Blog 4

BAD JOURNALISM

My last few posts have been about good journalism made of compelling stories and strong reporting. Today’s post is a complete 180. I was watching a few stories on cnn.com and a story about teens facing “sexting” charges caught my eye. The stories title was catchy and initially drew me in. However, once I clicked on the story it was all-downhill from there. First of all, the story began with an interview and as a broadcaster if your best video is someone sitting down talking into a camera, that’s not a good sign. The next thing I noticed was that the first actual video used in the story was shaky. The shot also used an unnecessary zoom, but I found the shaky video more concerning. The reporter didn’t do a horrible job of referencing, but she didn’t do a good job either. Perhaps most disturbing about this story was the reporter, Amalia Barreda’s stand up. Barreda used a stick mic for no apparent reason and decided to walk and talk from the door of the court and stop at the trial court sign. I’m not sure what was accomplished by this, and I can honestly say I have no idea what she was talking about because I was so distracted by the fact she was walking.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2009/02/16/barreda.ma.students.sexting.wcvb

STORY IDEAS

Luckily it has become a little easier to find story ideas because as I focus on completing a package a week, it is crucial I don’t waste time searching for a story. While working on my second package about the Astroturf at Stankowski Field, I also pursued two other possible stories. First I thought I would do my story about Recycle Mania at Mizzou. However after thinking about the pros and cons of the story and if there was a story that may contain a little more news value and I switched my story to FOR ALL WE CALL MIZZOU eclipsing $1 billion. The project began Jan. 1, 2000, and it ended Dec. 31, 2008. First, the project was a way for MU to become more competitive with other research universities around the country. The campaign focused on raising money in four specific areas: students, faculty, programs and facilities. Buildings like the Reynolds Journalism Institute and Mizzou Arena were built with the money from the campaign. I scurried to email sources and create a good angle to cover the story. All of this came after I thought I would cover the The Muslim Student Organization at Missouri pushing for more prayer areas on MU’s Campus.