Fave news story of the day: what one mayor is doing for his city

It seems as though amazing acts of kindness and generosity happen sparingly nowadays. But one New Jersey mayor confirmed that they do happen.

Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker proved that in his line of business, he works for the people. And with help -- no less -- from social media. Booker has taken to his Twitter account to communicate with Newark residents, snowbound and immobile. And not only has he tweeted at and direct message'd a number of individuals. He's also showed up on their doorsteps, at their cars, and on their streets. The New York Daily News reports.

So you want to be in TV news?

This may be a silly video, but it is hilarious in that it's TRUE.

Spreading holiday cheer...from work

I know, I know. It's been a while. But I hope to re-ignite my use of this blog, when I have the time.

That being said, time as reporter, as I have learned, is quite limited. And that includes the holidays. During the holiday season, reporters must make sacrifices: they must choose which holiday they'll be willing to work in exchange for getting off for others. As a Jewish reporter, my sacrifices are less severe. How do I mean? Well, I don't celebrate Christmas. And being that I work in a small bureau alongside one other reporter, who is Christian and celebrates the holiday, I thought it was only fair to let him have the day off to be with his family.

So I worked 6 days this week, including Christmas Eve day and Christmas. (That meant no work over Thanksgiving or New Year's for me.) The work was easy. During the holidays, the stories are light, fluffy, happy, and easy to write and report on. But I'm not going to lie and say I didn't spend most of my shift thinking about all the families and young children who were at home, curled up near a Christmas tree unwrapping gifts.

No, I do not celebrate Christmas. Chanukah is my holiday, and that passed a few weeks ago. But like anyone else, I enjoy Christmas movies, the music, and the overall holiday spirit that comes along with December 25th. And that being said, it was difficult to work through the day. Not to mention being without my own Christmas family tradition: Chinese food and a movie with my family.

In addition to working on my story, I spent the day sending text messages and making phone calls to my friends celebrating the day. I took one for the team. I am not writing this post to complain, but I wanted to make note that even though, the world stops for most people on major holidays, it does not stop for us reporters.

So I worked. I had fun. I put together a nice story, and met some great people today. And maybe next year, I'll get off for Christmas and work another holiday. Maybe not. But that's what it's all about, people: making sacrifices and sending holiday cheer to the ones you love.

Merry Christmas :)

The Summer Slump

It's been a little over three months since I started working, which means I've really only worked full-time so far during the summer. I've covered a lot of interesting things this summer: homicide, marines returning home, festivals galore, hospital mergers, and the discovery of human remains.

But these kind of stories don't happen very often, at least not during the summer. In fact, news in the summer is extremely slow. This is what I like to call the Summer Slump.

It's something about kids and teachers being off from work, the weather, and vacations that make it increasingly difficult to find actual newsworthy things happening. In fact, the other day I called the Chemung County executive for an interview about a story I was working on. Unfortunately, he couldn't do it because he was on vacation in Martha's Vineyard. He did pass me along to his deputy executive. But allow me to note that even HE admitted how slow things are in the summer. Before I got off the phone with him, he said, "It's the last week before Labor Day, so I know there's really nothing going on. But I'm telling you, things will pick up once school starts."

And that got me thinking. Does the entire working world revolve around school, students, and education? Is that why (according to my sources) there's so much more happening during the school year instead of the summer months? Or is it just because of the weather, as people generally take off from work more often in the summertime and plan trips?

I'm not really sure which reason is the right one. But either way, it's been noted among my reporter friends and I that it is SLOW GOING in our area right now. I'm ready to move on from the Summer Slump and hope that come the Fall, we pick up the pace a little bit around here.

When Local News Becomes an Internet Sensation

The following news story was meant to be taken seriously:

For obvious reasons, it was not. It has now become an Internet sensation that's been edited into videos like this:

I can only hope to one day produce an original news story that becomes as hugely popular as this one has. Without all the notoriety and teasing.

Reporters: The Love/Hate Relationship

In the life of a reporter, everyday is different. Each day, we cover different stories in different places and interview different people. That's the beauty of the job. It never really gets old because the day-to-day routine is never exactly the same. This is a common reason why many people in this industry choose to be in this industry. That being said, each day leads to a variety of feedback from viewers.

Depending on the story or the coverage, people seem to have a love/hate relationship with reporters.

For instance, in my two months of work, I have received two emails from different people, thanking me for doing a "wonderful" job on my story. People who emailed me to say my story was well-balanced, included all the details, and that I am a "great" reporter. I am not telling you this to brag, but to explain the "love" part of this love/hate relationship.

And then there's the hate:

Now luckily, nothing this serious has ever happened to me. And I sincerely hope it never does. However, as many times as I've received positive emails about my reporting, I've also had people come up to me, yelling that I should "find something better to cover" with my time. People have questioned where I've gotten my facts and sources. I've been given dirty looks, watched, and stared at.

It's not a good feeling when things like this happen, so when they do I remind myself of the good emails. I think about what I'm doing and how my role as a journalist gives me the right to cover important stories and sent out crucial information to the public. No matter how unnecessary some people think it is for me to cover a particular story, as long as it better informs the public, I know I'm doing the right thing. And their dirty looks or middle fingers won't stop me from doing my job, and doing my job well.

The Standup Struggle

You know when you're watching the news, and the anchor says "Our reporter so-and-so has more on this" and then you see a story that a reporter put together that day? Well, that's a package. You hear the reporter's voice, telling a story, you watch a bunch of video, see interview clips, and somewhere in the middle, you see the reporter. He or she motions to something, thereby telling us something while simultaneously showing it. That's a standup.

It's the reporter's shining moment within the package. An opportunity to be on camera and get creative with his/her story telling.

However, sometime's shooting these standups can get difficult:

See what I mean?

This happened to me last weekend when I covered the Wine Festival at Watkins Glen International. It took me more tries than I'd like to shoot a good standup, and that's when I realized a group of people had surrounded me. They were laughing...but not at me. Some guy behind me was in my shot dancing with his shirt off. Thanks, rude guy. I yelled at him as nicely as I could. As a reporter, I can't afford to be seen as a mean person, but at the same time, I have a job to do. And I can't have my work hindered just because some guy tasted too many wines.

So that's my rant, people. Respect a reporter when they're shooting a standup. After all, we don't bother you while you're at the office, right?

TV Station Competition: Friend or Foe?

I've read countless articles about TV network competition -- the inherent rivalry between ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox. And then there are the cable stations -- MSNBC, FOX News, CNN. Between ratings, viewership, and content, it's clear that people have a lot to say about how each station conducts its news programming. And if these networks are constantly vying for attention, there's no way the people who work at these stations could possibly get along, right?

Well, that's questionable.

That may be the case in large market likes NYC (market #1) or LA (market #2) , where a high concentration of viewers makes the competition more intense, but from what I've seen, this isn't necessarily the case in small markets.

For instance, I work for YNN (Your News Now), a 24-hours cable news network featuring local news from the Central New York/Southern Tier/Northern Country area. I work in the Elmira-Corning bureau (market #176), where we compete with WETM (the local NBC affiliate) and WENY (the local ABC affiliate).

In the five weeks I've been here, I've made friends with people from both WETM and WENY. Since we all cover the same stories, we inevitably run into each other, and over time, those run-ins turn into friendships. I exchange phone numbers with reporters from the other stations and hang out with them when I'm not working.

Needless to say, in a small market, in which the reporters are generally young, fresh, and still very much in the learning stages of the industry, the competition is not so much "competition," but more of a friend. We understand each other by understanding the nature of our jobs. For reporting newbies like us, sometimes it's more important that we report on the most newsworthy events rather than worry about our stations' ratings.

Live twice in one week! And here's the video to prove it!

Once again, I had the opportunity to go live! Doing it twice in one week -- when you work in a bureau (Corning) two hours away from the main hub (Syracuse) -- is pretty rare, so I took advantage of the opportunity. Due to the IndyCar races at Watkins Glen International this weekend, I was a busy reporter. Luckily, some of the sports reporters came as well and covered the race, while I got to do news angles of the event (i.e. what else fans can do while they're visiting/camping out at the racetrack and how excited fans are for the final race). So here's the video to the live hit I did this Saturday...enjoy!

**Note: I've had trouble playing this clip, though it seems to work if you pretty the "play" arrow on the bottom left of the screen, rather than the big one in the center.

We're doin' it live!

I went into work yesterday, thinking "It's my Friday!" (I have Thursdays and Fridays off each week, so Wednesdays are my "Fridays.") I was also thinking how great I had the whole day planned out. I planned to do a feature piece on the late Bob Wagner, who founded and built Wagner Vineyards, one of the first wineries on Seneca Lake. He passed away this past Saturday, and I had plans to talk about him and the legacy he was leaving behind with his son and daughter. I also had a few other stories I was planning to work on.

That all changed when I checked my fax machine upon arriving to the office and immediately got a phone call from my boss. A major 9-injury car accident had happened early Wednesday morning. The passengers were 9 teenagers who were driving home from an underage drinking party.

My profile piece was scrapped and I had 2-and-a-half hours to speak with the County Sheriff, get footage of the car, footage of the scene, and hopefully interviews with the neighbors. Everything moved extremely fast, from the time I arrived at the Sheriff's office -- where I got directions to the scene of the accident -- to the time a live truck was sent to me from Binghamton.

About an hour after I first received that phone call from my boss, I was informed that a live truck would be sent to me. OH MY GOD was really the only thing I could think. I had never gone live before (unless you count one Skype live shot my last semester at school), and all I could do was thank the universe I remembered my IFB (the ear plug that would allow me to communicate with the anchor and people in the control room).

Needless to say, going live was not something I expected to be doing yesterday. After I finished interviewing the Sheriff and got video of the impounded vehicle, I had a good 20 minute drive. Normally, when I'm driving around, I'm blasting Top 40 radio in my company car, but yesterday, the music was turned down low and instead, I compiled a mental list of the most important facts of my story. I talked to myself over and over again as if I were doing the live shot in order to talk it out and come up with the best way to include as much information in as little time as possible.

By the time the live truck operator arrived and set up, I had another 25 minutes to really get everything together. I don't know how I did it, but it happened. I hooked up the IFB and said hello to the anchor and also spoke with a woman in the control room. Normally, our station does "look lives," in which we're not actually live, but the "live" hit is recorded and then airs 2 minutes later. That way, you can still try it again if you mess up. But when the person in the control room told me they were actually taking me LIVE, I knew this was for real. I couldn't mess up, and if I did, I just had to keep on going.

As it turned out, I pretty much aced it! The hit warranted a big "YAY!" from me and even a call from my producer who complimented me. My brother saw me on TV, as did my college roommate's boyfriend. Overall, it was a pretty epic moment for me and an extremely successful day.

**NOTE: The live hit had since been available on my station's site, but has since been updated.

The News Never Stops...so my work doesn't either

It has been five weeks since I began work as a TV reporter for YNN (Your News Now, the 24-hour cable news network for Central New York). In those five weeks, I have had the opportunity to cover a variety of stories, some light and fluffy, others interesting and political, and others sad, violent, or gruesome. One thing I've learned since I've started is that's what reporting is all about. You never know what your story's going to be, and you have to be ready to adapt and cover any sort of piece that comes your way.

The fact of the matter is the news never stops. It is a revolving door of random happenstances and as a news reporter, I must be ready to cover whatever comes my way...

I work in Corning, NY, a small city about 20 minutes west of Elmira and an hour west of Binghamton. It's not the most exciting place to cover news stories, but it allows me -- as a new reporter -- to learn, make mistakes, and get creative with what I do. There are some days I really have to think about what I'm covering, or what I'm going to cover, and how I will make it interesting and informative to the viewer. There are other days where the stories speak for themselves, and putting it together is simple.

But every once in a while, a completely crazy story will come along, and those are the most exciting, nerve-wracking, and educational. Last Sunday night, on Father's Day, a murder took place in Bath, NY (just 20 minutes away). My co-worker received a call from our news station at 3:30am to come into work and cover. I normally don't go into work on Mondays until 2pm, but I also received a call and was in the office by 11:15am. It was a 12-hour day for me, and a 15-hour day for my co-worker.

Needless to say, it's not everyday a murder happens in such a small town, so when it does, it's a huge deal. In this case, police say Bryan Ashline, 23, stabbed his ex-girlfriend, Trieste Clayton, 25, and their 3-month-old son, Xavier Ashline, to death. A double homicide...my fourth week on the job and there I was covering a double homicide. It was horrifying for multiple reasons:

• I had never covered anything like this in my college reporting days.
• I still don't have much knowledge of the local legal/judicial terms, which meant I didn't know the jargon being thrown around.
• I was 10-feet away from an alleged murderer who still had blood underneath his fingernails.
• I had to interview close friends and loved ones of those who were murdered and couldn't stop crying, along with angry people cursing, screaming, and wishing the worst on Ashline.

That day was a real shock into the world of news. I had to be able to go with the flow and deal with emotionally fired-up people. I also had to sensitively cover a gruesome, violent story and be sure to use the appropriate words so I wouldn't get in trouble journalistically.

But besides that, I also learned that where the news is, so I am. It didn't matter that I wasn't supposed to come to work until 2pm. I got the call from my assignment editor while I was driving to the gym, and I simply had to turn around, change my clothes, and go to work instead. As a news reporter, the news owns me. My work revolves around it. I will move my schedule around however necessary to be where I need to be when I need to be there. The news never stops, so my work doesn't either.

**Fun fact: In the midst of writing this blog post, I received a call about an interview I was trying to set up. After making a few more calls and trying to plan ahead for a feature story I'm working on, I made plans to go into work 3 hours early this Wednesday. That's just the way it is.

Are 20-30 Days of Mandatory Time Off from Work a Possibility?

On my first day at my first "real" job reporting, I sat through an online "webinar" orientation which informed me of my rights, responsibilities, and perks as an employee of a Time Warner Cable news operation. One of those perks, of course, was time off. And no matter how I excited I am to have gotten hired, to be working at my job, and to thoroughly enjoy it, vacation time was a huge concern for me. No matter where it is I'm working, I want to know I'll be able to take time off for a religious holiday or Thanksgiving. I am guilty of already thinking of time off from work before even starting it, and at first I felt guilty. But after watching this video, I realized I shouldn't have.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

(via @CBSNews)

It is only natural to want and even NEED time away from the office. I was unaware of the possible legislation that would mandate time off, but now that I am, I'm all for it! This is not because I'm a lazy Gen-Y'er who wants to party with my girlfriends on a beach or who expects a romantic getaway with my boyfriend every once in a while. This is because Americans are some of the hardest working people in the world. If the French, Germans, and Italians are on par with us in terms of success, productivity, and stability, we, too, should have 20-30 mandatory vacations days no matter what your job is.

What do you think?

KTLA Reporter Gets Parking Ticket on Live TV

(via @huffingtonpost)

The Difference Between a TV Reporter and Print Journalists? THE BEAUTY OF VIDEO

In the midst of training for my new job as a Video Journalist (TV reporter) at YNN-Syracuse in the Corning, NY bureau, my friends asked me, "Why do you need to train?" It became clear to me how unclear it is to others exactly what my job entails. This is why I feel as a journalist -- one who informs and communicates to the public -- it is my duty to explain what separates the role of a TV reporter from a print journalist: VIDEO.

As a journalist, writing is an essential skill. Before I was hired, I took a 90-minute writing test. From that, my bosses determined I had already acquired this skill set. But they didn't expect me to start working immediately to produce multiple news stories 5 days a week. Their mentalities were as follows:

"As long as you can write, great. We'll teach you the rest."

And teach me, they have been. During my time interning with YNN and studying at Syracuse University, I've learned to use multiple cameras and operate various video editing programs. But that doesn't mean I know how to use every kind of camera and every kind of editing program that exists.

You see, a video journalist in a small town must "one-man band," which means not only must I know how to write, but I also have to record video of myself, my interviewees, and other things that pertain to the story, then come back to the station, write the story, voice the story, and edit all those little video pieces together...MYSELF. I don't have a camera crew, nor do I have a video editor. Everything that airs on the evening news is something I've put together completely on my own.*

I have to make sure the people I interview speak clearly and well. I have to look put together and appropriate to appear onscreen myself. But most importantly, I have to get the shot. When something happens, I have to be there, and I have to get it on video; otherwise it's useless. If I miss an event, or the audio on my camera isn't working, or my video is blurry, too dark, or too bright, it's a complete waste. What airs on TV not only has to be newsworthy, but it also has to look good.

So far this week, I've spent two days learning how to operate a camera. I've learned all over again how to frame interview shots correctly, how to light them, how to prepare the camera for shooting both inside and outside. Re-learning all the techniques I learned in class two years ago -- and then some -- is proving to me how crucial the video is. After all, a picture is worth 1,000 words, right?

So, friends, that is why I'm in training. That is why I'm not immediately covering and producing stories on my own yet. It's a process, a learning curve. I probably won't be covering stories on my own until later next week, and I'm okay with that. I understand that in my business, the picture is as important as the story. It's all about the video, and I'm just doing my best to capture it the right way.

*NOTE: This is not to say that every station and every reporter operates this way. Reporters with seniority may always get photographers to go out and shoot video for them. In larger stations in larger cities, many reporters do get help, but when you're in your first, second, and maybe even third job, you're generally on your own.

Wearing the Worst Outfits on the BEST Stories

I somehow have a knack for dressing cute on the days we go out on the most interactive stories. Last time, I wore a dress when Joleene and I went Spring skiing. Friday, I wore a skirt and canvas flats when Karen and I went to a farm.

A new report had come out the day before that the National Milk Producers Federation was pushing the FDA to use the word "milk" for dairy products only. This includes milk that comes from animals, but not from soybeans, almonds, or any other plants.

So we talked to a local farmer, Mark Tucker, in Skaneateles, who told us he agreed that the wording should be changed. He felt the drinks that came from plants should be called either "imitation milk" or "juice." Unlike milk from animals, soy milk and almond milk don't have as many nutrients or as much protein, according to Tucker.

However, the owner of Natur-Tyme, a health food store that Karen visited the day before to shoot some interviews, believed the whole thing was nonsense. She said it was over-the-top and a little excessive to change to which products the word "milk" applies. She pointed out that in Webster's Dictionary, the definition of "milk" applies to the juices that come from plants as well.

It was an interesting story and did I mention AWESOME because we went to a farm! I played with cows and kittens and learned a lot of fun facts, like:

1. A baby cow can stand up and walk after only 30 minutes of being born.

2. A baby cow is a calf, but a young cow is a heffer.

3. Farm cats are smaller than normal cats because they're so active.

Friday was my last day interning at YNN. But keep posted for more news, updates, and videos! I will be uploading my last few packages this week, and I will begin working for YNN within the month! Stay tuned!

It Ain't Over Til It's Over

In a journal entry dated 4-28-10:

Another eminent domain story was upon Kat and I. Instead of heading to Auburn, we drove to the Village of Cayuga, but we quickly learned this was a much different story from what was happening in Auburn.

The NY Dept. of Conservation (DEC) has been pushing the village to construct a waste water treatment plant that would replace its current lagoon system and further protect Cayuga Lake. The DEC carefully studied the village and came up with three potential sites for the plant. They ultimately picked the one least likely to contain archaeological remnants or have environmental issues...and that land was on the 18-acre property of Jeffrey and Kim Walker.

Kat and I attended tonight's public hearing, at which the village board decided to start on paperwork that would go toward declaring eminent domain on the property. But the village still had high hopes of negotiating with the Walkers and working out some sort of deal.

Jeffrey Walker was late to the meeting, but when he finally arrived, we got a chance to talk with him about what was going on with his land. Surprisingly he was very amenable and willing to let the village use close to 3 acres of his land for the waste water plant. He said he understood why eminent domain would be considered in terms of public service projects and was okay with that. The mayor stressed that eminent domain would be a last ditch effort.

The main reason the village board decided to start on eminent domain paperwork is because they are on a strict deadline.

Initially, they were not planning on coming to any sort of agreement or vote about the eminent domain issue, but as reporters, Kat and I were glad they did. It made for a more interesting and informative story. We also learned it ain't over til it's over since it took the board three times to open and close the meeting until they finally made a decision about what to do.

Nothing Like a Little Spring Cleaning

On Friday, I knew I'd be going out on a story with Karen because Joleene was out for vacation. As we sat in the morning news meeting and I overheard one of the reporters say this week was "one of the slowest" he could remember "in a long time," I realized we wouldn't be covering any significant piece of hard new.

But it was a fun day regardless because Karen and I went to Strawberry Farms in Clay for the major community garage sales the development holds every year. Many families and homes held garage sales, and as usual, hundreds of people stopped by the neighborhood for some bargain hunting.

Vendors told us people starting coming to their houses at 5:30am and continued throughout the day to scope out clothes, furniture, books, and toys. People parked a mile outside Strawberry Farms just to get in. Ice cream trucks were parked down the street to make the most of the heat and craziness.

We put an economic spin on our story, asking shoppers and buyers whether or not they think the economic recession is over, why they thought people were coming to the garage sales this year, and if there were more or less people attending than in years prior. As it turns out, there were mixed opinions on whether or not the recession was ending, but some did think there were more at the sales than usual since the cheaper, the better!

It wound up being a quick, easy story to turn, which allowed for a lot of girly bonding back at the station between all the reporters and made the day really enjoyable!

School Budgets: A Rising Trend

It's happening all over the country, all over the state, and definitely throughout Central New York. Schools are making enormous budget cuts, eliminating teachers, and extra-curricular activities because they simply don't have the money, nor do they know how much the state will be giving them.

This was the issue at hand at last night's school budget meeting in Hannibal, a small, rural town about 45 minutes outside Syracuse. Last night, the board unanimously passed the budget at $25,462,989 with a 2.99% tax levy. Because the town has yet to learn how much money it will be receiving from the state, these numbers are still up in the air, and the tax rate (which is comprised of a formula determined by the tax levy and number of assessed homes) is unknown as well.

Kat and I interviewed parents, students, the superintendent, and president of the board, who explained by proposing this budget, the district is asking for enough to get by but not so much that the state wouldn't pass it...he hopes.

But students and parents are hoping for more. So much has been cut from the district in the past few years (marching band, foreign languages, music and English teachers), they said they really can't afford to lose any more. These students are dependent upon their education and extra-curriculars in order to move forward with higher education.

Kat went live with the story at 11pm, and we left the school to return to the station by midnight. It was a late night, but another interesting school budget story that brought gloom to parents and high hopes for an improved economy in the near future.

Last night was an intense night for Hannibal, but it's not unlike anything we've seen in Syracuse City School District, Liverpool, and other districts in the area. A public hearing will take place May 11th, with a final vote on May 18th.

Fulton, NY: Losing Chocolate, Factories, and Jobs

In a journal entry dated 4-16-10:

I could tell immediately today was going to be an odd day at YNN. Everyone was pretty quiet at the morning news meeting, there weren't a whole lot of fresh ideas brought to the table, and Joleene didn't show her normal chipper attitude.

It had been announced yesterday that New York Chocolate & Confection in Fulton had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company had taken over the former Nestle plant in 2003, but because of embezzlement and financial issues, the work never really got underway.

Joleene and I researched the issue as much as possible and headed to Fulton in Oswego County to figure out how we could turn a package on it. We also got some insight from Andy, one of the Oswego County reporters who just so happened to be covering for someone in Syracuse that day. He knew a bit about the situation and was able to inform us of some of the details.

We interviewed a woman at the BOCES in Fulton to see if there had been an increase in people looking to train for future employment, but she didn't really speak to the Chocolate Factory issue, so our interview didn't amount to much. It was also an awkward interview since the PR and higher-ranked people at BOCES were in the room, observing our interview, making sure the woman didn't leak any information she shouldn't have.

Eventually we left, but with no word back from the Fulton mayor, we didn't have enough for a whole story, and we went back to the station. (Though not before making three pitstops on a search for chocolate covered pretzels before finally settling for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!)

I spent the rest of the day writing a VOSOT for air about the National Grid President who spoke at the New York Energy Symposium.

It was disappointing that we weren't able to make the story happen, but it has been updated on the YNN web site since. Here's the link.

Noted

"We've reached the point where the entertainment divisions are doing the news and the news divisions are doing the entertainment." -ABC News correspondent, Robert Krulwich

When Stories Are In Sync With My Life...

In a journal entry dated 4-14-10:

I was hoping that today, as a Wednesday, would not be one of my typical Wednesdays interning at YNN. This is because usually Wednesdays tend to be filled with problems, failures in finding a successful story, and coverage mishaps. Luckily for Kat and I, today was different...in a good way!

Kat and I went to Le Moyne College to do a story on graduating seniors looking for jobs in the current economy. It was a pretty light, basic story to cover on a slower news day, and the package came out looking pretty good. For the first Wednesday ever, I was able to complete my entire package, but that probably had to do with the fact that we had already shot everything and returned to the station by 6:00ish.

That being said, we spoke to someone from their Career Service department and variety of Le Moyne seniors. What we learned is that the job market is still down 15% from where it was two years ago. But considering how bad it was for graduates last year, it has actually improved 5% from last year.

Students do seem worried about finding jobs in their field, and are therefore keeping their options as open as possible. Both the students and career counselor told us the best thing one can do is make their resumes stand out, either by completing as many internships as possible or being involved on-campus.

As someone graduating from school in May, this story was completely relevant for me and piqued my interest. Luckily, I was also hired Monday as a VJ (Video Journalist) at YNN in the bureau in Corning, NY. My job search has officially ended :)

A Day Cut Short

In a journal entry dated 4-9-10:

Today was a pretty rough day for me. I sat in our daily morning meeting at YNN (formerly News 10 Now), where we discussed story ideas for the day. Joleene and I would be checking on one thing quickly and then covering another, FUN story.

First we drove to the SUNY-ESF campus and shot some video of construction workers moving one of their Abraham Lincoln statues to another part of a campus for a short VO story. Then we got ready to go to a parade in Clinton Square for Vera House's White Ribbon Campaign to spread awareness of abuse. In this parade, men walk a mile in women's shoes to metaphorically understand their daily pain and struggle.

Unfortunately, I was not feeling well at all. Instead I was interviewed by the station's general manager and news director, Ron, for the VJ (video journalist) position I applied for. Then I went home. Too bad I didn't get to do the story with Joleene because it would have been fun, but it just wasn't an option for me.

Live from Auburn...it's Wednesday night!

Meetings are something I've noticed as a sort of trend for nightside reporters to cover, and tonight was no different. Kat and I went to Auburn with Ben and the live truck to cover a story about developer Pioneer Industries trying to build a Hilton Garden Inn on a piece of land in Auburn currently owned by three different people/families.

Eminent domain is on the table right now, as the owners of a vacant lot, a Chinese restaurant, and a dog grooming business are trying to keep their land as developers try to take control of it with the help of the Auburn Industrial Development Authority (AIDA).

Last night, Pioneers' President David Murphy announced he started to make deals with both the Wards, who own the dog grooming business, and the Jangs who own the Chinese restaurant (and their own apartment above it). At this point, the general deal would allow the dog grooming business to stay, but would force the Jangs to relocate their home and restaurant to another part of the city.

Right now, parties are still trying to work out specifics and details of the agreement, so nothing is set in stone yet. Last night, they AIDA board said eminent domain wasn't off the table yet, but they're holding off voting until next month.

It was a pretty crazy meeting, which forced the AIDA board to go into Executive Session in the middle. It was a perfect time for us to get interviews with Doug Ward, the dog grooming business owner, and the Jangs' attorney. After the meeting ended, we also spoke with David Murphy, Pioneer president.

Then it was time to go live, shoot our stand-ups in front of Auburn City Hall, edit in the live truck, and do another live hit at around 9:45. It was a really long night, and maybe unnecessarily so since we had time to drive back to Syracuse. Overall, it was a complicated but interesting story to cover, and definitely not something that's going away anytime soon.

One of the Best I've Ever Had

Let me start by saying yesterday was AWESOME. Now I will continue by saying that yesterday was one of those days during which I thought to myself, "This is why I'm in this business. This is why I love my job." Or future job I should say.

I got to the station, and it was a pretty slow news day because of Good Friday. Not much was going on except Easter preparation...until Joleene noticed "Greek Peak Skiing" written on our idea board. What is that about? Well we went there and found out!

Joleene and I, who were both coincidentally wearing skirts yesterday, headed to Greek Peak Ski Resort in Cortland to do a feature story on spring skiing. Now, on an 80 degree day, we didn't expect to see many skiers, and there weren't but there were enough to find out all about it. Here are some things we learned:

• Spring skiing is more popular than you would think.
• It generally lasts until mid-April in the CNY area.
• The snow is leftover natural and man-made snow from the season. There's less of it, and it's less compact, but it's still skiable.
• Only the season pass ticket holders and die-hard skiers ski regularly in the spring.

In order to get some good shots, Joleene and I went up in the ski lift...and needed to get ski socks and rent skis to do it. However, I've never actually been skiing before, so for me, this was amazing. Unfortunately, for insurance reasons, we couldn't ride the lift back down the mountain again, so some of the Greek Peak patrolmen drove snowmobiles to the top and drove us back down when we got there.

Amazingly, I didn't fall when I got off the lift! Though wrapping my legs around a patrolman driving me on a snowmobile -- in a skirt -- was a bit interesting.

We finally got back to the station by 2:00, at which point I had a job interview with my boss. I was still able to turn my SOT-based package by 5, and it was a GREAT day.

Here's Joleene's version of the story. PS: I shot her stand-up on the lift!

Saying Bye to Syracuse's Gem

I arrived at YNN (formerly News 10 Now) last night hoping for a good story to cover. I attended the monthly meeting with the entire staff, chatted with Joleene Des Rosiers for a bit since we hadn't seen each other in a few weeks. For the next couple of hours, I read up on the meeting we would be attending at 7pm.

In the Town of Dewitt, a law went into effect in January that prohibits people from parking large RVs or boats in their front lawns or driveways in a residential area. However, residents can petition to have their area exempt from the law as long as they have 50 signatures. We were to attend a meeting, detailing the process the zoning of these two potentially exempt areas in Dewitt.

Initially, we hadn't realized that people had already begun the petition process. When we learned the story was different than originally anticipated, we decided to just VOSOT and not package it.

We got shots of people with boats and RVs in their driveways, a few interviews with people from the Town Planning Board and Dewitt residents, shots of the meeting and headed back to the station. We had about an hour there before we left to go to Doc's Little Gem Diner, which Kat and I had previously covered.

A staple in Syracuse, Doc's Little Gem has been on the market for a few weeks but no one has made a formal offer to purchase the restaurant. Francis "Doc" Good told us if he had been able to get loans to expand the space, it would have remained open but he just didn't have the money.

"Doc" announced earlier yesterday that he would be closing the restaurant at 10pm. We went live outside the restaurant at 10pm, where Kat interviewed one of the last customers to eat at the restaurant. "Doc" had to keep the place open later because of all the people who came out last night to support him and say goodbye.

We stayed til 11pm to see if it would still be open, which it was. But the waitress had closed out the last check, and asked "Can we smoke now?"

"Light up!" Doc said, and he closed his gem forever.

Feeling like a producer

This morning started off interestingly enough. I joined Karen Lee at a Syracuse Police Department press conference, where Sgt. Tom Connellan and Chief Frank Fowler updated the local media on two recent cases.

Update #1: Last night's shooting on Ellis St. on the West Side left one injured and one in critical condition today. Richardo Davis, 21, is on life support at University Hospital after receiving multiple gunshot wounds. The other victim, Tyrone Mulligan Jr., 18, was already treated and released for a single gunshot wound. The shooting was a drive by, and there was possibly a third party with Davis and Mulligan. No suspects or motives have been determined.

Update #2: Asa Holiday, 29, was arrested yesterday and arraigned this morning for sexually assaulting a 69-year-old woman in her home on March 8th. The assailant was invited into the victim's house after he posed as a construction worker in need of food and something to drink. Amazingly, the woman was able to fight off the 6'2" 190 lb. man with her bare hands.

Karen went live outside the Public Safety Building at noon, and we headed back to the station. I spend the rest of the day writing VOSOT versions of the stories we covered and VOSOTs and RDRs for air. I felt like a producer with all the scripts I was writing. It was fine, but it confirmed that producing is something I'm not interested in. I'm all for reporting.

I also was given a writing test by my boss, Steve, for a video journalist/reporter position I applied for. I had 90 minutes to write 5 RDRs/VOSOTs.

I'm looking forward to hearing from him about the stories, and seeing what comes of the job opening. I still have to get my reel to Steve, but told him I could have it in by next week or the week after.

Wish me luck!

Long Night, Lots of Stories

When there are no reporters to go out with at a news station, it makes things a little difficult for an intern. Last night at News 10 Now (now officially YNN - Your News Now), neither my Executive Producer or my reporter, Kat, were there. I thought I'd be stuck shadowing the producers all night, but luckily Jim, the photog, took me out on a few stories.

Initially we were to go to Syracuse's Hancock International Airport, where the Syracuse Chamber of Congress set up welcome tables to greet fan flying in for the NCAA Basketball Tournament games to be held this weekend at the Carrier Dome.

We did go to the airport, but not before covering some breaking news. Jim and I headed over to a J.P. Morgan parking lot in Cicero, where a man lost control and crashed into a parked car. We spoke to Sheriff Snell, who said the man was in critical condition, and at the time they thought he might have passed out and hit the accelerator, causing him to crash. The man died later, and it was determined to be a suicide.

After leaving the scene, we headed to the airport, but there wasn't much going on. So our next stop was the Sheraton Hotel near the S.U. campus, where Cornell University's Big Red basketball team, cheerleaders, and marching band were staying. With their game at the Carrier Dome tonight, they prepared by having a huge celebratory dinner, during which the team was honored.

Finally, we had one last piece of breaking news. Our assignment editor called us after hearing that a boy shot his mother and threatened to shoot police when they came to his house. But once we arrived at the scene, we learned that it was most likely a prank call. The boy's mother wasn't even home, a third party allegedly made the call, and the son was cooperating with police.

It was a crazy day. None of our stories turned out to be anything super major but driving all over the Syracuse outskirts to cover multiple stories was eventful and exciting nonetheless.

Half Day, Still Busy

Last Friday (March 12, 2010) was a half-day interning at News 10 Now. Since I was leaving early for Spring Break, I could only stay until about 1pm. I started the day by working on my Doc's Little Gem package from the previous Wednesday night.

Then I went out with Jim, one of the photogs to cover a Green Building Convention going on at the OnCenter. There were a ton of groups and organizations set up throughout the OnCenter promoting the construction eco-friendly buildings and homes through info pamphlets, discussions, and lectures.

After that, I finally finished my Doc's Little Gem package, and off to the Mayor's office I went! Joleene Des Rosiers was still working on the Route 81 story. The city and state were coming closer to making a decision about demolishing the partially collapsed building that caused part of the highway to close.

As part of the latest follow-up, Joleene would be chatting with Mayor Stephanie Miner and wanted some back-up. Between Joleene, the photog, and I, it definitely made the interview a little less intense, though Miner was firm when she stated the demolition would "not take five weeks" and that the city and state were finally making decisions.

For a half-day, it was still pretty eventful, and though Spring Break is sadly over now, I am definitely looking forward to getting back to the newsroom this week.

Reporting from Syracuse's Gem

One of the small, but well-known gems in Syracuse is Doc's Little Gem Diner. It's been around for more than 50 years, but this week Doc announced plans to sell the restaurant.

So last night, Kat De Maria (from News 10 Now) and I drove to the diner and interviewed Doc, one of his longtime waitresses, and a few regular customers about the sale and changes going on at the restaurant.

It turned out to be a cute little feature story about the diner, Doc, and their legacies. Doc explained that he hopes someone can come up with the money for the restaurant to continue. Right now, he just can't hold on to the place because of money issues. The bank isn't willing to loan him any more cash to expand the restaurant, a goal of Doc's for some time now.

The diner gets so busy that just a few days ago, Doc had to turn away about 60 people, Doc said. Doc has received one offer so far and is meeting with that person Friday.

It took about 12 tries for me to get my standup just right. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I finally did it, helped Kat shoot hers, picked up some food, and went back to the station. We took our time with this story, so I only had enough time to pull some bites for my story and write the script, but I fully plan on finishing the package Friday when I go back.

Stay tuned!

Until then, happy newsing!

Keeping you in the know!

On Monday, I covered the collapsed building on Route 81 for class. I have yet to upload the package or write about it here since I still need to digitize it in the right format for the Internet.

The package and full story on Monday's Route 81 update will be posted (hopefully!) tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned for updates and more stories to come!

And the Beat Goes On

Yesterday, I went out with Joleene Des Rosiers as I usually do on Fridays. This entire week, she's been covering the partially collapsed building on Route 81 as a beat. This way, we make sure to stay on top of the story and find out the latest.

After speaking to the building's owner, Tony, earlier yesterday morning, Joleene knew that the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) would be coming to the building during the day to check for toxic waste and materials.

But when we got to the building, Tony didn't have very much to say and wouldn't give us any details as to what the DEC was doing there. As far as we could see, the man from the DEC was just sitting in his truck outside the building.

So we went back to the station, Joleene made some calls, and we waited to hear back from the mayor or the state.

After receiving no word, Joleene decided she needed to get something. So we drove to South Salina Street, one of the few streets suffering from a lot of traffic congestion due to the detours from Rt. 81 near the building.

We interviewed two business owners. The owner of Rocky's said because the traffic was so bad, people were no longer willing to stop at his store during their drive if it meant giving up a spot in the line of traffic. But the owner of Vinomania told us that people are avoiding his end of the road altogether because they fear how bad the traffic will be.

We went back to the station, and quickly wrote and edited a nice little package about the business owners' perspectives about this collapsed building, Route 81, and the traffic brought on by all of it.

I also edited the majority of my package from Wednesday. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish it since the tape with all the interviews and soundbites went "missing." I'm hoping that'll turn up soon though.

After all this editing, Joleene, Ben (the photog) and I went back out in the field to shoot a live hit on the other side of 81 so viewers could see the collapsed building in the background. Joleene went live at 4:30, and I shot a live tag out that I edited into my package when we got back to the station. Joleene helped me fix a few parts of it, but other than that, it was pretty good.

I'd say it was an overall successful day, with lots of editing, writing, and shooting. I love going out with Joleene also. She always helps me and makes me feel really good and skilled about what I'm doing.

Constant Change of Events

Last night was another crazy Wednesday at News 10 Now. It's become a running joke that when I come in on Wednesday nights, everything goes haywire. Kat's stories always seem to fall apart or change or aren't what we expect them to be, and last night was no different.

Initially we were going to a meeting for people learning how to be politicians, but we found out the dates were wrong and the meeting was Thursday night.

So instead we headed over to the Syracuse University campus to do a story on forged tickets from Saturday night's big basketball game against Villanova.

We interviewed Syracuse Dept. of Public Safety chief Anthony Callisto, who told us there were about 200 forged tickets sold to the public, which prevented victims from getting into the game. These forged ticket buyers didn't know their tickets were fake since they were mostly purchased on Craigslist.org. Right now, the Syracuse Police are looking into the case. There are no suspects as of yet.

Unfortunately, Callisto no longer had the real or fake tickets in his possession. They were already in evidence, so we could get any shots of them. When we got back to the station, we started to do a VOSOT on the piece because there really wasn't enough material to package it. Until we got a phone call.

Another reporter, Joleene Des Rosiers had been following the partially collapsed building on North State Street in Syracuse that has forced part of Route 81 to close down. She had done a few VOSOTs yesterday, but nothing else. Syracuse city lawyers met with the state at City Hall downtown to discuss demolishing the building, but Joleene left before any of the lawyers left the building or were willing to talk on camera.

But at around 6pm, we got a call that Juanita Perez-Williams from the Syracuse Corporation Council would talk to us. We interviewed her and later interviewed Anthony Tartaro, the owner of the partially collapsed building.

As it turns out, the real reason the building has not yet been demolished is because Tartaro, the city, and the state are debating over who's going to pay for it. Neither the city, state, nor Tartaro can afford to knock down the building, a demolition project that would now cost more than $1 million. The portion of Route 81 near the building will continue to be closed off until the city and state decide the next step.

Kat and the photog, Ben, edited the package in the live truck, until Kat went live with the story at 10:15pm. I wrote my story in the truck also, but didn't' get to edit it. I'm hoping to have enough time to edit the package Friday.

For the latest, check out www.news10now.com.

Until Friday, happy newsing.

Gotta' Get That Story

Here's my journal entry to my most recent evening of adventure at News 10 Now. Enjoy!

In a message dated 2-24-10:

Gotta' Get That Story

Tonight, Kat and I were sent out on a story that The Post-Standard mentioned about a Syracuse University alum and former football player who was coming to the Syracuse Boys and Girls Club to conduct a forum on sports ethics.

It sounded like an easy tie-in because of the latest news with the Camillus Youth Basketball Association and their brawl, but this forum was not newsworthy. The football player was not there. He's attending another forum next month supposedly, so then we went downtown to cover a story about the plans for a new Centro bus station downtown.

We tried interviewing business owners of stores that are centered in the area where all the current bus stops are located, but by 6:15, very few businesses were still open. If they were, their owners/managers were no longer there. We eventually found a great guy who spoke to us, but refused to do so on camera.

Eventually, we left and decided to do a story on the SU students camping out at the Dome for seats to Saturday's Villanova game. So we headed over to the Dome, but didn't see anyone there.

We finally learned that to be a part of Otto's Army and get the best seats, you had to enter a lottery inside the Dome before the women's basketball game. The camp-out starting then, forcing students to go to the women's game...which wouldn't be over until about 9pm.

Knowing there was no way we could produce a package by 10pm if we were starting at 9pm, we did a live hit! Well, Kat did. She did a live interview with one of the students in the group who drew the number one slot in the lottery. It wound up being a pretty fun story, and afterward, the photog shot a fake live tag of me that I plan to use on my resume reel.

Kat quickly edited a VOSOT in the live truck, sent it to our producer, and dictated the script over the phone so it could air at 11pm. Overall, it was a very long, crazy night, but we finally found our story. Finding that story and making the deadline is really all that matters.

Criminal Minds: A Day of Attempted Murderers & Rapists

I was going to post my last two and most recent entries about my internship together, but these past few days have been so crazy, I'd rather post one at a time. So here's my entry from last Friday:

In an entry dated 2-19-10:

Criminal Minds: A Day of Attempted Murderers and Rapists

Yesterday, the reporter Joleene had gone out to cover a murder for hire story about a CNY native who offered to pay his friend $15,000 to kill his grandparents in Liverpool, NY. Today we would be doing a follow-up story, trying to get sound from the grandparents and/or their neighbors.

Once we started putting together/setting up interviews, Joleene listened to a message she had received last night from an angry relative of the grandparents. Since she had used the grandparents' names in her story the night before, this relative felt she was defaming them.

This made Joleene pretty uncomfortable about going back to their neighborhood, so instead we interviewed Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh. We got some decent bites from him, and then he started talking about a completely different story.

Walsh mentioned one of the county's most wanted criminals who was captured earlier that morning in New Jersey. We wound up killing two birds with one stone and interviewing him about that too. When we got back to the station, a VO was already written about the most wanted suspect, but I pulled a SOT from Walsh to make the story a VOSOT.

I spent the rest of the day putting together the package on the murder for hire case. There wasn't much footage to use, but I made it work, and Joleene told me she was impressed with my writing of the story...especially with the lead sentence.

We watched the other stations air pretty much the same murder for hire package that we did, except they had the neighbor reactions that Joleene decided not to do. But we know we had done good work, and I left the station feeling pretty accomplished.

A Little Less Reporting, A Little Less Fun

Once again, here's another update from my internship at News 10 Now.

In an entry dated 2-17-10:

A Little Less Reporting, A Little Less Fun

Before arriving to News 10 Now, I dressed up with every intention of shooting a standup for my next package and looking extremely professional.

I arrived exactly at 3:00pm for the nightside shift to learn that Kat -- who I normally shadow on Wednesday -- had already left to cover a story about the National Grid. Amanda was about to give me the option of going out with a photog (photographer) who was getting footage for a feature story, but realized eh had left already too.

This led me to spending my shift in the station. I spent a little more than an hour in the traffic room with Brad until I got bored. I learned the ropes of traffic, but reporting on it ever 15 minutes -- even though it's live -- gets pretty repetitive.

So I spent the rest of the night with an AP (Associate Producer), Courtney. She produced the Binghamton news for each hours, putting together the rundown and writing the News Minute for each hour, based on the latest news that came in.

I was able to take a break to eat and check my email, but like I said, the majority of the night was spent watching the AP write. The good news was that I did add some effects to my package from last week (the budget package) and dub it to tape. Success!

NY Driving Law Change

As part of my TV Producing and Reporting class, I put together a news package today. Technical difficulties prevented my package from airing, but here's the link to our class site with my package.

Check it out!

Reporting from a Different Angle

Still playing catch-up on blogging my journal entries about my News 10 Now internship. Here's the next one:

In a message dated 2-12-10:

Reporting from a Different Angle

Well this morning's news meeting made it pretty clear that today was a light news day. Story ideas revolved around going to a flower shop to see how it prepares for Valentine's Day and another piece on the Great Appliance Swap Out, which had been covered earlier in the week but didn't officially start until today.

Ultimately, I went out with Joleene to do a follow-up Swap Out package at Olum's Appliances to see if many shoppers were coming in to take advantage of the Swap Out rebates. I had never gone out with Joleene and was looking forward to it because she seemed funny and smart and acted like she knew what she was doing.

I worked on Wednesday's budget package I hadn't finished until we left the station. The people at Olum's were really friendly and amenable to interviews, and Joleene let me do a lot of work. I found a woman to interview and conducted the on-camera interview myself. Besides shooting, Joleene and I participated equally on the story, talking to people and shooting out own standups.

I wrote my story easily when we got back to the station, and Joleene and I discussed different angles of the story. We realized that the story here wasn't just how many people were coming in these next 10 days to save money on washers, refrigerators, and freezers through rebates. No, this was a story about the busy phone lines and incredibly slow web site that are making it difficult for people to apply for the rebates.

We reported on the story from a new, original angle. One that said while New Yorkers have waited months to purchase these appliances so they could save up to $105 with trade-ins and Swap out rebates, they are now learning that they must apply for the rebates online after they've purchased the item(s). With so many people logging on, often times they can't get through at all. Since New York state only gave $17 million for the first come first serve program, there's no telling who will save money and who won't.

I edited this piece and had Joleene add a few effects so it looked good. Then I had enough time to finish my budget piece.

At the end of the day, Joleene told me I was impressive and would be a great reporter someday, and that made all my hard work worth it.

Stay tuned for more updates!