This week’s broadcast 2 class taught me many lessons and inspired me to become a better reporter. I feel as though I have learned more about journalism and how to be a great reporter in these past 2 weeks than I have in my history of journalism classes, which dates back to high school.
The highlight of classes this week was certainly Wednesday’s class. During that class, Greeley Kyle showcased the most amazing series of packages I had ever seen. I believe the rest of our class would agree with my last statement. Several girls were in tears due to the amazing subject material and emotion captured in these stories. The emotions these reporters were able to invoke with their stories made the entire class feel the fear of breast cancer patient who is terminally ill. She was not afraid of dying but of the consequences her death would have on her husband, her 3-year- old daughter, and her newborn son. The reporter at KARE TV in the twin cities made us feel her dread.
The story that I will remember most from this class of masterpiece packages was the package about the soldier who returned from Iraq with the human version of Mad cow disease. The beauty of this package was that the audience never sees the soldier’s face. The audience only sees the seizures shaking his body, and the concerned expressions on the faces of his family. His family has to live daily hoping that the new treatment he has been receiving will help bring him back to the son, the grandson, and husband he used to be.
One thing I learned from these stories is that when you have stories that contain this much emotion, you need to make it more about the subjects. You need to let the subjects tell the story.
One common theme among these stories is that most of them lacked a reporter stand up. A stand up would cause a distraction in packages with this kind of emotional value. The stand up would make the story more about the reporter and less about the people.
These stories inspired me to do more stories that reveal the struggles people face every day; struggles that invoke emotions like those packages on Wednesday.
The breathing exercises we did in Thursday’s class were also extremely helpful. As an aspiring play-by-play announcer these exercises will help me become much better at my job by breathing through my diaphragm.
The lessons I learned in class this week are unforgettable and made me a much stronger journalist.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
NBC News Package
This week I looked a package that I would normally have skipped. However for some reason I decided to watch this package. The package was a news story about appropriate weight gain for pregnant women. The reporter Tracie Potts put together a solid package, however there were some flaws according to what we have learned in broadcast 2.
One positive aspect of this package was the use of visuals and graphics in a story where the B roll opportunities not obvious. Potts, or her editor, made an excellent decision to run the shot of the women stepping onto the scale at the beginning of the package. It encompassed the main point of the package with a strong shot that foreshadowed the rest of the story and provided a chance for nat sound in a story that I’m sure gave Potts a challenge in finding nat sound. The story also gave the audience great information and does a good job telling how it affects the world. This package also did a great job using graphics to cover up the lack of B roll and illustrate a point.
The primary flaw in Potts’ piece was the lack of a central compelling character. Potts interviewed many women about this issue. However, the package only featured one quote from each woman. The package also had too much expert opinion and not enough information from characters the audience can relate to. Also according to class lectures, the stand up at the close of the package is becoming passé.
Overall I was surprisingly captivated by this package. There were some things that could have been improved but every shot tells a different part of the story. The story was also extremely informative, which was its original intention. I give this story a B.
One positive aspect of this package was the use of visuals and graphics in a story where the B roll opportunities not obvious. Potts, or her editor, made an excellent decision to run the shot of the women stepping onto the scale at the beginning of the package. It encompassed the main point of the package with a strong shot that foreshadowed the rest of the story and provided a chance for nat sound in a story that I’m sure gave Potts a challenge in finding nat sound. The story also gave the audience great information and does a good job telling how it affects the world. This package also did a great job using graphics to cover up the lack of B roll and illustrate a point.
The primary flaw in Potts’ piece was the lack of a central compelling character. Potts interviewed many women about this issue. However, the package only featured one quote from each woman. The package also had too much expert opinion and not enough information from characters the audience can relate to. Also according to class lectures, the stand up at the close of the package is becoming passé.
Overall I was surprisingly captivated by this package. There were some things that could have been improved but every shot tells a different part of the story. The story was also extremely informative, which was its original intention. I give this story a B.
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