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.

            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.

            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 )

             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

            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.

         Sunday morning I was chatting with my mom at the breakfast table. She told me a story of a  friend, who happens to be a Jersey City council man. He was arrested at a concert in DC. She laughed because he was charged with simple assault for allegedly urinating on a crowd of people. I laughed, exchanged jokes, but did not think of breaking the news on my blog. As expected, the  next day it was all over the Jersey City newspapers. To my surprise, later on that evening the story of a Jersey City council man, who couldn’t hold ‘it’ in, hit the wires and reached national coverage.  I guess Steven Lipski learned a hard lesson. If you’re going to be in public eye properly use public restrooms. 

      Now after realizing that I watched a story emerge and explode, one would think I would be able instantly recognize news. Unfortunately that just is not the case. Last night I literally walked straight into news and once again just waited for it to be reported to comment on  it.

     I was walking home from Beau Rivage, the apartment complex next to my apartment in the Campus Crossings. As I was walking home I happened to see a white male sprinting to, where I believed at the time, home. I remember thinking to myself ‘damn he’s ambitious’. It is not uncommon to see a college kid run home when nobody is out to see. Many people do it, and I’ll admit I’ve made the dash home before but no way on monday after 12 hours of work and school.

          I was home for barely ten minutes when my roommate wakes up from the noise of a text. It was from her boyfriend’s brother saying do not leave your apartment. People are running around Crossings robbing people at gun point. Right there, NEWS! But instead of right away processing it as news , I went over thoughts of relief that I JUST missed being assaulted or seeing an assault. Then I thought back to the kid running in front of me as I walking through the C&D lot of my apartment building. Was he running for help? Did he witness something I had missed? Or possibly was he the one that was assaulted? I will never know who that kid sprinting across the Campus Crossings courtyard at around 12:50 last night. But ten minutes later after my roommate’s night altering text message, Rowan University sent out a txt alert letting students know that assaults had taken placed. As the story continued to unfold the local media picked the story up and the story is now getting national attention.

As the saying goes, the first step is identifying your problem. So as I find myself thinking more and more as a journalist, I hope to be able to spot news and put emotions aside and report it when I see it.

              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.