Tiger's Interview

Tiger Woods finally granted interviews to two organizations, ESPN and The Golf Channel. They aired on Sunday.

It must be hard for Woods even in these tightly controlled interview environments. I think though, now, Woods is doing the right thing. He waited it out before he chose to take questions. Maybe too long. But now he's talking.



It was compelling to watch Woods look another man and woman in the face for the first time and answer questions publicly since his "transgressions."

I thought ESPN's Tom Rinaldi and the Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman did an excellent job in getting in as many questions possible in the five minutes allotted to them to talk to Woods. The questions were probing and I think a reflection of what the general public wanted to know.

Woods is taking the right steps, in my opinion. In three weeks, the questions will increase at The Masters. But maybe they won't be as hard to answer after he finally broke his silence.

Skype to the rescue

There was a good use of Skype in a big, albeit tragic, story over the weekend.
The Chilean earthquake struck early Saturday morning and by mid-afternoon I was trying to gather as much information as I could. There was the aftermath in Chile to report on, but there was also the resulting tsunamis that could have occurred across the Pacific. The most immediate concern for the U.S. TV networks was the possibility of a tsunami hitting Hawaii. I browsed around CNN and Fox News and both seemed to concentrating heavily on the Hawaii aspect of the story, with video from local affiliates being shown. CNN was even simulcasting a direct feed from a local Hawaii station for several minutes.

I watched NBC Nightly News to see how they would handle the story after having a good deal of time to collect information. They had a reporter do a package with video from multiple sources in Chile, it appeared. Then the reporter conducted a Skype interview with a freelance journalist in Chile. This was very insightful. It was probably the most insightful reporting I had seen all day. The freelance reporter described how the sky was changing colors, which helped to paint the picture of what it was like in the moment. Just the fact that the NBC reporter and the freelance reporter were able to connect online was telling. I was impressed that the Internet connection was still in place and she was able to stay in the building (it appeared to be a hotel) she was in. It helped to show that at least there were some buildings that were still safe.

I thought this use of Skype was a good example of the impact of technology in a story like this. NBC wouldn't have been able to get a reporter to Chile by Saturday evening, but they did the next best thing by finding one and showing her via video on Skype. It added a great extra dimension to the story that I didn't find on the cable channels. It was an impressive package on a tight deadline and with limited resources within Chile.

Working With ESPN

On the advice of Randy Reeves, I decided to make my first blog post for Jen's class on helping out ESPN on some basketball coverage last week.



It was an interesting look into the production of big-time sporting events. The broadcast I appeared on was the Kansas vs. Missouri game on Monday night. I shot a quick video on David Francis' lucky nose on campus and sent that in via the ESPNU FTP the Tuesday before. They took it from there and decided to run it with about 12 minutes to go in the first half of the game. Now, they had two fact errors just before pitching to my package. First of all, Brent Musberger pronounced my name "Mates-old." Then he said "University of Mizzou." But, you can't fault him too much for my name. I never did send in an official pronouncer.

It seemed like everything went fine with my video. Bob Knight even had fun with it and joked I "should study more." That was pretty fun. I was very thankful they were able to use my piece.

On Saturday, I again taped a short segment to run during the Oklahoma State-Missouri game. I went to the production truck Saturday morning to give them my video file and meet the crew. The producer had called me the Friday before and we had been discussing options for the topic of my segment for much of the week. The producer said they would likely run my piece in the first half and then use me for a live shot in the second half in the student section.

I got back to the arena in the afternoon and met the camera man who I was going to be working with for the live shot. When the second half started, I stayed by the camera man, waiting for his cue. They didn't have an IFB for me. The game kept going by and the camera man never cued me. Apparently, there was not enough time or there was never the right situation to have me go live.

I also found out my short piece didn't run either. It's understandable. Time and schedules can change so quickly in TV.

I can't complain at all about these experiences, though. It was great getting to work with ESPN crews and have your work on display for a national audience.

Road Improvements

Today I went to Moberly to cover the public meeting on road construction on Highway 24. The project includes adding a center turn lane to the highway for a one-mile stretch west of Highway 63. I was interested to see what people in this area thought about an extra lane being added to a highway close to where they work or live. I found a good CCC, Bob Riley, who co-owns an appliance store along Highway 24. He said the turn lane would help his business because customers would be able to access it easier. I also talked with a representative from MoDOT to get the official point-of-view. I was hoping to get someone who maybe wasn't happy with the proposal, but I couldn't find anyone who was in that boat. There weren't too many people that came to the meeting.

I got some good shots of the traffic and nats sound in the area affected and was able to put that together with my sound bites well. I had some good nats sound breaks and video sequences, I thought.

I certainly learned a lot this semester. A learned how to put together a more complete story with graphics, hard facts, a standup, nats sound and multiple sources. I feel very good about the progress I made. I will continue to work hard to get better and improve my stories. I also learned a lot about communicating with sources and staying in-touch. It is such an important part of the business and I have learned how important it is to have great relationships with everyone you come in contact with.

The Local Effect

With the Department of Economic Development's report being released yesterday with some significant job changes, I wanted to see what the impact is locally. I called around to some manufacturing companies because the state said 3,800 jobs were added in manufacturing from June to July of this year. I was able to get someone from Central Missouri Countertops to talk with me and he was a great interview. He let me get shots of the guys working on some projects, which provided great sequences and nats sound. During the interview with operations manager, he told me the company did increase employees by about 10 percent from June to July this year. It was good to get those hard facts and numbers to put into my story to add context locally.

I also got in contact with Don Laird at the Chamber of Commerce to get a citywide perspective. I talked with him for just a bit and I think it also added more context to the story to show how the whole manufacturing industry is doing. He also was a contrast to the manager at the company because Laird told me the manufacturing industry is still having trouble.

I think editing turned out well. I was able to get a few sequences in my story, nats sound breaks, a graphic and a standup. I wish the sequences were just a bit better and I will keep that in mind next time I am out shooting.

Tracking Down Slow Internet

I hoped to humanize a story on slow Internet in the state today, but it didn't turn out like I hoped. I actually had saw a story on the NBC Nightly News a few weeks ago of a farmer whose daughter had trouble getting school work done because the family's Internet connection was so slow. I thought I could a story done like that on the heels of Missouri's application for $142 million of federal money to improve broadband access. I went out to Jefferson City to talk to the governor's spokesman, Scott Holste. I got great information from him. I thought the shot of the interview was good too, but when editing I saw that he moved a little during the interview and the part I wanted didn't look as good as it should. After interviewing Scott, I headed out looking for someone without a broadband connection available. I couldn't find anyone. All the people I spoke to in Audrain and Callaway counties said they have high-speed Internet, and I visited some pretty rural areas. In hindsight, I probably should have made a few calls to local electric/Internet companies first to try to find areas where they did currently provide broadband around Mid-Missouri. I ended up making these calls when these places were already closed.

I headed back to the station and put together a VO/SOT with an on-set. I think it turned out pretty well, with some good information from Holste. My video wasn't that great either since I couldn't find a family. I took some shots of me on the computer in the blue room and some Internet cords in the newsroom. I learned a lot today about who to get in contact with first in situations like these and how it is important to identify a CCC first before you head out into the field.

Spray Painter Vandals

I got to the station early today to work on my HFR and received a tip during the morning that there was a rash of vandalism overnight in Moberly. I thought this would be a good story to do nightside. I ended up doing the story and had a very willing source who provided some good sound bites. I also set up an interview with the PIO at the Moberly Police Department and I was off. I got a lot of shots of the spray painting, which provided some great visuals. I was done pretty early and got back down to the station at about 6 p.m.

I edited pretty quickly, but there were a few things I probably would have changed. I think I would have shown more pictures of the swastikas, because that is the most shocking video I had that we could use on air. I think it would have proved the point better visually about how hurtful the images could be to the residents there. I think just one more shot could've helped. I also wish I would have added a nats sound break. I didn't think I could because I didn't have any meaningful sound, but maybe just some outside noise would've helped in the middle. It's something to keep in mind from now on. I also learned that the lighting warning messages can sometimes not appear on the camera if the setting isn't flipped on. That could've helped my shot of the cat that was otherwise a good open shot. I think my on-set went pretty well, hopefully the makeup turned out OK for my first time!