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!!

Can't lose that reporting bug

So while I do love my job (wishing for more, but still love), I do not do much during the week. That lends itself perfectly to helping out with Phoenix14. Once I was in town when the snow storms hit. I offered my services to Leigh as it was a monday and I knew she was going to have to redo her entire newscast. I came in thinking I could help write or shoot a little video. Nope. I ended up shooting, writing, and editing a package (an actual student voiced it). It was fun (video below).

Then while I was having dinner with some Phoenix14News friends the night before Easter, they mentioned that even though there were no classes on Monday, they would do a show. That meant the staff would be VERY light. They asked if I wanted to come in and help. Of course I would, but I did not expect to be reporting. After some story trading I was off to explain how the beer industry is making it through the economic recession.

That led to the third story I did since "graduating." On my day off Randy, Kirsten, and I went to the April 15 Tea Party Protest in Greensboro. Randy was doing it for Palestra.net. It came out great. I showed it off at work. No one believed that this was done by college students.

I just love being out in the field. While I love the excitement of a busy newsroom, I don't want to be behind a desk forever. I put my old reporting reel up on Youtube. On a side note, I need to update this more so you don't get 4 videos at a time!