Category: News Reporting

Today I wrote a story about the road construction on U.S. 63 and Route H near Columbia Regional Airport. I was eager to take the story, but I was not familiar with all the road/highway terminology. I spoke to the district and construction materials engineer from MoDOT about the project and she said that it will be finished in early November.

She spoke about J-turns an interchange and other routes that will be affected by the construction. I, first of all, was not accustomed to the terminology and other routes in the area. I decided to do some research and found out that an interchange is similar to an overpass and I learned that U.S. 63 meets with U.S. 163 and Route AB. I also looked at a map to familiarize with the area of the construction, considering I’ve only passed it in my car a few times. The J-turns I learned were an easier way to navigate across two highways of traffic in a safer way by seeing a graphic in the Missourian archives.

I learned from this story that writing it was easier than I thought. The internet and the Missourian archives were informational and the MoDOT engineer was very helpful as well.

I figured out that even if I felt overwhelmed the first step was to get more information and not be afraid to ask questions.

I woke up early this morning to do a follow up story of the visitors center. I went to the training meeting at city hall and interviewed one of the volunteers and a woman in charge. I memorized the name of the organization on my way there to make sure my facts were right. I was afraid when I walked into city hall because I didn’t know what to expect. But everyone was very nice and welcoming and it was a win-win for both of us. They get exposure of their volunteer training and I get a story. I learned that giving your sources enough time to AC is crucial, and people are usually friendly enough because they want to help you help them.

I feel the more people I interview and the more places I go I get to meet new people, have new experiences and become more familiar with strangers. People in Columbia are very friendly!

 

I went into the newsroom this morning a little timid but I was ready to work. I picked up a story right a way and worked on it that morning and afternoon. I had to call a woman who worked for the new Columbia visitors center at city hall. I wrote the story in a relatively good time frame but I had to go to marching practice. I went back to the news room and edited my story. I learned that I have to cq everything and check silly AP mistakes. I’m still learning the ropes so I will get the hang of it in no time. I feel that if I write more stories and spend more time in the newsroom it will be beneficial and I will get a better experience of the process.

 

The first day of classes was not too bad, but orientation was quite overwhelming. With the fact that I spent the last week going back and forth from band camp and sorority rush, this week just got even more crazy. My teachers are nice and the class load doesn’t seem awful. Being in the newsroom all the time makes me forget a sense of time. I hardly eat and I’m always running around, but I can’t complain. I was feeling a little under the weather Monday night so I wanted to start fresh on Tuesday morning. Yay to the first week in the newsroom!