If You Say Broadcast 2 Class, I'll Say...CLEARED!

So let me begin by explaining what I mean by the title.  In my Broadcast 2 class, once my peers and I meet the expectations that we can find and create good stories under a deadline, then our professor approves us to begin working at the local television station owned by the Missouri School of Journalism, KOMU8.  Anyways, on the last package/story I did two weeks ago (wow, it does not seem that long ago) for class, I heard the best three words..."good to go".  Those are the words of Greeley Kyle, my professor for Broadcast 2, approving me to begin working at KOMU.  I seriously wanted to hug Greeley after hearing those words.  So, in other words, that's what my post title means by "CLEARED".  No, I'm not a nurse...but I may be doing a story on a nurse in the coming weeks.  You never really know what good story will come up in a few days (hey, even a few hours!).

So, you may be asking yourself, "Daniel, what have you been working on since that last story in class two weeks ago?"  Okay, maybe you're not asking yourself that question.  Nevertheless, I've shadowed multiple news people in the last two weeks.  This is another requirement for Broadcast 2 class.  We have to shadow four people working as 1.) a live-truck operator, which is the person who controls and shoots the video for the reporter who is reporting live, 2.) a reporter, 3.) a producer's sssistant, which gets video from the national news to put on KOMU newscasts, and 4.) a producer.  I actually just finished shadowing Becca Habegger, a student producer for KOMU, last night.  Additionally, that was my last shadow shift.  Honestly, I really enjoyed all my shadow shifts.  I found it strange that most of the people I shadowed said that many of the students who shadow them are usually quiet and don't try to get that involved.  I found it somewhat of my responsibility to ask as many questions to familiarize and get comfortable working in these positions at the station.  Moreover, I asked Becca many questions regarding producing because I'm interested in becoming a news producer.

For the shadow shifts, we have to ask particular questions and write a one-page reflection on the shadow shift.  For the most part, I answer those questions just by observing the people work.  I also ask questions that I'm wondering about, and this is how I've learned a lot on my shadow shifts.  I thought it was funny at the end of my shadow shifts when the people I shadowed asked me "Don't you have any questions you have to ask for class" and I reply with "No, I've already answered those questions."  I suppose this is just me being a journalist, but I ask the questions in a conversational way, usually when I'm just speaking with the person about their job and asking what all they do.  This is how I've learned that if you're talking with a person, you can ask questions and sometimes they may not even notice you asked a question.  However, if you read from a list of questions and sit the person down in front of you like it's truly an interview, I feel like you get somewhat of a staged, or preconceived answer.  It's our role as journalists, in my opinion, to paint a picture of somebody's life and those candid moments that go along with it.  We get real answers if we converse with people.  Alright, I think that turned into more of a Posey's Philosophical moment than I expected.

Well, that's all for now.  I'll see you all in the not-to-future.