Today was so slow. I started my day by shadowing the main meteorologist/weather guy Mike. Weather is complicated is what I learned. I did the weather for the Maine Channel and believe me, it was nothing like this. He never uses a script either.
Afterward I was asked to write three readers and a kicker. I had no idea what a kicker was but it is just a 'fun' story. Mine was about a national spelling bee. My three readers were heavily edited but the kicker was all my own words, 25 seconds worth. That is a lot of seconds for our station, most readers are 15-20 seconds.
I met with one of our affiliates: CNN. A reporter and a few crew members were at the station. I got to talk to the woman, Dana, she encouraged me to apply for an internship in Atlanta where CNN is based, she even gave me her email. I'm sure after this internship I will be able to get almost any internship I want, especially ABC or CNN since I've now worked for them.
I was really bored come 11pm so I left early. My 'boss' wasn't happy about it but she had nothing for me to do and neither did the producer.
Other than that: answering phones and filing papers... o and my favorite... making labels for the tapes and their shows.
The presidential debates that we and the paper I write for are hosting the primary presidential debates next week so hopefully things get insanely hectic and fun.
Robby the freshman intern is still sitting at his desk answering phones all day. Props to him, I couldn't sit still that long.
As for how this relates to school... I don't think any class could teach me the tricks of writing for TV. It is tough. You have to take thousand word stories and chop them into 15 seconds while still getting all the info in. I hope to get better at it but it is hard to discuss what I've done incorrectly with the producers because they are so busy. Hopefully they will give me more chances so I can improve.
8.5
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
Shadowing and Tom Tom
I tried to make the most of my 'make it yourself internship' today. I followed around Scott, an anchor who usually does the 5 and 6 p.m. news but today had to do the noon broadcast too. He said he usually is out in the field reporting and making packages all day and then comes into the office to be an anchor. This made me really happy, I thought anchors were just figureheads and that is why I no longer aspired to be one, but to find out he does more journalism 'get your hands dirty' work than most, I got inspired.
Also, when I was hanging out with the producer I told her I wanted to write, she gave me this thing on pre-owned home sales and I wrote it thinking it was just practice for her to see if I could actually write. It was 24 seconds, she loved it and aired it unedited.
I also thought about what my internship paper will be about and after shadowing a producer for a while today it showed me how much of a platform a degree is. It's like anything, you learn the basics and then you do what you will with them. AP style and proper grammar only go so far in the real world. Not to say that UMaine won't bring me leaps and bounds but the feeling I got was that once you know the basics you take on your own style and there are NO hard and fast rules, everything is fluid, especially in such fast moving careers.
On a separate opinion only note:
Tommy Thompson, republican presidential candidate for 08 came to the studio today for a program filming.
It was interesting to see a candidate but he was scary. He was literally yelling at the audience at points, not only that but he also guaranteed that there would be a bird flu epidemic. Bush has scared us enough, in my opinion.
He also pulled more statistics out of thin air than I have ever seen before in my life, and whenever asked about a subject he would say "I'm an expert." with more arrogance I've witnessed in a long time.
I know New Hampshire and I can confidently say NH wont like him and therefore the rest of the country probably wont either.
I know, this isn't really about my internship but seriously, you should watch the broadcast of this when it goes to YouTube in mid-June.
8.5
Also, when I was hanging out with the producer I told her I wanted to write, she gave me this thing on pre-owned home sales and I wrote it thinking it was just practice for her to see if I could actually write. It was 24 seconds, she loved it and aired it unedited.
I also thought about what my internship paper will be about and after shadowing a producer for a while today it showed me how much of a platform a degree is. It's like anything, you learn the basics and then you do what you will with them. AP style and proper grammar only go so far in the real world. Not to say that UMaine won't bring me leaps and bounds but the feeling I got was that once you know the basics you take on your own style and there are NO hard and fast rules, everything is fluid, especially in such fast moving careers.
On a separate opinion only note:
Tommy Thompson, republican presidential candidate for 08 came to the studio today for a program filming.
It was interesting to see a candidate but he was scary. He was literally yelling at the audience at points, not only that but he also guaranteed that there would be a bird flu epidemic. Bush has scared us enough, in my opinion.
He also pulled more statistics out of thin air than I have ever seen before in my life, and whenever asked about a subject he would say "I'm an expert." with more arrogance I've witnessed in a long time.
I know New Hampshire and I can confidently say NH wont like him and therefore the rest of the country probably wont either.
I know, this isn't really about my internship but seriously, you should watch the broadcast of this when it goes to YouTube in mid-June.
8.5
Thursday, May 24, 2007
A Lesson in Ethics
In the 9(ish) broadcasts I have watched at the station all of them had at least one error per broadcast. When I ask about running a correction the producers never seem interested. Today, for instance, the producer of the 11 p.m. news show presented New Hampshire's average gas prices throughout the state which I told him at the time of broadcast looked incorrect. Another employee told him that his facts were incorrect and showed him how to get the correct facts. The producer said it was not a large enough mistake to correct (the gas price difference from what was reported to truth was more than 10 cents).
A woman called me today. Her son had been in one of our stories, he had dies in a car accident and she cried to me on the phone. We had aired footage of the car burning on the highway. She had told the producer that it was unethical to show footage of her son dying but my editor said it was fine because the person had been ejected from the car and died instantly, which was not shown in the footage.
I was impressed by the one correction I've seen at the station. I had told my boss that there was a huge error about a new airline which they had said would run 2 flights per week but the correct information was that it would have two flights per day. I got the correction in immediately and they ran it.
People rely on their news and trust the facts that they get from us, especially as an ABC and CNN affiliate and I am more and more disappointed in broadcast journalism as I am around it more. I knew that this internship would be the point where I decide if I want to continue to pursue this aspect of my education or stick strictly to print journalism, and I must say, it is what I thought it would be. I am disappointed that my expectations of misreporting were true. This industry seems too proud to admit that they do not always report perfectly, which is a shame.
One of the workers in the producer's booth had told me on my first day "You know why we have broadcast news?" when I answered to spread truth he laughed and told me "No, to sell commercials." I'm beginning to believe it.
9hrs
A woman called me today. Her son had been in one of our stories, he had dies in a car accident and she cried to me on the phone. We had aired footage of the car burning on the highway. She had told the producer that it was unethical to show footage of her son dying but my editor said it was fine because the person had been ejected from the car and died instantly, which was not shown in the footage.
I was impressed by the one correction I've seen at the station. I had told my boss that there was a huge error about a new airline which they had said would run 2 flights per week but the correct information was that it would have two flights per day. I got the correction in immediately and they ran it.
People rely on their news and trust the facts that they get from us, especially as an ABC and CNN affiliate and I am more and more disappointed in broadcast journalism as I am around it more. I knew that this internship would be the point where I decide if I want to continue to pursue this aspect of my education or stick strictly to print journalism, and I must say, it is what I thought it would be. I am disappointed that my expectations of misreporting were true. This industry seems too proud to admit that they do not always report perfectly, which is a shame.
One of the workers in the producer's booth had told me on my first day "You know why we have broadcast news?" when I answered to spread truth he laughed and told me "No, to sell commercials." I'm beginning to believe it.
9hrs
Friday, May 18, 2007
Observation day
After calling in every police station and fire station in the state to make sure nothing was happening I saw Andy viewing his tapes. I asked him if I cold watch and he led me through the whole process of making a package.
It was pretty neat, after he got back from getting the footage he made a script, found the sound clips he wanted, gave it to his editor who approved it, then he recorded the voice over and gave the footage to the cameraman who put the whole thing together. It took a whole day's work to put together a 1minute 40second piece.
The cameraman had been an intern at the station before hired... that makes me feel a little better about devoting 9hr days unpaid.
8.5hr
It was pretty neat, after he got back from getting the footage he made a script, found the sound clips he wanted, gave it to his editor who approved it, then he recorded the voice over and gave the footage to the cameraman who put the whole thing together. It took a whole day's work to put together a 1minute 40second piece.
The cameraman had been an intern at the station before hired... that makes me feel a little better about devoting 9hr days unpaid.
8.5hr
Thursday, May 17, 2007
First day
Today was day one at my internship. I quickly discovered that this is going to be a 'what you make it' experience. The people in charge do not ask you to do anything, do not expect you to do anything. It is pretty much: if you want the experience, here it is. If you want to waste your time playing spider solitaire for hours on end, here it is.
I was quick to mention my ambitions of becoming a journalist and writing news for them. I wrote a 15second reader which, after being heavily edited, was aired on the nightly newscast.
The other intern was an interesting find. He is a mass communication major who seems ecstatic to sit and answer phones. Good for him.
9hrs
I was quick to mention my ambitions of becoming a journalist and writing news for them. I wrote a 15second reader which, after being heavily edited, was aired on the nightly newscast.
The other intern was an interesting find. He is a mass communication major who seems ecstatic to sit and answer phones. Good for him.
9hrs
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