Journalism 24-7-365

This week I had two television packages due. For my first one I did a story on a man who opened his own business. The twist was he owned an energy audit business, which help reduce energy bills and helps reduce a home's carbon footprint. I felt that this was an appropriate story because summer is getting closer and the temperature is rising. Therefore the news value was important because resident would be interested in lowering their bills before summer hits. Dan Riepe was very helpful and set up all his gear for me and showed me the audit process. The difficult part was to find someone who would be unsure of paying a lot of money up front for something that would save money in the long run. I ask about a half dozen people before someone told me they would have to weigh all the options before paying for an energy audit. It was a good day turn story and I was happy to find one so relevant for the season.

My second package was a much more trouble to complete. I had three stories fall through on me. It was either a source not calling back or the angle on the story wasn't unique enough. I also had trouble getting a camera for a good time, I seemed to find people who couldn't talk to me at the time I had reserved for the camera. 

I had so much trouble with people not returning my calls that I just went to GetAbout Colombia and asked if there was someone available I could talk to. While I hate barging in without and appointment, I had no time to be polite. 

I did get an interview and I had a good angle on a story involving GetAbout Columbia. My story was a follow up on three renovations made to MKT trail entrances in April. The hook was that it cost 1.2 million dollars to renovate three small areas. I wanted to find out if citizens liked the way the money was spent and if more people were using the trails as a result. I had an interview with an authority now I needed to talk to the people. The problem was that everyone was riding or running and wouldn't stop for me. So I waited by a water fountain and asked people questions as they were drinking. Sure enough I found a few people to talk to me that had conflicting views on the subject. So there you go the story fell in place and I managed to get everything done in a reasonable fashion. I learned to never give up as a journalist. Always keep calling people, or go and confront them because it catches them off guard.