Farewell Post

Prior to my online journalism course, which this blog was required for, I have never blogged before.  I have learned  some great concepts from this experience. Blogging is a fun added element to journalism and although I enjoy it I have decided to let  this blog expire as a public diary of a great experience I once had.

(12/3/08) A House Fire Breaks Out on a Reporter Ryann Day

        As those of you who keep up with my blog may already know, every time one of the three day side reporters have the day off, I get the pleasure of playing the role of an  actual Channel 40 reporter.  I get assigned to work with a cameraman and we go out and cover our assigned stories, keeping in mind certain questions to ask that help me write a story from a particular angle.  Today  we were assigned to cover a story on Chris Kringle visiting some of the nurses of the professional recognition development group of AtlanitCare Medical Center. That’s right, Santa came to visit about 20 nurses who made his nice list this year to thank them for their hard work and dedication to the hospital.

        After that short, sweet, story, Jesse (the cameraman) and I were assigned to cover an Atlantic City press conference with Mayor Langford. As we pulled up to City Hall we got a call from Mark our assignment editor telling us a large fire broke out just several blocks away. Jesse and I headed over to the scene and found a home on McKinely Ave smothered in smoke. 

       Jesse got right to work, capturing images that told a story of their own. Then there was me. Holding the channel 40 mic, at my first fire scene of my life.  I did not know what I was suppose to do, so I just did what comes natural to me, I started talking. I began a conversation with Atlantic City Fire Chief, Dennis Brooks and then talked to everyone around me. I ended up talking to the niece of the woman who just lost her home and from that began talking to the devastated home owner. When Jesse got done with shooting his video I asked him if we should get an interview the chief and then the home owner. Jesse was shocked that I had identified the home owner and was really proud how I handled the situation I was thrown into. It was very rewarding to get such positive feedback.

(12/01/08) United Way’s Call for Help and An Interesting Lunch

           Wednesday at the station we covered a story that seems to be repeating itself. The downturn economy and its effect on the local people. This time our focus was United Way. The nonprofit organization is just one more group that is suffering from the economical tough times. We interviewed representatives from United Way and an affiliated charity that has been effected by the decrease of finical aid.
            As we waited for our scheduled interview we stopped for lunch at a local Sonic, we saw several fire trucks pull into a near by target followed by paramedics and an ambulance. As you can assume lunch got cut short and we followed the flashing lights to find out what was going on.

            A construction worker on the roof of a local building has accidently fallen off the top of the building, slamming onto the black pavement. Although the injured man was transported to a nearby hospital in a medical helicopter,  the property owner did say the worker was going to be okay.

Class Project … More On The 13 Year Old Hero

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The Interview

              A 13 year old’s courageous act turns him into a local celebrity. Modest middle schooler Antonio Cruz says he was just doing what your suppose to do for your family. Cruz saved his 22 year old cousin from drowning in a Millville community lake. It took the teenage hero three attempts to successfully rescue his drowning cousin just this last May. Antonio was recognized with an EMS youth of the year award in October and had a press conference held for him at Lakeside Middle School in Millville earlier today. I sat down the courageous boy to hear the horrifying tale with a happy ending.

 

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11/19/08 The Second Anniversary of 4 Women Murdered Remains Cold

     Today marks the two year anniversary of  Four Atlantic City women found dead in a vacant lot in West Atlantic City.  The investigation of the women who are said to have lived lives of drugs and prostitution remains open with no definite leads and the story continues to stay under national radar.

            NBC 40 Senior Reporter, Phaedra Larid first broke the story in 2006, and now continues to cover updates on the case. I shadowed Phaedra as she reported on the unsolved mystery.

                 To properly cover the story we returned to the watery grave site where the four lifeless bodies were dumped. We also interviewed a defense attorney of a man who had been accused of the crime and spoke with a friend of three out of the four girls, Denis Hill - better known as Sunshine.
       Sunshine by far makes the list of my favorites interviews done with Channel 40. Her honesty and candidness really made me respect her.  Although Sunshine is fighting her own personal problems with addictions she continues to speak out in behalf of the four murdered women, searching for justice. Her concern is that the investigation is not getting as much attention as it should because of the women’s “shady” background.

( Unfortunately the video from this interview is awful because my Flip Cam’s batteries went dead, so I recorded it with my phone )

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11/17/08 Reporter RyAnn Interviews AC Mayor

              Monday at channel 40 I got to play the role of reporter again. I can not stress enough how lucky I am to have the experience of interning at Channel 40. The station is such a great place to be and it has given an immense amount of real life experience.

             Playing the role of reporter, I got assigned to cover a press conference  with Jesse the camera man who I got to work with on last Wednesday. Jesse is great, he lets me dominate the interview and lets me know my strong points while giving constructive criticism.

           Today, I sat in on an Atlantic City Press Conference. I took notes on Mayor Langford speech and interviewed him after. Although I feel that I have strong interviewing techniques, I was pretty nervous because being I am not extremely familiar with the issues that are currently pertinent to Atlantic City

This Week At My Internship. . .

              On Monday we covered a story on the casino revenue number in Atlantic City. To be honest it was not the most interesting story we’ve done so far, but we did get to kill time shopping at the pier! In case you’re wondering the numbers are down, but I’m sure anyone could have guessed that with the troubled economy. 

            Wednesday was one of those days when the station really puts me to work. Channel 40 is great for giving interns  real life experience. Since one of the reporters had the day off, I went out with a cameraman and did all the interviewing a regular reporter would do. I got the privilege of the front seat of the Xterra news truck, and people even thought I was a new reporter to the station. We did a story on the Weymouth Township School using a HP grant to document their interactive classroom experience at the Dorothy Reserve, and also interviewed a representative from the AC Mayor’s office on a coat drive that is being held this month.  I was complimented several times on my interviewing techniques which really meant a lot to me, being the nervous wreck I am about considering a possible career in this field. After we got all of our interviews, we headed back to the station where I then wrote two news stories that  aired on the 5 o’clock, 5:30, and 6 o’clock news.

The Way A Story Breaks…

     News is everywhere and always happening, but isn’t it funny we only credit news to be news when a media outlet picks up the story up? We’re all guilty of it. I just realized today how guilty I actually am. Two big time stories fell in my lap this last week and instead of blogging about it to put a post mark on the timing of my knowledge, I let big time media sources pick it up and now am commenting on an after math.

(11/05/08) Press Conference in Cape May County

          Wednesday’s  assigned story was a great segway from Midget Molley’s tale. We covered a press conference at the  Cape May County’s prosecutor’s office. The conference was held to give awareness to the success of the State’s newest effort to eliminate gang violence. It was an explanation of the other side of Midget Molley’s street-life ‘accomplishments’.

              It is ironic to see that  the once opposing forces have similar goals these days. Police departments are trying to educate troubled youth about the reality of gangs, while Midget Molley uses his personal experience to persuade kids to not follow his life choices.