Local TV News Analysis – KPLR

The first thing that I noticed about today’s newscast on KPLR was that they started off with the top story of the day about a little girl being victim of a sex offender. The anchors were Rick Edlund and Melanie Moon. Rick was wearing a dark grayish suit with a blue under shirt and a red tie. Melanie was wearing a red suit jacket. The first reporter was Tony Miller and he was reporting from Centerville, Illinois. There were no live shots, but the story package had a shot of school building, surrounding neighborhood, and interviewed personnel’s. Later in the middle of the story he had a stand up outside the school building. The first story that I remember was about a man who was a convicted sex offender who abducted and tried to molest a little school girl. Another story that I remember was about inflation and rising prices in food and energy which are the basic needs. The reporter from the news room was reporting about the food commodities price rise. The package story was also related to an increase in demand as well. One of the commuters said that 2 million people in China and India are eating better. Story also included issues of oil, energy, education and health care as well. The third story was about the Missouri steroid use. The story was about testing the student athletes regarding the use of steroids. My overall impression of the news was just okay. I don’t think the news team did a very good job. The anchors didn’t seem energetic on the camera; it looked like as if they were just reading the news stories one by one. The credibility can be questioned because there could have been better stories to cover than just talking about price rise for few minutes to fill in the news cast. I don’t think I can watch this news station again anymore.

Journal Entry 11

Today I met with my group at 11 o’clock in the LUTV studio to write the log for our package, since we did not do it yesterday. After that we met in the class at 1 pm. Today’s agenda was very clear and professor Schroeder told us that we will be talking about entry level jobs and resume tapes. She also gave us a very useful packet from the website tvjobs.com which explains how to get into TV broadcast industry and how to make our resume tapes look good. Then she gave us the ranking list of local markets both numerically and alphabetically to help with our TV jobs assignment. Since our individual hand written logs were due today, she checked those and I think she was very happy to see that everybody followed her instructions. After that we watched some of her examples of resume tapes and one of her very creative friends Jeremy’s too. They were very good and gave us an idea of a good attention catchy demo tape. She talked about resume tapes – its length, its ingredients, etc. After that we went to the LUTV studio and we all were excited because today we had a LIVE newscast. Tracy and Jen were the anchors, Mike did the sports news and Beth did the weather report. I was very impressed to see the live telecast of LUTV’s newscast. I think everybody did a great job going live. Overall, today’s class was good and I learned the most important thing from this class that is how to make a good resume tape!

TV Jobs Assignment

• KSNF-TV, 1502 Cleveland, Joplin, MO – 64801.
Job Title – Morning show co-anchor
Description - seeks a morning show co-anchor who can bring a sparking on-camera presence and interview skills to the show, and can interact well with the other co-anchor and forecaster.
Market Number – 145
News Director – Jim Jackson

• KNOP-TV, North Hwy 83, Box-749, North Platte, NE – 69103.
Job Title – Entry level reporter/videographer
Description – seeks an entry level reporter/videographer who has shooting, writing, reporting and editing skills, and the ability to do smooth live shots; will learn to produce.
Market Number – 209
News Director – Jacque Harms

• WLIO-TV, 1424 Rice Av., Lima, OH – 45805.
Job Title – Morning anchor-producer/reporter-videographer
Description – seeks a morning anchor-producer/reporter-videographer who can do it all each day; must be a good writer, know newsroom computer systems and Web posting; a passion for the business is crucial, while experience is preferred.
Market Number – 185
Director – Lon Tegels

Yes I am willing to move to these places for the jobs offered. I picked these because they are offering me entry level anchor/reporter jobs and that is what I want to do in the broadcasting field. Also, I want to be in or near the Midwest since my future family will be living in Midwest, so it will be easier for me to stay close to them or even move with them if I have to. Since lower markets are the first targets to get a job for beginners, Midwest has a lot of opportunity for entry level jobs. All these reasons interest me about this job. Some of the top 25 markets like Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, Detroit, MI, and Cleveland-Akron, OH are also in the Midwest where I can go after gaining experience for a while from the smaller markets.

Journal Entry 10

Today we were supposed to shoot our second package. So the group met at the LUTV studio to take the equipment. Davina, Haley and I reached in time but Michael was not there. We waited for a while and since he did not show up we decided to move ahead. Fortunately we had Sierra as our cameraman today so we all were good to go. Since Sue needed our equipment and her group was supposed to meet at three pm, she decided to come with our group to help us with our package shoot. We reached the Brunswick Zone bowling alley in St. Peters where Davina works. First of all we started shooting the B-rolls for our package and later when we were about to start the interviews, we realized that we forgot our audio kit on campus. So Davina, Haley and I went back to get the audio stuff and Sierra and Sue kept shooting the B-rolls in the meanwhile. We came back and interviewed Davina’s boss and two other employees for our package. Haley received a call from Mike and we told him that we got pretty much everything done except my stand up, so we told him that he can help us with the editing on Friday, since Haley and I are not good at it. After the interviews, Sierra wanted to shoot some more B-rolls since the one she shot before were not good due to insufficient lighting. Later I did my stand up outside the bowling alley and it the best feeling ever. I felt like a real reporter at that very moment. Overall I enjoyed today’s shoot and I am looking forward to see the finished product soon.

Journal Entry 9

I was really excited for today's visit to Fox-2,KTVI since last night. So excited, that I did not even sleep last night at all. I met Professor Schroeder, Ed Voss and other students at the LUTV studio to ride with them. We left with all the equipment we needed for this package of Professor Julie Beard’s class. While I was riding with professor Schroeder, Haley, I and she talked about our lives. It was a pretty good conversation. When we reached the studio, other students were already there. We went inside and met Julie and discussed what questions we’re going to ask during the interviews, what B-rolls are we going to shoot, etc. So it was all ready to go in and start taking advantage of our visit arranged by Ed and professor Schroeder. So we went in and met Julie’s class talked about what they do in the studio during their J-term class. Then we met the senior web producer Patrick, who told us what exactly their job is in the studio. It was very exciting to know about this new career in TV industry which is all about web and internet. They do blogging, scripting and posting videos on the fox-2 website. After that I got a chance to interview Patrick and Dan (student from LU) and I really enjoyed doing that. Meanwhile, Ed gave us a short tour of the fox-2 station. Then it was time for the photo session and we took a lot of pictures in the studio. Finally we shot some stand ups and then I was to be done for the day.

Local TV Analysis

The first thing that I noticed about today’s newscast on KTVI, channel 2 was the anchor Mandy Murphy’s shirt. She was wearing a blue silk blouse/top which did not seemed like a suit or very formal because I always try to note the clothes of female anchors. But I guess it looked fine. The other anchor was Dan Grey. He was wearing a navy bluish suit with a white stripped under shirt and a yellow tie. It just looked kind of cheesy to me for his age, or may be I’m not used to it yet. Chris ReGnier was the first reporter and he did a stand up outside the school building of the kid who died in a car accident. There were a lot of live shots including the grandmother of the kid, classmates of the kid, location where the accident happened, etc.
The very first story that I remember was about a thirteen year old kid named Brendon Wiles, who died in a car accident. It was said that he was not skateboarding at the time he was hit by the car. The second story was about the bars on main street, St. Charles. A bill was proposed to curb the rowdiness on the city’s historic main street. It also included banning dancing on tables, underage drinking, cussing. The third story was about the new safety guidelines on My space after Megan Meiers case. Her mother says that it’s not enough. She said that it’s just a baby step and they need to take a bigger leap.
My overall impression of the newscast was that they did a good job especially covering the story of Brendon Wiles. I really liked the package and I felt as if it did touch my heart and that’s what an anchors job is. I feel they did a good job. I liked Dan’s pacing better than Mandy. He knew what he was talking about and Mandy seemed just all right. I think the news team is credible because they showed good interviews and very good B-rolls which explains the true story. I’ll definitely watch this station again.

Journal Entry 8

Today we met in the class and professor Schroeder told us the schedule for the upcoming week real quick since there were a lot of confusions regarding the assignments due for this class in the first week. So after that we got some packets from her containing information regarding the reporting, anchoring, voice improvement, wardrobe, some exercises for voice, etc. then she showed us some tapes from her college time when she used to do anchoring for her college TV station. She showed us how she changed from then to now. One can easily tell the difference not just in her looks but also in her voice and expressions. Then she gave us some tips from the package to improve our voice quality. The best thing that I learned in today’s class was when she told us that milk products are not good for an anchor/reporter, especially when one has to go on air right after having a milk product since it deposits a layer in our throat which sits there for a while. I love yogurts, but now I know when I’m supposed to eat it and when not. Then she asked all the guys to go out for 20 minutes to read and prepare one exercise each to tell the whole class. In the meanwhile she talked to the girls about makeup and I found it very significant and useful since I barely used to do any make up before, but after today I know what products I need for my makeup to be on camera. After that we went to the LUTV studio and started shooting the newscast for the day. I did the entertainment and the funny part about it was that I had to stand up on a box to bring myself to level with the screen. Overall today’s class was fun…