I Can't Sleep Because I've Got the Journalism Blues

Do you remember when I posted early on Friday mornings because I had just awaken from a nice, cozy slumber and wanted to tell you about all of my journalism situations since I'm blunt in the mornings?  Well now I've added another element:  I can't sleep!  That's right.  I finished my second reporting shift last night and I couldn't sleep so I did some work and decided to blog about it!

So, as I said, last night was my second reporting shift at KOMU8 News.  Reporting provides me with lots of excitement and an ability to really improve upon my journalism skills and knowledge.  I feel thrilled to be doing this work!  As with the real world, this experience gives me good days and bad days (I'll get to that in just a few minutes), but I take my blessings for the good days.  I appreciate working with other hard working peers and faculty members at the station, and every time I work with somebody, I get to know them that much more.  It is funny looking back from Freshman year when I went to the station for either a tour or just to "shadow" a friend working there.  The station seemed much more like a foreign world to me in those days, and now I feel like pitching a cot in an editing bay.  I really love the experience of actually working in a newsroom and getting hands-on practice for reporting, making contacts, and always challenging myself to different tasks.  I feel like the station is a temple of broadcast knowledge, and I can't stop consuming it!

For the most part, I've had good days while reporting at the station.  Sometimes, contacts just fall in your lap, you get tipped off about a certain event or story, or maybe you speed through editing and writing.  Then there are the days that nothing seems to go right.  I don't mean to sound like a "Danny Downer", and honestly I never regret what happens because as my father always told me, "Failures are more important than successes.  You learn from those the most."  I have learned through the years that I'm a perfectionist, especially given the time to perfect the art of something.  The first reporting shift I had, I finished my story an hour and a half ahead of schedule, found more facts for the story, and started working on my web story before the television piece ran.  This provided me the comfort of knowing I had time to change anything that is wrong and critique minor things I noticed in my story.  However, I have also learned that I can work quickly when under pressure.  Frankly, I work best under pressure because I don't spend much time worrying about one issue.

Now I hate classifying a certain day or happening as "bad", but last night it seemed like nothing was going right for awhile.  My story was about the overdraft protection plan and how people can now opt-in to get the overdraft charges.  Just to name a few things, nobody was calling me back and it seemed that all my contacts had a reason to be out of the office.  I tried to make some phone calls earlier in the day, but these soon failed me since I left a message and called back to check in to only hear their secretary say "They've left for the day."  I then lucked out when I went to Jeff City to speak with a representative from the Missouri Division of Finance.  He pointed out the president of the Missouri Bankers Association, who gave me more good information.  When I also was out shooting footage to use in my story, I didn't shoot a stand-up (where I appear on camera to explain something on location or in person) because I thought my story may turn into an on-set (which is where I speak in the studio while on air).  My video was also dull and unexciting (I thought "how can I make this story look visually appealing?") and my central main person for the story couldn't speak very long and wanted to meet at a place in-between the locations he was going to last night.  I finished running around and getting footage for my story at 7:30 last night.  This gave me a strict timeline to capture all my footage, write my scripts for the story, and edit it.  I learned quickly how to make adjustments and give a little if the producers ask for something.  After my story no longer had an on-set, I prepared a graphic instead.  However, this took up too much time, so it also had to be cut.  I'm not considering last night's reporting shift a failure, but it just didn't go the way I intended (on my part; I didn't have a problem compromising with the producers at all).

Still, I think it's hard to have a second experience like my first reporting shift.  Here, all the calls I made before going to station helped out and all of my contacts were good about meeting with me.  I struggled in a few situations with some complaining about being on camera, but I finished the story with much time to spare.  I also found out little tricks of the trade from the producers to make my video quality a little better.  This story was about how Mid-Missourians can now apply for longer unemployment benefits.  Since I couldn't find anybody who does use extended unemployment benefits to speak with me, I found somebody who used the Missouri Career Center in a way that transformed the story into something a little different than I originally imagined.  I met a gentleman who used the Career Center for years, but he never found a job through them.  While he currently has a job, I did get a few good quotes from him about his opinion on the unemployment benefits extension and his opinion about organizations like the center that help unemployed people find jobs.  This is one of my main loves for doing a story: the story can change by the time you leave to station to the time you come back.  It's amazing how this works!

To conclude this week's blog, I just want to say I'm in disbelief that next week is the final week before Thanksgiving Break...and the last week I'm reporting.  It seems like yesterday (I'm sure it does since I was reporting last night...) that I was doing my first package for Broadcast 2 class.  Now I'm down to my last assignment (maybe) for B2.  Funny thing is, every time I'm working on a story, I can always hear my professor, Greeley Kyle, in the back of my mind, keeping me on track and focused.  I wonder if I will still have little Greeley on my shoulder 20 years from now reminding me to not use that shot because it's a little too dark or shaky...ok that's not a maybe, it will happen.  In all honesty, journalism wouldn't be the same without GK.