Creating Change

We heard all about change during President Obama's campaign. It was the slogan used on almost everything Obama-related. T-shirts, rally signs, lecterns, buttons, posters and stickers all promised "change" if Obama was elected president. In this week's New Yorker political scene podcast, some of the writers investigate how Obama is now going about changing some relations with other countries.

It's a usual lively and fast-paced discussion by three New Yorker writers that keeps your attention throughout the 12 minute podcast. The "moderator," New Yorker executive editor, Dorothy Wickenden, doesn't waste any time getting into the topic. She gets right into a SOT of Obama addressing Iran on March 20. It's a striking statement about how the United States wants Iran to take it's "rightful place in the community of nations." It's something simple that gets dissected further by the New Yorker writers. It's something President Bush could have said and not much attention may have been paid to it, but it prompts the New Yorker writers to see if there is something more here with Obama.

Wickenden brings in great insight from New Yorker writer John Lee Anderson, who had just been in Iran and wrote an article on Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He says this statement from Obama was significant because it was made on the eve of Iran's new year, which shows great respect towards the Iranian people. It's that respect, Anderson explains, that is what Iranians want from America. He says respect is a touchstone of new diplomacy between the nations.

The podcast discussion continues as the writers discuss international relations between Russia, Afghanistan and Iran. There is also a discussion of Obama's budget resolutions that are passing through Congress. New Yorker Washington reporter Ryan Lizza explains that Congress is being more cautious with what Obama is proposing on matters such as health care. It may be that change is coming slower, but it appears it still coming from Obama.

I had a very active week with my reporting. I had two VO Patrols and a reporting shift since my last lab a week ago.

On Wednesday, I had a VO Patrol for the 10 p.m. news. I came in with three story ideas, but producer Lisa Russell handed me a story to do that Stacey gave her. It was a fundraising event by Mizzou's Air Force ROTC at Wal-Mart on Conley Road. It was a fairly easy assignment and was the "kicker" for the 10 p.m. newscast. I was at Wal-Mart at about 6:15 p.m. I was a little worried that management at Wal-Mart may not let me shoot on the property, but I just started shooting and ran into no problems during the night. I got all kinds of shots of the cadets doing push-ups to raise money for the Relay For Life. It was a story that provided for many great shooting opportunities and natural sound. I got low angles, high angles and close-ups of the cadets' tired faces as they did hundreds of push-ups. I started off my VO with natural sound of the cadets counting off some of the push-ups after Angie read an intro on cam. Then, after the VO, I had a SOT with one of the cadets. He explained how this was "their thing" to do to raise money instead of doing a bake sale or something. I think that was a good way to understand the meaning for the cadets being out there.

The next night, I ran into some breaking news. As I was heading out the station for another VO Patrol for the 10 p.m. news, I saw that the road was blocked off at the roundabout at Old 63 and Bearfield Road. As I got closer, I saw there was a pretty bad accident. A Columbia Transit bus had run over top of a car waiting at the roundabout, crushing the driver's side of the car. I immediately called the station to find out if they knew about the accident. They said they did not and I parked my car to talk with people on the scene watching. I got a call back from the station a few minutes later that they were going to send a camera out to me and the crash would be my VO Patrol assignment for the night. I really had to think on my feet now and use all the knowledge from my journalism classes to be able to report all that I could find out about this crash. I talked with passenger on the bus that were standing around after the accident. I asked them what happened and how the bus hit the car. One person said the bus was probably going too fast. Another person said they thought the bus hydroplaned. I wrote down this information in my notebook and got their names. Alex showed up with the camera a few minutes later and I rolled almost as soon as he got it out of the car. It was a pretty dramatic shot of a car pinned beneath a bus. Almost as soon as I started shooting, a man from the Columbia Fire Department came over and identified himself as the public information officer (PIO) and told me I had to stay a certain distance away from the scene. That wasn't a problem, as I still had a clear view of the activity of trying to rescue the man from inside the car. The PIO was very helpful and kept giving me updates on the man trapped inside the car, saying he was conscious and that they were planning on towing the bus off the car so that rescue workers could get to the man. After about 45 minutes, the man was finally pulled out of the car. I shot rescue workers putting him on a stretcher and the stretcher being wheeled into the ambulance. Not long after that, the PIO came over to myself and the other reporters for an interview about the information he had gathered so far. He basically explained the timeline of events and the condition of the victim first. Then, I asked him if this was an especially difficult rescue for the fire department. He said it was "complex" because it required bringing in tow trucks to lift the bus off of the car. I ended up using this SOT because it explained the unusual nature of the accident better than just him stating facts about the accident. It humanized the story, if only a little bit.

For my first reporting shift, I did a story on a bond issue in the North Callaway School District. Randy assigned the story to me in the morning and I made calls to the superintendent and to the high school. I was able to set up interviews with the superintendent and a teacher at the high school. I headed out to Kingdom City about 10 a.m. and was able to get my shooting done by noon. I shot some video of the teacher and his classroom in a trailer after I interviewed him. He was going to be my CCC so I shot lots of B-roll of him teaching in his trailer. My main focus of the story is that teachers will be able to move out of the trailers and back into the main school building if the bond passes. I talked with the teacher about how teaching is different in a trailer. He had some good bites and I think the package for the 6 turned out well. I also did a VOSOT for the 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows.