Some say you are only as good as your competition. To put this theory to the test, I looked at the website for KOMU's competitor KMIZ, ABC 17.
One thing I really liked on KMIZ's home page was the ABC 17 stromtracker. The stromtracker shows a 7-day forecast. It also does a spin off of the Department of Homeland security's terrorist threat level by doing a threatening weather level. This shows the possibility of severe or hazardous weather.
The storm tracker then cycles through photos of some of the major cities in the market, showing the temperature in each particular city. In lecture Jen Reeves told us that the main reason people log onto these websites for weather. If this is ture, than KOMU is seriously lacking. KOMU only shows forecasts for today and tomorrow on its homepage.
KOMU dominates in terms of online reporting. KOMU's web content features stories somplete with quotes and new information about the story that in some instances is different from the video, that accompanies them on the web.
I attempted to review the online videos at KMIZ, however, none of the ones I clicked on worked. The videos would not play. This is a major problem for a news station in this era of online media. KMIZ's web stories were only short blurbs about the story
Without a working video player, KMIZ is significantly behind KOMU in news content in a time in which online journalism is on the rise. However, KMIZ boasts superior weather content.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Learning how KOMU operates
I was at KOMU 8, three times this week. However, I did not do any reporting. This week I learned a lot about how the station works. In recent weeks I learned about the production assistant position.
I did not know the responsibilities of this position. The production assistants are responsible for grabbing national news stories off of a wire service and cutting them into Voice overs for the morning anchors. They also run the teleprompter for the morning show.
This week I also learned about the cut ins shift. Cut ins run at the 25 and 55 minute commercial breaks of the Today show. They are students anchoring these short morning news breaks.
Since I do not remotely resemble a morning person, I had no idea the morning PA shifts and the cut-ins shifts were available. After practicing cut-ins in lab this week, I really want to get up early one morning and do cut-ins.
Eric Blumberg made cut-ins training fun because he tried to throw us off in any way possible. During my practice cut-in the teleprompter would drift in and out. This made me have to look down at my script occasionally and then try to look up at the camera as much as possible.
He threw others off by making occasional changes to the script. This trick worked on some students resulting in hilarious outtakes.
I had fun learning the ropes at KOMU and look forward to reporting there in coming weeks.
I did not know the responsibilities of this position. The production assistants are responsible for grabbing national news stories off of a wire service and cutting them into Voice overs for the morning anchors. They also run the teleprompter for the morning show.
This week I also learned about the cut ins shift. Cut ins run at the 25 and 55 minute commercial breaks of the Today show. They are students anchoring these short morning news breaks.
Since I do not remotely resemble a morning person, I had no idea the morning PA shifts and the cut-ins shifts were available. After practicing cut-ins in lab this week, I really want to get up early one morning and do cut-ins.
Eric Blumberg made cut-ins training fun because he tried to throw us off in any way possible. During my practice cut-in the teleprompter would drift in and out. This made me have to look down at my script occasionally and then try to look up at the camera as much as possible.
He threw others off by making occasional changes to the script. This trick worked on some students resulting in hilarious outtakes.
I had fun learning the ropes at KOMU and look forward to reporting there in coming weeks.
Friday, June 5, 2009
MSNBC package critique
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31128909#31123452
I watched this NBC package and loved the use of sequences throughout the package. The package focused on mother of 13 and grandmother of 6 who just graduated college. I like the story although it was a feature story. However I feel the article tried to make the subject a little bit more inspirational than the story was in reality. As I mentioned I loved the filming and sequences in the package. One thing I would have added or tried to add was when the video discusses her staying up until 1 am studying and taking care of her children if there was video of her trying to study and take care of her kids.
I watched this NBC package and loved the use of sequences throughout the package. The package focused on mother of 13 and grandmother of 6 who just graduated college. I like the story although it was a feature story. However I feel the article tried to make the subject a little bit more inspirational than the story was in reality. As I mentioned I loved the filming and sequences in the package. One thing I would have added or tried to add was when the video discusses her staying up until 1 am studying and taking care of her children if there was video of her trying to study and take care of her kids.
The Royal Treatment Covering Beauty Queens
This week I covered the Miss Missouri pageant in Mexico, Missouri. This was my first trip to the Mexico north of the border. The first time I met someone who said they were from Mexico I asked them how far away from Cozumel they lived. the name is confusing.
I was amazed by how the city of Mexico volunteered its time and effort to making this pageant a success. Everyone involved in putting the pageant together was a volunteer.This crew of volunteers may be one of the top media relations groups I have encountered.
I have covered many Mizzou sporting events, including NCAA playoff soccer, and regional softball games. None of the media relations people who are paid to help people like me have been as good at their job or as friendly as the small group of volunteers from Mexico.
Every request I made was immediately executed. I requested that a survey be distributed to the girls competing for the crown. Two hours later 11 surveys were returned to me completed and filled out. This far exceeded my expectations.
They even had me coordinate my efforts with the people they had commissioned to film the event. Without even having to ask for it, I was introduce to the person who could help me get an interview with Missouri's only Miss America.
The only experience I have had that compares to this treatment was at the Big 12 ebasketball tournament. It is amazing that a group of volunteers can do their job better than people paid to do the same job at national events.
I was amazed by how the city of Mexico volunteered its time and effort to making this pageant a success. Everyone involved in putting the pageant together was a volunteer.This crew of volunteers may be one of the top media relations groups I have encountered.
I have covered many Mizzou sporting events, including NCAA playoff soccer, and regional softball games. None of the media relations people who are paid to help people like me have been as good at their job or as friendly as the small group of volunteers from Mexico.
Every request I made was immediately executed. I requested that a survey be distributed to the girls competing for the crown. Two hours later 11 surveys were returned to me completed and filled out. This far exceeded my expectations.
They even had me coordinate my efforts with the people they had commissioned to film the event. Without even having to ask for it, I was introduce to the person who could help me get an interview with Missouri's only Miss America.
The only experience I have had that compares to this treatment was at the Big 12 ebasketball tournament. It is amazing that a group of volunteers can do their job better than people paid to do the same job at national events.
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