Blog 3 Chris Vlahos

STORY IDEAS
Every week that I have to find three story ideas. Some weeks are a little easier than others, but for the most part three solid ideas are rare. However, on Thursday February 5th Greeley took the class on a field trip of sorts. We walked around downtown Columbia in search of story ideas, which turned into an eye opening experience. I found ten things that I thought could be good story ideas while Greeley found 41. The importance of this trip is to show how crucial it is to be observant and not be too focused on what you’re doing, but instead pay attention to what is going on around you. In that mindset I usually run at Stankowski Field when the weather isn’t too awful, so the other day when I was running I looked up from the track and on to the playing surface. I got to thinking astro turf isn’t a very forgiving surface, I wonder if Mizzou plans to change the playing surface. I did a little investigating and found out the field may receive a makeover this summer and a number of athletes that have played at Stankwoski have gotten hurt. I have pursued my sources and I plan to do my second package on the turf at Stankowski Field.
JOURNALISM
I read a story this week on cnn.com about the youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay, 22-year-old Omar Khadr. The story begins with the quote “Kill me”, which is what Khadr told US soldiers to do to him after he killed Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer. The story details the lives of Khadr and Speer, while discussing the controversial issue of what the government should do about the 245 GitMo detainees and Khadr specifically. I was intrigued by this story because Khadr isn’t very much older than I am, but to think about all the evil things he has seen and done is staggering. What adds another twist to the story is that Khadr is a Canadian citizen, and the only westerner remaining at Guantanamo Bay. Caitlin Stark and Pam Benson do a good job in reporting the facts and refraining from inserting their opinions. Even though this is a tragic story I enjoyed the way it was covered and presented to the reader.