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!

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.

The Story Behind the Story: Gas Price Increases Impact Local Businesses

Every great broadcast news story starts with just an idea as its seed. No one can be a good journalist without having the ability to come up with story ideas.

I woke up Wednesday morning earlier than usual. I needed to find a good day-turn story idea with people that were able to be interviewed that day in order to make my assignment deadline. Since the story wouldn't air on the local station, fewer people were interested in lending me some of their time.

I found several ideas and started calling people. I made several calls but nobody was really coming through and I needed a story. I was getting desperate. The people that I thought would be most likely to give an interview weren't. I made so many calls that by the time I got the first call back agreeing to an interview, others called as well and I had to turn some away.

I went all over town and got what I needed to tell, I think, a good story on how gas price increases affect local business.

There is no magic bullet to finding stories; if there were, most journalists would be out of a job. Broadcast journalism starts with story ideas. No matter how good a journalist, if one doesn't have an idea then there will never be a great story.

Watch my story about gas price increases affecting one local business below.

The Story Behind the Story: Missouri State Auditor's New Citizen Summary

Dry, unexciting story ideas can make really interesting stories--it all depends on how they are told.

Everybody loves the story about their favorite team winning the championship, the blizzard story, or the child prodigy. I also enjoy those stories, but true journalistic ability is taking a hard subject and making it simple; taking a boring subject and making it entertaining.

In addition to my broadcast class at the University of Missouri, I am also taking an investigative reporting class. It was while I was searching through state audit reports that I came across this story. The Missouri State Auditor had just taken office a few weeks prior and was changing the way things are run. He was implementing a new "citizen summary" so that it is easier for the average Joe to understand which government agencies are wasting money and which ones are running effectively--that is to the Auditor's standards.

I left Columbia, uneager to head south to Jefferson City. There was snow on the roads and several accidents on the highway. I finally made it to the Capitol building and passed the only open parking space near the dome. Don't you hate it when that happens? I thought it was too good to be true so I passed it thinking it wasn't a spot but then when I realized it was I had to do the loop again and by then it was filled. I would have to park far away.

Finally I got to the building and did my interviews. B-roll was very hard to come by, but I did my best. I was hoping that the person I would wrap the story around had worked at the office for a long time but that was not the case. (In a few ways this is a good example of the difference between preplanning and prewriting.) Nevertheless, I got what I needed, filmed my stand-up and headed back to Columbia. I am proud of the end result. It might not be the best story I have ever told, but it is one I don't mind putting my name on.

It is up to you as to decide whether I made this dry topic entertaining and human. Even if you think I did or didn't, I learned about journalism in the process and I hope to do even better in the future. After all, everybody will take an interesting story any day over a dry, boring one.

Watch the video and leave me your comments below.

The Story Behind the Story: Blizzard Hits Mid-Missouri, Empties Grocery Stores

Sometimes the best stories are the ones that come crashing down on us when we are searching in a different direction. 

It was a Monday morning, and I had contemplated story ideas all weekend long when I finally decided on one I liked. It involved the Missouri State Auditor's office. I lined up my interviews and headed off to work where I found everyone talking about a blizzard that was supposed to hit town and interrupt everything.

One dedicated shopper fights against 18-mile-per-hour
winds to return his cart to the store.

As any good journalist, I was a little skeptical. There have been times when forecasters predicted tons of snow and none came. There have also been times when forecasters predicted an inch or two that turned into 10 or 12. I decided to take a video camera home just in case.

First came the freezing rain, then negative temperatures combined with 18-mph wind gusts, and it was all topped by 18-20 inches of snow. In less than a day the region went from cold to crippled. In Minnesota this would not be news, but it definitely was in Columbia, Mo.

MODOT truck plows through the intersection of Nifong and Providence.

Driving to the state capital, 30 miles away, was not possible. Even if I could get there, no one would be there to interview but I still needed a story. I found myself fascinated at the sheer amount of snow that covered the community.  I decided to do what all journalists in town were doing: a snow story. But I would need a unique angle, something fresh. Everyone knew it was snowing, icy, and cold, but few were daring enough to go out in it.

I decided to scout around with my still camera and see what I could find. The photos on this page were taken while I was scouting. I didn't find too many people out. Most of those outdoors were workers busy clearing streets and keeping parking lots cleared. However, I did find some people shopping at grocery stores. To my surprise, most were not getting milk and bread, but instead buying alcohol. This is an interesting angle, and it led to my story.

Some without four-wheel drive walk home after buying groceries. 

Questions lead to reporting. These are some of the questions I asked myself as I started thinking about the story. What types of vehicals were people driving in the snow? How are grocery stores impacted by the snow? When there is a blizzard in town, what do people buy? I answer all of these in my video story that you can find at the bottom of the page.

Reporting is an adventure. The outcome is never certain. Often there are twists and turns along the way. The only thing for sure is that at the end of the day the story has to air, whatever that story may be. Journalists need to be versatile. It is important to plan ahead and have a great story lined up, but if snow starts falling, cars start sliding, and the town shuts down then that's your story.

Watch the video below to see the piece. It is worth your time.