WTHR Internship
Week Eleven - Anchor Pac Aired
March 19, 21 and 23 - My week on the inside
I began this week logging a story for Anchor Anne Marie Tiernon. Logging is tedious and time consuming, but you get to see the full interview and how the reporter interacts with people and the photographers, not to mention you are a fourth party to the interview. I always ask Anne Marie if she needs something logged because I really like her stories. Pretty selfish of me, but the stories she chooses to report on usually grab your heart and make you want to live your life to the fullest. I log for her a lot because she tells me to star specific soundbites I think would be useful in her story and she goes back over and lets me know which ones she chooses. I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I'm needed, even for something as small as logging. When I watch her packages later that week I see that a lot, if now all of the quotes I starred for her she used.
I polished my skills of writing VO/SOTS, or as interns like to call them Anchor Packs. I worked with producer Deana Fry on a story about politics. If you don't know me, one aspect of me you should know is that I love to stay updated on politics. I believe it is one of the most important aspects of our culture and the world around us. If I'm going to be a journalist, I must start understanding what is going on with my government on a local, national and global level. My task was to make this story, this long ongoing story of the I was already up-to-date on what story she wanted me to write
Friday was the first day I went out with a reporter and it was excellent. I had the opportunity to accompany Investigative Reporter Sandra Chapman to the Indiana City Council Building where another hearing for The State Fair trial took place. I've been watching her periodically to see what is going on when something new comes up, but I got a lot of background information about the different lawyers and sides were. This trial is very confusing with a lot of different parties participating. From what she was explaining to me I was worried I might not understand the lawyer banter on the inside, but once I got there I was glad for the briefing because I knew what they were talking about. The most important part of that day was seeing how as a reporter, it doesn't matter if you have a law degree or not, you have got to be able to hang in that court room and understand what is going on and what the outcome is.
I also whittled down a 1:22 story about the Indiana housing market into a 25 second story. It took some work making it interesting and not just a story about numbers. She critiqued my work and changed a couple of minor issues, but assured me that it was nice work. I learn so much watching her set up her show and what parts
Later that day Reporter Mary Milz asked me to help her gather information on an Indiana legend Father Bonaface Hardin. She's been friends with him for more than five years and heard word that he was not doing too well from his caretaker. She wanted to have a special about him and needed video. I took to the video room and found the list of videos WTHR had in the vault about him or with him in there and made note of the ones with him in them. I also logged ones that had great soundbites from him. I also gathered facts about him such as the long, when I say long I mean LONG... 17 languages, countless awards, testimonies of lives he changed... list of accomplishments. That was touching she would want to do something like that for him.
I polished my skills of writing VO/SOTS, or as interns like to call them Anchor Packs. I worked with producer Deana Fry on a story about politics. If you don't know me, one aspect of me you should know is that I love to stay updated on politics. I believe it is one of the most important aspects of our culture and the world around us. If I'm going to be a journalist, I must start understanding what is going on with my government on a local, national and global level. My task was to make this story, this long ongoing story of the I was already up-to-date on what story she wanted me to write
Friday was the first day I went out with a reporter and it was excellent. I had the opportunity to accompany Investigative Reporter Sandra Chapman to the Indiana City Council Building where another hearing for The State Fair trial took place. I've been watching her periodically to see what is going on when something new comes up, but I got a lot of background information about the different lawyers and sides were. This trial is very confusing with a lot of different parties participating. From what she was explaining to me I was worried I might not understand the lawyer banter on the inside, but once I got there I was glad for the briefing because I knew what they were talking about. The most important part of that day was seeing how as a reporter, it doesn't matter if you have a law degree or not, you have got to be able to hang in that court room and understand what is going on and what the outcome is.
I also whittled down a 1:22 story about the Indiana housing market into a 25 second story. It took some work making it interesting and not just a story about numbers. She critiqued my work and changed a couple of minor issues, but assured me that it was nice work. I learn so much watching her set up her show and what parts
Later that day Reporter Mary Milz asked me to help her gather information on an Indiana legend Father Bonaface Hardin. She's been friends with him for more than five years and heard word that he was not doing too well from his caretaker. She wanted to have a special about him and needed video. I took to the video room and found the list of videos WTHR had in the vault about him or with him in there and made note of the ones with him in them. I also logged ones that had great soundbites from him. I also gathered facts about him such as the long, when I say long I mean LONG... 17 languages, countless awards, testimonies of lives he changed... list of accomplishments. That was touching she would want to do something like that for him.
Week Ten - What did he say?
March 12, 14 &16 - BREAKING news
1/12 SPOT NEWS
Today was a pretty sad day for reporting. A school bus flipped over early this morning and one little girl and the bus driver were killed. Nine other children were injured and one was critically injured. The major things that I learned today was how to cover a breaking news story. I heard about the accident on the radio on my way there , so I was expecting someone to go out and cover it. I thought it was going to be a lot more exciting than it was. I thought everyone was going to be running around, sirens going off, people screaming about their children, but it was pretty calm. The reporters from all of the different stations arrived around the same time and waiting for the Public Relations lady from Wishard Hospital to come out. She could not release any of the information about the children on the bus because of HIPPA laws, but did say that the eight kids there suffered from NON life threatening injuries and that all of their parents had been notified. It was interesting the barrage of questions she received such as how old were the kids, what was each child's gender, what is their race, where were they seated on the bus, would they be released today and were their parents there. The public relations lady said that she herself could not release any more information, but if a police officer wanted to come and tell the rest of the information he was permitted to. There was not a police in sight, so most of the crews packed up and went to Riley Hospital where the other two children were. At Riley it was a little more intense. We started to set up for the live shot when one car flew up to the door, screeched on the ground and then a man ran out and ran inside. He came out like three minutes later screaming and crying saying Dynasty, She's gone. It was pretty dramatic and
Guess what, a new Jack in the Box opened up in Avon and of course has Hoosier lined up out of the door! The fast food chain has been a recent hit in since the first one opened in Greenwood about a month ago. I interviewed three people and just came back and made a VO. I went with photographer Gregg Goggins so it was a good way for me to see how photographers piece together a story while taking video. I have experienced all too many times how I did not have a variety of shots as well as enough wide, medium, tight shots.
1/16 Today I went to a press conference about the new cell phone and tablet App that will revitalize parking as we know it. I went with photographer Gregg Goggins. This was a typical press conference coverage so I listened intently and took notes. I could talk all day about what the Parker App does, but you should just watch my VO. I learned more about how to put a VO together that did not have much wall paper video. All we could really show was the app and how to use it. Having a variety of wide, medium and tight shots really made it much easier.
The highlight of my week was when I was with Reporter Sandra Chapman while she interviewed people at the IndyGo bus stop. The story was about the shootings downtown and how When we got back to the station she asked me if I could log her interviews for her to help save her some time. Logging seems easy, by now as much as I've logged I thought I was a pro, but logging for someone who
Of course I took the opportunity to watch the anchors. Fridays are typically more relaxed, but I gt
Anchor Practice
Today was a pretty sad day for reporting. A school bus flipped over early this morning and one little girl and the bus driver were killed. Nine other children were injured and one was critically injured. The major things that I learned today was how to cover a breaking news story. I heard about the accident on the radio on my way there , so I was expecting someone to go out and cover it. I thought it was going to be a lot more exciting than it was. I thought everyone was going to be running around, sirens going off, people screaming about their children, but it was pretty calm. The reporters from all of the different stations arrived around the same time and waiting for the Public Relations lady from Wishard Hospital to come out. She could not release any of the information about the children on the bus because of HIPPA laws, but did say that the eight kids there suffered from NON life threatening injuries and that all of their parents had been notified. It was interesting the barrage of questions she received such as how old were the kids, what was each child's gender, what is their race, where were they seated on the bus, would they be released today and were their parents there. The public relations lady said that she herself could not release any more information, but if a police officer wanted to come and tell the rest of the information he was permitted to. There was not a police in sight, so most of the crews packed up and went to Riley Hospital where the other two children were. At Riley it was a little more intense. We started to set up for the live shot when one car flew up to the door, screeched on the ground and then a man ran out and ran inside. He came out like three minutes later screaming and crying saying Dynasty, She's gone. It was pretty dramatic and
Guess what, a new Jack in the Box opened up in Avon and of course has Hoosier lined up out of the door! The fast food chain has been a recent hit in since the first one opened in Greenwood about a month ago. I interviewed three people and just came back and made a VO. I went with photographer Gregg Goggins so it was a good way for me to see how photographers piece together a story while taking video. I have experienced all too many times how I did not have a variety of shots as well as enough wide, medium, tight shots.
1/16 Today I went to a press conference about the new cell phone and tablet App that will revitalize parking as we know it. I went with photographer Gregg Goggins. This was a typical press conference coverage so I listened intently and took notes. I could talk all day about what the Parker App does, but you should just watch my VO. I learned more about how to put a VO together that did not have much wall paper video. All we could really show was the app and how to use it. Having a variety of wide, medium and tight shots really made it much easier.
The highlight of my week was when I was with Reporter Sandra Chapman while she interviewed people at the IndyGo bus stop. The story was about the shootings downtown and how When we got back to the station she asked me if I could log her interviews for her to help save her some time. Logging seems easy, by now as much as I've logged I thought I was a pro, but logging for someone who
Of course I took the opportunity to watch the anchors. Fridays are typically more relaxed, but I gt
Anchor Practice
Week Nine - Henrysville
March 5, 7 & 9
March 5
Today I got to go to Henryville. Although I've been to the disaster area before, I had not been to Henryville yet. The Colts are in the BUILDING! Actually two players and more than 50 staff members went to Henryville to help out.I was working with Reporter Steve Jefferson to do a story about how some of the Colt's staff were out there helping out. When we got there they were already out there with brand new shovels in hand and clearing out space by space. It was a little bizarre because the tone of the small city was extremely upbeat. Everyone was working, but it seemed like an endless amount of mess. They literally had to clean space by space. About an hour later five Colts players arrived to help out and that brought the mood up even more. We got interviews with two of them. We got pictures and footage of them working.
Three days later I was in Marysville. It was a disaster a
Bye to Peyton :( This was a sad day for Hoosiers. We lost our hero, our number 18... our QB. There was a huge press conference where Colts Owner Jim Irsay and QB Peyton Manning would announce if Manning would stay with the Colts today and the news was gloomy. Although I didn't get to go to the actual press conference, I did go to another press conference at the Peyton Manning Riley Hospital for Children. We were in the car listening to every word of the press conference and it was really interesting. We heard both Peyton and Irsay shed a tear. We arrived to the hospital and really my heart was just touched because the place looks so neat, there are all kinds of colors and shapes that make hospital trips just not as bad because the environment is meant for children. We heard from the president of St. Vincent Hospital and the guy was hurt Peyton
Today I went in for my typical anchoring practice and watching them. The cool part was the productions people set up the cameras so I could see myself while I was reading. Can't lie my confidence was up and I felt great reading the script.
Today I got to go to Henryville. Although I've been to the disaster area before, I had not been to Henryville yet. The Colts are in the BUILDING! Actually two players and more than 50 staff members went to Henryville to help out.I was working with Reporter Steve Jefferson to do a story about how some of the Colt's staff were out there helping out. When we got there they were already out there with brand new shovels in hand and clearing out space by space. It was a little bizarre because the tone of the small city was extremely upbeat. Everyone was working, but it seemed like an endless amount of mess. They literally had to clean space by space. About an hour later five Colts players arrived to help out and that brought the mood up even more. We got interviews with two of them. We got pictures and footage of them working.
Three days later I was in Marysville. It was a disaster a
Bye to Peyton :( This was a sad day for Hoosiers. We lost our hero, our number 18... our QB. There was a huge press conference where Colts Owner Jim Irsay and QB Peyton Manning would announce if Manning would stay with the Colts today and the news was gloomy. Although I didn't get to go to the actual press conference, I did go to another press conference at the Peyton Manning Riley Hospital for Children. We were in the car listening to every word of the press conference and it was really interesting. We heard both Peyton and Irsay shed a tear. We arrived to the hospital and really my heart was just touched because the place looks so neat, there are all kinds of colors and shapes that make hospital trips just not as bad because the environment is meant for children. We heard from the president of St. Vincent Hospital and the guy was hurt Peyton
Today I went in for my typical anchoring practice and watching them. The cool part was the productions people set up the cameras so I could see myself while I was reading. Can't lie my confidence was up and I felt great reading the script.
Week Eight - E4 Disaster
February 27, 29 and March 2
February 27
Car accident on Michigan Road. Here are some pictures I took with my phone. I drive down this street every time I drive downtown, that's every time I drive to work and the street was totally blocked off. The car was completely demolished .
My first time going to the House of Representatives with Reporter Rich Van Wyk. This was really
Today I forgot my raincoat. Not knowing later that night I would rest my head knowing that an E4 twister ripped through the southern part of the state that I grew up in killing 12 so far and injuring more than 20. It's crazy when I think about it, I woke up that morning like it was going to be a typical day and watched the WTHR Helicopter hover over a land full of piles of broken wooden planks and twisted metal in the trees.
Earlier that morning I decided to go out with Reporter Steve Jefferson on his story about Airport runway security after after a drunken Pennsylvania man decided to drive on the Pennsylvania International Airport runway days before. The story sounded like a good hard news story for my reel so I had to go. I did not do a stand up, but went back to the station and wrote at VO for it.
That Friday, I couldn't leave the front desk. The phones were ringing off the hook about the twister that ripped through Southern Indiana.
The Hail... "Aw Hail Naw" - Photographer Mike
Car accident on Michigan Road. Here are some pictures I took with my phone. I drive down this street every time I drive downtown, that's every time I drive to work and the street was totally blocked off. The car was completely demolished .
My first time going to the House of Representatives with Reporter Rich Van Wyk. This was really
Today I forgot my raincoat. Not knowing later that night I would rest my head knowing that an E4 twister ripped through the southern part of the state that I grew up in killing 12 so far and injuring more than 20. It's crazy when I think about it, I woke up that morning like it was going to be a typical day and watched the WTHR Helicopter hover over a land full of piles of broken wooden planks and twisted metal in the trees.
Earlier that morning I decided to go out with Reporter Steve Jefferson on his story about Airport runway security after after a drunken Pennsylvania man decided to drive on the Pennsylvania International Airport runway days before. The story sounded like a good hard news story for my reel so I had to go. I did not do a stand up, but went back to the station and wrote at VO for it.
That Friday, I couldn't leave the front desk. The phones were ringing off the hook about the twister that ripped through Southern Indiana.
The Hail... "Aw Hail Naw" - Photographer Mike
Week Seven - One Big Room...
February 20, 22 & 23
One big room, full of rich Republicans. This was a great experience at the downtown Mariott. Today we met Mich Daniels and Dick Leugar. This was a cool experience because it was very political. I was actually shocked how political it was. I am not sure if it was the take that the reporter and I took to creating the story or if the entire benefit dinner was a push for Mitch Daniels to join the club of Republicans running for the GOP nomination. By the end of the event, there were green signs handed out and people cheered Go Mitch, Go! The actual
I have always watched Andrea Morehead and she is one of the reasons why I wanted to come here and intern. I had the opportunity to write an anchor pack for her about Whitney Houston. She interviewed Mike Epps during the Super Bowl and he talked about his upcoming movie starring Houston and Jordan Sparks called Sparkle. I pulled the sound and wrote the anchor pack. Later that week she came up to me and said she liked what I wrote.
Also while I was editing Photographer Gregg Goggins stopped in and helped me learn about adjusting the sound as well as color correcting. Andrea stopped by the editing bay I was in to tell him something and we all started talking and I asked her to give me some pointers for anchoring. She told me a couple secrets and really told me that it's all acting. She said there are no nerves, you just get up there and put your game face on and have fun. I needed the pointers and went into the studio later that day and worked on what she told me.
I also got in the studio for a quick anchor practice.
I have always watched Andrea Morehead and she is one of the reasons why I wanted to come here and intern. I had the opportunity to write an anchor pack for her about Whitney Houston. She interviewed Mike Epps during the Super Bowl and he talked about his upcoming movie starring Houston and Jordan Sparks called Sparkle. I pulled the sound and wrote the anchor pack. Later that week she came up to me and said she liked what I wrote.
Also while I was editing Photographer Gregg Goggins stopped in and helped me learn about adjusting the sound as well as color correcting. Andrea stopped by the editing bay I was in to tell him something and we all started talking and I asked her to give me some pointers for anchoring. She told me a couple secrets and really told me that it's all acting. She said there are no nerves, you just get up there and put your game face on and have fun. I needed the pointers and went into the studio later that day and worked on what she told me.
I also got in the studio for a quick anchor practice.
Week Six
February 13, 15 & 17
Went to Officer Bissard's hearing. This was pretty cool because I've been hearing about this case for the past year and I got to see what progress has been made on this case. We went live outside of the City County Building with not much to say because that hearing didn't really come out with a lot of info. I wrote a story when I got back to the studio.
Actually on my day off I went to Panera with my mom and saw the Indianapolis Star. The News Director Kevin Finch said that they were going to run an add thanking Hoosiers for hosting a great Super Bowl in the Indy Star. You always hear people say team work makes the dream work.
2-15-12 Today I logged story for Anne Marie and worked the Assignment Desk. This was the first time I logged a story and it was actually really depressing because the story was about a family who was just falling apart because the children were on Heroin. she really appreciated me logging for her probably because the interviews were really long. She also had me star the sounds bites that I thought were important and use the ones I chose in her story. This was the day that I learned that Anchors are required to do a certain amount of stories per month.
I also stayed late a few nights and watched the nightly show.
Actually on my day off I went to Panera with my mom and saw the Indianapolis Star. The News Director Kevin Finch said that they were going to run an add thanking Hoosiers for hosting a great Super Bowl in the Indy Star. You always hear people say team work makes the dream work.
2-15-12 Today I logged story for Anne Marie and worked the Assignment Desk. This was the first time I logged a story and it was actually really depressing because the story was about a family who was just falling apart because the children were on Heroin. she really appreciated me logging for her probably because the interviews were really long. She also had me star the sounds bites that I thought were important and use the ones I chose in her story. This was the day that I learned that Anchors are required to do a certain amount of stories per month.
I also stayed late a few nights and watched the nightly show.
Week Five - And The Ratings Soared
February 6, 8 & 10
And the Raitings soared. The morning meeting was included the whole station today. There was free coffee and breakfast for everyone and the top executives came in and talked to everyone. It was almost ridiculous how high the ratings for WTHR were above from every other station not just during the Super Bowl week, but the weeks before. It was really neat because they had a PowerPoint side show with graphs and pictures. It made all of those school presentations seem worth it, because it was really effective and interesting seeing it rather than just being told. Also they had the employee of the month, which was the whole station. They also gave everyone a WTHR chap-sticks and Super Bowl head bands.
Actually on my day off I went to Panera with my mom and saw the Indianapolis Star and felt a sense of confidence in WTHR. The News Director Kevin Finch said that they were going to run an add thanking Hoosiers for hosting a great Super Bowl in the Indy Star. You always hear people say team work makes the dream work. This really made me want to work for an organization who has strong morals and does simple things like this that have such a good affect on people.
This week I went on a story with Van Wyk about how Franklin Township Legislation was created to end the bus fees that the school board has for parents. This was a typical story we went out to Franklin and looked for people to interview, we went to the library and got some really good sound bites from mothers with their children. We shot our standup right in front of the school buses and we attended the actual hearing.
I also went out with reporter Mary Milz on a story about how bars are going to stay smoke free after the Super Bowl. It was a neat story partially because Muncie just banned all smoking bars, and bars in New York and New England have banned smoking in bars and it just seemed like Indy was doing it, but not officially.
I also worked on two packages.
Practiced anchoring a tad bit, it's just a nice feeling to sit in there and read. They told me my voice was too happy during sad stories, so I had to practice having a somber face and a voice to match.
Actually on my day off I went to Panera with my mom and saw the Indianapolis Star and felt a sense of confidence in WTHR. The News Director Kevin Finch said that they were going to run an add thanking Hoosiers for hosting a great Super Bowl in the Indy Star. You always hear people say team work makes the dream work. This really made me want to work for an organization who has strong morals and does simple things like this that have such a good affect on people.
This week I went on a story with Van Wyk about how Franklin Township Legislation was created to end the bus fees that the school board has for parents. This was a typical story we went out to Franklin and looked for people to interview, we went to the library and got some really good sound bites from mothers with their children. We shot our standup right in front of the school buses and we attended the actual hearing.
I also went out with reporter Mary Milz on a story about how bars are going to stay smoke free after the Super Bowl. It was a neat story partially because Muncie just banned all smoking bars, and bars in New York and New England have banned smoking in bars and it just seemed like Indy was doing it, but not officially.
I also worked on two packages.
Practiced anchoring a tad bit, it's just a nice feeling to sit in there and read. They told me my voice was too happy during sad stories, so I had to practice having a somber face and a voice to match.
Week Four - Super Bowl Nation
January 30, February 1 & 3
This weekend I took part in the Super Bowl Madness. I didn't care I did everything. I was apart of a school research project where we joined contract company Radious and tweeted answers to questions as the official Super Bowl twitter account. I enjoyed myself thoroughly.
2/3 Bomb sniffing Dogs Story - Today I went out with crime beet reporter Steve Jefferson. Out of all of the WTHR reporters, he was the one I knew best and the one I was the most nervous to intern with. One thing that I thought was really different from the rest of the reporters was how much he used his iPad. Yes, he is a lot younger than the others, but he takes advantage of what he can do with technology and it does make a difference. He can write his web version and have it sent while in the car so when he gets back to the studio he can make calls to find new story leads. We went to the airport to do a story on homeland security and how they are using bomb sniffing dogs the week of the super bowl. We got to see RONDO in action as he can not only sniff a stagnant bag, what bomb sniffing dogs are only trained to do, but he can block out other smells and follow the sent through out the airport. We met the directer of Homeland security, the Indianapolis sector and got to go back into their headquarters in the Airport. That was pretty cool. The note to self was, heels a long with carrying the tripod all around the airport was not the greatest mix. They were brand new, but next time I'll make sure to put my dressy flats in my bag just in case.
The next day I was there Jefferson said he was going back to the airport on a celebrity watch because this was the day most of the New Jersey and New Yorkers were going to get there. We got word that there was going to be a Flash Mob so we checked out where we would get the best angle. It was pretty funny how oblivious everyone was event though on the level up there was about 30 or 40 staff members looking down waiting for the flash mob. As we were waiting we ran into a couple of men who work of a Washington radio station. They said that they were on celeb watch and met some housewives and some singers. We ended up seeing Sherri Shepard, DMC and a lot of football wives. Jefferson interviewed Sherry Shepard which was neat. Then we saw the flash mob.
Tripod and Heels
Anchor Watch
Week Three - Super Bowl Preparation... Again
January 23, 25 & 27
1/23 - Today I went out with photographer John DeJuong on a story about the Super Bowl Stickers. Every time I go out with DeJuong I know I will get some really useful advice. He was teaching me about enterprising my stories. He was describing to me how every story can be told in a bland way, but to make it interesting our job is to go deeper. Not just in our writing, but the way we film our stories and the questions we ask in our interviews. I learned that some of the best sound bites come in the most unexpected ways or at the most unexpected times. The best way to enterprise a story is to let the interview just talk, spend time with them and make them feel comfortable. He also told me the power of preparation. In the car ride to all of his stories the he and the reporter go over what message they want to get across and create a basic backbone of the story. When we got back to the studio he showed me some of the stories that he has won an award for and I see how he took that extra step in being creative and it made a story that typically wouldn't be as interesting into something that you couldn't take your eyes away from. I want to report like that.
1/27 Today I randomly sat by Producer Kelly Griecy, a former Ball State Graduate and we started talking and she just said if I wanted I could come shadow her one day. Not really knowing what producers do at their computers all day, I thought I'd take a stab at it.
PROMO!!!!! 1/25 Today I was in, I was a little bumped out because the other interns went out with reporters and I drew the short end of the stick for the first time. So I was working on a package when Kelly Richards walks up to me and was like do you want to shoot a promo. Not really knowing what that was I of course said yes. So we left and went to a coffee shot called the Dizzy Cup on the East side, which by the way had awesome coffee and really cool art, and shot the promo. It was pretty easy all I had to do was stare at a laptop and take a sip of coffee. The cool part was watching them set up the lighting. I typically don't set up lighting in my school news reports because quite frankly I haven't really needed it and it's a little difficult getting the equipment, but as we were shooting they showed me the difference between having it in certain places and what it does to your skin. LIGHTING IS VERY IMPORTANT, after looking at myself before and after. I didn't think this would go anywhere, but it turns out I was lucky enough to be in a promotional commercial for WTHR that aired during the SUPER BOWL! I was on cloud 9 and my phone went completely crazy that moment it aired.
I went out with Photog Mike Extine, he seemed a little rough around the edges at first, but he's a sweet heart. We went to the Super Care Clinic, which I was so proud because he let me conduct the interview. He told me he was impressed by the questions I asked and how I handled myself as a true reporter. Of course I soaked it all in and was glowing and went back and wrote my package.
This week I watched the anchors again. A lot of the production crew started to get to know me this week which was cool because they let me go in the studio early during the day and practice reading the what was read during sunrise. They showed me how to work the teleprompter and explained the lighting. This is valuable to me because I want to understand the news room inside out.
1/27 Today I randomly sat by Producer Kelly Griecy, a former Ball State Graduate and we started talking and she just said if I wanted I could come shadow her one day. Not really knowing what producers do at their computers all day, I thought I'd take a stab at it.
PROMO!!!!! 1/25 Today I was in, I was a little bumped out because the other interns went out with reporters and I drew the short end of the stick for the first time. So I was working on a package when Kelly Richards walks up to me and was like do you want to shoot a promo. Not really knowing what that was I of course said yes. So we left and went to a coffee shot called the Dizzy Cup on the East side, which by the way had awesome coffee and really cool art, and shot the promo. It was pretty easy all I had to do was stare at a laptop and take a sip of coffee. The cool part was watching them set up the lighting. I typically don't set up lighting in my school news reports because quite frankly I haven't really needed it and it's a little difficult getting the equipment, but as we were shooting they showed me the difference between having it in certain places and what it does to your skin. LIGHTING IS VERY IMPORTANT, after looking at myself before and after. I didn't think this would go anywhere, but it turns out I was lucky enough to be in a promotional commercial for WTHR that aired during the SUPER BOWL! I was on cloud 9 and my phone went completely crazy that moment it aired.
I went out with Photog Mike Extine, he seemed a little rough around the edges at first, but he's a sweet heart. We went to the Super Care Clinic, which I was so proud because he let me conduct the interview. He told me he was impressed by the questions I asked and how I handled myself as a true reporter. Of course I soaked it all in and was glowing and went back and wrote my package.
This week I watched the anchors again. A lot of the production crew started to get to know me this week which was cool because they let me go in the studio early during the day and practice reading the what was read during sunrise. They showed me how to work the teleprompter and explained the lighting. This is valuable to me because I want to understand the news room inside out.
Week Two - YAY, The Super Bowl is Coming!
January 16, 18 & 21
Super Bowl buzz was amazingly exciting. The Circle City who at some point coined the name Naptown was very much alive and everyone was talking about us. Since we are the official Super Bowl Station, The News Director Kevin Finch was requiring every reporter to cover at least one Super Bowl story a day leading up to the big day. In the morning meetings reporters were getting creative with their ideas.
1/18
I had the chance to go out with Investigative Reporter Sandra Chapman on a story about the NFC and AFC Work Out Facility. The best part of the day was in the car ride there because she broke down Freedom of Information Act Laws completely. I loved my media law class at Ball State, but was still very unsure about FOIA and how it actually works. Sandra had to drop off a FOIA request about the Indiana State Fair on our way to the story and I just asked her, do they actually get good information. She was honest in saying that you have to stay on their backs because most of the time they don't want to go through the troubles of producing them. Also she said a lot of the time a lot of the information will come back redacted and you can't even use it, but most of the time the information you get is extremely useful especially for investigative reporting. She told me about a story that she used that was completely redacted and told her audience how they weren't talking and it was extremely effective.
This is where I did my first official standup. We interviewed the University of Indianapolis' PR rep and toured the work out facility. We tried to get into the colt's work out facility, but everything was just completely blocked off. I ended up writing a small package about this story and went back to the station and edited it.
Week two and I am at home. I have my badge and my parking sticker so I am already feeling great. I'm comfortable answering the phones and writing in ENPS a story that comes in over the phone. I've been out with three reporters thus far and my goal for the end of this week is to learn the editing tricks because creating this package is taking too long.
1/22
This was my first time working a weekend. The news room was pretty much dead and some of the lights weren't even on. It was a complete 180! When I got there I met photographer John Dejuang, a phenom photographer, reporter and Ball State Grad. He showed me so much that day. He is an Emmy award winner and also a judge in other Emmy awards. He told me about what types of stories they look for, how they judge who wins, what I can do to take my reporting to the next level, how can I change a typical story into an enterprise story and most importantly he told me to watch the Emmy award winning stories. We had a long drive so we really got into the nitty gritty of good story telling not only from a writing standpoint, but from a video standpoint. I came back having so much more knowledge on telling the story that writing around my good quotes. I will always appreciate that lesson.
The new Jack in the box is apparently a hit in Greenwood. In the snow, people were waiting thirty to forty five minutes to get Jack in the Box. This is fast food, so I cannot say that I was not surprised because it was so intense that they had to hire police officers to regulate the lines so that they would not back up traffic.
We got some B-Roll of workings putting up the large stickers that changed Indianapolis into Super Bowl Nation. It seemed like every building had these HUGE stickers that advertised everything Super Bowl. I've worked in a cell phone store putting on inviashields on all day, but putting up a 5 foot by 20 foot sticker up was, let's just say a lot harder.
The highlight of this week was going into the studio and watching the anchors during the 5-6 news cast. They are great at what they do. I got to read their scripts before they went on and while they were reading I followed the teleprompter and learned what words they pronounced.
1/20 Today I went out with Van Wyk and on a story about what Super Bowl team would bring the best business to Indianapolis. I learned that the game was just as much of of a transaction for the city as it was a foot ball game. We spent most of the day gathering interviews from people on the host committee, business managers as well as a marketing professor from IUPUI. He chose the great people, this professor's office was like a sports memorabilia museum and she knew how they were marketing the Super Bowl from the inside out. I think the biggest thing I learned from today was to not only make your connections, but use them. Van Wyk has been in the city for a while now, so it's nothing for him to make one or two phone calls and get an interview in less than 10 minutes, but he's really friends with these people. He stays updated with them and is friends with them.
1/16 MILZ with Family
Reporter Mary Milz is your come into the news room with three or four good story ideas consistently, your avid Indy Star paper reader, your reporter who just returned from Iowa during the first primary vote on the Republican candidates that was extremely popular in the news kind of reporter. As you can tell the first day I met her I was pretty impressed and want to be a reporter like her. I chose to go on this story with her because I've seen her do a lot of fun stories and she has the best stand ups. This story was pretty corkey, it was about a family who is going to rent out parking spaces on their yard for Super Bowl parking. They have done all these updates in leveling the grass and can fit forty something cars on there. They do this a lot for Colt's games or conventions that happen at Lucas Oil because they literally live 215 steps from the building. The greatest part of the day was when Mary Milz walked and counted the steps with the owner of the house on camera. Turned out to be a great story.
This week I went out on a story with the Reporter I was most impressed with from the two morning meetings I went to.
One part of this week that stood out to me was meeting former Intern Lauren Scnider. I had lunch with her and got Intern 101 from the student perspective which turned out to be really helpful.
1/18
I had the chance to go out with Investigative Reporter Sandra Chapman on a story about the NFC and AFC Work Out Facility. The best part of the day was in the car ride there because she broke down Freedom of Information Act Laws completely. I loved my media law class at Ball State, but was still very unsure about FOIA and how it actually works. Sandra had to drop off a FOIA request about the Indiana State Fair on our way to the story and I just asked her, do they actually get good information. She was honest in saying that you have to stay on their backs because most of the time they don't want to go through the troubles of producing them. Also she said a lot of the time a lot of the information will come back redacted and you can't even use it, but most of the time the information you get is extremely useful especially for investigative reporting. She told me about a story that she used that was completely redacted and told her audience how they weren't talking and it was extremely effective.
This is where I did my first official standup. We interviewed the University of Indianapolis' PR rep and toured the work out facility. We tried to get into the colt's work out facility, but everything was just completely blocked off. I ended up writing a small package about this story and went back to the station and edited it.
Week two and I am at home. I have my badge and my parking sticker so I am already feeling great. I'm comfortable answering the phones and writing in ENPS a story that comes in over the phone. I've been out with three reporters thus far and my goal for the end of this week is to learn the editing tricks because creating this package is taking too long.
1/22
This was my first time working a weekend. The news room was pretty much dead and some of the lights weren't even on. It was a complete 180! When I got there I met photographer John Dejuang, a phenom photographer, reporter and Ball State Grad. He showed me so much that day. He is an Emmy award winner and also a judge in other Emmy awards. He told me about what types of stories they look for, how they judge who wins, what I can do to take my reporting to the next level, how can I change a typical story into an enterprise story and most importantly he told me to watch the Emmy award winning stories. We had a long drive so we really got into the nitty gritty of good story telling not only from a writing standpoint, but from a video standpoint. I came back having so much more knowledge on telling the story that writing around my good quotes. I will always appreciate that lesson.
The new Jack in the box is apparently a hit in Greenwood. In the snow, people were waiting thirty to forty five minutes to get Jack in the Box. This is fast food, so I cannot say that I was not surprised because it was so intense that they had to hire police officers to regulate the lines so that they would not back up traffic.
We got some B-Roll of workings putting up the large stickers that changed Indianapolis into Super Bowl Nation. It seemed like every building had these HUGE stickers that advertised everything Super Bowl. I've worked in a cell phone store putting on inviashields on all day, but putting up a 5 foot by 20 foot sticker up was, let's just say a lot harder.
The highlight of this week was going into the studio and watching the anchors during the 5-6 news cast. They are great at what they do. I got to read their scripts before they went on and while they were reading I followed the teleprompter and learned what words they pronounced.
1/20 Today I went out with Van Wyk and on a story about what Super Bowl team would bring the best business to Indianapolis. I learned that the game was just as much of of a transaction for the city as it was a foot ball game. We spent most of the day gathering interviews from people on the host committee, business managers as well as a marketing professor from IUPUI. He chose the great people, this professor's office was like a sports memorabilia museum and she knew how they were marketing the Super Bowl from the inside out. I think the biggest thing I learned from today was to not only make your connections, but use them. Van Wyk has been in the city for a while now, so it's nothing for him to make one or two phone calls and get an interview in less than 10 minutes, but he's really friends with these people. He stays updated with them and is friends with them.
1/16 MILZ with Family
Reporter Mary Milz is your come into the news room with three or four good story ideas consistently, your avid Indy Star paper reader, your reporter who just returned from Iowa during the first primary vote on the Republican candidates that was extremely popular in the news kind of reporter. As you can tell the first day I met her I was pretty impressed and want to be a reporter like her. I chose to go on this story with her because I've seen her do a lot of fun stories and she has the best stand ups. This story was pretty corkey, it was about a family who is going to rent out parking spaces on their yard for Super Bowl parking. They have done all these updates in leveling the grass and can fit forty something cars on there. They do this a lot for Colt's games or conventions that happen at Lucas Oil because they literally live 215 steps from the building. The greatest part of the day was when Mary Milz walked and counted the steps with the owner of the house on camera. Turned out to be a great story.
This week I went out on a story with the Reporter I was most impressed with from the two morning meetings I went to.
One part of this week that stood out to me was meeting former Intern Lauren Scnider. I had lunch with her and got Intern 101 from the student perspective which turned out to be really helpful.
Week One - The Intern
January 9, 11 & 13
First week in the office and my emotions are all over the place. I've been waiting to do this internship for about a year and a half and it is finally coming into action. Day one and I did not know what to expect. Highly intimidated, probably looked like a confused and typical intern. I arrived about ten minutes early and got my log in and information about the internship.
The phones were constantly ringing and the police scanners sounded like a huge jumble of nonsense. There are about 12 TV's each with a different channel on going and I'm wondering how anyone can pay attention to anything. I sat there and took it all in looking around the news room and seeing the bustling around of everyone. I quickly realized this was where I need to be. I constantly flip through news
Today I had my lesson on wearing warm clothes in when it snows. I had on a cute skirt and some tights, but I was freezing! I quickly forgot about the cold when I watched Rich Van Wyk report on how Georgia Street got a make over. This was my first time seeing anything live. They gave me an IFB and I got to listen in on what the director and producer were saying. I was totally confused until they said go. It's impressive to watch a reporter going live with no script and not messing up. He told me that it is all about knowing your subject.
My first experience out with a photographer can be described as a little bit awkward. We went to the JW Mariott where the 111th Annual City of Indianapolis Mayor's Celebration of Diversity Luncheon was. I noticed a WISH TV Anchor was hosting the event, I think it's neat how a lot of anchors host big events like these. I can already see myself doing something like that in my future. Anyway, I didn't really know what to do or where to stand. I was really nervous at first, but then I started to watch how he angled his shots and how he got his wide, medium and tight sequence. I was the designated white balance girl, so it's almost like second nature when ever I enter a new room I white balance.
The phones were constantly ringing and the police scanners sounded like a huge jumble of nonsense. There are about 12 TV's each with a different channel on going and I'm wondering how anyone can pay attention to anything. I sat there and took it all in looking around the news room and seeing the bustling around of everyone. I quickly realized this was where I need to be. I constantly flip through news
Today I had my lesson on wearing warm clothes in when it snows. I had on a cute skirt and some tights, but I was freezing! I quickly forgot about the cold when I watched Rich Van Wyk report on how Georgia Street got a make over. This was my first time seeing anything live. They gave me an IFB and I got to listen in on what the director and producer were saying. I was totally confused until they said go. It's impressive to watch a reporter going live with no script and not messing up. He told me that it is all about knowing your subject.
My first experience out with a photographer can be described as a little bit awkward. We went to the JW Mariott where the 111th Annual City of Indianapolis Mayor's Celebration of Diversity Luncheon was. I noticed a WISH TV Anchor was hosting the event, I think it's neat how a lot of anchors host big events like these. I can already see myself doing something like that in my future. Anyway, I didn't really know what to do or where to stand. I was really nervous at first, but then I started to watch how he angled his shots and how he got his wide, medium and tight sequence. I was the designated white balance girl, so it's almost like second nature when ever I enter a new room I white balance.
