the average person’s ACCURATE.
@KOMUNews wouldn’t RT any info without official confirmation. This commitment to the truth means maybe “old-fashioned” news still has value?
I hope. Sigh.
Busy Week at KOMU
Who says I’m going to let a little thing like the flu get in the way of my reporting? Not I says…I.
I’ve now worked two VO Patrol shifts and one reporting shift at KOMU since my last update. The point of the VO Patrols, in my opinion, is two-fold:
On a personal level it helps me develop writing skills in an area of news reporting, and writing in general, that will translate into any market, or any future field. I was especially hardworking these past few weeks because I hope to submit my scripts to the Associated Press when I apply for their internship program at the end of the week. Wish me luck!
On a larger level, VOs help the producers tell as many stories as possible in their newscast. Consequently, it gets more important information out to the viewers.
My reporting shift last Monday had me back in Boonville following up on a story I did for class a month ago. This put me in a particularly advantageous situation because I already had file footage of one of the main “players” in the story that I could use for this second package to build complex angles and conflict.
These consecutive shifts have really taught me the importance of cultivating sources in the news business. In a market such as mid-Missouri, you’re going to be talking to a lot of the same people on a regular basis. As such, you don’t want every interview about a given topic to turn banal and repetitive; you’ll lose the “today” angle of whatever story you’re covering, and your station will lose credibility with that source. I had to work especially hard with my second VO about swine flu vaccines to cultivate this credibility and search for that newness in my interviews, but in doing so, I established myself as a journalist who thirsts for true information, not just 12 seconds of babble that can fill the airwaves.
Icky Week
I completed a reporting shift at KOMU this Monday, but am only now getting around to posting my stories from that day TODAY because I had the flu all week. I can’t confirm or deny that it was the dreaded swine flu because the Student Health Center won’t see potential flu victims in person, so I got diagnosed over the phone (I’m not making this up). In addition, I also came down with a mid-ear infection that landed me in the ER late Tuesday night. To say I’ve been under the weather is an understatement. But, I’m proud of the initiative I took at the beginning of the week in turning what should have been a VO Patrol into a fully fleshed-out story; AND I’m doing some video work tomorrow afternoon for the 6 o’clock broadcast. Take that, sickness!
My follow-up story on the Pirate Press controversy at Boonville High School. Package video to follow.
