Week 5!!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

So this is LONG over! Two weeks ago tomorrow, Josh and I were assigned a story on moonshine. A new moonshine distillery is opening up in Gatlinburg, TN on July 2nd. Josh and I headed up to Gatlinburg to check it out and see how the moonshine process works. When this distillery officially opens the public will get the opportunity to see how moonshine is made and they will even be able to sample it! That is if you are at least 21. :-) Josh allowed me to film a standup using a mason jar of moonshine. This was by far the best standup I have done yet. All the employes were extremely friendly and glad we came out to do this story. They even let us pick out a t-shirt from their merchandise store. Covering this story made me realize that working in the news industry, I am really going to present stories of all natures.

The moonshine process

Josh filming at the distillery

For this week, Tuesday was the only day I could go out with a reporter. A lot of people were on vacation; therefore, I was asked to stay back on Wednesday and Thursday to teleprompt the 5, 6, and 6:30 shows. This didn't end up being too bad because it rained all week.

Week 4!!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

This was a LONG day for me to say the least. I had been up since 4:45 am to teach a fitness class and I knew I would be tired before the end of the day. As I walked into the station Mona and Justin, a photographer, were walking out the door. Mona asked me if I wanted to go with her to an interview in Maryville, but I would have to leave immediately. This was the first time I did not attend the 2:30 rundown meeting so that was a little strange. The story in Maryville was about a homemade bomb that had been set off in a neighborhood. Mona had an interview set up with a witness to get more information on what occurred a few days before. To give you an idea as to where this home was located, there were a bunch of sketchy people around. No more details needed. I have been told by many reporters that most stories of this nature occur in these types of neighborhoods. After the interview we met up with the detective on the case for a quick interview. This was probably the quickest story I have ever done with Mona. Once we got back to the station, I helped put together scripts for the newscasts and then ran the teleprompter for all 3 shows.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

I did not really know what to expect this day. Mona was on dayside working on something she had been doing for a while. I got put with a dayside reporter, Josh Ault, who was filling in for Mona. We were sent out to the Old City in downtown Knoxville to report on a new grocery store, Aisle Nine. While interviewing the general manager of the store, Josh got a call that there was a house fire in Seymour, Tennessee. We finished the interview and told them we would be back to finish the story.

We started heading towards Seymour with NO idea where we were going. Josh is not from Knoxville so he basically was depending on me. haha Little did he know I am HORRIBLE with directions. Finally we used my new blackberry and found the house. We could tell from the smoke this was not going to have a happy ending. There was a lot of smoke and the fire officials were not letting many people near. This 3-story log home was a complete loss. No one was home at the time of the fire. After the firefighters got the fire under control they allowed us to go right up to the house and get some video footage. I also did a stand-up piece. This stand-up was unique because I completely made it up myself in like 2 minutes. Talk about nerve racking but I felt really good about the finished product.

After we finished at the house fire, Josh and I returned to Aisle Nine to finish their grand opening story. Josh taught me to use the camera and I filmed his stand-ups. I also got to film my second stand-up for the day. That evening when I turned on the 11 PM news, there I was pretending to “shop” on camera. At first I was not so sure about working with a new reporter, but I feel as if I learned more on this day than any other day!

Downtown Knoxville finally has a grocery store

By Josh Ault

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=12585901

Partner in crime, Josh Ault

What was left of the house...

Thursday, June 3, 2010

This is a day I will never forget. It was an extremely exhausting day both physically and emotionally. Jill was originally given a story about a break-in at a local baseball park but that changed quickly. Breaking news came into the station that 2 Bearden High School boys had been killed in a car accident in Tifton, Georgia. Immediately I was asked by our assignment producer to help Jill on this story. I made a few phone calls and sent a few messages out on Facebook before leaving the station with Jill. We were able to get a few interviews with close friends of the boys. Jill went live at 5PM from the high school as there was still conflicting news coming in from the police and the hospital.

This was not only my first story on a deadly car accident but also my first story that hit close to home. Emotions definitely came in to play. I must say that this truthfully made me realize that this job would not always be easy. People are not always going to agree with the stories I report. Some may feel that I get too deep into people's emotions. Although I deeply care about others and their feelings, that is the nature of the news industry. As much as some people disagree, it is all about who you know in this industry and I am going to use my connections if they help me develop a story deeper.

2 Bearden High School students dead after South Georgia crash

By Jill McNeal

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=12590091

3rd Week!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

With Memorial Day weekend approaching, Mona decided to run a story on Rockin' the Docks. Rockin' the Docks is an annual event that is held every Memorial Day weekend but this year it had to be cancelled due to the lack of sponsorship. Mona, Brian, and I went to Lenoir City Parks & Recreation to get more information and conduct interviews. We traveled out to Fort Loudon Lake for another interview with a lady who has come with her family since the event started 10 years ago. After the interviews I got the opportunity to shoot another stand-up. The plan was to take my stand-ups, the interviews, and footage of the event from previous years and turn it into my first package but on our way back to the station, Mona got orders to go to Morristown. She would be investigating further on the Morristown church embezzlement case. I decided not to follow Mona on this story and went back to the station to help Beth write for the 11PM show.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

This day by far was the most interesting yet. It definitely started out unusual with a little bit of drama, but I will be professional and not go into detail. Mona was sent back to Morristown to further investigate the Morristown church embezzlement case she had been working on. We first met with the Register of Deeds and received valuable information. Next we went to the house of Barbara Witt, the church secretary charged with stilling $1.5 million from the church. No one was home but we did get an interview with the neighbor. He also allowed us to shoot footage of her home from the his back yard. I also got the opportunity to shoot another stand-up for my resume video. I definitely felt a lot more comfortable doing this one and thought it turned out pretty decent. We spent most of the day in Morristown and did not get back to the station until the end of my shift. This day went by fast!

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=12550336

Thursday, May 27. 2010

Today was probably the most uneventful yet. I had the opportunity to go with Mona to Deer Lodge, Tennessee for a story on a volunteer fire department that is struggling to stay in operation because of the economy. I decided not to go because it was far away from the station, but I have now decided I will never turn down an offer to go out on a story again. I had planned on going out with Jill but she ended up having to take a live truck that did not have 3 seats in it. I did get the opportunity to teleprompt the 5, 5:30, and 6 o'clock shows. This is an experience every time. I always seem to mess up somehow, but I am definitely learning from my mistakes.

2nd Week!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

This day began my second week at WATE. This was the first day I worked after the Coleman trial so things were not near as crazy as my first week. After the rundown meeting I followed Mona and Brian to USI Motors in West Knoxville. On our way there we got a call that there was a lawn mower accident at my old high school, Bearden High. Luckily the high school was right next to the car dealership. We arrived at Bearden to learn that there was no real story to report on after all. The principal and teachers all recognized me and definitely gave me a hard time about coming out for such a pointless incident. I just had to explain that when we hear something important/interesting on the scanners, we jump on it immediately. It's something only reporters would understand. :-) We were now heading to USI Motors to report on 3 missing exotic cars totaling over 500,000 dollars! Mona went live at 5 and of course did an awesome job. Tuesday started out extremely busy, but ended up slower than usual.

Wednesday, May 18, 2010

The rundown meeting was quite different on this day. I guess you could say it was a pretty quiet day in the news. This could definitely be a good thing for the community, but can make it difficult to produce a full newscast. With this, the reporters began throwing story ideas on the table. Mona had suggested a story a few days before on a local strawberry festival. Funny enough, our news director, Jamie, approved. He told her that if she did a package on this festival, she must make it a "hard" news story. Once again, Mona, Brian, and I hopped into the car and drove to Morristown, Tennessee. Mona decided to make the story "hard" news by reporting on the various weather issues some strawberry farms have experienced this season. Tennessee actually had a great year, but there were many states that experienced freezing temperatures in April ruining their crops. After Mona interviewed multiple people and Brian got some good shots of the crops, the head farmer gave us a huge basket of strawberries to share with the station. This was such a fun story to report on and definitely showed me how to turn a "dayside" story into "hard" news.

Morristown farm ready for strawberry festival despite tough season

By Mona Nair

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=12511545

Expect to see more of these type of pictures :-)

Mona reporting on strawberries

Thursday, May 20, 2010

This Thursday started out pretty slow. I did not go with Mona because I had already made plans with the sports department to go help shoot a soccer game later in the evening. After working on a few small things I asked Jill McNeal, another nightside reporter, if I could go with her to interview the parents of Channon Christian. Channon Christian was the girl murdered in January 2007 along with her boyfriend, Chris Newsom. The Coleman trial I blogged about last week was in relation to this murder. Jill was interviewing Channon's parents for a golf tournament they were putting on in memory of their daughter. The Christian's were very sweet people. I enjoyed getting to meet them and learning from a new reporter.

Channon Christian Memorial Golf Tournament

By Jill McNeal

http://www.wate.com/global/story.asp?s=12518766

Jill interviewing Mr. Christian

Mrs. Christian (pink)

Jill McNeal reporting

After the interview at Willow Creek Golf Course, I went straight over to Farragut High School for the soccer game. I met Prentice, one of the sports reporters there to help film the game. Before the game started, Prentice allowed me to shoot a few stand-ups for my resume video. These clips will not be on local TV, but I will use them when I apply for jobs in 2 years. These were the first of many and I am not going to lie, I LOVED being on that side of the camera!

My First Week!

I want to begin by saying I wish I could be done with college NOW and start working as a news reporter TODAY! I guess I don't even have to mention the fact that I absolutely LOVE this internship! :-) This summer I have the opportunity to work with WATE 6-News, an ABC affiliated station in Knoxville, Tennessee. I have the opportunity to do pretty much everything but be on camera. I will shadow reporters as they do live shots and conduct interviews. I will also work with the producers to write stories that the anchors read on camera.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

I began my morning with a cycling class at National Fitness Center. Funny enough, I ran into Matt Hinkin, WATE's head meteorologist, who was also taking cycle. He was extremely nice and made me feel like I was going to be welcomed at WATE that afternoon.

I entered the station around 2PM that afternoon very nervous yet SO excited. The first event of the day was the daily rundown meeting which is held daily at 2:30PM. This is where everyone gets together to discuss basically what news stories they are working on for the different shows that evening. The different producers discuss what stories they want for their show and in what order they would like them to run. After this, the anchors and reporters talk about what they have been working on and/or their plans for different stories. On this day, I just sat and observed, but I plan to throw story ideas out during this meeting in the near future.

After the meeting, I was introduced to Mona Nair, a night side reporter. Mona is absolutely fabulous! You will hear me talk about her a lot. On Tuesday, Mona was working on a smoke detector story. I followed her around as we went to the local fire station for an interview and then to Target for her stand-up and to get some video footage of their smoke detector section. Oh and must I not forget to mention Brian. Brian is the night side camera guy who is hilarious. I am sure he will be discussed in a lot of my posts throughout this experience, also.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

This day was quite different from the first. I stayed in the studio all day working closely with the producers. I worked the teleprompter for the 5:00, 5:30, and 6:00 newscasts. This is the screen in which the anchors read from while reporting the news. Although I have done this with News Source at UGA, I must say this prompter took some getting use to. I did get a little mixed up at times, but Lori Tucker, one of the main anchors, guided me back on track. After the shows, I went back up to the newsroom where Beth, the 11 PM newscast producer, gave me my first story to write. Before I go into this, may I mention that I just recently got accepted into the Grady School of Journalism at UGA and I have not taking one class on reporting/writing, yet. Although I have experience writing in high school, this is NOTHING like what I did in high school. Beth guided me through my first story with lots of help. Next I learned how to pick a sound bite off of a video. I did this for the story on Phillip Fulmer from where he spoke at one of the UT graduation ceremonies. I also got to write the story that Kristin Farley read on the 11PM news that evening. I found it funny that one of the first stories I wrote was on a former University of Tennessee coach. Oh and I forgot to mention that from day one I have received a lot of crap for going to Georgia. I have a feeling it won't ever end... If they only knew. Haha! :-)

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Let me begin by saying this was a CRAZY day at WATE. All week the main focus had been the Vanessa Coleman trial. On this day, Coleman the jury announced their verdict right before I went in to work. The main topic for all the newscast for this evening was the outcome of this trial. I knew immediately there probably would not be much for me to do considering I have already learned when it's a good time to ask for something to do and when it isn't. Thankfully Mona asked me if I wanted to go with Brian and her on her story for the evening. This was an experience might I say before I even go into detail. As we got into the truck that allows the reports to shoot live, we got word a child had his hand stuck in an air conditioner on a school bus. We went to this scene first, but as we approached the scene we found nothing there. Change of plans. I am finding this happens a lot in this industry. Now back to the original plan, "Knoxville Tea Party upset about Al Gore awarded an honorary degree". Mona went live at 5PM at the Worlds Fair Park where the protesters, The Knoxville Tea Party, would meet later that evening. We stayed after she went live and she conducted a few interviews. This was definitely an eye opener for me and made me realize how much you cannot express your opinion or emotions as a news reporter. The following is the link to this story Mona covered today: http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=12480387.

What a first week I had. Everyday I wake up and truthfully look forward to going to work. I cannot express this feeling and how much I look forward to doing this for real in the near future. I know this was a long post, so I hope I didn't bore you. I plan to write more frequently in hopes the posts will be shorter. Thanks for listening. I will post more next week!