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.