Good reporters do their homework. Great journalists don't just get interviews and report what is happening now. Instead, they do their homework and put it in perspective.
Lately there has been a lot of media coverage focusing on Donald Trump possibly running for president. In this story covering the matter, David Folkenflik answers all the important questions but he also puts it in perspective. The question on everyone's mind is whether Trump is serious or just wanting publicity. Of all the reports I have heard and read about the topic, none have quoted the interview Folkenflik found by Tom Brokaw interviewing Trump about whether he would run for president back in 1999. This quote from 12 years ago, I think brings light to the story today in a way no other journalist has done.
Fulkenflik's story covers the other important points as well, such as Trumps business history, his personality, his campaign points, and the fact that it is really up to voters to decide whether Trump is serious or not. The fact that he found this little fact I think sets his story apart from the rest.
Listen to it yourself.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/04/21/135604711/donald-trump-is-thinking-about-running-for-president-or-maybe-not
Friday, April 22, 2011
The Story Behind the Story: Columbia Energy Center
When elections get close, the coverage gets fierce. One of my broadcast professors always says "you make your own luck." Well, I don't know if I made it or not this day, but I definitely got lucky.
Elections for Mid-Missouri were about a week away and it was a relatively slow news day. I decided the best option would be to do an election preview story on Proposition 2. I got all my interviews in relatively the same area of town and it was time to get my broll and standup. As I drove past the location to see the different shots I could get, I saw one of our competing stations vehicles at the scene. I drove past, and our competition didn't notice that I was there. Liked-minded minds think the same way.
I decided that I would film on the far side of the power plant that way our coverage was better than our competitors. There was a decent location for my standup. After I filmed my stand up I went over to the sub-station to get a few shots. By this time our competing station had left. Not long after I started getting some shots of the sub-station I realized that unless I could get inside the fence most of my shots would be very wide and boring. Shortly after this realization a truck parked in the lot and a man started walking my way. To my surprise he offered to take me inside the fence and explained everything there is to know about conducting electricity to power a city. I got some really great shots and I also got some great NAT sound of the "buzz/hum" of electricity. That night our competing station aired a VoSot on Proposition 2 and filled their newscast national and wire stories. Our news cast has more local news and more in-depth local news. Where they had VoSots we had PKGs. That made me feel proud to work for KOMU. My piece ended up being about as exciting as any proposition piece can be.
Here is my story. Check it out!
Elections for Mid-Missouri were about a week away and it was a relatively slow news day. I decided the best option would be to do an election preview story on Proposition 2. I got all my interviews in relatively the same area of town and it was time to get my broll and standup. As I drove past the location to see the different shots I could get, I saw one of our competing stations vehicles at the scene. I drove past, and our competition didn't notice that I was there. Liked-minded minds think the same way.
I decided that I would film on the far side of the power plant that way our coverage was better than our competitors. There was a decent location for my standup. After I filmed my stand up I went over to the sub-station to get a few shots. By this time our competing station had left. Not long after I started getting some shots of the sub-station I realized that unless I could get inside the fence most of my shots would be very wide and boring. Shortly after this realization a truck parked in the lot and a man started walking my way. To my surprise he offered to take me inside the fence and explained everything there is to know about conducting electricity to power a city. I got some really great shots and I also got some great NAT sound of the "buzz/hum" of electricity. That night our competing station aired a VoSot on Proposition 2 and filled their newscast national and wire stories. Our news cast has more local news and more in-depth local news. Where they had VoSots we had PKGs. That made me feel proud to work for KOMU. My piece ended up being about as exciting as any proposition piece can be.
Here is my story. Check it out!
Friday, April 8, 2011
The Story Behind the Story: FFA District Competition
There is something exciting about finding a story and telling it well when competing stations don't even cover it. Often called "scooping the competition," I believe what makes it such a coveted experience is the satisfaction of knowing you have enterprised a story no one else knew about. It is a personal evaluation instead of the usual group evaluation through ratings that you are a good journalist, that you are connected with your audience, and cover what they are interested in.
I was really excited when I found this story idea. None of our competing stations covered this, and it was a major even that affected hundreds of local students and teachers. Seventeen hundred students came from all across Northeast and Central Missouri to prove their skills and compete against one another. I found the idea while I was searching through community calendars.
One thing I learned from this story is just how valuable pre-planning stories can be. I called a day before to evaluate just how many people would be affected by it. I got most of the who, what, when, where, and why answered before I even pitched the idea in our assignment meeting the next day. I was able to think through how I would tell the story and what I would need. Pre-planning helped me get just what I needed and when I headed back the the station I was ahead of schedule. There is great value in pre-planning. I learned that from this FFA District competition story.
Here is the story if you want to watch.
I was really excited when I found this story idea. None of our competing stations covered this, and it was a major even that affected hundreds of local students and teachers. Seventeen hundred students came from all across Northeast and Central Missouri to prove their skills and compete against one another. I found the idea while I was searching through community calendars.
One thing I learned from this story is just how valuable pre-planning stories can be. I called a day before to evaluate just how many people would be affected by it. I got most of the who, what, when, where, and why answered before I even pitched the idea in our assignment meeting the next day. I was able to think through how I would tell the story and what I would need. Pre-planning helped me get just what I needed and when I headed back the the station I was ahead of schedule. There is great value in pre-planning. I learned that from this FFA District competition story.
Here is the story if you want to watch.
Next Generation News and Partisanship: Reflecting on Journalism
I have learned that political news is a touchy subject. Opinions are high, differences are vast, and perception of equal representation is almost impossible to achieve. It would seem that pleasing a bipartisan audience is unfeasible, especially when it comes to cable news.
NPR's All Things Considered recently did a story about FOX's news programs verses its opinion programs. The report focuses on Bret Baier, a young anchor of a political newscast that airs nightly on FOX. The story, done by NPR's David Folkenflik, reports that Baier's popularity in the cable news sphere is only surpassed by Bill O'Reilly's opinion show, and it raises questions as to whether FOX news programming is as "fair and balanced" as its executives claim.
I think this report was done well. Folkenflik asks important questions and presents both sides' arguments. He doesn't tell people what to think, but rather what to think about. That is the definition of good journalism and good news coverage.
If you want to listen to the report yourself, just click the link below.
He is a summary of Fulkenflik's story:
Baier's political-coverage balance was brought into question because during an exclusive interview he got a year ago he kept interrupting President Obama while he answered Baier's questions. Shows on FOX have been harsh on Democrat's perspectives in the past. FOX Networks executives say their network gives fair and balanced political news coverage.
Jamie McIntyre, a former reporter for CNN, said of Baier's work "I remember thinking that if you took the average Bret Baier report and you took mine and you stripped the names out so you didn't know who was producing them, I'm not sure you could tell which report was generated by CNN and which was generated by the FOX news channel."
McIntyre does say that assignments at FOX speak to the conservative audience that watches FOX reporting. David Folkenflik reports that story assignment aren't too unusual for a station to meet the needs of its viewing audience. Portland news stations cover things that happen in Portland more than they cover other news topics. If conservatives watch FOX, as PEW research has shown, then naturally FOX coverage will be more about issues that conservatives want to hear about.
Part of Baier's show is a panel discussion. Folkenflik reports over the past six months the panel has consisted of two clearly conservative people and a third usually a journalist form a "non-idological news outlet." This would clearly swing the conversation to a biased perspective with underrepresentation from members of the democratic party. Perhaps this is the best observation Folkenflik does in his story.
Folkenflik told Baier that having an unbalanced panel like that would underrepresent the left and also cast reporters as though they are surrogate liberals. To which Baier said "numerous people can make the case of what the [FOX] administration is trying to do, trying to say that provides a perspective not perhaps advocating for that position but analyzing it."
MaCintyre the former CNN reporter said Baier has "cracked the code. He has figured out what he needs to do with the employer he works for and I think he is also trying to uphold his personal standards, and I think he does that pretty well."
Baier gets 2 million viewers each night to watch his show and says that is evidence that what he is doing is right.
NPR's All Things Considered recently did a story about FOX's news programs verses its opinion programs. The report focuses on Bret Baier, a young anchor of a political newscast that airs nightly on FOX. The story, done by NPR's David Folkenflik, reports that Baier's popularity in the cable news sphere is only surpassed by Bill O'Reilly's opinion show, and it raises questions as to whether FOX news programming is as "fair and balanced" as its executives claim.
I think this report was done well. Folkenflik asks important questions and presents both sides' arguments. He doesn't tell people what to think, but rather what to think about. That is the definition of good journalism and good news coverage.
If you want to listen to the report yourself, just click the link below.
He is a summary of Fulkenflik's story:
Baier's political-coverage balance was brought into question because during an exclusive interview he got a year ago he kept interrupting President Obama while he answered Baier's questions. Shows on FOX have been harsh on Democrat's perspectives in the past. FOX Networks executives say their network gives fair and balanced political news coverage.
Jamie McIntyre, a former reporter for CNN, said of Baier's work "I remember thinking that if you took the average Bret Baier report and you took mine and you stripped the names out so you didn't know who was producing them, I'm not sure you could tell which report was generated by CNN and which was generated by the FOX news channel."
McIntyre does say that assignments at FOX speak to the conservative audience that watches FOX reporting. David Folkenflik reports that story assignment aren't too unusual for a station to meet the needs of its viewing audience. Portland news stations cover things that happen in Portland more than they cover other news topics. If conservatives watch FOX, as PEW research has shown, then naturally FOX coverage will be more about issues that conservatives want to hear about.
Part of Baier's show is a panel discussion. Folkenflik reports over the past six months the panel has consisted of two clearly conservative people and a third usually a journalist form a "non-idological news outlet." This would clearly swing the conversation to a biased perspective with underrepresentation from members of the democratic party. Perhaps this is the best observation Folkenflik does in his story.
Folkenflik told Baier that having an unbalanced panel like that would underrepresent the left and also cast reporters as though they are surrogate liberals. To which Baier said "numerous people can make the case of what the [FOX] administration is trying to do, trying to say that provides a perspective not perhaps advocating for that position but analyzing it."
MaCintyre the former CNN reporter said Baier has "cracked the code. He has figured out what he needs to do with the employer he works for and I think he is also trying to uphold his personal standards, and I think he does that pretty well."
Baier gets 2 million viewers each night to watch his show and says that is evidence that what he is doing is right.
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