Broadcasting In The Public Interest

It has been a whirlwind week. From a high point to tragedy a few days later. For now I'm going to stick with the happier. Often there is a cynical mentality that the media simply are out for their own good. They exploit negative stories, scandals, etc for money. While this may at times be justified, this past week, I got to see my station truly acting in the public interest. 

Photo By Paul MacKenzie

WXII, working with the Triad Rotarians, helped work put on the Triad Flight of Honor, which helped take 101 World War II veterans to Washington D.C. to see the monument in their honor. Since the monument wasn't completed until just a few years ago and because WWII veterans, now in their 80s and 90s, are dying at an alarming rate.


I got to work at 4:30 on Saturday morning. During our morning show send off, I was back at the station. It was emotional and in a truly rare fashion we got many calls... POSITIVE phone calls. The veterans left around 8:30 in the morning through an arch of water shot from two fire trucks (see photo above). I stuck through the day and never really left. Later when the vets were on their way home, I went up with our crews to the airport, for our welcome home special. 


I've never seen such pure patriotic love. Hundreds of people were there to welcome them home. Cheers and signs all around. It was heartwarming and I am just glad that I got to be out there to help out. This is television's true potential and I am proud to get to the chance to be involved.

Explore Your World

Living in a new place is almost a constant when working in television. Last summer I was in Illinois. Then I was in Cary and Elon. Now I've been in Winston-Salem for about 6 months. In that time, I've taken the opportunity to go around and visit the historic areas. I've been to Old Salem and Bethabara. Both are Moravian settlements dating back to the 1700's.

The Moravians are a Protestant group from Germany. They first settled in Pennsylvania but eventually moved down to North Carolina. Following the great wagon road that hugs the Appalachian Mountains they first stopped to form a temporary community called Bethabara in the 1750s. These were just about the only people in Western North Carolina at the time. Later, they would establish Salem as the permanent Moravian home.

Going through a city greenway, I found some cool trails that lead you right into the old settlement as well as to some other cool things. I saw some signs for "God's Acre." What is that? Curiosity got the better of me as I ventured forth. Eventually I came to these stairs.

They looked like they were ascending into heaven itself . I climbed the hill and found myself in God's Acre. Common sense and Wikipedia told me God's Acre was the Moravian name for a cemetery. I walked through just looking at the old tombstones mixed with the new. This one, pictured below came from 1792.

It's really fun to just see things that have been there for centuries. This gentleman saw war with the French, Revolution, and the formation of our democracy. I may not stay in Winston-Salem together, but I learned a valuable lesson: learn about your new home wherever you go. Every place has history. Go out and find it.

FUN FACT: The Moravians named their land (now most of Forsyth County) after their leader's castle back in Germany: Wachovia, the name of a now-failed bank based in Charlotte.

Backdated Stories

I forgot to let you know about a few things I've done. Since the last times I was posting, I did a few stories for WXII. One made air and the other two were for me. First is a story I went out and wrote. WXII 12 News Anchor Wanda Stark voiced the story.



These next two stories are from when I went out with one of our reporters. I wrote and cut these pieces though they did not air.

Power Of Television

I've been thinking a lot about the power of my favorite medium: television. TV faces a crossroads. On one hand, it's by far one of the most (if not the most) proliferated mass media methods out there. On the other hand, content distribution is changing. Television will have to change, but that does not belittle the power and importance of the almighty tube.

In a blog entry I recently read on The Daily Beast about the handover of the ABC World News Tonight anchor desk to Diane Sawyer. In the article, the author talked about the diminishing role that the news anchor position has. It does not have the power it once did. "On days when there hasn’t been a national triumph or tragedy, it’s really just 22 minutes of old news, watched by 7 million old people—and hardly a cash cow," said The Daily Beast's Rebecca Dana. Only 7 million viewers is still significant.

Despite the naysayers, television still holds a special place for all of us. Just about every American has access to TV. Internet proliferation is lower, and there is power in the TV. In the last few weeks, my station, WXII, has helped bring focus to workers and subcontractors not being paid. In part, our coverage brought light to these subjects and may actually make some difference. About a month ago, our reporter Kim did a story about how the regional food bank was running on empty. Within a day, WXII hosted a food drive and did enough stories that people across the Triad decided to make a difference.

The Internet is great, but it is yet to be a unifying system. We suddenly have access to near infinite amounts of information. However, we still stick to our little corners of the ideological spectrum. Television unites us more than anything else. The amount of good that can come out of this medium's power is extraordinary. Edward R. Murrow of course put it best in his speech to the Radio-Television News Director's Association in 1958:

This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. -Edward R. Murrow

Goodnight and good luck.

Pandemic or Paranoid?

So I've been reading a lot about Swine Flu (now H1N1) since the story really first broke last Saturday. Since then, I've been scared like crazy. It seems like there are pandemics every several decades. Avian Flu in Asia seems so recent, but that really did not affect the Americas. Now as H1N1 cases grow, more and more there is fear. Yesterday at my parents, they received an email talking about how people need to stock up on supplies. The cable news channels have talked about the flu almost non-stop, it was one of the major points in Obama's news conference Wednesday, and it's led evening newscasts for days. People want to know.


(From the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.)

Today, I hear that there are cases in Alamance County. Awesome. As more and more cases pop up across the country, I fear there could be a panic. Today I felt sick and probably overreacted. I went to the doctor's office to see if it was H1N1. It wasn't and I felt like a hypochondriac. Thus, for those in the media, we should ask whether our coverage helps or causes more panic. I personally want to know as much about this disease, but at the same time it causes fear. It's a catch 22, I guess.

At least crises make for excellent viral video:

Watch Remix: Babe 3: Swine Flu on CollegeHumor

Gettin' some twedit (twitter credit) and showing my tworth (twitter worth)

I didn't expect today to be tough at all. I was going in early to fill in for the dayside assignment editor as I do from time to time. He was going to be back early so quick and easy. Well, with a bunch of fires near Myrtle Beach, everything went topsy turvy. As we sat in the morning meeting the decision was to cover the fires as best we could. Two crews were en route to Myrtle which is nowhere near Winston BUT a lot of people vacation down there. Then we prepared the local coverage. Fire preparedness, families worried about their homes, et cetera.

With my new emphasis on twittering, I suggested we put our nightside reporter near a computer to show the social media impact. There weren't many comments on WXII12.com, but there was a lot of chatter on twitter. It was wonderful as I got to explain little nuances of twitter with the stupid lingo Twitter people made up. I have to admit I made up a few new words to just for fun :) As the resident young guy, I enjoy pushing new social media in a way experienced journalists are not accustomed. Just an interesting change. Social media is growing in importance.


These fires are nasty. Luckily my brother was safe. (By the Myrtle Sun www.thesunnews.com)

On an interesting side note, we got a list of the summer interns. I knew there was one Elon student, as I recommended her. Little did I know that there will be an intern weekends at the desk with me :) Even funnier, she goes to Elon and did some work with Phoenix14News. It's just kind of funny. I am sure they will do some great work!

The Return To #1

Since Phoenix14News began at Elon, it has been among the top 3 newscasts every year at the Broadcast Education Association convention in Las Vegas. That's 6 years straight! Tonight, I am excited to say that we are back at #1!!! I am so proud to be a part of this amazing team. I do believe that Elon is preparing some of the best student journalist in the country. Elon has its problems, but I believe news directors would be LUCKY to get their hands on some of the seniors graduating this year. Way to go guys!!