Observation is Key October 26, 2012

This week I had to write a sports story. As I’ve already discussed, sports are not my thing. It’s safe to say I was pretty terrified for this story simply because I didn’t know how to report on sports.

When I arrived at the Volleyball game I was sent to the media table. There was only one other person reporting the game, the owner of a local newspaper. I quickly made my own game plan for the night, observe what he writes down.

I’ve spent a lot of this semester simply observing other journalists. It is the easiest way to learn about the field. Look to people who have been doing the job for longer than you have. Learn from what they do.

The other reporter quickly caught on that I was not only observing the volleyball game, but I was also observing him. He was quick to offer me help and give me tips not only on sports reporting, but on reporting in general.

After the game was over, we spent 20 minutes discussing the current industry. That conversation was one of the most helpful I’ve had since entering my major simply because he was still in the field and could give me advice on what he looks for in reporters.

I hope to never have to cover another sports game in my career, but I did get a lot of knowledge from that night.

Sports Reporting October 26, 2012

Just the word sports scares me. The best way to explain my lacking knowledge of anything sports related is “I don’t speak sports.”. I don’t understand most of the games, the point systems or even the calls.

Given my lack of knowledge, it’s easy to understand why I was scared of the week that I had to write a sports story.

Luckily, I was able to cover a volleyball game. Volleyball isn’t too hard to understand, the point system is easy to follow and the game is interesting to me.

While I was at the game, I gained an appreciation not only for the people who actually play the sports but also for the reporters. I had no clue what to write down, what was important to report on or how to interpret the stacks of statistics I was given.

Thankfully, I caught on to what was going on and was able to write a decent article on the volleyball game. I was also able to observe other reporters there and pick up interviewing techniques for sports game.

Hopefully, I will never have to write a sports story again. But, if I do have to cover another sports game, I will have a better knowledge on how to report it.

Local candidate debate October 19, 2012

Elections season is upon us, as you can no doubt tell by the political ads that litter the television and side of the road. This election is special for me because it’s the first presidential election that I will be eligible to vote in.

This week I attended the local candidate debate that was held on campus. I was dreading going mostly because I am not too fond of politics. Before this week, I wasn’t even sure I was going to vote in the election. After listening to the debate, I’m sure I will.

The debate was part of a series that is held to help students gain knowledge about the upcoming election. Candidates for the N.C. House of Representatives, N.C. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and Watauga County Commissioners participated in the debate.

They debated on subjects like environmental issues, current economic troubles and education reforms for both public schools and universities. I was surprised to hear that most of the candidates in their respective parties had the exact same ideas. The republican candidates wanted to implement more budget cuts while the democrats wanted to raise taxes to fix our economic and education issues.

The debate was very informative and helped me decide who I wanted to vote for. Honestly, more teachers should have required their students to go so that they could be informed. These people will implement policies that will drastically change our lives, and we should know what their plans are before we vote for them.

I’m extremely glad that I attended the debate because it gave me an idea on who I want to vote for. I hope that more students will become interested in not only the presidential election, but the local elections as well.

Journalism Education: Preparation for any future October 16, 2012

I still remember the phone call like it was yesterday. It was my second year at Appalachian and my parents had been pushing me to declare my major since my freshman year. My dad specifically knew what he degree he wanted me to get: business. I remember easing into the conversation, explaining to him that I had to apply to the department I wanted to enter and that I had been accepted. He was thrilled. He was eager to know which department I had been accepted into.

“The department of communications. I want to be a journalist.”

Dead silence on the other side of the phone. I didn’t speak. allowing him to process that I didn’t want a business degree. When he finally spoke, it was the words I had heard many times before.

“What will you ever do with a Journalism degree?”

Yes, the job market for journalism is hard to get in. Yes, journalism is quickly evolving due to new technology. Yes, I would have to work my butt off to find a decent job that would pay the bills.

But even if I didn’t get my ideal journalism job, I could use the skills I had been taught through the journalism education I received in almost any job market that there was.

In my one year in journalism classes I’ve learned countless lessons:

1. How to communicate efficiently. This is probably the most important. I’ve not only learned how to communicate with classmates and professors, but I’ve also learned how to talk to officials in the real world. I’ve learned how phrase my questions, how to get them to open up to me, even how to leave messages that make people want to return your phone calls.
2. How to write succinctly.  In high school we all learn how to add ‘fluff’ to meet minimum page requirements. As a journalism student, I’ve learned how to take the plethora of information I’m given and turn in into a short, informative piece. I’ve learned how to include the 5 W’s and 1 H while keeping the article on point.
3. How to find information fast. When you are on a deadline, you learn to how to use the internet to your advantage. I’ve learned more efficient ways to Google information, I’ve learned keyboard shortcuts that keep you from wasting time, and I’ve learned which websites are reliable and which ones you should pass over.
   I’ve also learned that, yes, the internet holds all of the answers, but it’s much quicker to call someone who knows the same information. My generation has learned to rely on technology for information instead of communicating with people. In fact, we often chose communication over technology over face-to-face communication. With my journalism education, I’ve learned that face-to-face communication can yield better answers faster as well as how to communicate face-to-face.

Overall, my journalism education has taught me numerous life lessons that will help me in the ‘real world’, whether I get a job in journalism or not. Each time I have a serious talk with my dad, he still asks ‘What will you do with a journalism degree?’. It took some time to find an appropriate answer for him, but I’ve finally found the right one.

“Whatever I want.”

New view of the Affordable Health Care Act October 12, 2012

We’ve all heard about the Affordable Health Care Act that was proposed and adopted by president Obama.

The majority of us view the Health Care Act as people who have medical insurance. We discuss how it will affect us. Our insurance. Our healthcare. Our prescriptions. All about us.

When interviewing a woman who supervises health care officials this week, I got a small glimpse of how the Affordable Health Care Act will affect others. 

Pam Rush, who is the Nursing Supervisor at Appalachian District Health Department, shed some light on how the change in America’s health care system will help her patients.

It’s important to understand that the majority of her patients do not have medical insurance. These patients often put off medical care since they aren’t insured and they suffer the consequences.

“People without a payer source will show up at the ER very sick because they didn’t have the money to go to a doctor earlier. It takes a lot to get them better and, at the end of the day, they have a tremendous bill,” Rush said.

Her statement struck me. I’ve always had insurance and have often gone to the doctor just to get better cold medicine. Others wait until they are almost deathly ill to go to the hospital  Don’t people who can’t afford medical insurance deserve to have medical treatment?

“Whether you’re the CEO of Bank of America or you work 40 hours a week digging ditches, everyone deserves the same type of medical care,”  Rush said.

Her view of medical insurance gave me a new opinion on the Affordable Health Care Act. The conversation reminded me of the old saying ‘walk a mile in someone else’s shoes’.

Until the Affordable Health Care Act takes affect, ADHC will continue to work on a sliding fee scale where a patients income and family size is taken into consideration as to how much of the bill the patient is expected to pay.

Meeting deadline October 5, 2012

This week I attended the board of adjustments meeting on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. My completed article is due by 3 p.m. every Friday. That gave me less than 24 hours to call any other sources I needed, research, and write a decent article.

Less than 24 hours.

this week is the least amount of time that I’ve ever had to write an article. I thought that I would be stressed out, that none of my sources would pull through, and that I would end up missing my deadline, or cutting it very close. Instead, everything seemed to work out.

But, I did learn a few things about working on a tight deadline.

1. Don’t stress out. Stressing about having enough time to research and write doesn’t help anything.
2. Be prepared. Go to the meeting with questions to ask sources and read over the agenda a few days early.
3. Do your research. Call anyone that you can ahead of time to get background information if the meeting is on something you don’t understand, like city zoning issues.
4. Write a horrible first draft. No one else is going to see it. Just get all your thoughts typed out and then fix it.

This week I learned how to write a decent article with very little time. This will be a valuable lesson for me in the future.

Government Meetings October 5, 2012

This week I atteneded the Board of Adjustments meeting to satisfy the requirement to write an article on a government meeting. 

When I left my apartment for the 5:30 meeting I expected to be home by 7 or 7:30. I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

After being at the meeting for 3 hours, the board had only heard two of seven cases. TWO OF SEVEN CASES IN THREE HOURS. I was amazed. 

The majority of the time was spent on polite arguing, people correcting each other, and governmental policies that had to be followed but ate up precious time. How do people attened these once a month?

I understand that, in America, we have these specific policies and ways of doing things for a reason. But it just seems to waste time to me. Instead of being so official and using confusing terms, why not just ask why the citizens needs a variance and then vote if they can have it? I guess that would ruin the official government nature of meetings.

Lesson learned this week: If you’re going to go to a government meeting, plan to be there a long, long time.