My very last post of the semester: Going the extra mile

I cannot believe I am writing my last blog of the semester. The time really just flew by. Again, for the last of my reflections of my ethics and behavior, I have nothing poor of to report. I do want to talk about making sure I've got the video I need before I tear down my equipment though because I feel like the way I did it the first time will probably work.

Thursday I shot a standup at the Cole County Courthouse about why Jefferson City had sued its own county. The first take where I didn't stutter, I had the camera zoomed out a little too far. So, I redid the standup the second time and actually said 'the city has filed a suit in order to not have to pay more taxes.' The city really filed the suit, so they can keep more money in the future that they had not received from a county miscalculation. Would the city use some of this extra money to pay off more taxes? Probably. But would they use this extra money to not have to pay more taxes? That seems like a stretch.

After hearing my story air in the 9 o'clock on the CW, I used the wider standup where I could have been framed better because that standup had the right information in it. I didn't have to rush too much to simply put one of my standups in, but I had the gut feeling I should use the one with the right information in it more than the one that didn't. After watching the story, I went to my managing editor Elizabeth Frogge. I wanted her thoughts on what I should do. Fortunately for me, we were both on the same wavelength. She said I shouldn't sacrifice for a shot's framing, especially if the shot of the frame with the right information in it doesn't look terrible, which it didn't. I'm glad I gave the people all truthful information in my story in both the 9 and 10 pm shows.

This doesn't cover though what I should have done to get the right information and an even better framing. I had to hurry to go get b-roll of my CCC, Jefferson City Counselor Nathan Nickolaus, so I left after shooting my second standup. I did the standup near other people and felt a little awkward doing it. Therefore, I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. So I did. Had I been able to do it over again, I would have re shot the standup until I got the information right with a good tight framing. If I truly want to be a journalist, I'm going to have to get over that fearfulness. I kind of wish I could go shoot that standup again and nail it with a good tight frame to prove to myself that I'm not scared of doing something uncommon for a TV story. Besides, my CCC had more time than he previously thought, so I really did not need to be in a hurry to leave the office. Ugh.

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My last journalism reflection: Sports on NPR?

This week I'm really extending my boundaries. I actually went to the NPR Website to look, or listen I should say to a couple stories. Lucky enough for me, I first see a sports story on the World Cup bids going to Russia and Qatar for 2018 and 2022. First off, I really enjoyed the pieces, both of them. I'll get to the second here in just a bit, but the first one intrigued me because it gave me a perspective I may not have seen if I watched this story on Sportscenter. Because we live in America, I feel like the media would have at least some sort of negative slant to the U.S. not getting the world cup bids for either year. NPR told the story from a different perspective, another country's. The story sounded great.

NPR told the story from Russia and Qatar's perspective, two countries not known for their soccer. Qatar became the first country in the middle east to win a world cup bid Thursday. In the press conference, it seemed like the Qatar committee sounded so happy that FIFA (Federation International Futbol Association) had 'given them a chance.' The story coming from people there that have such happy feelings about winning the bid makes me happy for them getting it. NPR didn't do the story about how the 'U.S. did not get the respect it deserves in the soccer world once again.' Most other stations probably would have.

And now to the meaty story. Go figure that on the night where I'd want to watch one of the biggest NBA games of the season, I wouldn't be able to do it. Last night, Lebron James came back to his home area of Northeastern Ohio to screams of boos from the Cleveland Cavaliers fans. Can you blame the Cavaliers fans? No not really. Heck, I held extremely mad feelings myself towards the man who jumped ship from the city that loved him and in doing so broke the hearts of millions of Clevelanders. Hearing the package first though on the radio instead of TV brought a new meaning to the story. You have to visualize what had happened as you listened to the story. I'm not sure if I would have felt the same magnitude had I watched a package on this first instead.

After hearing all the boos, I almost got chills up and down my neck. It makes me want to actually watch the piece on television even more now. I can only imagine how bad he got hassled last night. Anyways, listening to these sports stories on the radio first just fascinated me because having to dream up the picture in your mind makes the story more impacting in a way than seeing it on television, if the reporter does it correctly. However, it might have been nice if the reporter had a CCC!

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King James 'smiling' as everyone boos him at the Quicken Loans Arena Thursday night.