Spot News

I am going local for this week's journalism reflection. Local as in my hometown in Columbus, OH. I saw a great story from a local TV station in my hometown as it covered the collapse of an observation platform at the Columbus Motor Speedway on Saturday night (click on the "video" icon on the page to view the video story from the 11 p.m. newscast).

It was opening night for the speedway and a long night of events were planned. Just before the activities were to begin, at about 5:30 p.m., a concrete platform near the announcer's booth collapsed. One person had serious injuries. I watched the video from the 6 p.m. (actually came on about 7 p.m. because of the Masters) newscast that was posted that evening, but it since has been taken down. I think the coverage at 7 p.m. was more impressive than when they had more time to prepare the story before the 11 p.m. newscast.

At 6 p.m., they had a reporter live on the scene and shots from the news helicopter of the collapsed platform. They also had a SOT with a relative of a person who was seriously injured after being trapped from some of the rubble of the collapsed platform. This person was also on the platform when it collapsed and gave the essential first-person account of what happened. The live reporter gave all the latest information and had good shots of the scene for a VO to go with her report. Then, the anchor pitched to another reporter live at the hospital on the phone where the victim with serious injuries was taken. The reporter there gave a live update on what they knew about the victim at that time. There was also a VO with shots of the victim being taken out of the ambulance. Then, the anchor pitched to the sports anchor who gave some details about the speedway and its specifications. I thought it was great team coverage, especially for a Saturday night when the newsrooms are less staffed. I also liked how they followed the story from the racetrack to the hospital with two reporters. It made me feel like they cared about how this story finished too as well as how it began.

The 11 p.m. package posted on the web site was also good, with three sources on camera. It started out with a great opening shot from the helicopter. Then, the reporter included the same person as was in the SOT for 6 p.m. describing the collapse. They also talked to the owner of the racetrack and a fire department member who was on the scene to complete the story. Again, I thought this was phenomenal coverage for a Saturday night.

For my reporting this week, I went to Marshall yesterday on short notice to investigate a report of a minister arrested for statutory sodomy. It was a pretty serious story and I think I did a pretty good job on it. I first talked with the chief of police in Marshall and he gave me the information he had at the time. I got a good bite from him on how he is "glad" the bond was set so high, at $250,000, for this man. Then, I went hunting for some people who knew the man, David Ballinger. The police chief was finally able to locate the former location of his church on the town square. I went to the location, which had for sale signs in the window, and got some shots. I then went next door to a loan business and talked with two very friendly employees there. They said they were shocked at the news. They said they saw him nearly everyday and never expected this. I talked with one of them on camera for my story and she helped greatly to humanize it. The ladies then gave me a tip of the new church location, a few minutes away. I drove out there and found the new location complete with a sign of the "New Grace Baptist Church," which I was looking for to prove visually that this church did actually exist. I got my interviews and then shot a quick standup on the square. I was trying to make it back to get a SOT on the 6 so I shot my standup fast. I ended up calling some information in for a reader and graphic of a mug shot of the suspect for the 5 and 6. I didn't quite make it back for the 6 p.m. show to get a SOT on, so I started to work on a package for 10 p.m. I wasn't able to work my standup in with the way I wrote my story. I thought it didn't matter so much in this case because I had enough other good video. This story was a very good learning experience and I feel better prepared for other tough stories because of it.