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.