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!