insomniac journo

"With a Shiver in My Bones Just Thinking about the Weather"*

2009-12-11T18:14:00.009-06:00

Yesterday I couldn't go to work because my car keyholes were frozen. Yes, both the driver and the passenger door's. Like they say, bad weather can create a damp on anyone's day.

I guess I have never really been aware how weather can matter so much in our daily lives. I'm from a place where the temperature ranges from 90 F to 100 C. It has always been either hot or really hot.

Current temperatures (12/11). Don't let the numbers fool you..wind chill always makes it worse.

So, weather, weather, weather. On Tuesday I crafted my heavily weather-oriented newscast. Here's a brief look of what's in the rundown on that day. We lead the newscast on that day with what's the weather like at that time and then the forecast followed after that. We had two weathermen doing a team coverage for the viewers. And we had a story on how to prepare for snow. And we had two 'show and tell' live shots about the weather in different places in our viewing area.

I realized that one of the challenges of working for different newsrooms in different places is it takes time to understand each market. To immerse oneself in the culture and to know what the people actually care about. Before I got here, the two weather terms that I'm mostly familiar with were sunny and rainy. What wintry mix? What frozen car keyholes?

Current Mid-Missouri temperatures (12/11). KOMU 8 Live Doppler First Alert Weather.

Different markets have different needs and interests. But I'm sure in a place like Missouri, there's nothing else that people would be more interested in knowing than figuring out if the drive back home from work is going to be a hassle or not. That and how they should prepare themselves when the weather isn't exactly doing much to their favor.

Lessons learned:
#1: Understanding the market helps to serve the viewers better.
#2: To own a lock de-icer during winter months is a must.

*from Like the Weather lyrics by 10,000 Maniacs
Photo credit: KOMU

Quick, Who Are You? (in 160 characters)

2009-12-09T13:41:00.007-06:00

It's 15° F here in Columbia, Missouri. I'm dreading to leave the apartment because getting to my car requires a 10 minute walk. Not to mention the frozen car keyhole problem. So I figured it might be better for me to stay at the apartment, sit by the heater while sipping a warm cup of roasted green tea, and blog for a while.

I've been wanting to talk about Twitter "followership". I've read online articles about how to gain more followers and such and such. But to be honest, I think the most effective weapon is your bio description. Indeed, to make your Twitter account become visible, you need to interact with other Twitter users and such. But once they click on your Twitter name, what makes them decide if they're going to follow you or not?

For me it'd be if the person is either: 1. someone I know, 2. someone I could learn from, 3. someone I share my interest with, or 4. someone famous.

And how do I find that out? Through their 160 character bio. Although I generally have the tendency to follow those who follow me.

I don't generally spend a lot of time scrolling through someone's Twitter page to find out more about that person when it comes to making a follow-him-or -not decision. That's just too much to do, isn't it? Of course if you're Conan O'Brien or Ashton Kutcher you don't need to explain that much about yourself. But if what you do defines who you are, that'd be nice if others could see that. For example if you're into marketing, social media, journalism, food, entertainment, or you actually have a job you'd like to brag about (or not really) such as cellular biologist (??) or writer for XYZ publication, etc.

But really, if you don't fall into any of the categories above, and your bio is filled with a cliche philosophy or how you're addicted to Twilight, you might want to do something about it.

Beyond the Front Yard

2009-12-08T21:46:00.005-06:00

I was actually fascinated by a book that's required for one of my broadcast journalism class. In his book, We Interrupt this Newscast, Tom Rosenstiel argued that newscasts are preoccupied with crime, accidents, disasters, and soft news for the sake of gaining viewership or ratings. What I find to be really interesting about this book that it was actually able to present a five-year empirical evidence to back up its point. Is it necessary for a story to “bleed to lead?”. Is it more important to “hook and hold” an audience than to get a new one? Will the audience find stories with issues like politics, health and education attractive? Or do they crave for the sensational factor in each story?

He says it's only a myth that viewers only care about local news. I second that statement. Viewers don’t only care about local news. I've witnesses so many cases that proximity dictates what should go in the newscast. The more local it is, the more it will trigger viewers' interest. That's not entirely true. They would also like to see the windows to the outside world. They’d like to know what’s happening on the other side of the world. Or even just a national story that they can’t really see from their front yard. They’d like to explore issues that they don’t normally touch in their daily life. People like to learn new things.

I know, I know, local news is pivotal for the community. But I just want to stress that national/international news has a strong appeal too. Small market, big market, there are always viewers out there who would like to see things beyond their surroundings. We shouldn't underestimate them just like that. And I bet the concept of local news to Gen Y a.k.a the Millenials is as foreign as Twitter is to my grandma.

Monday and Friday are Retweetable Days

2009-12-07T22:15:00.003-06:00

What does that mean?
It means on both days, retweeting activity is much more common than any other days of the week. Friday is the winner between those two, though. And Thursday is the winner of tweet day in general, where people tweet the most.

How do I know about all this?
Dan Zarrella and his miraculous finding about the science of retweeting.
Though it has a lot of charts and scientific-like explanation, I'd have to admit this is one of the research report that I would never fall asleep reading. It's just way too interesting to miss out on.

What about the best time to get the most retweets?
According to Zarrella's report, it's sometime in between 3pm to midnight. I know, I know, most tweeting activities happen during business days. But apparently it's a little different here when it comes to retweeting.

And of course, the more followers we have, the more retweets we get.

As for me, I normally retweet things that are newsworthy, funny, or just plain interesting. Things that are worth telling or can create some buzz. I think it's more interesting to tweet about what's going on in the world and telling others about it rather than just talking about myself and how my day goes. Although, when it comes to food, there has been some physical evidence that I've gained followers that way. I'll tell you more about my tweeting habit in the next post.

Social Media: A Relationship in Progress

2009-12-06T14:10:00.016-06:00

I recently talked to Chip Mahaney, he works the web for E.W Scripps Company in Cincinnati, OH. My new media director, Jen Reeves, ask me to seek social media help from him for my capstone project. For the project, we focus on how social media can really benefit a newsroom in terms of news gathering and developing a relationship with viewers. This time we try to narrow it down more to a face-to-face interaction to see if such thing could generate stronger impact on our viewership.

In the next post I will talk more about my capstone project and upload some samples. Meanwhile, we go back to Chip and his perspective on social media.

Chip says social media is a tangible way for newsrooms to interact directly with the audience. He calls it a "one way stream" and a "feedback mechanism". After all, social media is where people spend a lot of their time on, from professionals to younger folks like college students.

Just like me, Chip is familiar with Tweetups and its role to create a relationship in between two parties. Not just through airwaves or online mediums. He does admit that his newsroom hasn't taken any advantage of it. He does realize that a face to face interaction could "build real community out of a bunch networking groups" and "bridge a connection from virtual world to shake to shake."

I asked Chip how much impact will social media bring when it comes to helping newsrooms gaining more viewers? He's positive that it won't save TV ratings by itself, as social networking is only one aspect of branding. More deciding factors lay on the on-air materials.

But one thing that social media has been known to benefit newsrooms from: news gathering.
He says it allows you to develop personal relationship with your viewers. In the future they'll have no doubt to come to you with story ideas or become your sources. They'll be add "flavors, opinions, and a nuance to your story"

Social media "won't replace anything but kinda adds to everything."

Photo: Tweetups.com

"The Longer and Harder We'll Work to Pull Back that Veil"

2009-12-03T19:18:00.005-06:00

On Monday the RTDNA Chairman Stacey Woelfel a.k.a my news director wrote a memo to Tiger Woods related to the incident that happened over the weekend. I'm not sure if Tiger really got it. But the memo is posted in Stacey's RTDNA Chairman blog and is addressed to Tiger.

Basically Stacey thinks that it's best for Tiger to open up. Releasing a statement through his website does a "disservice" to his fans and to his reputation. His life isn't private anymore since he has chosen to live his life by "cultivating" his "superstar sports status".

Tiger should listen to Stacey, I think. But of course, I don't know if it's going to do his reputation a lot of good since I don't know what the real story is.

But at this point, I honestly don't think staying silent is the best option either. The public's fascination about him will just fuel more and more media coverage. As Stacey said, "the longer and harder we'll work to pull back that veil." As a journalist I don't really care about Tiger's personal life. And I don't think it's my responsibility to tell the public about it. It's not a part of the public service that I'm entitled to perform. It's nothing like the healthcare option that could affect million people's lives. But I also know that the public are craving for more information and they won't butt out just like that.

What I'm, as a journalist, chasing after is an explanation of what happened that night. I know the public's curiosity isn't going to stop at that point. But that's Us Weekly's job, not ours.

Photo credit: AP

The Vitality of Plan B

2009-12-02T22:57:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, the unthinkable happened to my 5pm newscast. We couldn't get the live shot's audio to work properly. We could only hear statics. And I didn't have no-lives script going into the show. I had to craft it during the show.

No-lives script is a back-up script read entirely by the anchors, just in case anything happens with the live shot.

And something did happen with the live shot and I didn't have the script.

We couldn't get the story in until B block. That is, after three minutes of weather. The live shot story was supposed to be the lead story of all. We tried at the end of the A block, but there was a miscommunication which was simply another one of my wrongdoings.

The moral of the story, it's always better to have plan B. That would have minimized the amount of stress and yelling in the control room. Or to also have plan C, D, E, and F, like my director said. It doesn't hurt you if you do, but might hurt you if you don't.

The Culture of Fear: To Preserve or Not to Preserve?

2009-12-01T22:04:00.004-06:00

I read this book called “False Alarm: The Truth of the Epidemic of Fear.” First of all, the book is worth talking about for a few interesting points it made. Marc Siegel, the author, talks about how news tends to make its viewer’s life shackled in fear due to the endless not-so-pleasant stories.

From a highway accident that happens right in your neighborhood to national story such as the captivation of U.S journalists in North Korea, every little thing can add a feeling of worry. There are always “what ifs” in our minds that if it could happen to that person, it could happen to anyone, including me.

Well, that is true. You never know what’s coming at you but there are things that you can do to prevent things from happening to you and still living the moment.

Anthrax, SARS, flu, and disasters are among the things that Siegel talks about in his book. All the media reports regarding those issues seemed to have created seasonal hype of fear.

The question is, “Do viewers need to know that much information?” Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t.

They do if they’re willing to equip themselves with all the information out there and if it’s in their intention to make a good use out of the information. They don’t need to; if they know in advance that exposing themselves to the information will only scare them. Different people also deal differently with fear. Not everyone shares the same kind of fear. One’s personality makes a difference and so does the environment that every person is brought up in. What scares some people might not scare the rest of the population. Some might find the information too disturbing, but some might find it useful and demand their rights to know as a member of the community.

It is the nature of the news business to compete in serving the most accurate news while fighting the time. A news outlet would like to be able to pass all the information for its loyal audience so that it can be the first to report the news. I refuse to see the media as a culprit of the “culture of fear”.

Is there a cure for fear? I have to say that I do agree with his very last point at the end of the book. “Realizing that we are conned into being afraid is the first step toward learning a new set of skills to assess risk. Fear must be reserved for real danger. Each step away from false worry is a step toward true health,” Siegel said. I honestly think it’s both the media responsibility and the viewer’s responsibility to take things just the way they are and not overreact, although the latter one would probably matter more. It’s true that media has the responsibility to seek the truth and not more than the truth. Sensationalism shouldn’t be in the dictionary but even the truth scares people. It’s each individual’s responsibility to pick the direction where his or her life is going. Smart decisions have to be made in timely manner. I never really believe that people’s life deteriorates just by watching TV news. Other things in life could strongly trigger all that stress.

Everyday in our newsroom there’s always a sigh of disappointment whenever H1N1 flu is among the list of story ideas of the day. We’re always worried that we’re making it bigger than it already is. I say the solution is simple. We talk about it if there’s something worth talking about it. We tell our viewers about it if there’s something worth telling about it. If there isn’t, then don’t.

In a nutshell, I don’t see culture of fear as a problem if fear can play a part in saving us from what’s coming at us. Fear can also mean awareness of the possibility of danger; it won’t hurt us if it triggers precautions instead of paranoia.

Heart-breaking News vs Me

2009-11-15T22:03:00.006-06:00

Eleven woman died mysteriously in Cleveland, OH. Twenty people watched a gang rape and did nothing in California. The dead body of a girl who was missing was finally found in a landfill in Georgia. Another missing girl in Cole County, Missouri, was found dead with a teenage girl as a suspect. I can give you more crime news to fill the list. These are just a few that stick in my mind. I'm pretty sure a lot more crimes happened within the past 3 weeks in the U.S. The latest is a family of six arrested in a child sexual abuse case in Missouri. Our newsroom received a very detailed report from the attorney that includes the victim's testimony and all. I read it. It grossed me out.

One thing that those crime stories have in common is there's a human culprit behind all that. A criminal who intentionally performed a wrongdoing. A human being with a heart of a beast.

Another thing that those stories have in common: they make me weak. Stories that reveal how savage and barbaric human beings can be. They make me lose faith in human beings. They make me sad.

Those stories make me tremble and unleash my negative outlook towards life. In another word, they depress me.

Working in TV news is a challenge, that's what they always say. The multitasking skill, the stress factor, the team work skill, the flexibility, the multimedia skill, and so on. But no one has ever warned me about what a 24/7 exposure of news can do to you. And of course it's natural that bad news stays longer in your mind than the good ones.

But really, I need to figure out how to deal with all the news that breaks my heart. I don't want to die young.

Breaking News: to Hope or Not to Hope for?

2009-10-25T19:34:00.008-05:00

Yesterday I was fortunate to have a breaking news in the middle of my newscast. I have to admit the reason I said that I was fortunate is because our team handled it well. I would've probably called it the other way around had we not.

The story is about a murder trial that's been going on for a couple of days. We were waiting on the verdict. Three hours prior to the newscast, nothing happened. We had a reporter who was waiting patiently outside the courthouse for announcements. We weren't hoping for anything to happen at that time. Simply because it was Saturday and we don't have live truck operators on the weekend. So everything was a smooth sailing until I was inside the booth. We were in the middle of the A block when the news broke and my supervising producer stormed in to the booth.

We were able to insert the breaking news towards the end of the A block. It was a good feeling. An amazing one, in fact. But I really have to admit, my supervising producer helped me a lot. If those extra hands weren't there, I don't know how well I would've been able to handle it. I realize how teamwork matters a lot, from the moment the reporter called the desk person, who told my supervising producer about it, who told me in the booth. There was a sense of accomplishment when the show's over. It made us feel better and stronger as a team.

As for me, tracking the time and telling the anchors and director what to do already keep my mind busy. Having to write the breaking news story at the same time might drive me crazy.

But they say practice makes perfect.
When's the best time to practice other than when breaking news itself happens?

Healthy Detachments

2009-10-05T00:45:00.011-05:00

What do you do to make yourself fall asleep? Drink a cup of herbal tea? a glass of Riesling? Count sheep? I used to try reading my textbook whenever my vicious insomnia strikes. Only a couple paragraphs then my eyelids would be as heavy as lead. Well, me having a problem to hit the hay is not exactly news. But I caught myself enjoying the persistent but painful moment of reminiscing what has happened during my newscast lately. I replay a slideshow of mistakes over and over again. The slideshow even has no parameter of autoplay equals false. Too many shoulda woulda coulda flashing before my mind's eye.

One of my great mentors, Mariel Myers, an Emmy-winning KPIX -TV/CBS 5 producer in San Francisco, Bay Area, read my mind verbatim.

She said, "As you produce more and more shows, you'll make less mistakes; you'll realize there are times when there's nothing you could have done; you'll find ways to save a show when it goes off course; and you'll realize every day is a second chance to get it right."

So the trick is to let go once the show is over. A little bit of reformatting to the brain that there's always tomorrow.

She told me, "the old producing motto is... "you're only as good as your last show."

Once I screw up, I should even be more motivated to do 10x better the next day.

I figured that I should be able to master this let-go skill over time. I mean, if the frequency of me butchering the show is quite high, I should be developing some kind of immune system to the heartache sometime soon, right? Not that I'm saying that my show is normally a trainwreck..

So..Dear Ebay, I have some textbooks to sell.

Notice the Bumble Bee

2009-09-30T23:36:00.002-05:00

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”- Ashley Smith

Photo credit: Intouchradio.net

Sometimes you have to be Ms. Know-it-all.

2009-09-13T16:55:00.001-05:00

Last week I had the pleasure of producing the morning show. The live shots got up at 6.30 a.m. Why was that a problem? The show starts at 4:30a.m. I went through two full hours of dropping live shots from block to block. Each block included frantic exchanges with the truck live operator on the other end of the telephone line, “Are you set up yet?” Unfortunately, good news didn't come until 6:30am.

The live truck operators were generous with the details as to why things weren't working despite our combined efforts. I remembered 100% of what they've told me and understood roughly speaking, 25% of it. The information would then be passed to the director and the director would have to tell me what to tell them.

The moral of the story so far: I need to know how to run live trucks. Nothing was more devastating than having to sit there waiting for the magic to happen. I told the live truck operators to call Master Control if the problem persists and grow but that morning, telephone-based instructions weren't sufficient. We had to send another live truck operator to save one of the live shots.

The same challenges re-appear when it comes to the production assistant's responsibilities. My lack of experience as a PA brought about difficulties with grasping of how the system works. I shadowed one a long time ago but the knowledge had grown rusty. The PAs would bring me questions and I've had always directed them to someone else. If I were to come equipped with full knowledge of the editing system, it'd help make the newsroom become even more efficient than it already is.

The questions brought about would be counter-balanced with more precise answers instead of re-direction. Conclusion to the moral of the story: The more you know about every aspect and structure of the newsroom, the stronger pillar you'd be as a producer.

My take on "A Matter of Life and Death"

2009-05-06T21:01:00.008-05:00

Marjorie Williams' A Matter of Life and Death , originally published in Vanity Fair, might be about 4 years old already. But I came across to it a few weeks ago and although I had read about it years ago, I still find it as charming as it was last time. Marjorie Williams lost her battle with cancer and died in 2005. This piece tells her journey of fighting the battle.

What I like about this piece is about how honest the author though almost without the non-existence of self-pity. This piece is almost like a journal, very personal and lighthearted. At times I forgot how she's such in a severe condition with cancer and her life was on the line.

"The beast first showed its face benignly, in the late-June warmth of a California swimming pool, and it would take me more than a year to know it for what it was. Willie and I were lolling happily in the sunny shallow end of my in-laws’ pool when he—then only seven—said, “Mommy, you’re getting thinner.”

Oh how such an endearing opening paragraph. Not the fact that "the beast showed up", but how she's trying to take us there slowly by not stating how serious the problem was. She later on admitted that she took pleasure in the fact that she lost weight and how this is related to "American woman's yearning for thinness" that made her not realizing her bad fortune.

On and on, the piece tells us about each symptom that she felt and how she reacted to it. She spared the details meticulously and even when it comes to what other people said to her. Or just how minuscule details about others who were involved in her treatment process. She also talked a little bit of how the receptionist made her wait when she was trying to make an appointment for her CT scan and just ignored her while talking to the manager of the garage regarding an inaccurate bill. She even quoted the receptionist's conversation in her piece. Vivid details like this make her journey seem like a short movie for me. I didn't have a hard time at all imagining what she was talking about given every single details of it.

My favorite part is this,
"Sometimes I simply feel horror, that most elementary thing. The irreducible fear, for me, is the fantasy that I will by some mistake be imprisoned in my body after dying. As a child I never enjoyed a minute of any campfire stories of the buried-alive genre. And even without that unwelcome and vivid fear in my mind, I can’t find any way around the horror of being left alone down there in the dark, picked apart by processes about which I’m a little bit squeamish even when they’re just fertilizing my daylilies. Intellectually, I know it won’t matter to me in the slightest. But my most primal fear is that somehow my consciousness will be carelessly left behind among my remains."

I see so much honesty in the excerpt above, it's almost surreal. It's like she went in to grab her subconscious- self and made it tell her everything about it. She revealed her fear courageously and it ended up being such a carefully crafted piece of thoughts that I've never been exposed to before.

She ended her piece with a scene of a party eating pizza with her dear friends and the kids. With the kids not knowing how close she was to death.

Overall, I find this piece to be uniquely amazing. I didn't know anyone who was dying could write such beautiful and honest piece like this.

Photo: The Woman at the Washington Zoo

can't avoid the obvious

2009-05-06T20:20:00.005-05:00

This Tuesday I was assigned to cover the 2009 Spring Fitness Expo at the Activity Recreation Center (ARC) in Columbia. This was a soft story, had no problem having people to talk to me or getting the B-roll. The producer wanted me to do a mini package, which is about 50 secs only, so it wasn't hard at all. It was actually quite fun, there were African dance lessons, free snacks, and lots of other freebies. People were having a good time and it shows in the video I shot.

One problem that I encountered though, in an event like this, it's pretty obvious what's going on. It's a little hard to come up with some creative questions other asking the organizers what the goal of the event is, are there any statistics to back up your point that you've decided to hold this event, what the feedbacks from the community are, and if they will plan on having another one next year. I mean, I also threw some questions about the event preparation but at that point I figured the information isn't relevant to our audience. Or at least, not newsworthy enough.

Same thing with the attendees, my questions were really limited to how they enjoyed the event, which booths they visited, what benefits they got from the event and if the city should hold another one. I mean, those are the only things that matter to the audience right? Not that I have enough time to put all the sound bites in anyways.

So I was trying to avoid the obvious but I think that was right thing to do at that time for my mini package. I ended up putting all the three sound bites in (the shortest versions of them) and cut the last half of my stand up just so that I could make it into 50 secs.

Oh, and there were also some editing glitches that I didn't have time to fix nor I know on top of my head the quickest way to fix them.

What's in it for the viewers?

2009-04-29T22:53:00.012-05:00

"What's in it for the viewers?"
That's the question you need to have answered before you leave the station to shoot the story. What's not going to work? A press release saying that a public hearing will be held somewhere about something at sometime. The "about" factor needs to be very clear. That's what's going to decide if a story is worth pursuing or not.

I was assigned to cover a public hearing about the weatherization program, a program which helps to reduce low-income families energy bills by making their homes more energy-efficient. The press release? lengthy. But basically it tells nothing but the topic of the hearing. So I was supposed to go to the hearing and find some information from it to get some B-roll. So I drove about half an hour to Jefferson City, the venue is nearby the Capitol. To my surprise, the theme of the day is to evaluate new budget plans.
Different parties get the chance to talk to address their concern about the budget plans, most of them are administrative matters.

It was very confusing to figure out what they were talking about at the beginning, but after I talked to some people, I managed to find the gist of it.

But also, after I talked to some people, I realize zero chances of getting B-roll. First of all, these people aren't exactly located in our viewing area although I finally found someone who's local. So I got the contact for our local community service agency only to find out that they wouldn't release any third party information without the approval of their director, which wasn't in at that day. I ended up calling about 10 different construction companies asking them if they're currently involved in any weatherization projects. Nada.

Somewhere in the middle of this cataclysmic chronology, I called my producer a few times just to let her know about my situation. But hey, producers are pretty persistent people. So at the end she turned my story into a VO/SOT instead of a package due to the non-existence of B-roll beside the one taken in the public hearing.

The moral of the story? Make sure ahead that the story has something in it for the viewers. Double check before leaving the station for the newsworthiness of the story.

twitter: a noisy bird and a noisy channel

2009-04-29T14:01:00.011-05:00

Here's one proof why citizen journalism isn't always reliable at times. For the past few weeks, it seems like swine flu have been mentioned at least once in everyone's tweet in a day. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. I'm talking about a lot of people, the majority of twitter users. So how many of these people are actually experts of swine flu? Some of the unofficial tweets are misleading since people just post whatever they have on their minds and address their fears. Twitter is, really, a noisy channel.

"This is a good example of why [Twitter is] headed in that wrong direction, because it's just propagating fear amongst people as opposed to seeking actual solutions or key information," said Brennon Slattery, a contributing writer for PC World. "The swine flu thing came really at the crux of a media revolution."

It all comes back to the idea of citizen journalism and how some controversies about it still prevail. Can everyone voice their opinion on any subject matter? And can that person be held accountable for his opinion? Slattery wrote that no actual solutions or key information are sought through this medium. My marketing teacher told us today that he's on twitter for its benefit to follow news officials, not so much for the sake of telling the world what he's up to for the day. Well, there's him and there are also people that I know who use twitter to connect with their friends, "meet" new people (pun intended), and talk to their boyfriends (yes, with the lovebirds' language) about things happening in their daily life that would eradicate the newsworthiness and relevance factor of a public information.

But really, I can't agree more with Al Tompkins who said that these social media users should think about the credibility of their sources before they post something. "Before you pass it on, wash your hands a little," he said.

Photo: xkcd

Creativity as an incidental camouflage

2009-04-23T09:18:00.007-05:00

Photo: Mahfouz Abu Turk, Reuters

I decided to click on the link on USA today front page because of this picture in particular.
All alone by itself, this picture caught my eyes simply for all the guessing games behind it. I got the sense that the little girl was involved as a victim of violence. I didn't see those two hands that are supposed to be "comforting" her as an inviting gesture. My guess was they were going to perform a cruelty act by pushing her head.

But I guess not.

Those hands are those of her relatives, trying to give her some consolation after her family's home was destroyed in Jabal Mukaber, Jerusalem.

I like the angle of the picture and how it allows the expression of her face reveals her sorrow within vividly. I have to admit the two hands add a little unique twist to the picture itself, leaving a little mystery in it since the people whom those hands belong to are not in the picture. But the unique twist seems to be a little misleading for me. It could very well be that it's just me who experiences this and no one else is. To me there's a sense that the picture is used to grab attention which effectively works, I clicked on the link. But that's not what the story is all about. The fact that the little girl was getting some comforting by her relatives is camouflaged by the cutting-edge angle of creative photography.

Missing: modern "iconoclasts, critics and polemicists". Culprit: media consumption style?

2009-04-15T23:53:00.011-05:00

An article in Jakarta Globe titled "The Thinker: In Search of Radical Public Intellectuals" written by Jennie S. Bev triggered some thoughts in my mind that I can relate to today's media consumption. I found it engaging.

Here's an excerpt:
"Radical public intellectuals are on the brink of extinction, especially as modern attention spans grow shorter. Producing knowledge now means real-time deliverance of information through the Internet, and intellectuals might be tempted to reduce their output to such simplification."

I honestly share the same opinion as the author. Although it appears to me that it could be a benefit as I work in the television industry. It's a little bit personal, I know. But really, could this paragraph be the quintessential answer at the top of the article about the whereabouts of today's radical public intellectuals?

I'm interested in knowing the historical roots of how a person can end up being an intellectual had he achieved the state outside the "walls of bricks and mortar' world of academics. If I have to guess, one would still have to read literatures and the works of past great thinkers that stimulate his mind to be able to "form theories through reflection and analysis," as Bev mentioned. Or perhaps in some cases, one doesn't have to. Although I would think it is most likely for someone to having done it in order to reach such stage. Think of Machiavelli, Voltaire, and Kant. Great philosophers and "nonacademic intellectuals".

The thing is, how do even we, academics, get access to philosophical theories these days? As for me, if it's not a part of a required reading from a course, I probably wouldn't have any access to it. That is sad, I know, but I can guarantee I'm not alone. In this new media age where every publication trapped in a competition to win its readers' attention, everything is done to fit the readers' lifestyle. A great deal of the population get their news from the internet these days. Or even news subscription on their cellphone. "Modern attention span grows shorter," and "intellectuals might be tempted to reduce their output to such simplification." I couldn't agree more. But if we use today's media as ways of learning and forming thoughts, does that mean we're not learning that much? I can't say yes to this.

So, perhaps there are other Machiavellis, Voltaires, or Kants out there, but they just have presented their output in different ways, philosophically-speaking.

Not much room for amateurism

2009-04-15T21:09:00.010-05:00

Would you like to hear a story of how I turned a supposed-to-be an hour VO patrol into a five-hour mayhem? Not so much that I can be proud of.

I was on a VO patrol working on a story about the city of Columbia getting new buses next summer. I thought it was going to be really quick. Just do an interview with a city official and get B-roll of buses coming in and out from the station. Shouldn't take that long, right? Wrong.

I ended up having to go back 3x to the bus station just to get B-roll of the buses.

The first time, I shot the video, while worrying how to fix it being overexposed. It was such a gloomy day that day and the sky was almost white. And that's pretty much what I can see in my video. Everything is just white and way too bright. What I forgot was to hit the ND filter up a notch a little bit to create "virtual shade" and make the videos darker. I was thinking of calling my producer to ask what to do with it while I was still on the field. But of course, I didn't have either her phone number and the station's phone number with me at that time. I have my business cards with the station's number in them, but they're in my wallet and I happened to not have my wallet with me. Just my luck. So I came back to the station with all these videos looking like it's winter in Alaska. The producer sent me out on a second mission to shoot some more. This time by making sure I know how to use the ND filter correctly.

Before I went out, I took out the memory cards out of the camera and imported my interview clip. Then I put the cards back in. What I didn't realize was that I was putting the cards in upside down. So, the next time I was out in the field, the camera wouldn't record because it wouldn't read the memory cards.

Back at the station, I had to face the not-so-happy news director who told me the rules of TV equipment, "never force anything in," he said. I was both worried and a little dissapointed in myself.

Then the third time I went out to shoot, everything luckily went alright.

The moral of the story: always have the producer's phone number with you and be gentle when it comes to equipments.

Obama's plan to push immigration bill

2009-04-09T09:10:00.008-05:00

Last night I read a very recent article of the New York Times about President Obama's plan to push immigration bill. Immigration laws have been one of the most-discussed issue for a while. The latest update is Obama has made addressing the immigration system as one of his priorities sometime in the near future.

Here's an excerpt of the second paragraph from the top:
Mr. Obama will frame the new effort — likely to rouse passions on all sides of the highly divisive issue — as “policy reform that controls immigration and makes it an orderly system,” said the official, Cecilia Muñoz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House.
I like how this paragraph delivers a neutral, general introduction by mentioning the potential controversy of the issue and still implies that it's done for the best.

It's a really wise thing to have lawmakers from both parties and immigration groups to hold discussions. On one side, there's a concern that with with all the Americans workers being laid off, why are we still providing jobs for foreign workers? “It’s going to be, ‘You’re letting them keep that job, when I could have that job,’ ” said Roy Beck, executive director from NumbersUSA.
And the other contradicting side lies with the reasoning to recognize illegal workers who have already been contributing to the workforce for years.

The article presents both sides in a quite balanced way, I think. Although I would like to hear groups who support the idea of making illegal immigrants become legal. I said "groups" as in more than one person. The article used Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, a Democrat from Chicago as an example. In general, this seems like an update article that doesn't really summarize the whole journey of the long-debated issues of immigration bills. There were a whole lot more of historical facts that could be tied in with the topic. There were no independent sources in the article who mention the idea of legalizing the status of the workers because of their contributions. Rep. Gutierrez mostly mentioned it as a way to preserve families. I'm not sure if this factor was left out because the writer assumes it's just already way too obvious.

Perhaps this just a web version of the story and the print version runs longer and more comprehensive than this?

Live shot/standup and high school theatre

2009-04-08T23:59:00.002-05:00

Last week we did live shot/stand up practice in lab. Each of us was given a scenario and we have to come up with our own script for the stand up. When it was my turn, to be honest, it took quite sometime. I made so many mistakes in so little time. I think delivering a stand up is almost like a theatrical act. You need to know when your body has to start moving at the right timing and what the next cue in your line is going to be before you have to do a different thing. At that time my body just refused to correspond to what came out of my mouth. I kept on missing the timing. Apparently I had a hard time doing the choreography while delivering the lines. Not surprisingly, the more I'm nervous, the more I suck. (In relation to the latter case, my instructor suggested me to have practice meditation- which actually helped.)

Somehow this reminded me of my high school theatre experience. A simpler version of it, though. Simpler script, simpler delivery, simpler choreography, and simpler expressions. My instructor once told me, after I delivered a couple of lines, "you don't have to yell." I just smiled embarrassedly. And most of the times, you won't have a director telling you how to do your stand up as you would in a theatre production. The one-man band rules prevail. On a different note, it is a challenge to figure out how the stand up lines are going to fit with the story, having not written the story or logging the tape yet. One of my concern was, how would I avoid saying what's obviously going to be my lead for the story itself. So, I picked something that was more like a technical demonstration of the situation.

Anyways, I think doing a stand up and acting have something in common. You have to do it with your heart.
That's how people are going to believe what you have to say.

The Wise Words of CBS' Russ Mitchell

2009-04-03T22:05:00.007-05:00

Today CBS' Russ Mitchell came to Mizzou to talk at Reynolds Journalism Institution (RJI). Mitchell is a news anchor for The Early Show, anchor for CBS Evening News and Sunday Edition, and correspondent for Sunday Morning. Not only he's easy on the eyes, I have to say that he has such a charming personality too. He started his lecture by pointing out a bad news: the state of the business (broadcast journalism) isn't great. There are layoffs going on everywhere. The business model has changed dramatically. These days, mostly in the network level, stations use digital journalist which is quite a turning point in the industry. "The name of the game is versatility now," Mitchell said. A reporter is expected to be able to do it all. Russell mentioned that a colleague of his, one of the best reporters he has worked with, got laid off because he said no when he was asked to produce and said no when he was asked to shoot.

One of the reasons what Mitchell likes about his job is he never knows what he's going to be doing in any given time of day. There are always challenges and surprises. He shared about his experience when he was working at the D.C and one morning he found out that he's being sent to Congo.

Financial reward is something that Mitchell stressed for all of us not to have expectation in. "Don't go in this for the money, you're going to be really disappointed," he said.

Some of the changes he saw at the network level:
1. News bureaus closing (from 3 photogs down to 1)
2. entry level position being eliminated, high talent just went away
3. digital journalists take over

One of the students asked if the entertainment industry is going to take the spotlight from broadcast news, Mitchell looked quite optimistic when he said no. I think this makes sense a lot since there are still going to be demand for broadcast news, no matter how pervasive the outcome that stations are cutting back on their expenses including on human resources. I honestly think that journalism is something that people can't live without. There are basic needs of transfer knowledge that people have to fulfill. And they seek for the truth from news outlets. Although there might be a difference on the demand for each medium, online or television, which is most likely to be generation-related. And I can see how entertainment industry will always prevail in the future. Especially in these struggling days, the more stressed out people are, the more dosage of entertainment television they will consume. At least that what I think.

One thing Mitchell wished he had done more while he was still in KOMU: live shots. More live shot practices would prepare you to be a better reporter, he said.

Photo: Weigy W. Samakoen

My Take on St. Louis Fashion Week

2009-04-02T00:09:00.008-05:00

I went to cover the St. Louis Fashion Week last week and I hope to submit the piece for the Missourian. The Missourian editor asked me about the local ties of the story since the fashion week happened in St. Louis. I managed to find interns from Stephens College and MU by sending out random emails to anyone on the fashion week list serv. How did I have access to the list serv? I had always been interested in either doing a piece or working backstage at the fashion week. So I already sent out the internship coordinator an email long time ago before it all happened.

From my previous experience, covering a fashion show is very exhilarating. The exuberant vibe in the room usually has gotten into me and I'm just happy all the way when I cover the event. This time, it pretty much works the same beside some minor mishaps. There was no problem with the interviews at all, everything went great. I borrowed a camera from a friend and this is where it all started. The backstage: dim-lighted. Not good for taking pictures at all especially if the camera is nothing fancy. The backstage crowd: clamorous. The breathing space: none.

Photos: Dea Surjadi

I took a lot of quite good Sephia pictures but the others are just ruined by the flash or by the darkness factor. Everything is either too dark or you get the you-know-it's-dark-but-you-made-up-the-light-using-flash kind of thing. This has also made me realized that I need to work on my photography skill. Not only to get killer detail shots or scene-setter shots, but just to get a decent shot from a normal angle is sometimes still challenging for me especially when lighting comes as a factor too.

Tragedy at USC

2009-04-01T20:47:00.009-05:00

A few days ago I was talking to my best friend who goes to USC and she told me that there was an accident on her campus. I googled it up and found an LA Times article about it. A USC student was killed in a hit-and-run accident and another one was critically injured. They were just walking in the crosswalk at the edge of campus.

Photo: LA Times

I know the story happened all the way in the west coast but I guess what really captivates me is that it's just a mishap that could easily happen to anyone on any campus. It could be any of my friends crossing from the J-school to Starbucks on campus. It could even be me. That's what really drives my interest and keeps me on following the updates until now.

It has just crossed my mind that the online medium is what entitles the magic to happen. The fact that I have the power to check back on the website every few hours looking for more details, possibly more pictures, more follow up, or anything that will satisfy my curiosity is what I'm thanking for at this moment.

Yesterday they posted more pictures related to the tragedy and some of them are quite emotionally moving. It's a slideshow of 6 pictures which I'm pretty sure that not all of them were printed in the paper. The pictures personalize the story on a greater level I went to the discussion and it's just really thought- provoking to see all of these comments. This is such great example of great public forum and simply to know there are strangers out there who show support and grief for the families is just staggering.

At this moment I'm praying for the best for the victim's families and hopefully the police will find the killer soon. For now, I will be checking for updates and won't rest in peace until they find the killer and decide the fair thing to do with him. I guess with all of these newspapers out there going online and online only doesn't really affect me or my age group at least. Although I'm quite convinced there are people who suffer from it: my grandma's generation.

"Bed, where are you flying to?"

2009-03-19T12:38:00.014-05:00

"Bed, where are you flying to?" is the first line of Rita Dove's Sic Itur Ad Astra or This is the Way to the Stars.

Walt Harrington wrote an article called The Shape of Her Dreaming which was published in the Washington Post magazine about Rita Dove's creative process of poetry writing. Harrington literally sat with her throughout the whole process and asked her questions for each of the line she jotted down.

This journalism piece is unlike anything that I've ever read before. It's more of a narrative that takes a deeper look at an intensive creative writing process and dissects every single reasoning that presents itself in the poet's mind and heart. In his article, Harrington discusses the poet's rationale why she scratched off one line, revised two, or ripped off a few pages of what she had written. He was with her through her anxiety, her idealism, and her confidence.

I honestly never thought that one could come up with thousands and thousands of words about how a poem was written. But apparently Harrington did something different that made the piece so interesting simply by paying attention to details and asking questions.

Here's the excerpt of one of my favorite pages:
"I'm a child again." Too explanatory. The poem should have the feeling of childhood without needing to announce it.
"Catching my death of cold." It goes on too long. This poem must be a collage of fleeting images, as in a dream. But Rita likes the line and would like to find a way to keep it.
"Moonlight cool as peaches." She likes that line, too, may use it someday in another poem, but to mention food while in flight is too corporeal, too earthly. Still, she'll leave it in for now.

And Harrington went on and on with more lines to talk about.

Harrington must have asked Dove a lot of questions. I find this piece to be very evoking. Readers get to know Dove a lot better from this piece rather than Dove's own piece of poetry. Harrington revealed that he took notes and referred to the time every time she made changes and asked questions about items on her desk and pictures on her wall. A lot of things contributed to a successful translation of the crafty imagination that was going on in Rita's head to readers. Harrington's piece almost made the poetry so much more epic than the first time I read it. For me as a reader, it's almost like a globe-trotting journey to be with Rita all the way from the moment she picked up her pen and finally jotted the closing line. I gave Harrington kudos for coming up with such intimate narrative journalistic piece out of his intensive interface with the poet for a few days. It seems like not a single thing is minuscule to him. Every little component matters.

Model Citizen Fashion Show

2009-03-18T23:22:00.004-05:00

Last week I did a story on Model Citizen Fashion Show at Holiday Inn Select hotel in Columbia. This is the third year that they this and it still hasn't lost the thrill. The room was filled with guests and I have never seen that many pretty people in Columbia. I interviewed one of the models, who's a Stephens College student, one of the designers named Janna Merciel, and the Thompson Center's senior information specialist.

The event is held to fundraise money for MU Thompson Center of Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Entertainment Tonight's Jann Carl and KOMU 8's Megan Murphy were the emcees.

I asked for a media permission to cover the event few days earlier and that's how I got in touch with the senior information specialist a.k.a the PR person. He didn't let me to go backstage because he thought it was such a tight space and there would be no room for me to set my camera. I actually didn't know if it was a good decision for me to ask him in advance on the phone before the event rather than at the event itself where I was carrying my equipments and where my facial expression could probably show persistence even more rather than my voice over the phone.

But anyways, I found one of the designers on Facebook. There's a Facebook event for it and I just randomly messaged about 30 people and asked if any of them is a model or a designer who's going to be willing to be interviewed and be followed by me throughout the whole fashion show process. Out of almost 30 messages that I found, about 2 replied saying they're not either of them, and one said she's a designer. That's how I met Janna Merciel.

With an understandable reluctance of talking to a stranger, Janna replied to my Facebook message a little slow. And there I was, checking the website every 5 minutes for her reply. A few hours before the fashion show began, I sent her another message leaving my phone number. Then 15 minutes later, she texted me.
We made an arrangement and she agreed to take me backstage. Yes, social networking websites can be useful for journalists too.

Since I'm not that great of a photog, I found it hard to get a wide shot of the models coming out to the runway and zoom in real fast when they get to the end of the runway and pose. I had a few in my B-roll, but some of them are a little shaky and just not the way I wanted them to be. Also, the stage was pretty high and I was all the way in the back, stretching my tripod high to the max. Meaning that I had to look up all the time, looking at the LCD screen. My neck wasn't so happy about that.

This piece is very lighthearted and I was excited the whole time when I was filming the fashion show. Even I think that showed in my interviews and I'm pretty sure my interviewees could see the enthusiasm in me. It seemed like everyone was happy to be there and therefore they're really friendly to every other person as well. I had a good time doing the reporting and when I was doing the editing too. It's such a fun experience.

Should Michelle Cover Up?

2009-03-08T17:14:00.014-05:00

Photo credit: Joyce N. Boghosian / The White House (Michelle Obama)

Over the past year, I have been used to broadcast writing more than ever. Although I do read newspaper articles, I realize I always skip the opinion section. The New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd wrote a column called "Should Michelle Cover Up?"
And to be honest, the title triggers my curiosity a lot.

The first paragraph starts with Dowd breaking the "journalistic" rule that a journalist is not supposed to start a piece with a taxi scene.

As I read further down the paragraphs, it sort of tickles my impatience little by little. I was down to a chunky 4th paragraph and still haven't seen a single name of Michelle Obama being mentioned. I have to admit though, the column is written in a very quick-witted way, with an intelligent, explicit satiric throughout the whole piece. In a way, it is quite entertaining to read. Dowd is really good at incorporating her expansive knowledge of the sporadic past or current events in her satiric opinions.

Way further down the paragraphs, I learned that there has been a lot of talk in Washington for Michelle Obama to cover up her arms. And that she also ignored the talk. The piece is almost over, only three small paragraphs left, and I still haven't figured out what Down's thoughts about the issue are.

This is what I see:
"Let’s face it: The only bracing symbol of American strength right now is the image of Michelle Obama’s sculpted biceps."
I'm not exactly sure what Down's position on this yet. But then she further explains, "her husband urges bold action, but it is Michelle who looks as though she could easily wind up and punch out Rush Limbaugh, Bernie Madoff and all the corporate creeps who ripped off America."

In the last three paragraphs I then learned that Dowd supports Michelle not to do anything about her sleeveless arms. "Her arms, and her complete confidence in her skin, are a reminder that Americans can do anything if they put their minds to it."
And then she started comparing Michelle with Hillary and Laura. Yes, THE Hillary and Laura.

But hey, what a long prolog it takes to get to the meat.

Did I enjoy the ride before I finally get to find the meat? I'm not sure. I can see how for some people, it can be quite an engaging journey though. A journey where Dowd takes the reader to connect the dot, with each having a single, somewhat relevant, information as a product of her personal cognition. For me, the dots are all over the place and I'd prefer a straight ride. My take on this is most likely affected by the fact that the headline is what attracts me to read the piece. And having never heard of Michelle's clothing issue before, I was expecting that would be the first thing that I saw.

I do admit that some of her "dots" are quite informational: Timothy Geithner. G.M. is verging on bankruptcy, Obama's grandfather was beaten by British colonial troops in Kenya, etc. So I guess, I'll have to read columns when I have more time than usual, when I'm ready to be amused by a little more ride by the writer. It's just that broadcast writing is nothing like this and apparently it has changed my perspective a lot when it comes to my preference in receiving information.

I won't mind if next time Dowd shares about her elevator experience at the beginning of her piece. I'll learn to adapt in this ever-changing world of journalism.

the most thrilling task of all: news producing

2009-03-08T13:12:00.000-05:00

My producer shadow shift turned out the be very inspiring for me. This past Tuesday, I had to shadow KOMU producers working their magic on setting up the newscast rundown and all of the other countless big responsibilities for the ten o'clock news. I helped a little by rewriting the national wire stories for the newscast. Being a producer, I learned that it's a lot of pressure. People are counting on you to make the right decisions. You are the one in charge for the whole situation and every single aspect of the production. Even if you might not be held responsible for working on each aspect from scratch, you need to keep track of its progress and make sure it turns out great.

I break down some of the skills that a producer needs in which I hope to master soon in the future of my journalism career.

A producer needs to be good at scriptwriting. Not only this skill comes in handy when rewriting national wire stories, but also to make sure that each reporter is doing his job well when it comes to writing their stories.
A producer needs to be a good reporter. She needs to know how a good story unveils and not to leave out every single opportunity that could make a better story. A good judgement is needed when it comes to news value, story outline, and great video footage.
A producer needs to be a good editor. Making editorial decisions to make the story presentable to viewers is the next most challenging task after all the reporting is done. Most of the time a reporter is responsible to do this on their own, but it's the producer's job to make sure it turns out good.
A producer needs to be a good manager. Teamwork and management skills are quite crucial as a producer needs to communicate with reporters and other producers to make sure they all deliver the best newscast one after another, making sure which story is best to be put where, when, and in what forms should it come in (VO/package).
A producer needs a to be a good multitasker. With all the responsibilities, it's pretty obvious that this quality is nearly a must.

And the list goes on and on. To deliver the best under great pressure is a challenge and it's something that everyone in the newsroom has to deal with. But really, learning about all this has triggered me nothing but stubbornness and determination. To put it this way, I am thrilled. I am thrilled that I will have the chance to enter this kind of world full of responsibilities and learn from it. I don't know how good of a producer will I be in a certain period of time from now, but I do know that it's the opportunity of learning that thrills me. Thanks KOMU producers! You know who you are!

curious octopus floods aquarium

2009-03-05T08:03:00.000-06:00

Photo: Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

In this article from National Geographic called "Curious Octopus Floods Aquarium," Christine Dell'Amore has an intriguing report that reminds us of a part of the world a lot of us aren't exactly in touch with... or for that matter: part of the world all of us can't be in. The ocean.

Dell'Amore wrote about a curious female octopus and her little escapade. The entire story is centered around this octopus and her behavior. According to the piece, "she has managed to disassemble a valve and released 200 gallons of seawater into nearby exhibits and offices". While this isn't exactly world-changing news, the writing impresses still in its' simplicity describing an intelligent creature. A lot of people forget that the octopi are smart, strong creatures thanks to its' overwhelmingly unique shape. She reminds us that aquatic animals, though most of them don't have a voice to communicate like us and the other animals that co-habit in this world, should not be treated as second rate citizens of the earth.

What's really intriguing is the reporting behind all this. How much time did she spend working on this piece? How many research did she do beforehand? I think you have to have a genuine interest to be able to execute a piece like this. Did she go visit the octopus in the aquarium or did she just sit in her office and made phone calls?

The article translates various facts into generally digestible sentences and makes it a joy to read. The style is fun and inviting and instead of becoming a scientific textbook bore, it has given me an entertaining "the more you know" moment. What made me think that she might just write this article over phone calls is the lack of personalized details of the subject. There's never really an detailed description that gives readers a sense of reality: this is what an octopus looks like and does. It's just something to connect to the readers and escort them to the "world" that they don't know. This article is more a newsy kind for me.

I like the fact that the article has a video in which people can see an octopus squeezing through a nine-inch hole. I think that adds so much to the consumer experience in terms of interactivity.

unattainable visuals

2009-03-05T07:47:00.000-06:00

My story about the stimulus funding for energy-efficiency and how ready MU or the city of Columbia for it turned out to be not so satisfying. Basically my problem was I didn't have enough time to do it. I worked all weekend and so I only had Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to work on it. And not surprisingly, officials have their own schedule too, which makes it even harder. I ended up talking to MU Campus Facilities official who was really helpful. But again, due to time constraint, he referred me to this maintenance worker who was fixing the ballast in a fluorescent lamp. I didn't really get to do what I wanted to do because the official was just there and waiting for me to be done while giving me "hints". It didn't help that the maintenance worker didn't move around at all either.

It is really hard to get a video for the story because I mostly talk about the future projects, in which they are not doing any at the moment. So I don't really have a video for it. I focused a little bit on energy-efficiency lighting and how MU is almost ahead of everyone because they have been dealing with it since 1990. Overall, I had a hard time to tie things in together just and the lack of footage from the raw tape didn't help at all.

What's worse is I taped over about 30% of my raw footage simply because of I played it back in the camera and forgot to fast forward it. This is almost like a catastrophe that never happened to me before.

Anyways, I have to admit that my video is not really tie in tightly to the script that I write just because it's really hard to get a video of things that you talk about if there's actually no one who physically work on it.

And I will always remember for the rest of my life, play back wisely.

teen drivers and cell phones

2009-02-22T15:20:00.000-06:00

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the average of teen traffic accidents in Missouri is equal to one injury or death from teen driving every 25.4 minutes.

Ford Motor Company has a study that shows that teens are four times more distracted than adults by cell phone use when driving.

My 3rd TV package story this time would be about teen drivers and cell phones. MOPTA raised this issue during their Kids Legislative Rally last week. At this event, parents got the chance to address their concerns to the legislators and hear what they have to say about it.

I went to the event and talked to Rep. Mary Still, D-Columbia, and also talked to the MOPTA official named Stephanie Miller who helped put the event together.

Since it has been my teacher's concern that a story about a meeting will feature nothing but BOPSA (bunch of people standing around), I'm going to find some footage that shows teenagers using their cellphones while driving. Meaning I will be standing by the corner of Stadium and Providence Rd. intersection all day and see if I can find those people.

Vigilantes in pink

2009-02-22T14:36:00.000-06:00

Photo: G.M.B Akash/Marie Claire

Finally, women fight back. I'm not talking about women in the U.S where human rights are way much more appreciated compared to those in third world countries. But seeing these women from a poor village in India actually take a stand and defend their rights just seems so empowering.

In this article featured in Marie Claire called Vigilantes in Pink, a group of women in the district of Banda, North India, was fed up with their abusive husbands and corrupt officials. So they armed themselves with sticks, learned some self defense, and declared themselves as the Gulabi gang or the "pink gang".

The article was written by Jan Goodwin. It has a handful of interesting facts. Among them are:
1. These poor women only earn about 75 cents a day.
2. They are married off before puberty
3. People pay respect for these women and just to know that they're coming is already enough to scare the bad guys away
4. Because of these heroes, there a fewer rapes now in the area and more girls are attending school.

This is a really interesting issue that the international world is not really familiar about. It might even bring a good impact if women in other parts of the world who suffer the same thing as the pink saris women read this and get the message out of it. Even the photographs are really captivating and set the reality atmosphere clearly.

I'm not sure exactly how this writer got all this information but I'm guessing they actually paid a visit to the village. As an article consisting of three paragraphs, it doesn't contain the most comprehensive information that I'd like to know more about. I'd like to hear more about the personal feelings of the women. I know what made them start this movement, but I'd like to hear more of a personal response in their own words. I'd like them to share their painful experience and tell me what unshackles their fear and turn it into power.

With those things, it would have been a greater article and more engaging to read.

when I finally decided to make that phone call

2009-02-16T21:48:00.000-06:00

Last Friday I called MO Rep. Gayle Kingery office and left a voicemail saying that I would love to talk to him about the measure that would allow MO schools to have 4 day week. It was Friday afternoon and I was left with uncertainty after I hang up the phone. I was just taking my chances. I had to literally tell myself that the worst thing that could possibly happen is either they don't call back or they just say no.

But apparently lady luck was on my side (although it might have something to do with the fact that I went to church this past Sunday). I got a call from his office around noon today and told Rep. Kingery himself that I would like to do a short video interview and will be there within an hour. So there I was, putting on my best outfit, grabbed my keys as fast as a lightning, and headed out to the Capitol in Jefferson City.

The interview went really well. Apparently he's been stormed by the media over the past few weeks since he introduced his bill. He was being very articulate and didn't mind sparing some more details and specific examples to every single information he has. It's not that hard to find questions to ask him. This time I did my homework really well. I knew a lot about the bill already and the situation around it quite well too. But hearing more from Rep. Kingery himself is just a lot more inspiring and I also got to find out his rebuttals for all the controversial reactions regarding the bill.

What I wasn't expected at all is getting a call back from Rep. Kingery's office. I called a bunch of sources including Columbia Public Schools (CPS), Missouri Parents Teacher Association (MOPTA), all of which are located in Columbia, refused to talk to me and help me out. But knowing that Rep. Kingery himself is willing to lend a hand is just very heartwarming.

Tomorrow, I'm moving on to the next quest of finding parents at the Lee Elementary School and see how they think they're life or their kids' life is going to be affected by the bill.

Today's lesson: Always take your chances. You never know.

Cody's Rescue

2009-02-16T18:22:00.000-06:00

Photo: Poynter Online

Yesterday I stumbled into Poynter Online: The Best of Television Photojournalism 2007. I know it's been 2 years but even the works are still amazing. The 1st winner for the Spot News category is Cody's Rescue by Everett McEwan/KGWN Denver.

I recognize that in this piece the photographer was able to use his photography and journalistic skill even though it's an unfolding news event without any chances to pre-plan things.

What I really admire from Cody's Rescue is that its richness of natural sound, strong photography, and interesting visual storytelling angle. It almost gives me the same feeling after watching an epic movie in the theatre. The story looks deep and further into an event that could easily pass someone's life by and makes it big. It is action-packed and very fast-paced that it sorts of build up my emotion and that I can too, feel worried that Cody is needing a rescue. The photographer captures emotions really well. It's really easy to not realize that the story is comprised of a sound bite after sound bite as the main storytelling tool used here. The flow is just flawless and the use of sound bites just personalizes the story and gives it a life.

I am amazed by the strong photography that exists frame by frame in this story. The photographer never fails to provide such captivating angle for each frame. Each detail within a frame seems to add a whole lot of information and succeeds in making things more dramatic than the way they really are.

At the end, yes I feel relieved that Cody is safe. I feel the same reaction with those kids who are cheering for Cody.
I feel like I'm even ready to lend a hand if he's up for adoption. That's how strong this story is for me.

critique session for my Hallsville jewelry-maker TV package

2009-02-12T23:19:00.001-06:00

I survived the critique session. That's a good news to start with.

Well to be honest I wasn't confident at all with how the TV package turned out. It's not the best "baby" that I have given birth to in my entire life. There were just inevitable situational restrictions that limit me from doing the story the way I wanted it to be.

And I'm personally not a big fan of my own stand up. To start out with, it's not the most enjoyable thing in the world to see and listen to myself on tape over and over again. But I guess picking up the most perfect take is even harder. Because there's almost none of it! Oh well, at least that what I think.

My teacher went over a lot of things. Some of them are:
- I should avoid pop cuts.
- Think tighter. Some of my shots are too lose. All of the other things around my focus can be very distracting.
- I can't be "soft" on my stand up. Meaning that I must not be out of focus while the things around me are in focus.

My Hallsville jewelry maker story

2009-02-09T19:12:00.001-06:00

Last week I shot a story about a Hallsville woman who self- taught herself on how to make copper jewelries. She's an administrative assistant working a 9 to 5 job but she works on her jewelries over the weekend and sells them online. It took me quite a while to hear back from her. I tried contacting a Missourian writer who talked to her once. But that also took quite a while. So finally when I heard back from the lady herself, Tracy Harmon, I was thrilled.

She's really nice and helpful and said I could come anytime I want but the thing is that she works everyday from 9 to 5. When I got there to do the interview last Wednesday, it was really dark. Her garage- turned workshop isn't lit enough to support adequate lighting. I tried my best. I kept on harassing her asking if I could go in to her house and get some shot of her doing her normal life in the kitchen, cuddling up with her kid and all. But she kindly refused by saying that her house is really messy and she wouldn't want it to be on tape. Bummer.

So, I went back to her house last Sunday during the day, hoping to get better lighting this time. It worked out really well except that I was kind of afraid that I don't really have a variety of shots since she was just there sitting on her chair, doing her work. I was almost tempted to ask her to walk around but I thought it would be what they call staging. There are some nice close ups of her doing her work but it's really hard to get her face from the front since her desk is facing the wall. I then asked her if I could videotape her at work. I said I promise it's going to be really quick and I can be as discreet as possible. She was really hesitating and told me that she needs to ask her boss first. There's very little chance I can do that, she said.

Interviewing her was really fun. I like it best to shoot my B-roll first before doing the interview. That way I get to know my interview subject a lot better and she also has more reasons to open up to me. The Interview went really well, I think. She has a lot of interesting stories to tell about her self-learning process and her determination is the only thing that took her to where she is right now. It is quite hard talking to her husband, Steve. He's very soft- spoken and most of the time I have to really cross my fingers hoping that he would catch the bait. But overall he's really nice and helpful.

Tracy gave me a call today and brought me a bad news. Her work won't let any kind of camera in the building for whatever personal matter. She has to go through different personals at the top of the corporate chain just for the permission. She said it's a no. At this point I really don't know much what to do except to make the best out of the footage that I already have.

I will capture my tape tomorrow night and write a web extra out of it and do some editing. I have 3 days before it's due for the viewing of my teacher's eyes. *breathe*.

intended consequences

2009-02-09T14:32:00.000-06:00

Photo: Jonathan Torgovnik/MediaStorm

There's this story in Mediastorm that really caught my eyes from the very first time I went to the website. Intended Consequences by Jonathan Torgovnik. It's about the women who suffered from 1994 genocide where rape was used as a weapon of war by the Hutu militia groups against the Tutsis. The video with each woman sharing their painful experience are just amazingly deep and personal. These videos somehow act as windows to the women's soul. It lets me to acknowledge, and further, feel their pain and desperation simply through moving images and audio.

I wonder how such journalist is capable to portray moments like this. How does one build such trusts from strangers of a different nationality, race, and background? How do you make people share something that reveal their painful past experiences? What makes these people agree to have their stories up for publication? Wouldn't they just get scared away with all the equipments that these western journalists bring? How many people does the journalist have to talk to before he can find these people who are willing to open up?

The journalist doesn't even speak the same language.

The video adapts a very riveting storytelling technique of using words after words written on screen to deliver some of the most dramatic parts. The audio suddenly stops. There's just silence and some bold words carrying vivid imageries tell what happens next. I also enjoy how the women are in close-up frames most of the time when we hear their stories. It adds a great depth of personality.

I witness some very disturbing brutality here although I didn't see any of the actions. Honestly I didn't make it through the end of the interviews. Just like I gave up in the middle of watching Sukiyaki Western Django and Black Hawk Dawn, even though they're just merely fictions. I can't take the violence that I'm being exposed to. Just the thought of it disturbs my peace of mind. But this story is no fiction.

This story uses journalism as a way to tell others one soul's grief and desolation as a result of social injustice.
Hail to Jonathan Torgovnik!