Mommy Murder Trial

Today was another adventure in the KOMU newsroom. I arrived around midnight with a few story ideas-one was about a Spooktacular film festival coming up in October at the Blue Note-today was the last day for community filmmakers to submit their horror or supernatural films! It was a fun idea but not as timely as some others. My better story idea was a new web tool developed by the Boone County Sheriff's Department making neighborhood crime records and reports readily available on showmeboone.com. The incidents are now mapped and presented online and this tool is extremely helpful for neighborhood watch groups as well as potential real estate buyers and residents. Interesting and informative...however there was a more pressing issue that needed to be addressed. This morning at 9 a.m. a trial was held at the Boone County Courthouse for a woman who was charged of murdering her 2 year old son last July. The boy was abused and according to the autopsy from University Hospital, he ultimately died from blunt force trauma to the head. The boy's father was also charged for his murder and awaits trial in December. This was a prominent issue in the news last summer and viewers have been extremely responsive to knowing what is next for the parents.

With two live reporters and only one working live shot truck, my story was not as dependent on my live location and focused primarily on the facts and history of the case, so I stayed in the newsroom to do live onset hits. This story was a good learning experience for me as far as digging up past court records and researching what had happened last July when the boy was murdered. It was also good anchoring practice due to the fact that my general disposition is bubbly and energetic, which I quickly found out does not work when reporting hard news such as this trial. Hopefully my next shift will take me on location but for now you can watch me in the newsroom.

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The Adventures of Advanced Reporting

Definition of Advanced Reporting: By the end of this semester I will polish my reporting, performance and production techniques through in-depth assignments and live newsroom reporting shifts. (courtesy of Randy Reeves, associate MU professor and assignment editor KOMU 8 News)

Basically by the end of the semester I will have 16 live shot shifts, 8 morning news, 8 dayside (live at 5 and 6) and a few HFRs (hold for release) longer form investigative stories for the KOMU 8 franchises, 8 on your money and Target 8 investigates. These new stories will add to my last semester's work of dayside reporting, cut-ins anchoring and producing as well as one 8 on your money story.

All of my reports, anchoring and live shots will be compiled into a resume tape as well as an e-portfolio to be shared with fellow journalists in the real world of actual broadcast employment! As I said before exciting but nerve wracking all at the same time! Those nervous butterflies in my stomach will definitely keep my adrenaline rushing all year long.

My video news packages from January-May 2009 covered a variety of subjects from Daffodil Days at the American Cancer Society, new legislation and protests at the capitol in Jefferson City, CPR classes for middle schoolers, new police dispatch centers, the tobacco tax and even a gluten-free bakery. My 8 on your money story entitled "Economic Escapism at the Movies" showed how despite the recession local cinemas are stilling rolling in the money weekend after weekend.

My task now is to complete my weekly live shots and start searching for some new ideas for my franchise stories. So far some blossoming ideas are the effects of the economy on non-profit corporations-how do projects and fundraising hold up with the downturn? Is volunteering scarce? How does the dynamic of a non-profit organization change when the flow of money changes? I also have always been interested in education and the future of our children so something with the local schools is continually a possibility.

So now it's time to get researching! Stay tuned for more adventures...

Here is my 8 on your money story about escapism at the movies during the economic recession--

Blogging Begins

School is in full swing and so is the sunshine! With senior year comes exciting adventure, filled with slight anxiety that in 9 months I will be stepping into the real world. But nevertheless I am back and ready for the year ahead.

I started my semester bright and early (or really late at night depending on how you look at it) by arriving at KOMU at midnight ready for my KOMU 8 News Today monday morning live shot shift. My producer and I had corresponded earlier that evening and I knew I was headed to Moberly, MO for a preview of Claire McCaskill's forum on healthcare. I wrote my scripts complete with sound bites from some previous stories expressing both sides of the healthcare issue and also a McCaskill sound bite responding to some protesters from another forum on her statewide tour. Her goal is to get feedback from citizens and take it back to Washington when the healthcare bill is debated in the fall. After getting my scripts ready to go, make-up on and live truck operator ready, we headed to Moberly. Upon arrival and after trying for about an hour at three different spots around Moberly, we were not able to receive a signal for the live shot. It was 5 am and we raced back to the station since the show still had two hours remaining. I flew into the station at 5:45 and made it back just in time to do 4 full onset reports about the forum. Quick teamwork and persistence allowed the McCaskill story to stay alive in the studio despite technical troubles with the live shot. As they say- The show must go on! and that it did!

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